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THE 


HISTORY  OF  MODERN  EUROPE 


A  VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  SOCIETY  FROM  THE  RISE  OF  THE  MODERN 
KINGDOMS  TO  THE  PEACE  OF  PARIS,  IN  1763. 


BY   WILLIAM    RUSSELL,    L  L.  D. 

AND 

A  CONTINUATION  OF   THE   HISTORY  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 
BY    WILLIAM    JONES. 

®8Jiti)  Annotations  ftg  an 


IN    THREE    VOLUMES. 

VOL.  L 


NEW    YORK  : 
HARPER    &    BR  O-T  HERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

329    &    331    PEARL    STREET, 

FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 

1856. 


SOUTHERN  DISTRICT  OF  NEW  YORK,  at. 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  30th  day  of  September,  A.D.  1830,  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  th 
independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  J.  &  J.  HARPER,  of  the  said  district,  have  de- 
posited in  this  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  they  claim  as  Proprietors,  in  the  words  fol 
lowing,  to  wit : 

"  The  History  of  Modern  Europe.  With  a  View  of  the  Progress  of  Society,  from  the  Rise  of  th 
modern  Kingdoms,  to  the  Peace  of  Paris,  in  1763.  By  William  Russell,  LL.D.  And  a  Continuation 
of  the  History  to  the  present  Time,  by  William  Jones,  Esq.  With  Annotations,  by  an  American." 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled  "An  Act  for  the  encour 
agement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts,  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprie 
tors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned."  And  also  to  an  Act  entitled,  "An  Act,  sup 
plementary  to  an  Act,  entitled  an  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  o 
maps,  charts,  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  men 
tioned,  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historica 
and  other  prints. 

FREDERICK  J.  BETTS, 
Clerk  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 


FROM  THE  RISE  OF  THE  MODERN  KINGDOMS  TO  THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA, 

IN  1648. 


LETTER  I. 

Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  Settle- 
ment of  the  Barbarians. 

Page 

THE  subject  proposed 33 

View  of  the  state  of  Ancient  Europe 33 

The  northern  nations  never  wholly  conquered  by  the 

Romans 33 

A.D.  476  They  break  from  their  forests  and  fast- 
nesses, and  linally  subvert  the  Roman  empire  34 
Moral  and  political  causes  of  that  great  event. .  34 
To  be  ascribed  more  immediately  to  the  too  great 
extent  of  the  Roman  dominion,  and  to  the  de- 
basing influence  of  its  despotic  government. . .  34 

Causes  of  the  ruin  of  the  Roman  republic 34 

Of  the  decline  of  the  imperial  power 35 

The  treasons  of  the  soldiery,  and  especially  of  the 

Pratorian  bands 35 

The  dissolute  lives  of  the  emperors,  and  the  removal 

of  the  imperial  seat  to  Constantinople 35 

The  disputes  between  the  Christians  and  Pagans, 

and  between  the  different  Christian  sects 36 

The  superiority  of  the  Barbarians  in  virtue  and  in 

valour 36 

The  despicable  policy  of  the  Romans  in  purchasing 
their  forbearance,  and  taking  large  bodies  of  them 

into  pay 37 

The  Visigoths  plant  themselves  in  Spain ;  the  Franks 
in  Gaul ;  the  Saxons  in  the  Roman  provinces  of 
South  Britain;  the  Huns  in  Pannonia;  the  Ostro- 
goths in  Italy  and  the  adjacent  provinces,  by  the 

beginning  of  the  sixth  century 37 

A  total  change  takes  place  in  the  state  of  Europe  38 

That  change  not  to  be  lamented  38 

The  contempt  of  the  Barbarians  for  the  Roman  im- 
provements, and  its  cause 38 

LETTER  II. 

System  of  Policy  and  Legislation  established  by  the 
Barbarians,  on  their  Settlement  in  the  Provinces  of 
the  Roman  Empire. 

The  primitive  government  of  the  barbarous  invaders, 
like  that  of  the  ancient  Germans,  a  kind  of  mili- 
tary democracy,  under  a  general  or  chieftain. .  39 

They  consider  their  conquests  as  common  property, 
in  which  all  had  a  right  to  share 38 

After  settling  in  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire, 
they  established  a  new  species  of  government, 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Feudal  System-...  39 

Advantages  and  disadvantagesof  that  government  39 

The  bond  of  political  union  feeble,  and  the  sources  of 
dissension  many 4G 

A  feudal  kingdom  commonly  torn  by  domestic  broils, 
and  little  capable  of  any  foreign  enterprise ....  4C 

The  judicial  proceedings  of  the  Barbarians  long  very 
absurd 40 

Resentment  almost  the  sole  motive  for  prosecuting 
crimes,  and  the  gratification  of  that  passion  the 
chief  rule  in  punishing  them •• ...  40 

The  feudal  system,  with  all  its  imperfections,  yet  less 
degrading  to  humanity  than  the  tiniforrrWbressure 
of  Roman  despotism \...  41 

LETTER  III. 

Rise  of  the  French  Monarchy,  and  History  of  France 
under  the  Kings  of  the  First  Race. 

Introductory  reflections  on  Historical  Composition  4 
Modern  history  of  little  importance  before  the  time 
of  Charlemagne 42 


ftp 

The  French  monarchy  first  claims  our  attention  42 

186  Clovis,  king  of  the  Franks,  son  of  Childeric, 
and  grandson  of  Merovius  (head  of  the  Salian 
tribe),  gains  a  victory  over  Syagrius,  a  Roman 
usurper  in  that  province,  and  founds  the  kingdom 
of  France • 42 

496  He  defeats  the  Allemanni  at  Tolbiac,  and  is  bap- 
tized, with  almost  the  whole  French  nation. . .  42 

507  Vanquishes  Alaric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  and 
adds  Aquitaine  to  the  kingdom  of  France 42 

Disfigures  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  by  cruelties  and 
perfidies  towards  the  princes  of  his  blood....  42 

511  Dies,  after  attempting  to  atone  for  his  crimes, 
by  building  and  endowing  churches  and  monas- 
teries  43 

The  grandeur  of  the  French  monarchy  much  im- 
paired by  being  divided  among  his  four  sons,  Thi- 
erri,  Childebert,  Clodomir,  and  Clotaire 42 

562  A  like  division  takes  place  on  the  death  of  Clo- 
taire, the  sole  successor  of  his  brothers  and 
nephews 43 

Two  rival  queens,  Brunechilda  wife  to  Sigebert  king 
of  Austrasia,  and  Fredegonda  wife  to  Chilperic 
king  of  Soissons,  sacrifice  every  thing  to  their 
bloody  ambition 43 

613  Clotaire  II.  son  of  Chilperic  and  Fredegonda, 
being  left  sole  monarch  of  France,  re-establishes 
tranquillity,  and  gains  the  hearts  of  his  subjects  43 

632  Dagobert,  the  son  and  successor  of  Clotaire,  (by 
his  vices,  and  his  imprudent  policy,  in  committing 
all  real  power  to  the  mayors  of  the  palace) ,  greatly 
weakens  the  royal  authority 43 

644  His  two  sons,  Sigebert  II.  and  Clovis  II.  his 
successors,  on!y  the  founders  of  new  convents  43 

Several  succeeding  kings,  aptly  denominated  slug- 
gards, equally  insignificant 43 

10  Pepin  Heristel,  duke  of  Austrasia,  usurps  the 
administration,  under  the  title  of  mayor,  and 
governs  France  equitably  twenty-eight  years. .  43 

714  After  his  death,  Charles  Martel,  his  natural  son, 
assumes  the  government  of  the  kingdom 43 

751  And  Pepin,  the  son  of  Charles,  usurps  the  sove 
reignty ;  excluding  for  ever  the  descendants  of 
Clovis,  or  the  Merovingian  race,  from  the  throne 
of  France 44 

LETTER  IV. 

Spain,  under  the  Dominion  of  the  Visigoths,  and  un- 
der the  Moors,  till  the  Reign  of  Abdurrahman. 

467  The  Visigoths  found  their  monarchy  in  this 
Roman  province 44 

The  clerey  early  possessed  of  great  power  in  Spain, 
which"  becomes  a  theatre  of  revolutions  and 
crimes 44 

585  Leoyigild,  an  Arian,  puts  to  death  his  son  Her- 
menegild,  because  he  had  embraced  the  Catholic 
faith 44 

612  Sisebut  dispossesses  the  Greek  emperors  of  that 
territory  they  had  continued  to  hold  on  the  coasts 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  obliges  all  the  Jews  in 
his  own  dominions,  on  pain  of  death,  to  receive 
baptism 44 

682  Wamba,  who  had  defeated  the  Saracens,  the 
countrymen  and  followersof  Mahomet,  is  excluded 
the  throne,  because  he  had  been  clothed  in  the 
habit  of  a  penitent  by  a  ghostly  trick,  while  la- 
bouring under  the  influence  of  poison 44 

712  The  Saracens  of  Mauritania,  under  the  name  of 
Moors,  make  themselves  masters  of  Spain,  and 
put  an  end  to  the  empire  of  the  Visigoths 45 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

717  Pelagrus,  a  prince  of  the  blood  royal,  retires  into 
the  mountains  of  Asturias,  and  then:  founds  a  little 
Christian  kingdom 45 

732  The  Moois  defeated  by  Charles  Martcl,  in  at- 
tempting to  penetrate  into  France 45 

Spain  at  first  very  miserable  under  its  Moorish  go- 
vernors, who  were  dependent  on  the  viceroy  of 
Africa 45 

756  But  afterward  happy  and  flourishing  under  the 
dominion  of  Abdurrahman,  who  founds  at  Cor- 
dova a  Mahometan  kingdom  independent  of  the 
califs,  or  successors  of  the  prophet,  and  their 
African  viceroy 40 

LETTER  V. 

Italy,  under  Ike  Dominion  of  the  Ostrogoths,  and  un- 
der the  Lombards  till  the  Reign  of  Luitprand. 

493  Theodoric,  the  first  Gothic  king  of  Italy,  and 
several  of  his  successors,  princes  of  much  prudence 

and  humanity < 46 

554  The  Ostrogoths  subdued,  and  Italy  recovered, 
by  the  generals  of  Justinian,  emperor  of  Constan- 
tinople   40 

568  Great  part  of  Italy  seized  by  Alboinus,  king  of 

the  Lombards 40 

He  establishes  the  feudal  policy  in  his  dominions  46 
586  Autharis,  one  of  his  successors,  perfects  that  form 

of  government 47 

And  embraces  Christianity 47 

643  Rotharis  gives  written  laws  to  the  Lombards  47 

663  Grimoald  reforms  the  laws  of  Rotharis 47 

Luitprand  forms  the  design  of  making  himself  mas- 
ter of  Italy 48 

726  This  project  favoured  by  the  edict  of  Leo  Isau- 
ricus,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  prohibiting  the 
worship  of  images 48 

727  The  Italians  have  recourse  to  arms  in  support 
of  the  worship  of  images 48 

728  Luitprand,  taking  advantage  of  this  tumult, 
Jays  siege  to  Ravenna,  the  seat  of  the  exarch  or 
imperial  governor,  and  carries  it  by  storm 48 

LETTER  VI. 

Rise  of  the  Pope's  temporal  Power,  with  some  Ac- 
count of  the  Affairs  of  Italy,  the  Empire  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  Kingdom  of  Prance,  from  the 
Time  of  Charles  Muriel  to  that  of  Charlemagne. 

The  grand  aim  of  the  papal  policy  to  free  the  city  of 
Rome,  the  seat  of  the  apostolic  court,  from  the 
dominion  of  the  "Greek  emperors,  without  sub- 
jecting it  to  the  Lombard  kings 49 

728  Gregory  II.  more  afraid  of  Luitprand  than  of  the 
emperor  Leo,  retakes  Ravenna,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Venetians 49 

729  The  emperor,    notwithstanding   this   service, 
persists  in  his  design  of  abolishing  the  worship  of 
images  in  his  Italian  dominions 49 

731  Gregory  applies  for  protection  to  Charles  Martel, 
who  then  governed  France,  and  Charles  becomes 
the  guardian  of  the  church 50 

741  Constantino  Copronymus  not  only  renews  his 
father's  edict  against  the  worship  of  images,  but 

prohibits  the  invocation  of  saints 7...  50 

This  new  edict  confirms  the  idolatrous  citizens  of 
Rome  in  a  resolution  they  had  taken,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  the  pope,  of  separating  themselves  en- 
tirely from  the  Greek  empire 50 

They  accordingly  revolt,  and  drive  out  of  their  city 
such  of  the  imperial  officers  as  had  hitherto  been 
suffered  to  continue  there 50 

751  Pope  Zachary  encourages  Pepin,  fonof  Charles 
Marts:!,  to  dethrone  Childeric  III.  and  assume  the 
title  of  king  of  France 50 

754  Pepin,  in  gratitude  to  his  spiritual  benefactor, 
marches  into  Italy,  and  obligesAstulphus,  king  of 
the  Lombards,  to  desist  from  an  attempt  upon 
Rome 51 

755  He  takes  the  same  journey  a  second  time 52 

756  More  effectually  humbles  Astulphu?,  and  founds 
the  temporal  power  of  the  popes,  by  bestowing 
on  the  see  of  Rome  a  considerable  territory  in 
Italv,  ravished  from  the  Lombards 52 


Fa* 

780  He  dies,  after  dividing  his  dominions  between 
his  two  H.HIS,  Charles,  and  Carloman 52 

LETTER  VII. 

Britain,  from  the  Time  it  was  relinquished  by  the 
Romans,  to  the  End  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy. 

448  The  Romans  finally  evacuate  Britain 52 

The  degenerate  inhabitants  of  South  Britain,  after 

the  Roman  legions  arc  withdrawn,  unable  to  de- 
fend themselves  against  the  Scots  and  Picts 53 

449  They  apply  to  the  Romans,  but  without  effect, 
and  ultimately  to  the  Saxons  for  protection 53 

450  The  Saxons  and  Angles,  or  Anglo-Saxons,  come 
to  their  assistance,  and  repel  the  Scots  and  Picts  54 

584  But  afterward  enter  into  a  league  with  lliosv. 
barbajpus  invaders,  and  make  themselves  masters 
of  all  the  low  country  of  South  Britain 54 

827  The  seven  kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy,  formed 
in  the  course  of  the  Saxon  conquests,  united  under 
Egbert  king  of  Wessex 55 

The  Anglo-Saxons  converted  to  Christianity  before 
this  period 56 

Eut  having  received  that  doctrine  through  the  pol- 
luted channels  of  tlie  church  of  Rome,  it  had  little 
effect  in  either  softening  their  minds  or  purifying 
their  morals 56 

LETTER  VIII. 
Government  and  Laws  of  the  Jlnglo-Saxons. 

As  the  Saxons  rather  extirpated  than  subdued  tin 
natives,  they  had  no  occasion  to  burden  themselves 
with  feudal  services 56 

They  transplanted  into  Britain  their  civil  and  mili- 
tary institutions 56 

Their  king  was  only  the  first  citizen  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  his  authority,  which  was  very  limited, 
depended  chiefly  on  his  personal  qualities 57 

They  had,  at  alftimes,  a  national  council,  a  Wit- 
tenagemot,  or  assembly  of  the  wise  men,  whose 
consent  was  necessary  to  the  enacting  of  laws,  nnd 
to  give  sanction  to  the  measures  of  public  admin- 
istration   57 

The  members  of  this  assembly  the  principal  land- 
holders  57 

The  Saxons,  like  all  the  German  nations,  divided  into 
three  orders  of  men;  the  noble,  the  free,  and  the 
servile 57 

The  Shirenaotes,  where  all  the  freeholders  assembled 
twice  a  year,  well  calculated  for  the  suppi.:  t  of 
general  liberty 57 

The  criminal  laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  exceedingly 
mild 58 

Their  judicial  proofs  very  singular 5£ 

The  absurdities  of  the  ordeal 58 

Their  mariners  always  rude,  and  their  knowledge  of 
the  arts  imperfect 58 

LETTER  IX. 

Reign  of  Charlemagne,  or  Charles  the  Great,  King 
of  France  and  Emperor  of  the  West. 

771  Charles  sole  sovereign  of  France  in  consequence 
of  Ihe  death  of  his  brother  Carloman 58 

772  He  concludes  a  treaty  with  the  Saxo;:. 

he  had  vanquished 59 

773  And  marches  into  Italy  against  Desiderius,  king 
of  the  Lombards 59 

Defeats  Desiderius,  and  takes  Verona 59 

774  Reduces  Pavia,  and  puts  an  end  to  the  kingdom 
of  tlie  Lombards 60 

775  Having    settled  the  government  of  Italy,  hn 
marches  against  the  Saxons 01 

77(i  Defeats  them  in  several  engagements,  and  treats 

them  with  great  severity 61 

778  Makes  an  expedition  into  Spain,  and  takes  Pam- 

polnna  and  Sarairnssa 62 

Become  master  of  France,  Italy,  and  Germany,  he 

pays  great  attention  to  the  arts  of  peace G2 

Account  of  his  private  life 63 

He  encourages  learning 03 

Is  a  friend  to  the  church 63 

794  Assists  at  the  council  of  Frankfort W 


CONTENTS. 


vii 


Goes  Into  Italy  to  do  justice  to  pope  Leo  III 65 

800  And  is  invested  with  the  imperial  ensigns  by  that 
pontiff. :  65 

Universally  acknowledged  emperor  of  the  West,  im- 
mediately after  his  coronation  at  Home 65 

602  Receives  an  embassy  from  Nicephorus,  emperor 
of  Constantinople,  complimenting  him  with  the 
title  of  Augustus 65 

And  from  the  famous  caliph,  Harun-al-Raschid,  with 
the  present  of  a  striking  clock 65 

Arts  mid  learning  flourish  in  Asia,  under  Al-Ras- 
•,'liiil  and  his  successors 66 

H33  Charlemagne  delivered  from  a  formidable  in 
vasion  of  the  Normans  by  the  death  of  their  king  66 

613  He  associates  his  son  Lewis  with  him  in  the 
empire 6( 

814  Dies  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  his  seventy-firs 
year 66 

The  extent  of  his  dominions 66 

LETTER  X. 

Empire  of -Charlemagne  and  the  Cliurch,  from  the 

•  Accession  of  his  Son,  J.etais  the  Dcbonnaire,  to  the 
Death  of  Charles  the  Bald. 

814  Lewis  renders  himself  odious  to  the  clergy  by 
attempting  to  reform  certain  abuses 67 

£•17  Associates  his  eldest  son  Lothario  with  him  in 
the  empire 67 

SIS  Suppresses  a  rebellion  in  Italy,  headed  by  his 
nephew  Bernard,  whom  he  punishes  with  the  loss 
of  his  eyes 67 

Is  seized  with  remorse,  in  consequence  of  this  seve- 
rity, and  enjoined  public  penance  at  his  own  de- 
sire  67 

829  His  three  sons  by  the  first  bed,  among  whom  he 
had  divided  his  dominions,  join  in    a   rebellion 

tai  him,  because  he  sought  from  them  some 
provision  for  his  son  Charles,  by  a  second  wife  68 

830  Abandoned  by  his  army,  he  is  made  prisoner  68 

Released  by  the  nobility 68 

833  Again  abandoned  by  his  army,  he  is  deposed  and 

clothed  in  the  habit  oi"  a  penitent 68 

334  Obtains  absolution,  and  is  restored  to  his  dig- 


nity. 


840  Dies  near  Mentz,  in  the  72d  year  of  his  age..  69 
Lothario  succeeds  to  the  empire 69 

841  Attempts  to  seize  the  possessions  of  his  brothers  70 

842  Is  defeated,  and  obliged  to  receive  conditions  70 

847  Subscribes  the  constitutions  of  Mersen 70 

855  Dies  in  the  habit  of  a  monk 71 

Lewis  II.  his  eldest  son,  succeeds  to  the  kingdom  of 

Italy,  and  the  imperial  dignity 71 

And  iiis  two  younger  sons,  among  whom  he  had 
divided  the  rest  of  his  dominions,  succeed  to  their 
several  allotments 71 

857  France  ravaged  by  the  Normans 7J 

858  Invaded  by  Lewis  the  German,  who  dethrones 
his  brother  Charles  the  Bald 71 

Lewis  expelled,  and  Charles  restored 71 

Examples  of  the  weakness  of  Charles 71 

Ambitions  projects  of  the  popes 72 

860  Lothario,  king  of  Lorrain,  divorces  his  wife  72 
863  Pope  Nicholas  I.  endeavours  to  force  him  to  take 

her  back 72 

863  Hi:  goes  to  Rome  in  order  to  justify  himself  73 

Dies  on  his  way  home 73 

Charles  the  Bald  succeeds  to  his  dominions 73 

875    The  emperor  Lewis   II.  dies   without   male 

heirs 74 

Charles  the  Bald,  in  prejudice  to  his  brother  the 

German,  obtains  the  imperial  crown 74 

677  Marches  into  Italy,  in  order  to  expel  the  Sara- 
cens  74 

Pursued  thiiher  by  his  nephew  Carloman,  son  of 
Lewis  the  German,  he  attempts  to  retreat,  and 
dies  at  a  miserable  cottage 74 

LETTER  XI. 

The  Jformans  or  Danes,  bffore  their  Settlement  in 
France  and  J'.ngland. 

The  Normans  the  inhabitants  of  the  ancient  Scan- 
dinavi  74 


They  become  the  terror  of  all  the  maritime  partso? 

Europe 75 

Description  of  their  religion  aud-manners 75 

Their  singular  contempt  of  death 75 

Their  mode  of  conducting  their  piratical    enter- 
prises   75 

845  They  pillage  Rouen,  and  burn  Paris 75 

877  Charles  the  Bald  publishes  a  capitular,  in  order 
to  regulate  the  contributions  to  be  paid  to  them  76 

LETTEE  XII. 

England,  from  the  End  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy,  to 
the  Death  of  Alfred  the  Great. 

827  Egbert,  the  first  sole  monarch  of  England,  a 

prince  of  great  abilities 76 

He  defeats  the  Scots  and  Picts , 76 

832  The  Danes  invade  England 76 

835  Expelled  by  Egbert 76 

838  Death  of  that  prince 76 

His  son  Ethelwolf,  a  weak  prince 76 

The  Danes  return,  and  long  ravage  England  unmo- 
lested   76 

851  Defeated  by  the  Anglo-Saxons 77 

852  They  winter  in  the  isle  of  Thanet,  and  in  the 
spring  burn  the  cities  of  London  and  Canterbury  77 

854  Ethelwolf  makes  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome 77 

856  Confers  the  tithe  on  the  clergy 77 

England  continues  to  be  infested  by  the  Danes.. .  77 

872  Alfred,  youngest  son  of  Ethelwolf,  succeeds  to 

the  throne,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  his 

elder  brothers 77 

Routs  the  Danes  in  several  engagements 78 

875  They  land  in  greater  numbers,  and  reduce  the 

Anglo-Saxons  to  despair 78 

Alfred,  abandoned  by  his  subjects,  is  obliged  to  lay 
aside  the  ensigns  of  his  dignity,  and  assume  the 

habit  of  a  peasant 78 

880  Throws  off  that  disguise 78 

Defeats  the  Danes  with  great  slaughter 79 

Allows  a  body  of  the  vanquished  enemy  to  settle  in 
Northumberland,  on  their  consenting  to  embrace 

Christianity 79 

Establishes  a  regular  militia  for  the  defence  of  his 
kingdom 79 


Creates  a  navy 79 

His  wise  regulations 79 

890  He  frames  a  body  of  laws 80 

Encourages  learning 81 

Navigation  and  commerce 81 

901  His  death  and  character 82 

LETTER  XIIL 

Empire  of  Charlemagne  and  the  Church,  from  the 
Death  of  Charles  the  Bald  to  the  Death  of  Lewis 
IV.  when  the  Imperial  Dignity  was  translated 
from  the  French  to  the  Germans. 

877  Lewis  the  Stammerer,  son  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
succeeds  to  the  crown  of  France 82 

379  Dies,  leaving  his  queen  Adelaide  pregnant..  82 

[s  succeeded  by  Lewis  III.  and  Carloman  II.  his  two 
sons  by  a  former  marriage 82 

884  On  the  death  of  these  princes,  the  emperor 
Charles  the  Fat,  son  of  Lewis  the  German,  is 
elected  king  of  France 82 

Disgraces  himself  by  ceding  Friezland  to  the  Nor- 

83 


887  These  northern  ravagers  besiege  Paris. .. ....  83 

But  relinquish  the  enterprise,  on  receiving  a  ransom 

from  the  pusillanimous  Charles 83 

!88  He  is  deposed  in  a  diet  of  the  empire 83 

•Vrnold,  grandson  of  Lewis  the  German,  is  raised  to 

the  imperial  throne 83 

898  Charles  III.  snrnamed  the  Simple,  son  of  Lewis 
the  Stammerer,  by  Adelaide,  succeeds  to  the  crown 
of  France,  after  a  long  scene  of  contention. . .  81 
The  nobles  aspire  openly  at  independency,  and  de- 
press the  great  body  of  the  people 84 

905  The  Normans  establish  themselves  in  France  84 
And  give  to  the  province  of  Neustria  the  name  of 

Normandy 84 

912  Death  of  Lewis  IV.  son  of  the  emperor  Ar- 
nold   85 


riii 


CONTENTS. 


The  empire  depai's  from  the  French  to  the  Ger- 
mans ................................  •  ......  85 

LETTER  XIV. 

Tke  German  Empire,  from  the  Election  of  Conrad  I. 
to  the  Death  of  Henry  the  Fowler. 

912  Exlent  of  the  German  empire  at  the  election  of 
Conrad  1  .....................................  85 

His  reign  one  continued  scene  of  troubles  .......  86 

917  The  Huns  ravage  the  empire  ...............  86 

920  Henry  I.  surnamed  the  Fowler,  succeeds  Conrad 
in  the  imperial  throne  .......................  86 

He  forma  regulations  for  the  security  of  the  em- 


pire 


86 


925  Conquers  Lorrain  .........................  86 

932  Defeats  the  Huns  in  a  great  battle  ..........  86 

936  Dies  in  his  march  for  Italy  .................  87 

Is  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne  by  his  son  Otho, 
afterward  styled  the  Great  ...................  87 

LETTER  XV. 

France,  from  the  Settlement  of  the  Normans,  to  the 
Extinction  of  ,  the  Carlovingian  Race. 

Liberal  policy  of  Rollo,  duke  of  Normandy....  87 

922  Charles  the  Simple  deposed,  and  Robert,  duke  of 
France,  proclaimed  king  .....................  87 

923  Rodolph,  duke  of  Burgundy,  obtains  the  crown 
on  the  death  of  Robert  ......................  87 

929  Charles  the  Simple  dies  in  prison  ...........  87 

936  Rodolph  acts  with  resolution  and  vigour.  ...  88 

Dies  Without  issue,  and  is  succeeded  by  Lewis  the 

Stranger  ....................................  88 

Lewis  attempts  in  vain  to  rescue  himself  from  the 

tyranny  of  Hugh  the  Great,  duke  of  France.  .  .  88 
954  Leaves  only  a  shadow  of  royalty  to  his  son 

Lothario  ...................................  88 

986  Lothario  succeeded  by  his  son,  Lewis  V  —  88 

987  In  Lewis  V.  ends  the  Carlovingian  line,  or 
second  race  of  French  kings  .................  88 

LETTER  XVI. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome 
and  the  Italian  Stales,  under  Otho  the  Great,  and 
his  Successors  of  the  House  of  Saxony. 

936  Otho  defeats  the  Hungarians  in  the  plain  of 
Dortmund  ..................................  89 

937  Makes  Bohemia  tributary  to  the  German  cm- 


938  Expels  Everhard,  duke  of  Bavaria,  and  bestows 

the  dutchy  on  his  uncle  Bartolf 89 

Revives  the  dignity  of  counl  Palatine 89 

940  Assembles  a  diet  at  Arensberg,  which  appoints 
a  judicial  combat  to  decide  the  right  of  inherit- 
ance    89 

943   He  augments  the  privileges  of  the-  German 

clergy 90 

Propagates  Christianity  by  force  of  arms 90 

952  Conquers  Italy 90 

955  His  son  Ludolphus  revolts 90 

959  Returns  to  his  duty,  and  dies 90 

962  Otho  suppresses  a  rebellion  in  Italy,  and  is 

crowned  at  Rome  by  the  pope 91 

Confirms  to  the  holy  see  the  donations  of  Pepin  and 

Charlemagne 91 

Great  disorders  in  the  papacy 91 

966  Otho  enters  Italy  a  third  time,  and  quells  a  new 

revolt 91 

970  Returns  to  Germany  covered  with  glory 92 

873  His  son  Otho  II.  surnamwl  the  Sanguinary,  suc- 
ceeds him  in  the  imperial  throne 9-2 

New  disorders  in  the  papacy 92 

981  Otho  marches  into  Italy,  and  severely  chastises 

the  rebels 93 

998  Otho  III.  his  son  and  successor,  takes  Rome  by 
assault,  and  executes  vengeance  on  the  authors  of 
another  revolt 93 

1000  Returns  to  Germany,  and  erects  Poland  into  a 
kingdom 93 

1001  Again  marches  into  Italy,  and  expels  the  Sara- 
cens    93 


1002  The  empire  sustains  a  great  loss  by  his  death  93 

The  duke  of  Bavaria,  grandson  of  Otho  II.,  elected 
emperor,  under  the  name  of  Henry  II 93 

1005  Marches  into  Italy,  and  is  crowned  king  of 
Lombardy  at  Pavia 94 

In  danger  of  losing  his  life  by  a  revolt  of  the  citi- 
zens    94 

Quells  the  troubles  in  Germany 94 

1014  Returns  to  Italy,  and  is  crowned  at  Rome  by 
the  pope 94 

1024  Increases  in  prosperity  to  the  hour  of  his 
death 94 

Appears  to  have  made  a  vow  of  chastity 94 

LETTER  XVII. 

England,  from  the  Death  of  Alfred  to  the  Reign  of 
Canute  the  Great. 

910  Edward  the  Elder,  the  son  and  successor  of' 

Alfred,  a  prince  of  a  martial  geuiu? 94 

Engaged  in  perpetual  war  with  the  Danes 95 

925  His  natural  son  Athelstan  succeeds  him  in  the 

throne  95 

Athelstan  confers  on  Silheric,  a  Danish  nobleman, 

the  title  of  king  of  Northumberland 95 

934  Enters  Scotland  with  a  numerous  army 05 

938  Defeats  the  Scots,  Welsh,  and  Danes,  in  a  great 

battle ." 95 

His  memorable  law  for  the  encouragement  of  com- 
merce   95 

941  Succeeded  by  his  brother  Edmund 95 

945  Edmund  conquers  Cumberland  from  the  ancient 
Britons,  and  confers  it  on  Malcolm,  king  of  Scot- 
land, on  condition  of  his  doing  homage  for  it  to  the 

king  of  England 95 

948  His  violent  death 95 

His  brother  Edred  raised  to  the  throne 95 

952  Edred  places  a  governor  over  the  Northumbrian 

Danes 90 

Delivers  over  his  conscience  to  the  guidance  ot 

Dunstan,  abbot  of  Glastonbury '. .  98 

The  rigid  monastic  rules  introduced  into  England  by 

that  priest 96 

The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  enjoined 96 

955  Edwy,  the  son  of  Edmund,  who  succeeds  to  the 
crown  of  England,  less  favourable  to  the  monks  9" 

Dunstan  publicly  insults  him 97 

Is  banished  the  kingdom 97 

The  enraged  monies  poison  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple   97 

959  Edwy  is  deposed,  and  his  brother  Edgar  placed 

on  the  throne 97 

Wise  policy  of  Edgar 97 

His  great  power  and  prosperity 98 

Secures  the  favour  of  Dunslan  and  the  monks..  98 

His  licentious  amours 98 

Story  of  Elfrida 98 

Violent  death  of  Alhelwold 98 

Edgar  marries  Elfrida 99 

Extirpates  wolves  from  England  and  Wales 99 

975  Succeeded  by  his  son,  Edward  the  Martyr. . .  99 

978  Edward  murdered,  at  the  instigation  of  his  slop 

mother  Elfrida,  in  order  to  make  room  for  her  son 

Ethelred 99 

Elhelred  a  weak  prince 99 

Meanly  compounds  with  the  Danes  for  his  safety  99 

1002  Cruel  massacre  of  the  Danes  throughout  Eng- 
land    99 

1003  Sweyn,  king  of  Denmark,  takes  vengeance 
on  tlw  English  for  the  slaughter  of  his  country- 
men    100 


1013  Ethelred  abandons  the  kingdom,  and  seeks 
refuge  in  the  court  of  his  brother-in-law,  Richard 
duke  of  Normandy 100 

1014  Returns  on  the  death  of  Sweyn 100 

1015  Finds  a  terrible  enemy  in  Canute,  the  son  and 
successor  of  that  prince 100 

1016  Dies  in  the  midst  of  his  troubles 100 

Edmond  Ironside,  his  son,  bravely  struggles  for  the 

independency  of  hia  kingdom 100 

Betrayed  by  his  general  Edric,  and  obliged  to  divide 
his  dominions  with  Canute IOC 

1017  Murdered  by  his  chamberlains 101 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER  XVIII. 


fiance,  from  the  Accession  of  Hugh  Capet  to  the 
Invasion  of  England  by  William  Duke  of  JVor- 
mandy. 

Page 

987  Hugh  Capet,  son  of  Hugh  the  Great,  the  most 
powerful  nobleman  in  France,  seizes  the  crown  on 
the  death  of  Lewis  V 101 

988  He  associates  his  son  Robert   in  the  govern- 
ment   101 

991  Makes  prisoner  the  duke  of  Lorrain,  who  at- 
tempted to  dispute  his  right  to  the  crown 101 

996  Is  quietly  succeeded  by  his  son  Robert 103 

998  Gregory  V.  the  reigning  pope,  dissolves  the  mar- 
riage of  Robert 102 

And  excommunicates  him  for  persisting  in  keeping 

Bertha,  his  queen 102 

Terrible  effects  of  the  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion    102 

1024  Robert  rejects  the  imperial  dignity 100 

Great  disorders  in  his  family 103 

1031  He  dies  amid  those  disorders 103 

His  son   Henry  I.  succeeds  him  in  the  throne  of 

France 103 

Henry  is  supported  by  Robert  duke  of  Nor- 
mandy    103 

Robert  makes  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  .."....  103 

J035  Dies  before  his  return 103 

1046  The  battle  of  Val  de  Dunes  gives  William,  his 

natural  son,  full  possession  of  the  dutchy ....   104 

1060  Henry  I.  succeeded  by  his  son  Philip  I 104 

1066  Willtem  duke  of  Normandy  prepares  for  the 
invasion  of  England 104 

1067  Philip  I.  assumes  the  reins  of  government  104 

LETTER  XIX. 

England^  from  the  Danish  to  the  Norman 
Conquest. 

1017  Canute  the  Dane,  in  consequence  of  the  mur- 
der of  Edmond  Ironside,  becomes  sole  sovereign 

of  England 104 

Liberal  policy  of  Canute 105 

1019  He  visits  Denmark 106 

1028  Makes  himself  master  of  Norway 106 

Sees  the  insignificancy  of  human  greatness. ...  106 

1031  Makes  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome 106 

1035  His  son  Harold  Harefoot  succeeds  him  in  the 

throne  of  England 106 

1039  Harold  Harefoot  reigns  four  years,  and  is  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother  Hardicanute,  a  brave 

prince 106 

1041  On  the  death  of  Hardicanute,  the  English 
shake  off  the  Danish  yoke,  and  place  on  the  throne 
of  his  ancestors  Edward,  surnamed  the  Confessor, 

eon  of  the  unfortunate  Ethelred 106 

Though  a  good  prince,  Edward  disgusts  the  English 
by  the  favour  which  he  shows  to  the  Normans, 
among  whom  lie  had  been  educated,  and  who 

thronged  his  court 106 

1051  Earl  Godwin  rebels,  and  is  expelled  the  king- 
dom   107 

1053  He  returns,  and  reduces  the  king  to  condi- 
tions   107 

Great  power  of  his  son  Harold 107 

1054  Macbeth,  usurper  of  the  crown  of  Scotland, 
defeated  and  slain  by  an    English  army  under 
Siward  duke  of  Northumberland 107 

Anecdotes  of  Siward 107 

1086  Harold  obtains  the  crown  of  England,  on  the 
death  of  Ed\vard  the  Confessor 108 

He  defeats  the  Danes  in  a  great  battle 109 

His  right  fr>  the  English  crown  disputed  by  William 
duke  of  Normandy,  who  lands  on  the  coast  of 
Sussex,  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  men  —  )09 

Harold  slain  in  the  battle  of  Hastings,  which  lays 
open  the  succession  of  England  to  the  duke  of 
Normandy Ill 

View  of  the  state  of  England  under  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  1 12 

Singular  manners  and  customs 112 


LETTER  XX. 


Spain,  the  Arabs,  and  the  Empire  of  Constantinople, 
during  the  Ninth,  Tenth,  and  Part  of  the  Eleventh 
Centuries. 

SPAIN. 


Dissensions  among  the  Moors  favourable  to  the 

Christians  .................................  113 

The  kingdom  of  Asturias,  or  of  Leon,  and  Oviedo, 

increases  under  Alphonso  III  ...............   113 

758  The  kingdom  of  Navarre  founded  by  Garcias 

Ximenes  ..................................   113 

938  Ramiro  II.,  king  of  Leon  and  Oviedo,  gains  over 

the  Moors  the  celebrated  victory  of  Simancas  113 
Great  success  of  Almanzor,  the  Moorish  general  114 
998  His  defeat  ...............................  114 

His  death  ....................................  114 

The  Mahometan  kingdom  of  Cordova,  on  the  ex- 

tinction of  the  race  of  Abdurrahman,  divided  into 

many  petty  sovereignties  ....................  114 

The  Christian  kingdoms  subdivided  in  like  man- 

ner .......................................  114 

Freedom  of  the  people  of  Arragon  ............  114 

Singular  privileges  of  their  Justiza,  or  Grand 

Judge  .....................................  115 


EMPIRE  of  the  ARABS. 

The  African  governors  shake  off  their  dependence 
on  the  caliph 115 

Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli  become  independent 
states 115 

969  The  Fattimides,  a  Mahometan  sect,  found  an 
empire  in  Egypt,  and  make  Cairo  the  seat  of  a  new 
caliph 115 

Another  sect  seize  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa, 
and  found  the  kingdom  of  Morocco  115 

The  caliphs  of  Bagdat  gradually  stripped  of  their 
power  by  the  Turks,  a  Tartar  tribe,  originally 
hired  as  common  mercenaries,  and  afterward  em- 
ployed as  the  royal  guard 115 

A  variety  of  sovereigns  spring  up  under  the  title  of 
sultans 115 


EMPIRE  of  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

The  extent  of  this  empire  yet  considerable 115 

811  Nicephorus,  an  execrable  tyrant,  made  prisoner, 
and  put  to  death  by  the  B  ulgarians 116 

The  Saracens  in  his  reign  conquer  the  island  of 
Cyprus 1 16 

Leo  the  Armenian  attempts  to  assassinate  the  king 
of  the  Bulgarians ;  who,  in  revenge,  pillages  the 
suburbs  of  Constantinople 11 

Superstition  of  Michael  the  Stammerer 116 

823  In  his  reign  the  Saracens  make  themselves  mas- 
ters of  the  island  of  Crete 116 

The  empress  Theodora  persecutes  the  Mani- 
cheans • 116 

The  grand  schism  between  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches  brought  to  a  crisis  by  the  conversion  of 
the  Bulgarians 116 

879  The  two  primates  excommunicate  each 
other 116 

912  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus,  an  encourager  of 
learning 117 

961  Nicephorus  Phocas  recovers  Crete  and  other 
places  from  the  Saracens 117 

He  is  murdered  in  bed 117 

Basil  II.  vanquishes  the  Bulgarians 117 

1034  The  crimes  of  the  princess  Zoe,  and  the 
wretched  state  of  the  empire 117 

1059  Constantine  Ducas  abandons  the  Asiatic  pro- 
vinces to  the  Turks 118 

1068  His  widow  Eudoxia,  whom  he  had  left  regent 
during  the  minority  of  his  three  sons,  marries  Ro- 
manus  Diogenes,  who  had  been  condemned  to 
suffer  death  as  a  public  malefactor,  and  procures 
for  him  the  imperial  crown 118 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER  XXI. 

Progress  of  Satiety  in  Europe,  from  the  Settlement 
of  the  modern  Nations  to  the  Middle  of  the  Eleventh 
Century. 

Page 

The  nations  who  subverted  the  Roman  empire  gene- 
rally embraced  the  Christian  religion 118 

The  clergy  gainers,  but  Christianity  a  loser  by  their 
conversion 118 

They  blend  with  its  doctrines  and  ceremonies  their 
former  gross  superstitions... ., 119 

Corrupt  state  of  Christianity,  the  ignorance  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  disorders  of  the  church,  together 
with  those  of  government  and  manners  during  the 
middle  ages 119 

These  disorders  attain  their  height  before  the  end 
of  the  tenth  century ~. 120 

Causes  that  contributed  to  banish  anarchy  and  bar- 
barism, and  introduce  oider  and  politeness. . .  121 

Beneficial  eflects  of  chivalry 121 

Its  origin  and  character  as  a  civil  and  military  insti- 
tution   .". .  12 1 

Its  liberal  spirit 122 

That  spirit  strongly  counteracted  by  the  monastic  in- 
stitutions    123 

Account  of  the  origin  of  those  institutions,  and  of 
the  extravagance  of  the  rage  for  pious  solitude  123 

Disorders  of  the  monks  and  nuns 124 

Chivalry,  by  awakening  an  ardour  for  enterprise, 
ami  a  generous  passion  for  the  softer  sex,  saves 
Europe  from  monastic  tyranny 124 

LETTER  XXII. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome 
and  the  Italian  States,  under  Conrad  If.  and  his 
Descenthmts  of  the  House  of  Franconia. 

1024  Disputes  on  the  death  of  the  emperor  Hen- 
ry II  125 

Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia,  elected  by  the  princes 
and  states,  after  six  weeks'  deliberation 125 

He  marches  into  Italy,  quells  a  revolt,  and  is  crowned 
at  Rome 125 

Returns  to  Germany,  suppresses  a  rebellion,  and  gets 
his  son  Henry  declared  his  successor "125 

Humbles  the  Poles  and  Huns 125 

1034  Obtains  the  succession  of  the  kingdom  of 
Transjurane  Burgundy 125 

1039  Extinguishes  a  rebellion  in  Italy,  and  dies  on 
his  return  to  Germany 125 

Henry  III.  succeeds  his  father  in  the  imperial 
throne 126 

The  first  years  of  his  reign  distinguished  by  the  suc- 
cessful wars  in  Bohemia,  Poland,  and  Hungary  126 

Rome  and  Italy  distracted  by  factions 128 

1046  Henry  composes  the  disorders  there,  and  is 
crowned  by  Clement  II.  whom  he  had  raised  to 
the  papacy 126 

1047  inters  into  a  treaty  with  Drago,  Bainulphus, 
and  other  Norman   adventurers,  who  had  esta- 
blished themselves  in  Apulia  and  Calabria,  at  the 
expense  of  the  Greek  emperors 126 

Intrigues  of  Hildebrand  the  Monk,  at  the  election  of 
pope  Leo  IX 126 

1053  Leo,  having  made  war  unsuccessfully  against 
the  Norman  adventurers,  joins  his  sanction  to  the 
Imperial  investiture  for  the  lands  which  they  held 
in  Calabria 127 

The  emperor  causes  his  infant  son,  Henry,  to  be  de- 
dared  king  of  the  Romans,  a  title  still  in  use 
for  the  acknowledged  heir  to  the  imperial 
crown ]-27 

Alarmed  at  the  ambitious  projects  of  his  sister 
Beatrice,  dowager  marchioness  of  Mantua,  who 
had  married  the  duke  of  Lorrain,  and  contracted 
herdanahter  Matilda,  by  the  marquis  of  Mantua, 
in  llie  duke  of  Spoleto,  he  marches  into  Italy,  and 
heri>ft". 127 

1050  Die.-i  soon  after  liis  return  to  Germany. ...   127 

Henry  IV.  only  live  years  old  at  his  father's  death  127 

Troubles  of  Germany,  and  usurpations  of  the  Roman 
pontiffs  duriii"  his  minority ]27 

1072  He  assumes  lilt:  reins  of  government  at  the 
nge  of  twenty-two,  and  begins  his  administra- 


tion  with  suppressing  disorders  and  remedying 
abuses 126 

Is  summoned  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  the  holy 
see  by  pope  Alexander  11  for  having  exposed  the 
investiture  of  bishops  to  sale 123 

UK  treats  the  mandate  with  contempt 128 

1073  Hildebraud  elected  pope,  under  the  name  of 
Gregory  V I  £ 1  -"J 

The  emperor  confirms  his  election 12U 

He  begins  his  pontificate  with  excommunicating 
every  clergyman  who  should  receive  a  benefice 
from  a  layman,  and  every  layman  by  whom  such 
benefice  should  be  conferred 129 

Attempts  to  make  himself  lord  of  Christendom,  by 
freeing  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  civil  power,  and  subjecting  all 
temporal  princes  to  the  authority  of  the  see  of 
Rome.... 129 

Summons  the  emperor  to  appear  before  him  for  con- 
tinuing to  bestow  investitures 129 

1076  Henry,  enraged  at  that  arrogant  message,  sends 
an  ambassador  to  Rome  with  a  formal  deprivation 
of  Gregory 129 

The  pope  deposes  and  excommunicates  the  empe- 
ror   130 


1077  Overwhelmed  with  enemies,  in  consequence  of 
the  displeasure  of  the  head  of  the  church,  Henry 
humbles  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  holiness  . .  130 

Elated  with  his  triumph,  Gregory  becomes  more 
haughty  and  insolent 131 

1078  He  induces  the  Germans  to  elect  another  em 
peror 131 

1080  Henry  defeats  his  antagonist,  degrades  Gregory, 
and  gets  a'nother  pope  elected 131, 132 

1081  Victorious  in  Germany,  he  marches  into  Italy, 
and  makes  himself  master  of  Rome,  after  a  si<  »e 
of  two  years 132 

1085  Gregory,  having  taken  refuge  in  the  castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  escapes  to  Salerno,  and  there  dies  132 

Germany  involved  in  new  troubles 132 

1090  Conrad,  the  emperor's  eldest  son,  rebels  against 
his  father,  and  assumes  the  title  of  king  of 
Italy 132 

Is  generally  acknowledged  by  the  Italian  cities  and 
nobles 133 

1099  His  brother  Henry  is  declared  king  of  the 
Romans 133 

1100  Conrad  dies,  after  having  been  put  to  the  ban 
of  the  empire,  and  the  king  of  the  Romans  rebels 
against  his  father J33 

1106  Henry  IV.,  treacherously  made  prisoner  by  his 
unnatural  son,  is  divested  of  the  imperial  en- 
signs   133 

Makes  his  escape,  but  dies  before  he  can  effect  liis 
restoration 134 

Henry  V.  maintains  the  right  of  investiture 134 

Attempts  in  vain  to  settle  the  dispute  by  argu- 
ment   134 

1111  Enters  Italy  at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  and 
takes  the  pope  prisoner J34.  135 

His  right  of  investiture  confirmed,  and  afterward 
denied  by  Pascal  II 135 

1116  He  inarches  into  Italy  a  second  time,  and 
enters  Rome  in  triumph. 135 

1122  Tlie  dispute  in  regard  of  investitures  settled  by 
a  sreneral  council 136 

1125  Death  of  Henry  V 136 

LETTER  XXIII. 

England,  from  Ike  Battle  of  Hastings  to  the  Death 
of  Henry  I. 

106G  Consternation  of  the  people  of  England. .  136 

William,  duke  of  Normandy,  marches  towards 
London l:!(> 

Is  met  by  the  nobility  and  clergy,  who  declare  their 
intention  of  submitting  to  hto authority 137 

Takes  Ilif-  i;;.:iai  onth  administered  i:>  tlie  .Ando- 
Saxon  kind's,  and  is  crowned  in  Westminster- 
abbey  137 

1067  Confirms  the  nobility  and  gentry  in  the  pos- 
session of  their  lands  and  dignities,  and  London, 
and  all  the  oilier  cities  of  England,  in  the  enjoy 
nicnt  of  their  liberties  and  immunities •  137 


CONTENTS. 


Page  j 

Btit  every  where  disarms  the  native.-,  and  places  all  i 
re;il  power  in  the  haiii>s  of  the  Normans,  among 
•whom  he  divides  the  forfeited  estates  of  Harold, 

and  those  of  his  adherents 137 

He  visits  Normandy 138 

The  English  rebel  in  his  absence 

1068  He  returns  and  humbles  the  insurgents 138 

The  English  again  attempt  to  shake  oil'  the  Norman 

yoke." 1 39 

The  revolt  becomes  general 139 

1069  William  politically  breaks  the  force  of  his  ene- 
mies, by  conupting  their  leaders,  and  reduces  the 
whole  kingdom  to  a  state  of  the  most  humiliating 
subjection 140 

1070  He  lays  waste  the  country,  to   the  extent  of 
sixty  miles,  between  the  Humberand  the  Tees  140 

C'linis'-ates  tin?  estates  of  the  principal  English  land- 
holders, and  bestows  them  upon  his  Norman  fol- 
lowers    140 

Introduces  the  feudal  polity  into  England 140 

His  regulations  in  regard  to  the  church 141 

1076  His  son  Robert  rebels  against  him  in  Nor- 
mandy   142 

Robert  expelled  by  an  English  army 142 

1079  A  reconciliation  between  the  lather  and  the  ton 
brought  about  by  a  singular  circumstance. ...  142 

1081  William  orders  a  general  survey  to  be  taken  of 
all  t lie  lands  of  England 142 

1087  His  death  and  character 143 

He  is  succeeded  in  the  dutchy  of  Normandy  by  his 
eldest  son  Robert,  and  in  the  kingdom  of  Eng- 
land by  William,  his  second  son,  surnamed 
Rufus  ." 143 

1089  Tyrannical  government  of  William  II 144 

Generous  disposition  of  Robert  duke  of  Nor- 
mandy   144 

He  enlists  himself  in  the  first  crusade,  and  mortgages 
his  dominions  to  his  brother  William '.  145 

1G97  William  quarrels  with  Anselm,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  confiscates  all  his  tempora- 
lities    145 

He  is  threatened  with  the  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation by  the  pope,  who  protects  the  primate  145 

Anselm  distinguishes  himself  in  the  council  of 
Bari 145 

1100  William  Rufus  accidentally  killed  by  an  ar- 

146 


His  impious  and  tyrannical  character 146 

flis  younger  brother  Henry  ascends  the  throne  of 
England,  without  regarding  the  prior  right  of 

Robert ~. .  146 

Henry  I.  courts  popularity 146 

Grants  a  charter  of  liberties  to  his  English  subjects, 
and  reinstates  Anselm  in  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury   146,  147 

1101  His  brother  Robert  returns  from  the  Holy  Land, 

and  invades  England 147 

An  accommodation  brought  about  through  the  me- 
diation of  An?elni ". 147 

Henry  persecutes  Robert's  adherents 147 

1106  Makes  himself  master  of  the  dutchy  of  Nor- 
mandy    147 

Carries  Robert  prisoner  into  England,  and  confines 
him  for  life  in  Cardiff  castle 147 

1119  Defeats  the   French  near  Andeley  in    Nor- 
mandy  /;.  148 

1120  His  only  son  William,  who  had  accompanied 
him,  is  shipwrecked,  and   perishes  with  all  his 
retinue  in  his  return 1-13 

1127  Marries  his  daisrhter  Matilda  to  Geoffrey  Plan- 

tagenet,  eldest  son  to  the  count  of  An  jon 148 

1133  Matilda  delivered  of  a  son,  named  Henry  148 
1135  Henry  I.  dies,  leaving  his  daughter  Matilda 

heiress  of  all  his  dominions 148 

Reflections  on  the  government  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons 143 

That  government  highly  favourable  to  liberty. .  149 
Changes    produced    in    it    by  the   Norman   con- 

qu.'-t 149 

Rigour  of  the  Anglo-Norm  a;  i  sovernment. .  149,  150 
That  rigour  ultimately  favourable  to  the  cause  of 

freedom 150 

In  the  stni2gles  between  the  king  and  the  nobles,  the 
people  recover  their  consequence  .......  150 


LETTER  XXIV. 

/•Vance,  wnlr.r  Philip  I.  and  Lewis  VI.,  with  some 
jtccouut  of  the  First  Crusade. 

Pagf 

1095  Philip  I.  excommunicated  by  Urban  II.  in  the 
famous  council  of  Clermont,  where  the  first  cru 
sade  was  preached 151 

Origin  of  the  crusades — a  desire  of  recovering  tht 
Holy  Laud  from  the  infidels,  and  a  hope  of  lie- 
holding  the  sudden  appearance  of  Christ  mi 
Mount  Skm 152 

Ardour  for  the  holy  war  excited  by  I'eter  the  Her- 
mit  152 

1096  Persons  of  all  ranks  fly  to  aims,  and  march 
towards  Asia,  under  the  banner  of  the  cross  153 

They  are  guilty  of  the  greatest  disorders  in  their 
progress ' 153 

1097  At   length    reach  Constantinople,  alarm    the 
Greek  emperor  by  their  numbers,  and  muster  a 
prodigious  army  on   the  banks  ot'  the   Bospho- 
rus 153 

1098  Make  themselves  masters  of  Nice  and  Antioch, 
and  break  the  power  of  the  Turks 154 

1099  Invest  Jerusalem,  and  take  it  by  assault,  after  a 
siege  of  five  weeks ]55 

Godfrey  of  Bouillon  chosen  king  of  Jerusalem  155 
Philip  I.  absolved  from  the  sentence  of  excommiini 

cation,    in    consequence   of    the   death   of   Ur 

ban  II 155 

He  associates  with  him  his  son  Lewis  in  the  govern 

rnent 155 

Lewis  VI.  corrects  the  licentiousness  of  the  no 

bles 155 

He  establishes  the  commons,  or  third  branch  of  the 

legislature,  enfranchises  the  villains  or  bondmen, 

and  regulates  the  courts  of  justice 155 

1137  Dies  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age,  and  is  sue 

ceeded  by  his  son  Lewis  VII 156 

LETTER  XXV. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome 
and  the  Italian  Slates,  from  the  Death  of  Htnry  V 
to  the  Election  of  Frederic  I.  surnamed  Barba 
rossa. 

1125  Lothario,  duke  of  Saxe  Supplembourg,  elected 
emperor 156 

1132  He  marches  into  Italy,  and  re-establishes  Inno 
cent  II.  in  the  papal  chair 157 

Orders  justice  to  be  administered  in  the  empire  ac- 
cording to  the  Roman  or  civil  code 157 

1139  Dies  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  and  is 
succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne  by  Conrad  duke 
of  Franconia 157 

1140  Origin  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibeliines....  157 

Singular  example  of  conjugal  affection 157 

1147    Conrad  III.  engages  in  the  second  crusade, 

along  with  his  nephew,  Frederic  Barbarossa  158 

LETTER  XXVI. 

France,  under  Lewis  VII.,  till  the  Divorce  of  Queen 
Eleanor,  with  same  Account  of  tkz  Second  Cru- 
sade. 

1143  Lewis  VTI.,  enraged  at  his  rebellious  subjects, 
orders  the  town  of  Vitri  to  be  set  on  fire 158 

That  cruel  command  makes  a  deep  impression  on  his 
mind 153 

St.  Bernard  exhorts  him  to  expiate  his  guilt  by  an 
expedition  to  the  Holy  Land,  where  the  Christiana 
were  in  great  distress J58 

1146  He  takes  the  cross  at  Vezelai  in  Burgundy  158 
Eleanor  his  queen,  heiress  of  Gufoiinc  aiid  Poitou, 

also  takes  the  cross:  and  the  example  of  the  royal 
pair  is  followed  by  many  of  the  chief  nobility, 
and  by  a  multitude  of  people  of  inferior  condi- 
tion   158,  159 

1147  The  emperor,  jealous  of  the  king  of  France, 
marches  before  him  into  the  Holy  Land,  and  is 
defeated 159 

Lewis  follows  Conrad,  and  is  not  more  fortu- 
nate    ]59 

He  is  dishonoured  by  queen  Eleanor,  his  pous  con- 
sort  - 159 


Xll 


0  0  N  T  E  N  T  S. 


Page 

Divorces  her 160 

1149  She  marries  Henry  Pliintagenet,  duke  of  Nor- 
mandy, and  presumptive  heir  to  the  crown  of 
England •• ICO 

LETTER  XXVII. 

England,  from  the  Death  of  Henry  I.  to  the  Ac- 
cession of  Henry  II. 

1135  Stephen    count   of    Boulogne,   grandson   of 
William  the  Conqueror,  usurps  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land on  the  death  of  Henry  I.  in  violation  of  the 
right  of  the  heiress  Matilda 160 

1136  Grants  exorbitant  privileges  to  the  nobility  and 
clergy 160 

Wretched  state  of  the  common  people  under  his 
reign 160 

David  king  of  Scotland  appears  in  support  of  Ma- 
tilda's title  to  the  English  crown 1GO 

1138  Battle  of  the  standard 160 

Scots  routed  with  great  slaughter 160 

1139  Matilda  lands  in  England 161 

She  is  joined  by  several  barons 161 

England  desolated  by  civil  war 161 

1148  A  cessation  of  arms  takes  place,  and  Matilda 

retires  into  Normandy 161 

1153  Her  son  Henry  invades  England 161 

Evacuates  the  kingdom  on  having  the  succession 

secured  to  him 161,  162 

1154  Death  and  character  of  Stephen 162 

LETTER  XXVIII. 

England,  during  the  Reign  of  Henry  II.,  with  an 
Account  of  the  Affairs  of  France. 

1154  Extensive  continental  dominions  of  Hen- 
ry II 162 

His  popularity  in  England 162 

Civil  and  military  regulation 163 

1162  He  attempts  to   reform  the  abuses   of  the 
church 163 

Difficulty  of  that  undertaking 164 

Character  of  Thomas  &  Becket,  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury    164 

He  declares  himself  the  champion  of  the  clergy  164 

1163  They  plead  an  exemption  from  all  civil  juris- 
diction, and  are  guilty  of  the  greatest  enormi- 
ties    164 

1164  In  order  to  subject  them  to  the  authority  of  the 
legislature,  the  king  enacts  the  constitutions  of 
Clarendon 165 

Becket  opposes  the  operation  of  those  statutes,  ap- 
peals to  the  holy  see,  and  takes  refuge  in 
France 166 

The  pope  annuls  the  constitutions  of  Clarendon,  and 
threatens  Henry  with  the  sentence  of  excommu- 
nication   166 

1170  Afraid  of  the  thunders  of  the  church,  the 
king  permits  Becket  to  return  to  the.  see  of  Can- 
terbury   167 

Insolence  and  arrogance  of  the  primate 167 

He  is  murdered  by  four  gentlemen  of  the  king's 
household 168 

1171  Henry  II.  sends  ambassadors  to  Rome,  to  main- 
tain his  "innocence  of  that  crime 168 

Miracles  said  to  be  wrought  at  the  shrine  of  Thomas 

Becket 168 

Henry  undertakes  the  conquest  of  Ireland 168 

State  of  that  country 168 

1172  Subdued  by  the  English  monarch 169 

Henry  purges  himself  by  oath  of  any  concern  in  the 

murder  of  Becket 169 

1173  His  three  sons  rebel  against  him,  and  are  sup- 
ported by  the  kings  of  France  and  Scotland. .  169 

1174  lie  walks  barefooted  to  Beckct's  tomb,  and 
prostrates  himself  before  the  shrine  of  the   re- 
puted saint,  in  order  finally  to  make  his  peace 
with  the  church '• 170 

Gains  on  the  same  day  a  victory  over  the  Scots  170 

1175  Subdues  his  rebellious  barons  both  in  England 
and  Normandy,  and  accommodates  matters  with 
his  sons 1 70 

Frames  several  wise  ordinances  for  the  government 
of  his  kingdom  170 


1180  Philip  Augustus  succeeds-  to  the  crown  of 
France 171 

1188  He  enters   into   a  confederacy  with   prine« 
Richard,  heir  apparent  to  the   crown   of  Eng 
land 171 

1189  Richard  seduces  the  barons  of  Poitou,  Guienne, 
Anjou,  and  Normandy 171 

His  father  obliged  to  submit  to  his  demands ....  171 

Death  and  character  of  Henry  II 172 

Many  foreign  improvements  introduced  into  England 
during  his  reign 172 

LETTER  XXIX. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome 
and  the  Italian  States,  under  Frederic  1.  surnamed 
Barbarossa,  with  some  Account  of  the  Third.  Cru- 
sade. 

1152  Frederic  duke  of  Suabia,  surnamed  Barba- 
rossa,  elected  emperor  on  the  death  of  Con- 
rad III 172 

He  receives  the  oath  of  fealty  from  Frederic  king  of 
Denmark,  as  a  vassal  of  the  empire 173 

Marches  into  Italy,  where  he  asserts  with  vigour  the 
imperial  authority 173 

1158  Conquers  Poland,  and  erects  it  into  a  tributary 
kingdom 174 

1159  Returns  into  Italy,  wjhich  was  distracted  by 
civil  and  religious  dissensions 174 

1162  Acts  there  with  extreme  rigour 175 

1168  The  principal  Italian  cities  enter  into  an  asso- 
ciation for  the  defence  of  their  liberties 175 

1176  The  imperial  army  defeated  by  the  confede- 
rates, and  the  imperial  fleet  by  the  Venetians  175 

Origin  of  the  ceremony  of  wedding  the  Adriatic  175 
The  emperor  in  his  turn  victorious  175 

1177  The  Italian  cities  submit,  on  obtaining  a  general 
•    pardon,  and  liberty  to  use  their  own  lavvs  and 

forms  of  government 17,") 

1179  New  regulation  with  regard  to  the  election  of 
the  popes 175 

1180  The  emperor  composes   the  troubles  of  Ger 
many,  and  makes  lavvs  for  the  preservation  of  its 
peace  and  good  order 175,  176 

Languishing  state  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  176 

The  holy  city  taken  bySaladin 176 

1187  Resolves  to  undertake  an  expedition  to  the 

Holy  Land*. 176 

1190  Frederic  Barbarossa  crosses  the  Hellespont 

with  a  great  army 177 

Defeats  the  Turks  in  several  battles 177 

Takes  the  city  of  Iconium,  and  passes  Mount 

Taurus l',7 

Dies  in  consequence  of  bathing  in  the  cold  river 

Cydims 177 

LETTER  XXX. 

France  and  England,  from  the  Death  of  Henry  II. 
to  the  granting1  of  the  Oreat  Charter  by  King 
John,  with  a  farther  Account  of  the  Th  ird  Crusade. 

1190  Richard  I.  of  England,  and  Philip  II.  of  France, 
undertake  a  joint  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land  178 

Quarrel  at  Messina  in  the  island  of  Sicily,  but  are 
seemingly  reconciled 179 

1191  Arrive  in  Syria,  and  undertake  the  siege  of 
Ptolemais 179 

Reduce  the  place  after  a  desperate  siege 170 

The  king  of  France  returns  to  Europe  in  dis- 
;ust 179,180 

1192  The  king  of  England  defeats  Snladin  in  a  great 
battle,  and  arrives  within  sight  of  Jerusalem  180 

But  being  abandoned  by  his  associates,  he  is  obliged 
to  relinquish  his  enterprise,  and  conclude  a  truce 
with  the  Saracen  emperor 180 

Death  and  character  of  Saladin 181 

1193  Richard,  returning  in  disguise,  is  made  prisoner 
by  the  duke  of  Austria,  and  confined  in  a  dungeon 
in  Germany 181 

The  king  of  France  and  Richard's  brother  John 
endeavour  to  make  themselves  masters  of  his  do- 
minions    181 

He  purchases  his  release  with  a  large  ransom. .  181 
The  joy  of  the  English  nation  on  his  return ....  1SH 


CONTENTS. 


xiii 


War  between  France  and  England 182 

1199  Richard  mortally  wounded  by  an  arrow. .  182 
Succeeded,  ai'ter  a  bloody  dispute,  by  his  brother 

John 183 

1205  John's  foreign  dominions  are  adjudged  forfeited 

to  the  crown  of  France,  and  successively  subdued 

by  Philip  Augustus 183 

He  is  universally  despised  in  England 183 

Draws  upon  himself  the  indignation  of  the 

clergy 183 

1207  His  kingdom  is  laid  under  an  interdict  by  the 

pope 184 

Awful  execution  of  that  sentence 181 

Innocent  III.  publishes  a  crusade  against  the  Albi- 

genses 184 

1213  Denounces  against  the  king  of  England  the 
sentence  of  deposition,  and  intrusts  the  execution 
of  it  to  the  king  of  France 184,  185 

Both  kings  prepare  for  war 185 

John  abjectly  agrees  to  put  himself  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  pope,  and  to  hold  his  kingdom  as  a 
lief  of  the  church  of  Koine 185 

1215  The  English  barons  have  recourse  to  arms,  and 
extort  from  him  the  Magna,  Ghana,  or  the  Great 
Charter ISO,  187 

Privileges  secured  by  that  charter 187 

LETTER  XXXI. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome 
and  the  Italian  Statt'S,  from  the  Accession  of 
Henry  VI.  to  the  Election  of  Rodolph  of  Haps- 
burffh,  Founder  of  the  House  of  Austria,  with  a 
Continuation  of  Ike  History  of  the  Crusades. 

1190  Frederic  Barbarossa  is  succeeded  in  the  impe- 
rial throne  by  his  son  Henry  VI 187 

1191  Henry  attempts  to  make  himself  master  of  thp 
kingdom  of  Sicily ;  to  which  he  was  heiriii  right 
of  ins  wife  Constantia,  but  which  had  beeW  seized 
by  Tailored,  her  natural  brother 187 

Obliged  to  relinquish  the  enterprise 188 

1192  Incorporates  the  Teutonic  knights  into  a  regu- 
larorder 18d 

Account  of  the  origin  of  those  knights,  and  also  of  the 

knights  templars,  and  knights  hospitalers  — .  188 

1194  The  emperor  makes  new  preparations  for  the 

conquest  of  Sicily,  and  accomplishes  his  purpose 

on  the  death  of  Tancred 188 

His  atrocious  cruelty  and  perfidy  to  the  Sicilians  188 
1196  Attempts  to  render  the  imperial  crown  heredi- 
tary in  his  family 188 

Countenances  a  new  crusade 188 

Three  German  armies  raised  for  the  recovery  of  the 

Holy  Land 189 

Henry  severely  punishes  a  revolt  of  the  Sicilians  189 
Rendered  desperate,  they  again  revolt:  the  empress 
Constamia  heads  them  ;  and  Henry,  having  dis- 
missed his  troops,  is  obliged  to  submit  to  his  wife, 
and  to  the  conditions  she  is  pleased  to  impose  upon 

him  in  favour  of  her  countrymen 189 

Death  and  character  of  Henry  VI 189 

Distracted  state  of  the  empire  during  the  minority 

of  his  son  Frederic  II 189 

1203  New  crusade  under  Baldwin  count  of  Flan- 
ders   190 

12U4  The  champions  of  the  cross  make  themselves 
ma=ters  of  the  Christian  city  of  Constantinople, 

which  they  pillniie 190 

Baldwin  gets  himself  elected  emperor  of  the  East  190 

The  Venetians  and  the  marquis  do  Montferrat  share 

with  him  the  provinces  of  the  Greek  empire  )90 

The  troubles  of  Germany  continue 191 

1214  Frederic  II.  assumes  the  reins  of  government, 
and  commands  implicit  obedience 191 

1216  He  encourages  a  new  crusade 192 

1217  Two    great    armies    raised    under   various 
leaders 192 

1219  Progress  of  the  adventurers 192 

Their  misfortunes 193 

Obliged  to  conclude  a  dishonourable  peace  with 
Meledin,soidan  of  Egypt  and  Syria 193 

1228  The  emperor  embarks  for  the  Holy  Land  194 

1229  Obliges  the  soldan  to  cede  Jerusalem  and  its 
territory  to  the  Christians 194 


The  subsequent  part  of  Frederic's  reign  one  con- 
tinued quarrel  with  the  popes .....  194 

After  his  death  the  affairs  of  Germany  fall  into  the 
utmost  confusion 196 

Origin  of  the  Hanseatic  league 190 

LETTER  XXXII 

England,  from  the  Granting  of  the  Great  Charter  to 
Hie  Reign  of  Edward  I. 

1215  The  pope  absolves  king  John  from  the  oath 
which  he  had  taken  to  observe  the  great 
charier 197 


John  ravages  the  whole  country,  from  Dover  to  Ber 
wick,  with  an  army  of  Brabancons 197 

The  barons,  dreading  the  total  loss  of  their  liberties, 
their  lives,  and  their  possessions,  offer  the  English 
crown  to  Lewis,  eldest  son  of  Philip  Aug-.;ntus, 
king  of  France 197 

121G  Lewis  lands  in  England 197 

Disgusts  the  people  by  his  partiality  to  his  country- 

103 


Death  and  character  of  John 198 

The  principal  barons  agree  to  acknowledge  the  au- 
thority of  his  son  Henry  III 198 

1217  Lewis  obliged  to  evacuate  the  kingdom. . .  198 

The  young  king  offends  the  English  nation  by  his 

profuse  bounty  to  foreign  favourites 19? 

1243  Loses  what  remained  to  him  of  Poitou....  19£ 
1255  The  pope  flatters  Henry  with  the  conquest  of 

Sicily,  and  drains  England  of  immense  sums  undo. 

that  and  other  pretences 200 

The  barons  demand  an  extension  of  thrir  privi 

leges 199 

1258  Headed  by  the  earl  of  Leicester,  they  extort 

from  the  king  the  Provisions  of  Oxford 201 

They  abuse  their  authority 201 

1263  A  civil  war 201 

1264  The   king    and  prince  Edward   made   pri- 
soners    201 

Tyrannical  government  of  Leicester 201 

He  summons  a  new  parliament,  into  which  the  re- 
presentatives of  boroughs  are  admitted 202 

Reflections  on  that  innovation 202 

1265  Prince  Edward  makes  his  escape  from  prison 
and  heads  the  royalists 202 

Leicester  slain,  and  his  army  routed 202 

The  king  restored  202 

His  clemency 202 

1270  Prince  Edward  undertakes  an  expedition  to  t"ie 
Holy  Land,  where  he  signalizes  himself  by  many 
gallant  exploits 203 

1271  Death  and  character  of  Henry  III 203 

LETTER  XXXIII. 

France,  from  the  Reign  of  Philip  Augustus  to  the 
End  of  the  Reign  of  Lewis  IX.  commonly  called 
St.  Lewis,  with  some  Account  of  the  last  Crusade. 

1223  Death  of  Philip  Augustus 203 

Short  reign  of  his  son  Lewis  VIII 203 

Character  of  Lewis  IX 203 

His  humanity  and  generosity 203 

His  superstition 204 

1244  He  makes  a  vow  to  engage  in  a  new  cru 
sade 204 

1248  Sets  sail  for  the  relief  of  the  Holy  Land,  ac 
companied  by  his  queen  and  almost  all  the  knights 
of  France 204 

State  of  the  East  in  those  times 201 

Conquests  of  Genghiz-Kan  and  his  descendants  203 

1249  Lewis  lands  near  the   city  of  Damietla   i,i 
Egypt,  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  men 205 

1250  That  place  is  abandoned  to  Mm,  but  afterward 
besieged,  and  restored  in  consequence  of  the  dis- 
eases in  his  army 205 

1251  Lewis  visits  Palestine,  where   he  continues 
four  years  without  effecting  any  thing  of  mo 

206 


Disorders  in  France  during  his  absence 205 

1258  He  returns  and  makes  many  wise  regulations 

for  the  government  of  his  kingdom 208 

1264  Is  appointed  arbiter  between  the  king  of  Eng 

land  and  his  rebellious  barons 906 


CONTENTS. 


xiv 

Page 

1268  His  brother  establishes  himself  on  the  throne  of 
Sicily 206 

1271  Lewis  IX.  heads  a  new  army  against  tin:  infi- 
dels, and  dies  on  the  coast  of  Africa 206,207 

His  son  PitUip,  JHinuwted  the  Hardy,  saves  the  re- 
mains of  tin;  Fiench  army 207 

LETTER  XXXIV. 

Spain,  from  the  Middle  of  the  Eleventh  to  the  End 
of  t/ie  Thirteenth  Century. 

1037  Rise  of  the  kingdom  of  Castile 207 

Spain  divided  into  many  kingdoms  at  thut  time  207 

Origin  of  kniuhta  errant 207 

Famous  exploits  of  Don  Roderigo,  surnamed  the 
Cid 207 

1084  Memorable  siege  of  Toi«io -07 

1085  Dispute  concerning  the  Roman  and  Musarabic 
liturgies 208 

The  Cid  conquers  Valencia  from  the  Moors... .  208 
1134    Giandeur   of  Alphonso   VII.  king    of  Cas- 


tile 


208 

1147  Alphonso  llenriqiiez,  count  of  Portugal,  ob- 
tains from  his  followers  the  title  of  king 209 

1170  His  regal  dignity  confirmed  by  the  see  of 
Rome 209 

1211  The  Miramolin  of  Africa  undertakes  an  expe- 
dition against  the  Christians  in  Spain,  assisted  by 
the  Moors  in  that  country 209 

The  Christian  princes  unite  from  the  sense  of  a 
common  danger 209 

1312  Battle  of  Sierra  Morena 20i) 

The  Moors  vanquished  after  an  obstinale dispute  209 

1236  Ferdinand  III.  king  of  Castile,  conquers  Cor- 
dova the  seat  of  the  first  Moorish  kings 20!) 

1238  The  infidels  are  also  driven  out  of  the  island  of 
Majorca 209,210 

And  dispossessed  of  the  kingdoms  of  Murcia  and 
Valencia 210 

Ferdinand  III.  takes  from  them  the  opulent  city  of 
Seville 210 

1283  Alphonso,  surnamed  the  Astronomer,  invites 
over  the  Miramolin  to  protect  him  against  his  re- 
bellious sons 210 

1303  Ferdinand  IV.  makes  himself  master  of  Gib- 
raltar   2JO 

LETTER  XXXV. 

Progress  of  Society  in  Europe,  during  the  Twelfth 
and  Thirteenth  Centuries. 

Beneficial  effects  of  the  crusades 210 

Rise  of  commerce 211 

Freedom  of  cities 21 J 

Corporation  charters  granted 211 

Their  happy  consequences 212 

The  commons  obtain  a  place  in  the  national  as- 
semblies., x. 212 

Enfranchisement  of  the  villains,  or  slaves  employed 

in  husbandry • 212 

Abolition  of  trials  by  ordeal  and  by  duel 212 

Suppression  of  the  practice  of  private  war....  213 

Revival  of  the  study  of  thecivillaw 213 

Universities  founded 214 

Academical  titles  and  honours  invented 214 

The  first  studies,  though  ill  directed,  rouse  the  human 

mind 214 

Barbarism  gradually  disappears  with  ignorance  214 

LETTER  XXXVI. 

England,  during  Vie  Rr.ign  of  Edward  /.,  with  an 
Introduction  to  the  History  of  Scotland  ;  some  Ac- 
count of  the  Conquest  of  that  Country  ly  the  Eng- 
lish, and  the  final  Reduction  of  Wales. 

1374  Return  of  Edward  I.  from  the  Holy  Land  215 

His  wise  policy 215 

1276  He  undertakes  an  expedition  against  Lewellyn 
prince  of  North  Wales,  and  obliges  him  to  sub- 
mit    215 

The  Welch  revolt,  and  are  again  s.ubdned 215 

1283  Tin;  laws  of  England  established  in  the  prin- 
cipality of  Wales.  , 215 

Retrospective  view  of  the  history  of  Scotland. .  216 


ft* 

1286  Edward  revives  a  claim  of  feudal  superiority 

over  that  kingdom 216 

Disputed  succession  to  the  Scottish  crown 216 

Edward   chosen   umpire  of  the    dispute    between 
Bruce  and  Baliol,  the  two  competitors 216 

1291  Scotland  acknowledged  by  both  to  be  a  fitf  of 
the  English  monarchy 217 

1292  Edward  gives  judgment  in  favour  of  Baliol  217 

1295  Baliol   enters  into    a    secret    alliance  with 
France 217 

True  era  of  the  English  house  of  commons... .  217 
Its  beneficial  influence  upon  the  constitution*  •  217 

1296  Edward  cites  Baliol  as  his  vassal  to  appear  in 
the  English  parliament 21 

Baliol  refuses  compliance 218 

Edward  enters  Scotland,  and  subdues  the  whole 

country 218 

Baliol  carried  prisoner  to  London,  and  committed  to 

the  tower 218 

Edward  attempts  the  recovery  of  Guienne,  which 

Philip  the  Fair  had  ordered  to  bu  confiscated  as  a 

fiof  of  France 218 

1297  Obtains  large  supplies  from  his  parliament,  and 
confirms  the  great  charter  with    an    additional 
clause 219 

Guienne  restored  to  England 219 

The  Scots  rebel 219 

Character  and  heroic  exploits  of  William  Wallace  219 
He  defeats  the  English  army  near  Stirling,  and  ex- 
pels the  invaders  of  his  country 220 

1298  Edward  again  enters  Scotland  with  a  great 
army,  and  subdues  the  southern  provinces  220,  221 

1305  Wallace  treacherously  delivered  up  to  him,  and 

executed  as  a  rebel 221 

Character  of  Robert  Bruce 221 

He  encourages  his  countrymen  to  shake  off  the  yoke 

of  Enaland 221 

130G  TAe  English  forces  driven  out  of  Scotland  222 
Bruce  defeated  by  Ayinar  de  Valence,  the  generaJ 

of  Edward 222 

1307   Edward  I.  dies  at  Carlisle,  in  advancing  to 

complete  the  recovery  of  Scotland    22 

His  high  character  as  a  legislator 222 

He  regulated  the  jurisdiction  of  the  several  courts, 

and  acquired  the  title  of  the  English  Justinian  223 

LETTER  XXXVII. 

England,  during  the  Reigii  of  Edward  II.,  with  an 
Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland. 

1307  Edward  II.  relinquishes  HIP.  projected  reduction 
of  Scotland  after  a  few  feeble  efforts 23 

Disgusts  the  English  by  his  profuse  liberality  to  Pier 
Gaveston,  a  foreign  favourite 22 

1308  A  confederacy  formed  against  Gaveston. .  22 

He  is  banished 224 

But  recalled,  and  beheaded,  in  consequence  of  a  new 

revolt...! 224 


Edward  resolves  to  subdue  the  Scots 22 

Makes  great  preparations  for  that  purpose 22 

1314  Enters  Scotland  at  the  head  of  one  hundred 
thousand  men 224 

Battle  of  Bannockburn ~- 

The  English  defeated  with  great  slaughter. . .. , .  22a 

1315  The  Scots  ravage  the  northern  counties  of  Eng- 
land, and  invade  Ireland 22 

Brnce  established  on  the  throne  of  Scotland 225 

The  English  barons  insult  the  fallen  fortunes  of 

Edward 225 

His  attachment  fo  Hugh  le  Dcspenser,  a  new  favour- 
ite, furnishes  them  with  a  pretext  for  rebellion  22 

1321  The  favourite  and  his  father  banished. .. .  22 
Recalled,  and  the  rebellious  barons  humbled.. .  22 

1322  The  earl  of  Lancaster  and  about  twenty  other 
noblemen  condemned  and  executed 22 

The  rapacity  of  the  younger  Spenser ~J 

1323  Edward  concludes  a  truce  with  Scotland  f. 

1324  Isabella,  his  queen,  enters  into  a  conspiracy 
Beaimrt  him  with  Roger  Mortimer,  her  gallant,  and 
other  dissatisfied  barons .22 

1326  The  two  Spensers  condemned  and  executed  2S 

1327  The  king  accused  of  incapacity  foi  govern- 
ment, and  deposed 227 

Inhumanly  murdered «*» 


CONTENTS- 


LETTER  XXXVIII. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome 
and  the  Italian  States,  from  the  Election  of  Ro- 
dulph  of  Hapsburg  to  the  Death  of  Henry  VII. 

Page 

1273  Rodulph  count  of  Hapsburg  invested  with  tlie 
imperial  ensigns  after  an  interregnum  of  twenty- 
three  years  228 

He  corrects  the  disorders  in  Germany 228 

1275  Rebellion  of  Ottocarus,  king  of  Bohemia  229 

1276  He  is  compelled  to  submit 2-29 

1277  Again  rebels,  and  is  slain  in  battle 229 

Bodulph  settles  the  affairs  of  Italy 229 

1282  Establishes  the  grandeur  of  his  family  in  Aus- 
tria  .' 229 

1291  His  death  and  character 229 

1292  Adolphus  of  Nassau  elected  emperor 230 

1297  He  is  deposed 230 

Albert  duke  of  Austria   is  raised  to  the  imperial 

throne 230 

And  Albert  kills  his  competitor  Adolphus  in  bat- 


tle 


230 


The  Jews  persecuted  with   great  rigour   in   Ger- 
many  230 

1308  The  rise  of  the  republic  of  Switzerland..  231 
Remarkable  circumstances  with  which  it  was  at- 
tended    231 

The  emperor  Albert  slain  by  his  nephew,  when 
ready  to  march  against  the  Swiss 232 

1309  The  count  of   Luxemburg   elected  emperor, 
under  the  name  of  Henry  VH 232 

1310  He  resolves  to  establish  the  imperial  authority 
in  Italy 233 

State  of  that  country 233 

1311  The  emperor  there  compels  universal    sub- 
mission   233 

1313  Dies  at  Benevento 23i 

LETTER  XXXIX. 

France,  from  the  Death  of  Lewis  IX.  till  the  Ac- 
cession of  tlie  House  of  Valois. 

1270    Accession   of   Philip  III.   to   the   crown  of 

France 234 

1282  Account  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers 234 

1284  Philip  III.  at  the  instigation  of  the  pope,  under- 
takes the  conquest  of  the  kingdom  of  Arragon  235 

1285  Fails  in  that  enterprise,  and  dies  at  Perpig- 
nan 235 

The  first  Freneh  monarch  who  granted  letters  of 

nobility •. .  235 

Accession  of  Philip  IV.  surnamed  the  Fair 235 

He  institutes  the  supreme  tribunals  called  Parlia- 
ments    235 

1303  His  quarrel  with  the  see  of  Rome 236 

Orders  the  pope's  bull  to  be  thrown  into  the  fire  236 
1310  Persecutes  the  knights  templars 237 

1312  Suppression  of  that  order,  and  the  cruel  cir- 
cumstances that  accompanied  it 238 

1314  Philip  IV.  succeeded  by  his  son  Lewis  X. .  238 

1316  Violent  dispute  in  regard  to  the  succession,  on 
the  death  of  Lewis 239 

1317  The  States  of  the  kingdom,  by  a  solemn  de- 
cree, declare  all  females  incapable  of  succeeding 
to  the  crown  of  France 239 

1318  Philip  de  Valois,  in  consequence  of  that  de- 
cree, is  unanimously  raised  to  the  throne  ....  239 

LETTER  XL. 

England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Spain,  during  Me 
Reign  of  Edward  III. 

1327  Tyrannical  government  of  queen  Isabella  and 
Mortimer  her  gallant* 239 

1330  Mortimer  seized  by  order  of  young  Edward, 
and  perisltes  by  the  hands  of  the  hangman.. .  240 

Edward  III.  assumes  the  reins  of  government. .  240 

1331  He  makes  provision  for  the  impartial  admin- 
istration of  justice 240 

Secretly  encourages  Ed  ward  ISaliol  in  his  claim  upon 
the  crown  of  Scotland 240 

1332  Baliol  makes  himself  master  of  that  king- 
dom   241 


1333  Is  expelled,  and  takes  refuge  in  England..  241 

Edward  agrees  to  reinstate  him,  on  his  admitting  the 
superiority  of  England,  and  defeats  the  Scots  with 
great  slaughter  at  Halidown  Hill 241 

Baliol  is  acknowledged  by  a  parliament,  assembled 
at  Edinburgh 241 

Tlie  Scots  auain  revolt  from  Baliol,  and  return  to 
their  allegiance  under  David  Bruce,  the  son  ol 
the  great  Robert 241 

1336  Edward,  a  second  and  third  time,  marches  into 
their  country,  and  obliges  them  to  take  refuge  in 
their  hills  and  fastnesses 241 

He  lays  claim  to  the  crown  of  France 241 

1337  Is  flattered  in  his  pretensions  by  Robert  ot 
Artois 242 

The  kings  of  France  and  England  form  alliances  on 

the  continent 242 

State  of  the  Flemings  242 

1338  They  favour  the  cause  of  Edward 243 

1340  The  English  gain  an  important  advantaee  over 

the  French" by  sea '...  243 

Heroic  character  of  Jane,  countess  of  Mount- 

fnrd 244 

1342  Her  gallant  defence  of  Hennebone 244 

134S  Edward  invades  France  with  an  army  of 

thirty  thousand  men 244 

Philip  de  Valois  advances  against  him  at  the  head  of 

a  hundred  thousand  men 345 

Famous  passage  of  the  Somme 245 

Battle  of  Cressy  [Aug.  26.] 245 

The  French  defeated  with  great  slaughter 245- 

Reflections  on  the  invention  of  firearms 245 

David  Bruce,  king  of  Scotland,  invades  Eng- 
land    246 

He  is  defeated  and  made  prisoner  by  an  English 

army  under  queen  Philippa  and  Lord  Percy  [Oct. 

17.] 246 

1347  Calais  taken  by  Edward 246 

1348  He  concludes  a  truce  with  France,  and  returns 
in  triumph  to  England 246 

1350  Institutes  the  order  of  the  garter 246 

A  dreadful  pestilence  in  England 247 

Death  of  Philip  de  Valois 247 

Character  of  king  John,  his  son  and  successor. .  247 
Dangerous  intrigues  of  Charles,  king  of  Navarre  247 

1356  Edward   prince  of  Wales,  commonly  called 
the  Black  Prince,  invades  France  on  the  expira- 
tion of  the  truce 247 

Battle  of  Poictiers  [Sept.  19.] 248 

The  prince  of  Wales  defeats  the  French,  and  takes 

their  king  prisoner 248 

His  generous  treatment  of  the  captive  monarch  248 

1357  He  concludes  a  truce  for  two  years,  and  returns 
to  England 248 

1358  Distracted  state  of  France 248 

The  nobility  and  gentry  exposed  to  the  barbarity  of 

the  common  people 249 

These  disorders  suppressed  by  the  dauphin. ...  249 

1359  Edward  HI.  again  invades  France 250 

1360  Concludes  an  advantageous  peace  with   his 
prisoner,  king  John,  who  obtains  his  liberty. .  250 

1363  John,  unable  to  fulfil  the  articles  of  the  treaty, 
honourably  returns  to  his  confinement   in  Eng- 
land   250 

1364  His  death 250 

He  is  succeeded  in  the  throne  of  France  by  his  son, 

Charles  V 250 

Wise  policy  of  Charles 250 

1365  His  general,  Demand  du  Guesclin,  defeats 
the  king  of  Navarre,  and  order  is  restored  to 
France 250 

Miserable  state  of  Spain  under  Peter  1 251 

1366  Peter  dethroned  by  his  brother  Henry,  assisted 
by  a  French  army  under  du  Guesclin 251 

1367  Restored  by  an  English  army,  under  the  Black 
Prince 251 

His  ingratitude  to  his  benefactor 252 

1368  He  is  slain  by  his  brother  Henry 252 

1370  111  health  of  the  Black  Prince 252 

The  English  are  stripped  of  most  of  their  conquests  in 

France 252 

1376  Death  of  the  Black  Prince 252 

1377  Death  of  king  Edward  III .  252 

1380  Death  of  Charles  V.  of  France ,  253 


xvi 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER  XLI. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Home 
and  the  Italian  States,  from  the  Election  of  Lewis 
of  Bavaria  to  the  Death  of  Charles  IV. 


1313  Death  of  Henry  VII.  followed  by  an  interreg- 
num    253 

ttaly  and  Germany  desolated  by  civil  wars 253 

1319  The  battle  of  Muldorff 253 

1322  Lewis  V.  undisputed  emperor 253 

1324  The  pope  declares  his  election  void 25-i 

1328  He    inarches  into    Italy,   and    deposes   John 

XX11 254 

1338  Establishes  a  constitution,  with  the  concur- 
rence of  the  princes,  both  ecclesiastical  and  secu- 
lar, by  which  it  was  irrevocably  fixed,  "  That  the 
plurality  of  the  suffrages  of  the  Electoral  College 
confers  the  empire,  without  the  consent  of  the 

holy  tee." 255 

Germany  employs  the  blessings  of  peace 255 

1347  Lewis  V.  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne  by 
the   duke  of  Luxemburg,   under    the   name   of 
Charles  IV 255 

Nicholas  Rienzi,  an  ambitious  demagogue,  excites 

disorders  in  Rome 256 

Story  of  Joan  queen  of  Naples 250 

1348  Lewis  king  of  Hungary,  her  husbnnd's  brother, 
accuses  her  of  the  murder  of  that  prince 256 

She  is  acquitted  by  the  pope 256 

1355  The  ernperor  Charles  IV.,  having  settled  the 
affairs  of  Germany,  is  crowned  at  Rome 257 

1356  He  fixes  the  number  of  electors,  by  the  famous 
constitution,  called  The  Golden  Bull 257 

Style  of  that  celebrated  charter 257 

Pomp  with  which  the  publication  of  it  was  accom- 
panied    257 

The  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles  IV.  distin- 
guished by  no  memorable  event 258 

1378  His  death 253 


LETTER  XLH. 

England,  from  the  Death  of  Edward  III.  to  the 
Accession  of  Henry  V.,  with  some  Account  of  the 
Jlffairs  of  Scotland  during  that  Period. 

1377  Accession  of  Richard  II.  son  of  the  Black 
Prince 258 

1380  Discontents  of  tlie  common  people 258 

1381  Insurrection  of  Wat  Tyler 250 

Suppressed  by  the  address  of  the  young  king. . .  259 
1385  Fruitless  expedition    of  Richard  into    Scot- 
land   260 

He  resigns  himself  to  the  direction  of  Robert  de 

Vere,  a  worthless  favourite 260 

A  civil  war 2(10 

1388  The    king    obliged    to    resign   the   govern- 
ment  260 

1389  He  recovers  his  authority 260 

Addicted  to  low  pleasures • 260 

1397  Intrigues  and  murder  of  the  duke  of  Glou- 
cester    200 

1398  Unpopular  conduct  of  Richard  II 261 

1399  Henry  duke  of  Lancaster,  who  had  been  ban- 
ished, lands  in  England,  and  is  joined  by  many 
disaffected  noblemen 261 

Richard,  deserted  by  his  army,  is  deposed  and  mur- 
dered, and  the  duke  of  Lancaster  is  declared  king, 
under  the  name  of  Henry  IV 202 

1400  Henry  persecutes  the  followers,  of  Wickliffe, 
the  first  English  reformer,  in  order  to  procure  the 
support  of  the  clergy 262 

Rebellion  of  Owen  Glendour  in  Wales 262 

The  Scots  make  incursions  into  England 202 

1402  Defeated  at  Homeldon 263 

The  earl  of  Northumberland,  in  disgust,  forms  an 

alliance  with  Glendour ". 263 

1403  The  rebels  defeated  with  great  slaughter  near 
Shrewsbury 204 

1409  The  Welch  submit 264 

1413  Death  and  character  of  Henry  IV 264 


LETTER  XLJII 

Tlie  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Romt 
and  the  Italian  States,  from  Ike  Accession  of 
Winceslaus  to  the  Death  of  Sigtsmund. 

Page 

1378  Winceslaus  succeeds  his  father,  Charles  IV.,  in 
the  imperial  throne 205 

1379  Gives  himself  up  to  all  kinds  of  debauchery  265 
Sequel  of  the  story  of  Joan  queen  of  Naples. .  265 
1383  She  is  smothered  between  two  mattiesses  265 
Exploits  of  Margaret  queen  of  Denmark,  surnamed 

the  Semiiamis  of  the  North 265,266 

1399  The  emperor  Winceslaus  deposed 266 

Election  of  Robert  count  palatine  of  the  Rhine  266 
1401  Expedition  of  the  new  emperor  into  Italy  266 

1400  Disorders   in    Bohemia,   occasioned    by   the 
preaching  of  John  Huss 266 

The  church  of  Rome  distracted  l>y  what  is  called  the 
Grand  Schism  of  the  We*t 267 

1410  Death  of  the  emperor  Robert 267 

1411  Sigismund,  brother  of  Winceslaus,  succeeds  to 
the  imperial  throne 267 

He  convokes  the  council  of  Constance,  with  the 
concurrence  of  the  pope 267 

1414  Description  of  the  meeting  of  that  council,  and 
an  account  of  its  decress 267 

1415  Condemnation  and  death  of  John  Huss...  268 
Proceedings  against  the  aulipope  Peter  de  Luna  268 

1416  Trial.and  sufferings  of  Jerome  of  Prague  368, 860 

14 17  The  schism  in  the  church  closed 269 

1419  The  Hussites  in  Bohemia,  under  Ziska,  revenge 

the  death  of  their  apostle 269 

1437  Sigismund  enlists  them  in  his  army,  and  leads 
them  against  the  Turks 270 

1438  His  death  and  character 270 

Anarrow-mindedbicot  270 

His  wife  Barbara  more  liberal  in  her  opinions. .  270 

LETTER  XL1V. 

France,  from  the  Death  of  Charles  V.,  in  1380,  to  the 
Invasion  of  that  Kingdom  by  Henry  y.  of  England, 
in  1415. 

1380  Distracted  state  of  France  during  the  minority 
of  Charles  VI 270 

1388  He  assumes  the  reins  of  government,  but  falls 
into  a  fit  of  phrensy 270 

Singular  circumstances  accompanying  his  insa- 
nity    270,271 

Corrupt  state  of  the  French  court. . .- 271 

1407  Assassination  of  the  duke  of  Orleans 272 

The  whole  kingdom  agitated  with  intestine  commo- 
tions, and  divided  by  two  furious  factions. ...  272 

Civil  war  between  tho  Burgundians  and  Armag- 
nacs 272 

1415  Henry  V.  of  England  resolves  to  take  advan- 
tage of  these  disorders 273 

LETTER  XLV. 

England  and  France,  from  the  Invasion  cf  the  latter 

Kingdom  by  Henry  V.  to  the  Death  of  Charles  VI. 

Dissipated  character  of  Henry  V.  while  prince  of 

Wales 373 

1413    His   change  of  conduct  on    ascending    the 

throne 273 

He  endeavours  to  banish  all  party  distinctions. .  273 
1415  Suppresses  an  insurrection  of  the  Lollards  274 

Invades  Fiance 27* 

Distress  of  his  army 374 

Battle  of  Agincourt 27 

The  French  defeated  with  great  slaughter 2* 

Henry  V.  returns  to  England 275 

Wretched  state  of  France ~'J 

1417  The  count  of  Armagnac,  and  many  other  per- 
sons of  distinction,  murdered 276 

1418  The  king  of  England  lands  in  Normandy,  and 
carries  every  thing  before  him 27 

1419  He  negotiates  with  both  the  French  parties  2/o 

1420  Concludes   with  the    queen    and    the    duke 
of  Burgundy  the  famous  treaty  of  Trove,   by 
which  the  succession  to  the  crown  of  France  was 
secured  to  the  king  of  England 276 


CONTENTS. 


XTil 


Marries  the  twincees  vii.->a. in  .     .  —  277 

1421  She  brings  iiin  j  swi,    ...  ...  277 

1422  Death  of  Henry  V ...277 

Death  of  Charles  VI.  of  France 277 

Coronation  of  his  sou  Charles  VII 277 

LETTER  XLVI. 

Fhe  Affairs  of  France  and  England  continued,  from 
the  Accession  of  Charles  VII.  to  the  Expulsion  of 
the  English,  from  their  Continental  Territories. 

422  Comparative  state  of  France  and  England  at 
the  death  of  Henry  V 278 

Duke  of  Bedford  regent  during  the  minority  of 
Henry  VI 278 

Amiable  character  of  Charles  VII 278 

1423  Prudent  measures  of  the  duke  of  Bedford  278 

1424  He  defeats  the  French  and  Scots  in  the  battle  of 
Verneuil 278 

U28  Undertakes  the  siege  of  Orleans 279 

Desperate  state  of  the  affairs  of  Charles  VII. . .  279 

1429  He  is  roused  to  action  by  his  queen  and  his  mis- 
tress   279 

Account  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans 279 

She  is  introduced  to  the  king 280 

Enters  Orleans  at  the  head  of  a  convoy 280 

Charles  VII.  marches  to  Rheims,  where  he  is  so- 
lemnly crowned  and  anointed  at  the  request  of  the 

maid 280 

Recovers  many  places 280 

1430  The  duke  of  Bedford  brings  over  the  young 
king  of  England,  Henry  VI.,  who  is  crowned  and 
anointed  at  Paris,  as  king  of  France 281 

1431  The  maid  is  taken  prisoner,  and  condemned  to 
be  burned  for  sorcery  and  magic 281 

1435  Death  of  the  duke  of  Bedford,  and  the  utter  ruin 

of  the  English  affairs  on  the  continent 281 

Feeble  character  of  Henry  VI 281 

1443  He  is  married  to  Margaret  of  Anjou 282 

1447  Murder  of  the  duke  of  Gloucester 282 

Flourishing  state  of  France  under  Charles  VII . .  282 

1453  The  English  expelled  from  all  their  possessions 

on  the  continent  except  Calais 282 

LETTER  XLVTI. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome 
and  the  Italian  States,  from  the  Death  of  Sigis- 
•mund  to  the  Accession  of  Maximilian. 

1438  Short  reign  of  Albert  II 283 

1439  He  is  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne  by  Fre- 
derick III 283 

1440  Frederick  appears  in  the  council  of  Basil. .  283 

1451  Visits  Italy 283 

1452  Is  there  crowned  king  of  Lombardy 284 

Troubles  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia 284 

Progress  of  the  Tuikg 285 

1456  John  Hunniades  obliges  Mahomet  II.  to  raise 

the  siege  of  Belgrade "....  285 

1493  Death  of  Frederick  III 285 

He  is  succeeded  in  the  Imperial  throne  by  his  son 
Maximilian,  who  had  married  the  heiress  of  Bur- 
gundy and  the  Low  Countries 286 

LETTER  XLVII1. 

England,  during  the  Contest  between  me  Houses  of 
York  and  Lancaster,  and  until  its  fiMtl  Extinction 
in  the  Accession  of  the  House  of  Tudor. 

1450  Richard,  duke  of  York,  sets  up  a  claim  U  the 
English  crown s<86 

1455  Henry  VI.  obliged  to  resign  the  administration 
of  government  into  the  bands  of  his  rival. ...  287 

1458  Acivilwar 287 

1459  The  duke  of  York  is  deserted  by  his  troops,  and 
flies  into  Ireland 287 

1460  The  earl  of  Warwick  defeats  the  royal  army 
at  Northampton,  and  makes  the  king  prisoner  287 

The  duke  of  York  returns  from  Ireland,  and  supports 
bis  claim  to  the  English  crown 287 

He  is  acknowledged  the  true  and  lawful  heir  of  the 
monarchy  by  the  parliament 288 

Is  killed  in  the  battle  of  Wakefield  (Dec.  24.)..  288 
VOL.  I.— B 


1461  His  son  Edward  enters  London,  and  assumes 
the  title  of  king 289 

Character  of  Edward  IV 289 

Henry  VI.  and  queen  Margaret,  after  several  blood) 
battles,  forced  to  take  refuge  in  Scotland.  ..  269 

State  of  that  kingdom 289 

1464  Queen  Margaret  and  the  Scots  defeated  at 
Hexham 290 

Her  singular  escape 290 

1465  King  Henry  made  prisoner,  and  confined  in  the 
tower • 290 

Gallantries  of  Edward  IV 290 

He  marries  lady  Elizabeth  Gray 291 

Rebellion  of  the  earl  of  Warwick 291 

1470  He   associates    himself    with   the   Lancas- 
trians     291 

Edward  IV.,  abandoned  by  his  army,  takes  refuge  in 
Holland 291 

1471  He  returns,  and  totally  defeats  the  Lancastrians 
at  Barnet,  where  Warwick  is  slain 291,  292 

Death  of  Henry  VI 292 

1475  Edward  IV.  invades  France 292,  293 

Concludes  a  truce  with  Lewis  XI 293 

Atrocious  character  of  Richard  duke  of  Gloucester, 

the  king's  brother 291 

1483  He  is  appointed  regent  and  protector  on  the 

death  of  Edward 293 

Orders  lord  Hastings  and  many  other  persons  of  dis- 
tinction to  be  executed  without  any  form  of 

trial  294 

Persecutes  Jane  Shore,  the  late  king's  mistress  294 

Gets  his  brother's  children,  Edward  V.  and  the  duke 

of  York,  murdered,  and  usurps  the  crown  under 

the  name  of  Richard  III 295 

Henry  earl  of  Richmond  disputes  the  kingdom  with 
him. 


296 
1485  Richard  defeated  and  slain  in  the  battle  of 

Bosworth 297 

The  earl  of  Richmond  proclaimed  king,  under  the 

name  of  Henry  VII 297 

LETTER  XLIX. 

France,  from  the  Expulsion  of  the  English  by 
Charles  VII.  to  the  Invasion  of  Italy  by  Charles 
nil.,  in  1494. 

1453  Wise  regulations  of  Charles  VII 298 

He  establishes  a  standing  army 29£ 

1461  His  death 298 

His  son,  Lewis  XI.  seeks  to  depress  the  power  of  the 

nobles 298 

1465  They  rebel  against  him 398 

He  quiets  them  by  a  treacherous  negotiation ....  298 

Corrupts  the  national  assemblies 298 

1467  Made  prisoner  by  Charles  the  Bold,  duke  of 

Burgundy 299 

Obtains  his  liberty,  on  humiliating  conditions. .  299 
The  subsequent  part  of  his  reign  a  continued  scene 

of  tyranny  and  cruelty 299 

He  greatly  enlarges  the  French  monarchy,  and  ex- 
alts the  power  of  the  crown 300 

1483  His  horror  at  the  approach  of  death 300 

The  means  which  he  employed  to  divert  his  melan- 
choly and  prolong  life note,  300 

A   description  of  the  various  instruments  of  his 

cruelty note,  300 

His  complicated  character 301 

1491  Charles  VIII.,  his  son,  unites  Brittany  to  the 
kingdom  of  France,  by  marrying  the  heiress  of 
thatdutchy 302 

1492  Henry  VII.  of  England  invades  France. . .  303 
He  is  induced  to  withdraw  his  forces  by  the  pecu- 
niary stipulations  in  the  treaty  of  Estaples. . .  303 

1494  Charles  VIII.  prepares  for  the  invasion  of 
Italy 30£ 

LETTER  L. 

The  Progress  of  the  Turks,  and  the  Fall  of  the  Greek 
Empire, 

Abject  superstition  of  the  Greeks 302 

1370  John  Paleologus,  emperor  of  Constantinople, 
concludes  a  shameful  treaty  with  the  Turkish 
sultan  Amurath 903 


XVlll 


CONTENTS. 


Page, 

Amurath  establishes  the  body  of  janissaries.. .  303 
Vanquishes  the  Christians,  but  is  slain,  in  the  battle 

of  Cassovia 304 

1389  Succeeded  by  his  son  Bajazet 304 

1396   Bajazet  defeats  the  Christians  at  Nicopolis, 

upon  the  Danube 304 

Manuel  Paleologus,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  pur- 
chases a  peace  by  mean  submissions 304 

1401  The  Turks  invest  Constantinople 304 

The  siege  raised,  in  consequence  of  the  irruption  of 

the  Mogul  Tartars  under  Tamerlane 305 

1402  Tamerlane  defeats  Bajazet  in  the  battle  of  An- 
gora, and  takes  him  prisoner 305 

He  becomes  master  of  Prusa,  the  seat  of  the  Turkish 

emperors;  but  soon  after  abandons  that  city,  and 

all  his  conquests  in  Asia  Minor 305 

Wretched  state  of  the  Greek  empire 305 

14521  Amurath  II.  invests  Constantinople 305 

Raises  the  siege  to  quell  the  revolt  of  his  brother 

Mustapha 305 

1444  Is  defeated  by  John  Hunniades,  vaivode  of 

Transylvania 305 

Concludes  a  truce  of  ten  years  with  the  Christians, 

and  resigns  the  sceptre  to  his  son  Mahomet  II.  305 

The  Christians  break  the  truce 306 

Are  vanquished  by  the  Turks  in  a  great  battle  near 

Varna,  in  Moldavia  (Nov.  10.) 306 

Account  of  George  Castriot,  surnamed  Scander- 

beg 306 

He  rescues  Albania,  his  native  country,  from  the 

Turkish  yoke 306 

Character  of  Mahomet  II 307 

1452  He  forms  the  design  of  making  himself  master 
of  Constantinople 307 

1453  Invests  that  city  both  by  sea  and  land 307 

Particulars  of  the  siege 307 

Constantinople  is  taken,  and  the  Greek  empire,  or 

"Roman  empire  in  the  East,  utterly  subverted  307 

Farther  conquests  of  Mahomet  II 308 

His  death 306 


LETTER  LI. 

Spain,  from  the  Death  of  Peter  the  Cruel,  in  1369, 
till  the  Conquest  of  Granada,  by  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  in  1492. 

Debaucheries  of  Henry  IV.  of  Castile 308 

1464  He  is  deposed  with  great  solemnity  at  Avi- 

la 308,  309 

A  furious  civil  war 309 

1469  The  infanta  Isabella  married  to  Ferdinand, 

prince  of  Arragon 309 

The  civil  war  continues 309 

1479  Accession  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 309 

Their  maxims  of  policy 309 

They  endeavour  to  annihilate  the  territorial  juris- 
diction of  the  nobles 310 

1480  Establish  the  court  of  inquisition 310 

1483  Undertake  the  conquest  of  Granada 310 

1492  Accomplish  their  enterprise,  and  terminate  the 

dominion  of  the  Moors  in  Spain 311 

Expulsion  of  the  Jews 311 

The  infanta  Joan,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, married  to  Philip,  archduke  of  Austria  and 
sovereign  of  the  Netherlands 311 

LETTER  LII. 
England,  during  the  Reign  of  Henry  VII. 

1485  Henry  VII.   by   marrying  Elizabeth,  eldest 
daughter  of  Edward  IV.,  unites  the  claims  of  the 
houses  of  York  and  Lt  incaster 311 

He  retains  an  antipathy  against  the  partisans  of  the 

house  of  York 311 

Insurrections  in  consequence  of  this  prejudice. .  312 
Account  of  the  impostor  Lambert  Simnel 312 

1486  He  assumes  the  character  of  Edward  Planta- 
genet,  eatl  of  Warwick,  son  of  the  duke  of  Cla- 
rence   312 

Excites  an  i  nsurrection  in  Ireland 312 

1487  Is  joined  by  the  earl  of  Lincoln,  at  the  head  of 
two  thousand  men 313 

Lands  in  England 313 

Is  defeated  and  made  prisoner 313 


Henry  turns  his  eyes  towards  the  affairs  on  the  con* 
linent 314 

1492  Invades  France 314 

Concludes,  at  Estaples,  an  advantageous  treaty  with 

Lewis  XI 314 

Story  of  Perkin  Warbec,  a  new  impostor  who  as- 
sumes the  character  of  Richard  duke  of  fork,  son 
of  Edward  IV 315 

1493  Perkin  is  supported  by  the  dutchess  of  Bur- 
gundy   315 

She  honours  him  with  the  appellation  of  the  White 
Rose  of  England 316 

Henry  obtains  the  secrets  of  Perkin,  and  arrests  his 
adherents 316 

Execution  of  lord  Stanley 316 

Perkin  seeks  refuge,  alternately,  in  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land    317 

Lands  in  Cornwall,  and  takes  the  title  of  Richard 
IV 317 

1498  Despairing  of  success,  he  delivers  himself  into 
the  king's  hands,  on  a  promise  of  pardon 317 

1499  Committed  to  the  tower,  and  hanged  for  a  con- 
spiracy against  the  life  of  the  lieutenant 318 

1502  Henry  prince  of  Wales,  married  to  Catharine 
of  Arragon,  his  brother's  widow 318 

Vigorous  but  oppressive  administration  of  Henry 
VII 


318 

His  death  and  character 319 

He  repressed  the  exorbitant  power  of  the  barons,  by 
diminishing  the  number  of  their  retainers....  319 

LETTER  LIIL 

•A  general  View  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  from 
the  Invasion  of  Italy  by  Charles  VIII.,  in  1494, 
till  the  League  of  Cambray,  in  1508. 

1494  State  of  Italy  at  the  invasion  of  Charles 
VIII 320 

He  overruns  the  whole  country,  and  makes  himself 
master  of  Rome 35X1 


Story  of  Zizim,  brother  to  the  Turkish  emperor 
Bajazet  II 321 

He  is  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  French  mo- 
narch by  pope  Alexander  VI 321 

Charles  VIII.  conquers  the  kingdom  of  Naples  321 

1495  The  Italian  States,  the  emperor  Maximilian, 
and  their  Catholic  majesties  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, league  against  him 322 

1496  He  is  driven  out  of  Italy,  and  stripped  of  all  his 
conquests 322 

1498  His  death  and  character 322 

Charles  is  succeeded  in  the  throne  of  France  by  the 

duke  of  Orleans,  under  the  title  of  Lewis  XII.  322 

Generous  spirit  of  Lewis 322 

He  proposes  to  invade  Italy 322 

Infamous  character  and  debauched  manners  of  pope 

Alexander  VI.  and  his  court 323 

He  dissolves  the  marriage  of  Lewis  XII.  with  Joan, 

daughter  of  Lewis  XI 322 

Lewis  marries  Anne  of  Brittany,  the  queen-dowa- 
ger  323,324 

1499  Invades  Italy,  and   conquers  the   dutchy  of 
Milan 324 

1501  Makes  himself  also  master  of  the  kingdom  of 

Naples 324 

Butis  expelled  by  the  arms  and  intrigues  of  Gonsalvo 

de  Cordova,  general  of  the  king  of  Spain ....  324 
Farther  account  of  Alexander  VI.  and  his  son  Caesar 

Borgia 324 

1504  Lewis  XII.  makes  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 

recover  the  kingdom  of  Naples 325 

1506  Marries  his  eldest  daughter  to  the  count  of 

Angoul6me,  first  prince  of  the  blood 325 

LETTER  LIV. 

Europe,  from  the  League  of  Cambray  to  the  Death 
of  Levis  XII. 

1508  Julius  II.,  an  able  and  ambitious  pontiff,  forma 
the  project  of  driving  all  foreigners  out  of  Italy, 

and  of  humbling  the  republic  of  Venice 325 

Policy  and  power  of  that  republic 326 

It  becomes  an  object  of  terror  to  the  other  Italian 
states 3SM 


CONTENTS 


XIX 


Page 

The  league  of  Cambray  formed  against  it 326 

1509  Depressed  condition  of  the  Venetians 327 

The  pope,  having  accomplished  one  part  of  his  plan, 
sows  dissensions  among  the  confederates  ....  327 

J510  The  league  of  Cambray  dissolved 327 

The  Venetians  recover  from  their  consternation  327 

151 1  Henry  VIII.  of  England  agrees  to  send  an  army 
to  invade  France  at  the  solicitation  of  Ferdinand 
king  of  Spain,  his  father-in-law 328 

1512  Lewis  XII.,  in  consequence  of  this  threatened 
invasion,  withdraws    part   of   his   forces    from 
Italy 328 

Ferdinand  conquers  the  kingdom  of  Navarre. . .  328 
Battle  of  Ravenna,  and  death  of  the  gallant  Gaston 

deFoix 328 

The  French  driven  out  of  Italy 328 

1513  Death  of  Julius  II.  and  the  elevation  of  Leo 
X 329 

The  king  of  England  invades  France 329 

Is  joined  by  the  emperor  Maximilian,  who  conde- 
scends to  act  under  him 329 

French  routed  at  Guinegate 329 

The  English  make  themselves  masters  of  Terouane 

and  Tournay 330 

Perilous  situation  of  Lewis  XII 330 

The  Scots  invade  England 330 

Defeated  in  the  field  of  Flouden,  where  James  IV. 
and  the  flower  of  his  nobility  were  slain  (Sept. 


9.). 


330 


General  pacification  among  the  European  pow- 
ers    330 

Death  of  Lewis  XII 331 

1515  His  amiable  character 331 

His  humanity,  generosity,  and  indulgence  to  his 
subjects,  obtained  him  the  appellation  of  Father 
of  his  people 331 

LETTER  LV. 

The  general  View  of  Europe  continued,  from  the 
Accession  of  Francis  I.,  in  1515,  to  the  Death,  of  the 
Emperor  Maximilian,  in  1519;  including  the  Rise 
of  the  Reformation  in  Germany. 

Lewis  XII.  succeeded  by  the  count  of  Angoulfime, 
his  son-in-law,  under  the  name  of  Francis  I . .  331 
Francis  projects  the  recovery  of  the  dutchy  of  Mi- 


lan. 


331 


Is  opposed  by  the  Swiss 331 

Battle  of  Marignan  (Sept.  13.) 332 

The  Swiss  defeated  with  great  slaughter 332 

City  of  Milan  surrenders,  and  the  whole  dutchy  sub- 
mits to  the  French  monarch 332 

1516  Death  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  king  of 
Spain 332 

Succeeded  by  his  grandson  Charles,  heir  to  the  arch- 
duke Philip,  late  sovereign  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries    332 

Vigorous  administration  of  cardinal  Ximenes,  regent 
of  Spain 332 

1517  His  unhappy  fate 333 

Charles    assumes    the     reins   of   government    in 

Spain 333 

1518  Diet  of  Augsburg,  and  the  rise  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  Germany 333 

Corruptions  of  the  Romish  church 333 

The  pope  assumes  the  right  of  pardoning  sins. . .  334 

Nature  of  plenary  indulgences 334 

Mistake  of  Mr.  Hume  in  regard  to  them 334 

Leo  X.  publishes  a  general  sale  of  indulgences,  or 
liberty  to  commit  crimes  without  being  amenable 

to  divine  justice 335 

Abuse  of  this  spiritual  traffic  in  Germany 335 

\lartin  Luther,  professor  of  theology  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Wittemberg,  declares  against  the  sale  of 
indulgences,  and  other  abuses  of  the  Romish 

church 335 

Leo  summons  him  to  answer  for  his  doctrines  at 

Rome 335 

That  citation  revoked  at  the  intercession  of  the  elec- 
tor of  Saxony 335 

Luther  appears  in  the  diet  at  Augsburg 335 

Denied  a  hearing  by  cardinal  Cajettn 335 

B9 


Retires,  and  continues  to  propagate  his  new  opt 

nions 335 

1519  Death  of  the  emperor  Maximilian  1 336 

LETTER  LVI. 

Progress  of  Society  in  Europe,from  the  Beginning 
of  the  Fourteenth  to  the  Middle  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century,  with  a  retrospective  View  of  the  Revival 
of  Letters. 

Recapitulation  of  the  progress  of  society  in  regard 

to  trade  and  industry 336 

The  command  of  national  force,  civil  government, 

and  political  power 336 

Splendour  of  the  Italian  cities 33* 

They  invent  new  arts 337 

Introduce  into  Europe  the  culture  of  silk,  and  of 

other  productions  of  Asia 337 

Flanders  famous  for  the  manufacture  of  linen  and 

woollen  cloth 337 

Its  great  trade 337 

Painting  and  architecture  revive  in  Italy  and  the 

Low  Countries 337 

Reflections  on  learning  and  politeness 338 

The  revival  of  letters,  and  its  remote  causes 338 

Erection  of  schools  under  lay  preceptors 338 

A  more  liberal  mode  of  thinking  introduced....  338 
Effects  of  the  invention  of  paper,  and  of  the  art  of 

printing 339 

Influence  of  women  upon  manners      339 

Their  high  sense  of  honour  during  the  times  of  chi- 
valry    339 


They  inspire  the  men  with  the  most  exalted  cou- 
rage   339 

Origin  of  the  heroic  romance 340 

It  has  its   rise  among   the   Troubadours  of  Pro- 
vence   340 

Its  character 340 

Allegorical  tale,  and  Italian  epic..... 341 

Character  of  Dante,  the  father  of  Italian  poetry  341 

Character  of  Petrarch 341 

Character  of  Boccacio 341 

He  is  imitated  by  Chaucer 342 

Splendour  of  the  court  of  Edward  III.  of  Eng- 
land    342 

Chaucer  its  brightest  ornament 342 

His  character  as  a  poet 342 

State  of  poetry  in  France 343 

Rapid  progress  of  genius  in  Italy 343 

Character  of  the  Orlando  of  Ariosto 343 

Character  of  the  Jerusalem  of  Tasso 343 

Reflections  on  the  revival  of  theatrical  representa- 
tion   344 

Reflections  on  music 344 

Reflections  on  historical  composition 344 

Character  of  Machiavel  and  Guicciardini 344 

Flourishing  state  of  Italy  in  the   sixteenth  cen- 
tury    345 

LETTER  LVB. 

The  Progress  of  Navigation,  and  particularly 
among  the  Portuguese.  A  short  Introduction  to 
the  History  of  Portugal.  The  Discoveries  and 
Settlements  of  the  Portuguese  on  the  Coast  of 
Africa  and  in  the  East  Indies  by  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  The  Discovery  of  America  by  the  Spa- 
jiiards;  the  Settlement  of  the  West  Indies;  and 
the  Conquest  of  Mexico  and  Peru;  together  iciHh 
some  Reflections  on  the  moral  and  political  Conse 
quences  of  those  great  Events. 

View  of  the  state  of  commerce  and  navigation  in 
Europe,  at  the  beginning   of  the  fifteenth   cen- 


tury. 


345 


Rise  of  the  kingdom  of  Portugal  345,  346 

1385  Accessionof  John  I.  surnamed  the  Bastard  346 

1414  He  takes  Ceuta  from  the  Moors 346 

Enlightened  genius  of  his  son,  Don  Henry 346 

1420  Discovery  of  the  island  of  Madeira  by  the 

Portuguese 346 

1484  Discovery  of  the  river  Zara,  and  the  kingdom 

of  Congo 346 

I486  Discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope...  346 
1497  Voyage  of  Vasco  de  Garaa 346 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

1493  He  arrives  in  the  East  Indies 346 

State  of  commerce  in  the  East 347 

1499  Gama  encounters  many  dangers,  and  returns 
to  Lisbon 347 

1500  Voyage  of  Alvarez  de  Cabral 347 

1501  The  Portuguese  establish  themselves  by  force 
of  arms  on  the  coast  of  Malabar 347,  348 

1508  They  monopolize  the  trade  of  the  East  Indies  348 

1509  Their  conquests  there  under  Albuquerque  348 
151 1   He  makes  himself  master  of  Goa  and   Ma- 
lacca   348,349 

1515  Of  Ormus  in  the  Persian  Gulf. 349 

His  death  and  character 349 

Christopher  Columbus,  a  Genoese  navigator,  pro- 
jocts  the  discovery  of  a  new  continent  towards  the 

West 350 

His  proposals  long  treated  with  neglect 350 

1492  Patronised  by  Isabella,  queen  of  Spain,  and 
sails  from  the  port  of  Palos  in  Andalusia 350 

Discovers  the  Archipelago  of  America,  to  which  he 
gives  the  name  of  the  West  Indies 350 

Character  of  the  natives  of  Hispaniola,  where  Co- 
lumbus planted  a  colony 351 

1493  He  returns  to  Spain,  where  he  is  treated  with 
great  respect 351 

Makes  another  voyage  with  little  success 351 

1498  In  a  third  voyage  discovers  the  continent  of 

America 352 

1«99  Voyage  of  Americus  Vespucius 352 

He  gives  his  own  name  to  the  New  World,  in  preju- 
dice of  the  prior  right  of  Columbus 352 

Misfortunes  and  injuries  of  Columbus 352 

1506  His  death  and  character 353 

Cruelty  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  West  Indies. . .  353 

1518  Discovery  of  the  empire  of  Mexico 353 

1519  Invaded  by  Cortez,  the  Spanish  general,  with 
only  five  hundred  men 353 

Circumstances  favourable  to  his  enterprise —  353 
He  receives  an  embassy  from  the  emperor  Mon- 

tezuma 353 

Negotiates  with  the  tributary  princes  and  states  354 
Defeats  the  Tlascalans,  and  enters  into  a  treaty  with 

them 354 

Admitted  by  Montezuma  into  the  city  of  Mexico  354 
Makes  the  emperor  prisoner  in  his  own  capital  354 

1520  A  Spanish  army  sent  against  him  by  the  go- 
vernor of  Cuba 354 

He  defeats  his  rival 354 

The  Mexicans  revolt  in  his  absence 354 

Their  desperate  valour 354 

Death  of  Montezuma 355 

Cortez  obliged  to  abandon  the  city  of  Mexico. . .  355 

The  Mexicans  pursue  him,  and  are  totally  defeated 

in  the  battle  of  Otumba 355 

1521  Final  subjection  of  the  Mexican  empire...  355 
Doubts  concerning  the  civilization  of  the   Mexi- 
cans    355 

Their  bloody  superstition 356 

1532  A  Spanish  adventurer,  named  Pizarro,  under- 
takes the  conquest  of  Peru 356 

State  of  that  empire 356 

Treachery  and  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards 356 

1533  Conquest  of  Peru,  and  murder  of  Atahualpa  356 
Inquiry,  "  How  far  the  discoveries  of  the  Portuguese 

and  Spaniards  have  been  advantageous  to  Europe,, 

or  beneficial  to  mankind  7" 357 

The  East  India  trade  drains  Europe  of  its  bullion 

and  specie 357 

The  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru  necessary  to  supply 

that  drain 357 

The  discovery  of  America  has  increased  the  labour 

of  Europe,  and  the  number  of  the  civilized  part 

of  the  human  species 357 

The  violent  settlement  of  the  European  colonies  in ! 

the  New  World  to  be  lamented 358 

LETTER  LVIII. 

*  general  View  of  the  Affairs  of  Europe,  from  the 
Election  of  Charles  F.,  in  1519,  till  the  Peace  of 
Cambray,  in  1529,  including  the  Progress  of  the 
Reformation. 

State  of  Germany  at  the  death  of  the  emperor 
Maximilian 358 


Threatening  posture  of  the  Turks 356 

Extensive  dominions  of  the  archduke  Charles,  king 

of  Spain  and-sovereign  of  the  Netherlands  . .  358 
High  reputation  and  great  power  of  Francis  I. .  358 
He  and  Charles  candidates  for  the  imperial  crown  358 

Their  respective  pretensions 353 

Charles  elected  emperor 359 

Chagrin  of  Francis 359 

Their  emulation  and  interfering  claims 359 

Henry  VIII.  courted  by  both,  as  the  next  prince  of 

the  age  in  power  and  dignity 359 

His  character,  and  that  of  his  minister  cardinal 

Wolsey 359 

1520  The  emperor  Charles  V.  artfully  pays  a  visit  to 
the  king  of  England,  in  his  way  from  Spain  to  the 
Netherlands 360 

Splendid  interview  between  Henry  and  Francis  near 

Guisnes 360 

Charles  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 3fil 

Orders  a  diet  to  be  held  at  Worms  for  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  reformed  opinions 361 

Progress  of  Luther  in  Germany 361 

Of  Zuingliusin  Switzerland 361 

1521  Luther  summoned   to   attend   the  diet  of 
Worms 362 

His  wonderful  popularity  there 362 

His  firmness  in  maintaining  his  doctrines 362 

Is  permitted  to  depart,  in  consequence  of  the  empe- 
ror's safe-conduct 362 

Propagates  his  opinions  in  solitude,  though  at  the 

hazard  of  his  life 362 

Disturbances  in  Spain 362 

Hostilities  begun  between  Charles  and  Francis . .  363 
The  pope,  the  emperor,  and  the  king  of  England 

enter  into  a  league  against  France 363 

Rapid  progress  of  the  imperial  arms  in  Italy ....  363 

1522  The  French  stripped  of  all    their   territories 
there 364 

An  English  army  invades  France  without  effect  364 

The  tumults  in  Spain  quelled 364 

Solyman  II.,  emperor  of  the  Turks,  makes  himself 
master  of  the  island  of  Rhodes,  the  seat  of  the 

knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem 364 

Perilous  state  of  Francis  1 365 

1523  He  determines  to  lead  a  strong  army  into 
Italy 365 

Conspiracy  of  the  constable  Bourbon 365 

He  escapes,  and  enters  into  the  imperial  ser- 
vice    366 

Thwarts  the  designs  of  Francis  in  Italy 366 

1524  The  French  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Bia- 
grassa 366 

Death  of  the  chevalier  Bayard 366 

Francis,  successful  on  his  own  frontier,  marches  into 
Italy,  and  lays  siege  to  Pavia  (Oct.  28.)  366,  367 

1525  Battle  of  Pavia  (Feb.  24.) 367 

The  French  army  routed  with  great  slaughter,  and 

the  king  himself  made  prisoner,  by  the  imperial- 
ists, under  Bourbon  and  Pescara 367 

Prudent  conduct  of  Louisa,  Francis's  mother.  •  368 
Henry  VIII.  becomes  anxious  for  the  liberties  of  Eu- 
rope    368 

tie  interposes  in  favour  of  the  French  monarch  368 

Sebaviourof  Francis  in  confinement 363 

[526  He  signs  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  in  consequence 

of  which  he  obtains  his  liberty 368 

Evades  the  execution  of  that  treaty 369 

Clement  VII.  forms  a  powerful  league  against  the 

emperor 369 

1527-  The  city  of  Rome  taken  and  plundered  by  the 

imperialists  under  Bourbon,  who  is  slain 369 

The  pope  is  made  prisoner 369 

Horrid  circumstances  with  which  the  sacking  of 

Rome  was  accompanied 369 

Charles  V.,  though  highly  pleased  with  the  success 
of  his  arms,  affects  the  deepest  sorrow  on  the 
occasion 370 

1528  The   French  again  invade  Italy,  and  lose 
another  army 37C 

1529  The  Turks  threaten  Germany 37C 

Peace  of  Cambray 37G 

The  Italian  states  abandoned  to  the  will  of  the  em- 
peror   37C 

His  lenity 370 


CONTENTS. 


xxi 


LETTER  LIX. 


Tkt  general  Vitw  of  the  Affairs  of  Europe,  and  of 
the  Progress  of  the  Reformation  on  the  Continent, 
continued  from  Ike  Peace  of  Cambray  to  that  of 
Crespy,  in  1544. 

Page 

Almost  one-half  of  the  Germanic  body  had  embraced 
the  opinions  of  Luther,  during  the  contest  between 
UK  emperor  and  the  pope 371 

1529  Charles  V.  summons  a  diet  at  Spire,  to  take 
into  consideration  the  state  of  religion 371 

The  diet  issues  a  decree  confirming  the  edict  of 
Worms  against  Luther,  and  prohibiting  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  mass 371 

Several  princes  and  imperial  cities  protest  against 

ti.is... .: :. 371 

Hence  they  were  called  PROTESTANTS  ;  an  appella- 
tion become  common  to  all  the  Christian  sects 
who  have  since  separated  themselves  from  the 
church  of  Rome 371 

1530  The  Confession  of  Augsburg,  or  system  of 
Protestant  opinions 371 

1531  The  league  of  Smalkalde 371 

1532  The   Protestants    obtain     liberty     of     con- 
science   372 

1533  The  empenir  Charles  V.  takes  the  field  against 
the  Turks,  and  obliges  Solyman  II.  to  retire  372 

He  visits  Spain 372 

Great  disorders  in  Germany  during  his  ibsence,  oc- 
casioned by  a  fanatical  sect  nameA  Anabap- 


tists- 


372 
Their  absurd  tenets  and  licentious  conduct- ..  •  372 

1534  They  form  a  kind  of  sensual  republic  at  Mun- 
ster 372 

John  of  Leyden,  their  apostle,  assumes  the  title  of 
king 373 

1535  Munster  taken  by  surprise,  and  most  of  the 
Anabaptists  slain 373 

lohn  of  Leyden,  being  made  prisoner,  suffers  death 
with  the  firmness  of  a  martyr 373 

Charles  V.  solicited  to  undertake  an  expedition 
against  the  piratical  states  on  the  coast  of 
Africa 373 

Account  of  those  states,  and  of  the  famous  corsair 
Barbarossa 373 

The  emperor  sets  sail  for  Tunis  with  a  formidable 
armament 373,  374 

Takes  the  Goletta,  or  key  of  the  harbour,  by  storm ; 
defeats  Barbarossa  in  the  field ;  makes  himself 
master  of  Tunis,  and  procures  liberty  for  twenty 
thousand  Christian  slaves 374 

The  king  of  France,  during  the  absence  of  Charles, 
revives  his  claims  in  Italy 374 

Persecutes  the  Protestants,  in  order  to  show  his  zeal 
for  the  ancient  faith 374 

He  walks  in  procession  before  the  Host  through  the 
city  of  Paris 374 

invades  the  dominions  of  the  duke  of  Savoy  —  375 

Death  of  Sforza,  duke  of  Milan 375 

The  emperorseizes  on  that  dutchy 375 

Francis  I.  claims  it 375 

1536  War  between  them  renewed 375 

Charles  invades  France 375 

Admirable  plan  of  defence  adopted  by  the  king  376 
Theemperor  obliged  to  retreat,  after  having  lost  one- 
half  of  hi?  army,  without  making  himself  master 
of  one  important  place 376 

1537  Indecent    display   of    the     resentment    of 
Francis 376 

A  suspension  of  arms  takes  place  between  the  hostile 

rivals 377 

Barbarn?=a  ravages  the  coast  of  Italy 377 

The  Tu  rks  invade  Hungary,  and  defeat  the  Germans 

at  Essex  on  the  Drave 377 

Truce  between  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  France 

conclude^  at  Nice 377 

Francis  visits  Charles  on  board  his  galley,  off  the 

coast  of  Provence 377 

Charles  returns  his  visit  on  shore 378 

Assassination  of  Lorenzo  of  Medicis 378 

The  emperor's  troops  mutiny  for  want  of  pay. .  378 
1539  The  cortes  of  Castile,  assembled  at  Toledo, 

refuse  to  grant  him  the  supplies  demanded  . .  378 
He  dismisses  them  with  indignation,  and  subverts 


the  ancient  constitution  of  that  national  assem- 
bly   378 

The  citizens  of  Ghent  break  out  into  open  rebellion 
on  account  of  an  unconstitutional  tax 37(3 

They  offer  their  sovereignty  to  Francis  I.  who  re- 
jects it,  and  betrays  them  to  Charles 379 

1540  The  emperor  punishes  them  with  awful  seve- 
rity, and  strips  their  city  of  its  ancient  privi- 
leges   379 

He  incenses  Francis,  by  finally  denying  him  the  in- 
vestiture of  the  dutchy  of  Milan 379 

1541  Assists  at  a  conference   of   Protestant  and 
popish  divines 380 

Rapid  progress  of  the  Turks  in  Hungary 380 

Great  revolution  in  that  kingdom 380 

It  becomes  a  province  of  the  Ottoman  empire  381 
Charles  V.  undertakes  an  expedition  against  Al- 
giers    ••••   381 

Account  of  that  piratical  state 381 

The  emperor  lands  on  the  coast  of  Africa 381 

His  fleet  dispersed  by  a  violent  storm,  and  his  army 
obliged  to  re-embark  in  the  greatest  distress. .  381 

His  fortitude  under  all  his  disasters 381 

The  utter  failure  of  his  enterprise  encourages  the 
king  of  France  to  commence  hostilities  against 

him 382 

Charles  secures  the  fidelity  of  the  Protestant  princes 
by  new  concessions,  and  gains  the  alliance  of 
Henry  VIII.  of  England 382 

1542  Vast  and  speedy  military   preparations  of 
Francis  1 382 

1543  He  is  assisted  by  a  Turkish  fleet,  under  Bar- 
barossa    382 

1544  The  imperialists  defeated  in   the  battle  of 
Cerisoles 382 

Peace  between  Charles  and  Francis  concluded  at 
Crespy 382 

The  emperor's  motives  for  acceding  to  that 
treaty 383 

1545  Hostilities  continued  between  France  and  Eng- 
land   383 

1546  Henry  and   Francis   negotiate   a   peace   at 
Campe 382 

LETTER  LX. 

The  domestic  History  of  England  during  the  Reign 
of  Henry  VIII.,  with  some  Account  of  the  Affaire 
of  Scotland,  and  of  the  Rise  of  the  Reformation 
in  both  Kingdoms. 

1509  Fortunate  situation  of  Henry  VIII.  at  his  ac- 
cession    383 

His  mental  and  personal  qualities 383 

He  grants  a  warrant  for  the  execution  of  Empson 
and  Dudley,  two  instruments  of  his  father's  rapa- 


city. 


383 


Consummates  his  marriage  with  the  infanta  Catha- 
rine, his  brother's  widow 383 

Absolute  ascendancy  of  Wolsey  over  the  king  384 
1521  Execution  of  the  duke  of  Buckingham...  384 
1527  Henry  resolves  to  divorcequeen  Catharine  384 

Character  of  Anne  Boleyn 384 

She  captivates  the  king's  heart 384 

1529  The  pope  opposes  the  dissolution  of  Henry's 
marriage 385 

The  principal  universities  in  Europe  consulted  on 
the  subject,  by  the  advice  of  Dr.  Thomas  Cran- 
mer 385,386 

1530  Fall  and  death  of  Wolsey 386 

1532  Cranmer,  become  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
dissolves    the    king's    marriage    with  Catha- 
rine  386 

He  espouses  Anne  Boleyn 386 

1533  Final  rupture  between  Henry  and  the  see  of 
Rome 387 

1534  He  is  declared  by  the   parliament  "the  only 
supreme  HEAD  of  the  Church  of  England  upon 
Earth!" 387 

Consequences  of  this  declaration 387 

Dogmatical  and  tyrannical  disposition  of  Henry 
VIII 387 

1535  Execution  of  sir  Thomas  More,  for  refusing  to 
acknowledge  the  king's  supremacy 387 

1536  Dissolution  of  the  less  monasteries 38» 


XX11 


CONTENTS. 


Page 
Decay  of  Henry's  affections  for  his  queen,  Anne 

Boleyn 388 

Her  trial  and  execution 388 

The  king  marries  Jane  Seymour 388 

The  duke  of  Norfolk  suppressus  a  rebellion  in  Lin- 
colnshire, raised  by  the  expelled  monks 389 

1537  The  queen  delivered  of  a  son 389 

Her  death 389 

Impostures  of  the  Romish  clergy 389 

1538  Suppression  of  the  monasteries  all  over  Eng 
land 390 

1539  The  law  of  the  Six  Articles 390 

1540  Henry  VIII.  marries  Anne  of  Cleves 390 

Execution  of  lord  Cromwell 390,  391 

The  king's  marriage  dissolved  by  the  convocation  301 
He  espouses  Catharine  Howard,  niece  to  the  duke 

of  Norfolk 391 

Persecutes  the  Protestants 391 

1541  Discovers  that  his  queen  had  been  incontinent 
before  marriage 391 

1542  Brings  her  to  the  block,  and  passes  a  very  sin- 
gular law 391 

Makes  war  against  his  nephew,  James  V.  of  Scot- 
land    391 

Disasters  and  death  of  James 392 

Henry  forms  a  project  for  uniting  the  crowns  of 
England  and  Scotland 392 

1543  Marries    Catharine    Parr,   widow    of   lord 
Latimer 393 

1546  Example  of  her  address  in  soothing  his  violent 
temper 393 

He  cruelly  persecutes  all  who  differ  from  him  in 

religious  opinions 393 

Execution  of  the  earl  of  Surry 393,  394 

1547  Death  of  Henry  VIII 394 

Reflections  on  his  tyrannical  administration  . . .  394 
He  makes  the  parliament  the   instrument  of  his 

despotism 394 

Danger  of  such  policy  to  the  British  constitution  395 

LETTER  LXI. 

A  general  View  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  in- 
cluding the  Progress  of  the  Reformation  in  Ger- 
many, from  the  first  Meeting  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  in  1546,to«Ae  Peace  of  Religion,  concluded 
at  I'assau,  in  1552. 

1546  The  emperor  Charles  V.  concludes  a  peace 
with  Solyman  II 395 

He  enters  into  an  alliance  with  pope  Paul  III.  for 

the  extirpation  of  heresy 395 

The  Protestants  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  legality 

of  the  council  of  Trent 395 

The  emperor  resolves  to  compel  their  obedience, 
but  endeavours  to  conceal  his  purpose  in  taking 

arms 395 

Doaih  of  Luther 3% 

State  of  Germany 396 

The  Protestants  assemble  a  great  army 396 

They  imprudently  negotiate,  instead  of  fighting  396 
Are  deserted  by  Maurice,  marquis  of  Misnia  . .  396 

His  profound  dissimulation 39 

He  invades  the  electorate  of  Saxony 397 

The  elector  separates  himself  from  the  confede- 
rates, in  order  to  preserve  his  hereditary  domi- 
nions    397 

1547  All  the  members  of  the  league  of  Smalkalde 
submit  to  the  emperor,  except  the  elector  of  Saxo- 
ny and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse 397 

Paul  III.,  become  jealous  of  the  power  of  Charles  V., 

raises  up  new  enemies  against  him 397 

Death  of  Francis  I.  and  accession  of  his  son  Henry 

II 398 

The  emperor  defeats  the  forces  of  John  Frederick 
elector  of  Saxony,  and  makes  him  prisoner. . .  39 

Dignified  behaviour  of  that  prince 39 

Heroic  conductor  his  wife  Sybilla 398 

In  compliance  with  the  entreaties  of  his  family,  he 

submits  to  humiliating  conditions 399 

The  electorate  of  Saxony  bestowed  upon  Man- 
rice 399 

Cruel  treatment  of  the  landgrave  of  Hesse 399 

Charles  V.  governs  Germany  with  absolute 
sway  400 


He  summons  a  diet  at  Augsburg,  ••  finally  to  compose 
the  controversies  in  regard  to  religion" 400 

1548  Protests  against  the  translation  of  the  general 
council  from  Trent  to  Bologna 400 

Publishes  a  temporary  system  of  doctrine  and  wor- 
ship, under  the  name  of  Interim * 401 

It  pleases  neither  Protestants  nor  papists 401 

Manly  firmness  of  the  deposed  elector  of  Saxony  401 
Discontents  of  the  sacred  college  at  the  publication 

of  the  Interim 402 

Enmity  between  the  pope  and  the  ernperor. .. .  403 
Rapacity  of  Charles 402 

1549  Death  of  Paul  III 403 

Affecting  circumstances  with  which  it  was  accom- 
panied    403 

Character  of  the  new  pontiff,  Julius  III 403 

1550  He  orders  the  general  council  to  reassemble  at 
Trent 403 

The  emperor  refuses  to  set  the  landgrave  of  Hesse 

at  liberty 404 

Singular  act  of  his  despotism 404 

1551  Fails  in  an  attempt  to  get  his  son  Philip  de- 
clared king  of  the  Romans 404 

He  turns  all  his  attention  to  the  establishment  of 

uniformity  of  religion  in  the  empire 404 

War  of  Parma 405 

Proceedings  of  the  council  of  Trent 405 

The  German  Protestants  prohibited  from  teaching 

any  doctrine  contrary  to  its  decrees 405 

Maurice,  elector  of  Saxony,  resolves  to  oppose  the 
civil  and  religious  despotism  of  the  emperor. .  405 
Charles  entertains  no    apprehensions  of  his   de- 


406 

A  new  revolution  in  Hungary 406 

Ferdinand  king  of  the  Romans,  the  emperor's 
brother,  obtains  that  crown,  through  the  intrigues 

of  Martinuzzi  bishop  of  Waradin 406 

Cruelly  orders  Martinuzzi  to  be  assassinated. . .  407 
Maurice  concludes  an  alliance  with  Henry  II.  of 

France 407 

1552  He  demands  in  vain  the  liberty  of  the  land- 
grave    407 

The  emperor  remains  in  delusive  security 408 

Maurice  and  his  Protestant  confederates  take  the 

field 408 

The  king  of  France  at  the  same  time  takes  arms,  and 
makes  himself  master  of  Metz,  Toul,  and  Ver- 
dun   408 

The  emperor  has  recourse  to  negotiation 408 

Maurice  attempts  to  surprise  him  at  Inspruck. .  408 

He  escapes  over  the  Alps  in  a  litter 408 

Maurice  negotiates  with  the  king  of  the  Romans  409 

The  Peace  of  Religion  concluded  at  Passau —  409 

The  Protestant  worship  in  Germany  established  on 

a  firm  basis 409 

LETTER  LXII. 

England,  from  the  Death  of  Henry  VIII.  until  the 
Accession  of  Elizabeth,  in  1558,  together  with  an 
Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland  during  that 
Period,  and  of  the  Progress  of  the  Reformation  in 
both  the  British  Kingdoms. 
1547  Henry  VIII.  succeeded  by  his  son,  Edward  VI , 

only  nine  years  of  age 410 

The  duke  of  Somerset,  the  young   king's    uncle, 

chosen  protector  during  his  minority 410 

Somerset  is  warmly  attached  to  the  cause  of  the 

Reformation 410 

Assisted  by  the  counsels  of  archbishop  Cranmer, 
he  plans  the  establishment  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, as  now  constituted  411 

He  prepares  for  a  war  with  Scotland. . . .' 41 

State  of  religion  in  that  kingdom 41 

Scottish  Reformers  persecuted 411 

Murder  of  cardinal  Beatoun * 412 

Somerset  enters  Scotland  ar  the  head  of  an  English 

army 412 

The  Scots  defeated  with  great  si aualiter  in  the  battle 

ofPinkey 412 

They  imprudently  throw  themselves  into  the  arms 
of  France,  and  send  Mary,  their  young  queen,  to 
be  educated  in  that  kingdom,  where  she  is  married 
to  the  dauphin,  afterward  Francis  II 413 


CONTENTS. 


1548  Somerset  obliged  to  return,  in  order  to  quell  the 
cabal*  in  the  English  court 413 

1549  Execution  of  his  brother,  lord  Seymour  . .  413 
The  English  liturgy  completed,  and  established  by 

act  of  parliament 413 

Insurrections  in  England,  occasioned  by  the  sup- 
pression of  monasteries 414 

Somerset  offends  the  nobility  and  gentry,  by  siding 

with  the  people 414 

He  is  compelled  to  resign  the  protectorship,  and  com- 
mitted to  the  tower 414 

1550  A  council  of  regency  appointed  under  the  earl 
of  Warwick 414 

Warwick  negotiates  a  treaty  with  France  and  Scot- 
land    414 

1551  Procures  for  himself  the  estate  of  the  North- 
umberland family, and  the titleof duke..  414,  415 

1552  Execution  of  Somerset 415 

Ambitious  projects  of  the  duke  of  Northumber- 
land    415 

He  persuades  the  king  to  disinherit  his  sisters. .  415 

1553  The  succession  to  the  crown  settled  on  lady 
Jane  Gray,  married   to  lord   Guilford    Dudley, 
Northumberland's  fourth  son 416 

Death  of  Edward  VI 416 

Northumberland  induces  lady  Jane  Gray  to  accept 

of  the  crown 416 

She  is  obliged  to  resign  it  to  the  princess  Mary  417 
Northumberland    tried    and    executed   for     high- 
treason 417 

Q,ueen  Mary  takes  measures  for  re-establishing  the 

popish  communion 417 

Account  of  cardinal  Pole 417 

The  queen  of  England  desires  that  he  may  be  sent 
over  in  the  character  of  legate  from  the  holy 
see 417 

1554  She  is  married  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  son  of  the 
emperor  Charles  V 418 

Discontents  of  the  people 4 18 

Wyat's  rebellion 419 

It  is  speedily  suppressed 419 

Execution  of  lord  Guilford  Dudley  and  lady  Jane 

Gray 419 

Magnanimous  behaviour  of  lady  Jane 419 

The  Romish  religion  restored 419 

1555  Furious  persecution  in  England 419 

Martyrdom  of  Hooper,  bishop  of  Gloucester,  and 

Ferrar,  bishop  of  St.  David's 420 

Martyrdom  of  Ridley,  Latimer,  and  other  Protestant 
divines 420 

1556  Martyrdom  of  archbishop  Cranmer 420 

Brutal  character  of  bishop  Bonner 421 

1557  War  with  France 421 

Loss  of  Calais 422 

1558  Death  and  character  of  queen  Mary 422 

Account  of  the  princess  Elizabeth  her  sister,  who 

succeeds  to  the  crown 422 

1559  Queen  Elizabeth,  on  her  accession,  re-esta- 
blishes the  Protestant  religion  in  England. . . .  423 

LETTER  LXIII. 

The  Continent  of  Europe,  from  the  Peace  of  Passau, 
in  1552,  to  the  Peace  of  Chateau  Cambresis,  in 
1559. 

1552  The  emperor  Charles  V.  resolves  to  attempt 
the  recovery  of  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun 423 

Henry  II.  of  France  commits  the  defence  of  Metz 

to  the  duke  of  Guise 423 

Great  military  talents  of  that  commander 423 

His  activity  in  repairing  the  fortifications,  and  taking 
every  other  measure  for  the  security  of  the 

place 423 

The  emperor  invests  Metz 424 

Is  obliged  to  raise  the  siege 424 

Miserable  state  of  the  imperial  camp 424 

Humanity  and  generosity  of  the  duke  of  Guise  424 
Decline  of  the  emperor's  affairs  in  Italy 424 

1553  Germany  distracted  by  the  ambition  of  Albert 
of  Brandenburg 425 

He  is  defeated  at  Siverhausen  by  Maurice  elector  ol 

Saxony 425 

Maurice  dies  of  a  wound  he  received  in  battle  42c 
Albert  is  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  France 425 


Page 

Hostilities  in  the  Netherlands,  Italy,  and  Hun- 
gary  425,426 

Germany  enjoys  profound  tranquillity 426 

1555  Recess  of  Augsburg 426 

Resignation  of  Charles  V 427 

His  advice  to  his  son,  Philip  II.  of  Spain 427 

He  attempts  in  vain,  on  retiring,  to  restore  peace  to 

Europe 428 

1556  War  in  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries 429 

1557  Arrogance  of  pope  Paul  IV 429 

The  French  defeated  with  great  slaughter  in  the 

battie  of  St.  Quintin 429 

Philip  II.  erects  the  Escurial  in  honour  of  that  vic- 
tory    429,  430 

He  restores  peace  to  Italy 430 

1558  The  duke  of  Guise  takes  Thionville 430 

Is  opposed  by  the  forces  of  Philip  under  the  duke  of 

Savoy 431 

The  French    and    Spanish    inonarchs   incline    to 

peace 431 

Account  of  the  emperor  Charles  V.  in  his  retire- 
ment    431 

His  death  and  character 432 

Bis  brother  Ferdinand  acknowledged  emperor  of 

Germany    432 

Philip  and  Henry  court  the  favour  of  Elizabeth  432 

1559  Treaty    between    Henry    and    the    English 
queen 433 

The  negotiation  between  France  and  Spain  for- 
warded by  two  treaties  of  marriage 433 

Peace  of  Chateau  Cambresis 433 

Death  of  Henry  II.  and  of  Paul  IV 434 

Close  of  a  memorable  period  in  the  history  of  Mo- 
dern Europe 434 

LETTER  LXTV. 

Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Norway,  from  the  Union  of 
these  Kingdoms  under  Margaret  Waldemar,sur- 
named  the  Semiramis  of  the  JVorlA,  to  the  Death 
of  Oustavus  Vasa;  together  with  an  Account  of 
the  State  of  Russia,  Poland,  and  Prussia,  in  the 
Sixteenth  Century. 

1399  Union  of  the  three  northern  crowns  esta- 
blished at  Calmar,  by  the  states  of  the  three  king 

doms '. 434 

Vigorous  administration  of  Margaret  Waldemar  434 
1520  The  Swedes,  having  repeatedly  revolted,  are 
finally  subdued  by  Christian  II.  of  Denmark. .  435 
Circumstances  with  which  this  revolution  was  ac- 
companied   435 

Horrid  massacre  of  the  Swedish  nobles 435 

Account  of  Gustavus  Vasa 436 

1523  He  recovers  the  independency  of  Sweden,  and 
is  chosen  king 436 

Christian  II.  renders  himself  obnoxious,  even  to  his 
Danish  subjects,  and  is  deposed 436 

1524  Frederick  duke  of  Holstein  chosen  king  of 
Denmark  and  Norway 436 

1537  The  Protestant  religion  introduced  into  those 
kingdoms  by  his  son  Christian  HI.  as  into  Sweden 
by  Gustavus  Vasa 436 

1560  Death  and  character  of  Gustavus 436 

Introduction  to  the  history  of  Russia 437 

Introduction  to  the  history  of  Poland 437 

Introduction  to  the  history  of  Prussia 437 

LETTER  LXV. 

England,  Scotland,  and  France,  from  the  Peace  of 
Chateau  Cambresis,  in  1559,  to  the  Death  of  Fran- 
cis If.  and  the  Return  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  to 
her  native  Kingdom. 

1559  Ambitious  views  of  the  duke  of  Guise  and  his 
brothers 438 

They  usurp  the  whole  administration  under  Francis 
II.  and  induce  their  niece,  Mary  Stuart,  queen  of 
France  and  of  Scotland,  to  set  up  a  claim  to  the 
crown  of  England 438 

They  obtain  a  bull  from  the  pope,  declaring  Eliza- 
beth's birth  .illegitimate 438 

Give  orders  to  their  sister;  the  queen-regent  of  Scot- 
land, to  suppress  the  Protestant  opinions  in  that 
kingdom 436 


xxiv 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Measures  of  the  Scottish  reformers 439 

They  style  themselves  the  Congregation  of  the 
Lord,  and  enter  into  a  bond  for  their  common  pro- 
tection   439 

Petition  the  convocation,  that  prayers  may  be  said 

in  the  vulgar  tongue 439 

Their  demand  rejected,  and  their   most   eminent 

teachers  cited  to  appear  before  the  privy-council  439 

The  members  of  the  Congregation  assemble  in  large 

bodies 439 

The  queen  promises  to  put  a  stop  to  the  proceedings 

against  their  pastors 440 

She  breaks  her  promise 440 

The  Protestants  prepare  for  their  defence 440 

Account  of  John  Knox 440 

He  inflames  the  populace,  assembled  at  Perth,  by  a 

violent  harangue  against  popery 440 

They  break  all  the  images  in  the  churches,  and  de- 
stroy the  monasteries 440 

The  queen- regent  collects  an  army,  and  the  leaders 

of  the  Protestants  prepare  for  resistance 440 

She  concludes  a  treaty  with  the  Congregation. .  441 

Violates  the  stipulations 441 

The  Protestants  have  again  recourse  to  arms. .  441 
They  aim  at  the  redress  of  civil  as  well  as  of  reli- 
gious grievances  441 

The  queen-regent  refuses  to  comply  with  their  de- 
mands    441 

They  formally  divest  her  of  the  regency 441 

She  shuts  herself  up  in  the  fortified  town  of  Leith, 

which  was  garrisoned  with  French  troops...  441 

The  Protestants,  being  defeated  before  that  place, 

implore  the  assistance  of  Elizabeth 442 

1560  The  queen  of  England,  by  the  advice  of  her 
ministers,  resolves  to  support  the  Scottish  male- 
contents  442 

An  English  army  enters  Scotland,  and  besieges 
Leith,  in  conjunction  with  the  forces  of  the  Con- 
gregation   442 

Death  of  the  queen-regent 443 

View  of  the  progress  of  the  reformation  in 
France 443 

Conspiracy  of  Amboise 443 

The  French  Protestants  demand  the  free  exercise 
of  their  religion 443 

They  become  formidable  to  the  court 443 

Francis  and  Mary,  by  the  advice  of  the  duke  of 
Guise,  conclude  with  Elizabeth  the  treaty  of 
Edinburgh 443 

This  treaty  favourable  to  the  Congregation 443 

The  French  and  English  forces  evacuate  Scotland, 
and  the  Protestants  proceed  rapidly  in  the  work 
of  reformation 444 

The  presbyterian  form  of  worship  established  in  that 
kingdom 444 

Francis  and  Mary  refuse  to  ratify  the  proceedings 
of  the  Scottish  parliament 444 

The  Protestants  put  the  statutes  in  execution,  and 
discharge  their  rage  against  popery  upon  the 
churches  and  monasteries 444 

Death  of  Francis  II 445 

1561  Catharine  of  Medicis  appointed  guardian  to 
her  son  Charles  IX.,  only  ten  years  of  age....  445 

Decline  of  the  power  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  and  joy 
of  the  Scottish  Protestants 445 

Mary  queen  of  Scots  solicited  to  return  to  her  na- 
tive kingdom 445 

Her  reluctance  to  leave  France 445 

Her  spirited  reply  to  Throgmorton,  the  English  am- 
bassador    446 

She  embarks  on  board  a  galley  at  Calais,  and  ar- 
rives safe  at  Leith 446 

Affecting  circumstances  that  accompanied  her  voy- 
age    440 


Her  beauty  and  accomplishments 446 

She  bestows  her  confidence  on  the  leaders  of  the 

Protestant  party 447 

Knowing  her  to  be  a  papist,  they  never  believe  her 
to  be  sincere  in  her  professions  of  good- 
will. 


LETTER  LXVI. 

France,  England,  and  Scotland,  from  the  Return 
of  Mary  Stuart  to  her  native  Kingdom,  in  1581, 
(ill  her  Imprisonment  and  the  Proclamation  of  her 
Son.  James  VI.,  together  with  a  retrospective  View 
tf  the  Affairs  of  Spain. 

1561  M  iry  is  received  by  her  Scottish  subjects  with 
the  fondest  acclamations  of  joy 446 


447 
She  with  difficulty  obtains  liberty  to  celebrate  mass 

in  her  own  chapel 447 

Insulted  by  John  Knox,  who  acquires  great  influence 

both  in  the  church  and  state 447 

She  courts  the  friendship  of  Elizabeth 447 

Jealous  prudence  of  the  English  queen 447 

A  seeming  reconcilation  between  the  rival  sove- 
reigns   447 

Cruel  bigotry  of  Philip  II 448 

He  persecutes  the  Protestants  in  Spain  and  the  Low 

Countries 448 

Elizabeth  sees  the  necessity  of  supporting  them  448 
Catharine  of  Medicis  attempts  to  govern  France  by 
balancing    the    Catholics    against     the   Protes- 
tants   448 

1562  The  Protestants  allowed  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion  without  the  walls  of  towns. .. .  449 

Massacre  of  Vassay 449 

The  Protestants  fly  to  arms 449 

Deplorable  state  of  France 449 

Philip  II.,  become  jealous  of  the  progress  of  the 
French  Protestants,  or  Hugnnots,  sends  six  thou- 
sand men  to  reinforce  Ihe  Catholic  party  ....  449 
The    Hugonots   crave    the    assistance    of    Eliza- 
beth  449,450 

She  sends  six  thousand  men  for  their  support.  .-*450 
The  Catholics  make  themselves  masters  of  Rou- 
en  450 

The  battle  of  Dreux 450 

1563  Assassination  of  the  duke  of  Guise 450 

An  accommodation  between  the  Protestants  and 

Catholics 451 

Elizabeth,  dissatisfied  with  the  conditions,  refuses 

to  deliver  up  Havre-de-Grace 451 

The  garrison,  after  an  obstinate  resistance,  is 

obliged  to  capitulate 451 

1564  Harmony  between  the  queens  of  England  and 
Scotland  broken,  by  Mary's  project  of  marrying 
lord  Darnley 451 

Character  of  that  young  nobleman 451 

Motives  of  Elizabeth  for  wishing  to  obstruct  their 
union 452 

1565  Marriage  of  the  queen  of  Scots  (July  19th)  452 
She  suppresses  a  rebellion  excited  by  queen  Eliza- 
beth    452 

Ungenerous  conduct  of  Elizabeth  to  the  Scottish 
exiles 453 


Conspiracy  of  Bayonne ;  being  a  confederacy  be- 
tween the  courts  of  France  and  Spain  for  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  reformed  religion  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  Protestants  all  over  Europe. .  453 

1566  The  queen  of  Scots  accedes  to  that  confede- 
racy   453 

Account  of  David  Rizzio 453 

Violent  temper  and  dissolute  life  of  Darnley  after 

hismariiage 454 

Mary's  coldness  the  effect  of  his  own  misconduct, 

not  of  a  criminal  passion 454 

Becomes  jealous  of  Rizzio's  intimacy  with  Mary  454 

Murder  of  Rizzio 455 

Barbarous  manner  in  which  it  was  perpetrated  455 
Implacable  resentment  of  Mary  against  her  lius 

band 455 

She  makes  him  disown  all  connexion  with  the  con- 
spirators,  and  renders  him  contemptible  by  to  no- 
torious a  falsehood 455 

She  is  delivered  of  a  son 455 

Behaviour  of  Elizabeth  on  that  intelligence 455 

The  English  parliament  press  her  to  marry,  or  nettle 

the  succession  to  the  crown 456 

Account  of  James  Hepburn  earl  of  Bothwell. .  456 

He  insinuates  himself  into  the  affections  of  the  queen 

of  Scots. . . ; 456 

1567  Murder  of  Darnley 457 

The  earl  of  Bothwell  suspected  to  be  the  author 

of  it 457 

Mary,  instead  of  bringing  him  to  justice,  honour§ 
li'ju  with  her  ccrafiderice,  and  marries  him  . .  457 


CONTENTS; 


XXT 


Bothwell  attempts  to  get  the  young  prince  into  his 
power 457 

The  Scottish  nobles  associate  for  the  protection  of 
the  prince's  person,  and  the  punishment  of  the 
king's  murderers 457 

The  queen,  deserted  by  her  troops  at  Carberry-hill, 
is  made  prisoner 458 

Bothwell  makes  his  escape,  and  dies  in  a  foreign 
prison 468 

Mary  is  carried  in  triumph  to  Edinburgh,  and  after- 
ward confined  in  the  castle  of  Locblevin....  458 

Her  disconsolate  situation 459 

She  is  prevailed  upon  to  sign  a  resignation  of  the 
crown 459 

The  earl  of  Murray,  her  natural  brother,  appointed 
regent,  under  the  infant  king,  who  is  proclaimed 
by  the  name  of  James  VI 459 

LETTER  LXVII. 

Great  Britain,  from  the  Flight  of  the  Queen  of  Scots 
into  England,  with  an  Account  of  the  Civil  Wars 
on  the  Continent,  till  the  Death  of  Charles  IX^ 
of  France,  in  11J74. 

1567  The  Scottish  parliament,  summoned  by  the 
earl  of  Murray,  as  regent,  declares  the  queen's 
resignation  valid,  and  her  imprisonment  law- 


ful. 


459 

1568  A  body  of  the  nobles  assemble  at  Hamilton, 
and  concert  measures  for  supporting  her  cause  459 
She  escapes  from  confinement,  and  joins  them  459 
They  are  totally  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Lang- 


side- 


460 

Mary  seeks  refuge  in  England,  and  throws  herself 
on  the  generosi  ty  of  her  kinswoman  Elizabeth  460 

Insidious  policy  of  the  English  queen 460 

She  considers  herself  as  umpire  between  the  queen 
of  Scots  and  her  subjects,  and  proposes  to  appoint 
commissioners  to  hear  the  pleadings  on  both 

sides 460 

Magnanimous  reply  of  Mary 461 

She  is  induced  to  consent  to  the  proposed  trial. .  461 
Conferences  held  between  the  Scottish  and  English 

commissioners  on  the  subject 461 

Mary  is  accused  by  the  regent  of  consenting  to  the 
murder  of  her  husband,  and  of  being  accessory  to 

the  contrivance  and  execution  of  it 462 

He  produces  proofs  in  support  of  his  charge  . . .  462 

Mary's  commissioners  break  off  the  conference  462 

She  haughtily  refuses,  either  to  resign  her  crown,  or 

to  associate  her   son  in   the    government  with 

her 462 

Elizabeth  resolves  to  detain  her  a  prisoner  in  Eng- 
land   462 

A  marriage  projected  between  the  queen  of  Scots 
and  the  duke  of  Norfolk 463 

1569  The  confederacy  for  that  purpose  discovered 
and  defeated 463 

Norfolk  is  committed  to  the  tower 464 

An  unsuccessful  attempt  made,  by  the  earls  of 
Northumberland  and  Westmoreland,  to  procure 
liberty  to  the  queen  of  Scots  by  force  of  arms  464 

1570  Violent  death  of  the  earl  of  Murray 464 

The  earl  of  Lennox  elected  regent  of  Scotland  464 
Retrospective     view   of   the    religious    waip    in 

France 465 

The  battle  of  St.  Denis  (1568) '..  465 

The  battle  of  Jarnac  ( 1569) 465 

The  prince  of  Conde,  being  wounded  and  made 

prisoner,  is  killed  in  cold  blood 465 

Coligny,  the  leader  of  the  Hugonots,  invests  Poi- 
tiers    466 

The  young  duke  of  Guise  obliges  him  to  raise  the 

siege 466 

Coligny  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Moncontour. .  466 

He  again  appears  formidable 466 

The  Hugonots,  by  a  new  treaty,  obtain  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  several  places  of  refuge  ....  466 

1571  Their  leaders  invited  to  Paris,  and  loaded  with 
favours,  in  order  to  lull  them  into  security. . .  466 

Sanguinary  despotism  established  by  Philip  II.  in  the 

Low  Countries 467 

nsolence  and  cruelty  of  the  duke  of  Alva 467 

Conspiracy  for  the  relief  of  the  queen  of  Scots  468 


1572  It  is  discovered,  and  the  duke  of  Norfolk  is 
condemned  and  executed  for  his  share  in  it. .  463 

Scotland  continues  in  a  state  of  anarchy 468 

The  earl  of  Morton  succeeds  to  the  regency  on  the 
death  of  Marre,  who  had  succeeded  Lennox  469 

Violent  proceedings  in  that  kingdom 469 

Charles  IX.  of  France  insidiously  caresses  the  Hu- 
gonots    469 

The  massacre  of  Paris  (Aug.  24) 469 

Horrid  circumstances  with  which  it  was  at- 
tended   469 

Exultation  of  the  Spanish,  and  sorrow  of  the  Eng- 
lish, court  on  that  occasion 470 

Cautious  conduct  of  Elizabeth 470 

The  Hugonots,  instead  of  being  annihilated  (though 
sixty  thousand  of  them  were  slaughtered),  are  only 
roused  to  more  vigorous  efforts 470 

1573  They  obtain  advantageous  terms  of  peace  471 

1574  Death  of  Charles  IX 471 

His  atrocious  character 4T1 

LETTER  LXVIU. 

Germany,  from  the  Resignation  of  Charles  V.,  in 
1556,  to  the  Death  of  Maximilian  II.,  in  1576,  with 
some  Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Spain,  Italy,  and 
Turkey,  during  that  Period 

1557  Ferdinand  I.  convokes  a  diet  at  Ratisbon, 
which  confirms  the  peace  of  religion 471 

1560  Pius  IV.  issues  a  bull  for  the  reassembling  of 
the  council  of  Trent 471 

1562  The  Protestant  princes  persist  in  denying  the 
authority  of  that  council 472 

1563  It  is  finally  dissolved 472 

1564  Death  of  Ferdinand  1 472 

1565  His  son    and   successor,  Maximilian  II.  un- 
avoidably engaged  in  a  war  with  the  Turks. .  472 

Solyman  II.  sends  a  fleet  and  army  to  reduce  the 
island  of  Malta 472 

His  general,  Mustapha,  after  a  siege  of  five  months. 
is  obliged  to  relinquish  the  enterprise 472 

1566  Solyman  enters  Hungary  in  person  at  the  head 
of  a  powerful  army,  and  invests  Sigeth 473 

The  gallant  defence  and  death  of  Zerini,  the  go- 
vernor    473 

The  place  istaken 47i 

Death  of  Solyman  II 473 

His  son  and  successor,  Selim  II.  concludes  a  truce 
with  the  emperor  Maximilian 473 

1570  Selim   turns   his  arms  against  the  island  of 
Cyprus 473 

Obstinate  defence  of  Famagosta 473 

1571  It  is  compelled  to  surrender,  and  the  whole 
island  submits  to  the  sultan 473 

Great  naval  armament  fitted  out  by  the  Christian 

powers,  under  Don  John  of  Austria 473 

Battle  of  Lepanto  (Oct.  5) 474 

The  Turkish  fleet  utterly  destroyed 474 

The  Christians,  by  reason  of  their  want  of  union, 
derive  little  advantage  from  their  victory —  474 

1573  The  Venetians  conclude  a  peace  with  Se- 
lim   474 

Don  John  makes  himself  master  of  Tunis,  and  pro- 
poses to  erect  an  independent  sovereignty  on  the 
coast  of  Barbary 474 

Tunis  is  invested  by  a  Turkish  fleet  and  army  475 

Taken  by  storm,  and  the  garrison  put  to  the 
sword 475 

Germany  enjoys  profound  peace  under  the  mild  go- 
vernment of  Maximilian  II 475 

1576  Hisdeath 475 

LETTER  LXLX. 

A  general  View  of  the  Transactions  of  Europe, 
from  the  Death  of  Charles  IX.,  in  1574,  to  the  Ac- 
cession of  Henry  IV.,  the  first  King  of  the  Branch 
of  Bourbon,  to  the  Throne  of  France,  in  1589;  in- 
cluding the  Rise  of  the  Republic  of  Holland,  the 
unhappy  Catastrophe  of  Don  Sebastian  King  of 
Portugal,  the  Execution  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scot*, 
and  the  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada 

1574  Accession  of  Henry  HI.  of  France 47S 

He  attempts  to  restore  the  royal  authority  by  aetm| 


C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S. 


Page 

as  umpire  between  the  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lics   475 


J575  The  king  of  Navarre  places  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  Protestants 475 

1576  They  obtain  advantagsous  conditions 475 

1577  Are  threatened  by  the  famous  Catholic  League, 
which  is  headed  by  the  duke  of  Guise 476 

Philip  II.  of  Spain  declares  himself  protector  of  that 
league 476 

His  motives  for  so  doing 476 

Retrospective  view  of  the  civil  wars  in  the  Low 
Countries 476 

The  Flemish  sea  ad  venturers  make  themselves  mas- 
ters of  the  Brille  (A.  D.  1572) 476 

The  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zealand  throw  off 
the  Spanish  yoke;  and  William  prince  of  Orange, 
by  forming  the  revolted  towns  into  a  league,  lays 
the  foundation  of  the  republic  of  the  United  Pro- 
vinces    477 

The  duke  of  Alva,  repulsed  before  Alcmaer,  peti- 
tions to  be  recalled  (A.  D.  1573) 477 

He  is  succeeded  in  the  government  of  the  Low 
Countries  by  Requesens,  commendator  of  Cas- 


tile. 


477 


Middleburg  taken  by  the  Zealanders  (A.  D.  1574)  477 
The  siege  of  Leyden;  which  the  Spaniards  are  com- 
pelled to  raise,  after  the   most  vigorous  exer- 
tions    477 

The  conferences  at  Breda  (A.  D.  1575) 477 

The  revolted  provinces,  reduced  to  great  distress, 
offer  their  sovereignty  to  queen  Elizabeth  . . .  478 

She  rejects  it  for  political  reasons 478 

The  Spanish  troops  in  the  Netherlands  mutiny  on 

the  death  of  Requesens  (A.  D.  1576) 478 

The  pacification  of  Ghent 478 

Don  John  of  Austria,  the  new  governor  of  the  Low 

Countries,  agrees  to  confirm  it 478 

He  violates  his  engagements 478 

1578  Queen  Elizabeth  engages  to  support  the  re- 
volted provinces 479 

Don  John  deposed  by  a  decree  of  the  states 479 

They  are  distracted  by  jealousies  and  dissensions  479 

Death  of  Don  John 479 

He  is  succeeded  in  the  command  of  the  Spanish 
army  in  the  Netherlands  by  the  famous  Alexan- 
der Farnese,  duke  of  Parma 479 

1579  The  UNION  of  the  Seven  Provinces  signed  at 
Utrecht 479 

The  nature  of  that  union 479 

1580  The  United  Provinces  finally  withdraw  their 
allegiance  from  Philip  II 480 

The  expedition  of  Don  Sebastian,  king  of  Portugal, 

to  the  coast  of  Africa 480 

His  death 480 

1581  Philip  II.  makes  himself  master  of  the  king- 
dom of  Portugal 480 

1582  Attempt  against   the   life  of  the   prince  of 
Orange 481 

He  is  opposed  to  the  duke  of  Parma 481 

distracted  state  of  affairs  in  Scotland 481 

James,  the  young  king,  is  made  prisoner  at  Ruth- 
vnn 481 

1583  The  Spaniards  invade  Ireland 482 

Account  of  the  voyage  of  sir  Francis  Drake. . .  482 

Discontents  of  the  Catholics  in  England 482 

Plot  against  the  life  of  Elizabeth 482 

1584  It  is  discovered 483 

Assassination  of  William  prince  of  Orange....  483 

His  son  Maurice  elected  stadtholder 483 

The  duke  of  Parma  invests  Antwerp 483 

1585  The  citizens  agree  to  acknowledge  the  autho- 
rity of  Philip 483 

Rapid  decay  of  that  city 483 

The  United  Provinces  offer  their  sovereignty  to 
Henry  III.  of  France 484 

He  is  obliged  to  reject  it,  on  account  of  the  dis- 
tracted state  of  his  kingdom 484 

Queen  Elizabeth  sends  over  an  army  of  six  thou- 
sand men,  under  the  earl  of  Leicester,  to  the  as- 
sistance of  the  states 484 

And  despatches  sir  Francis  Drake,  with  a  fleet  of 
twenty  sail,  to  distress  the  Spaniards  in  the  West 
Indies 484 

1566  Success  of  Drake 484 


.Misconduct  of  Leicester 484 

He  is  recalled 485 

Babington's  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  Eliza- 
beth   485 

Trial  of  Mary  queen  of  Scots 485 

Her  spirited  defence 485 

She  is  condemned  to  suffer  death 486 

Examination  of  the  evidence  against  her 486 

1587  Affecting  circumstances  attending  her  execu- 
tion   486 

Her  gallant  behaviour 486 

Her  ch; 


486 

Hypocritical  sorrow  of  Elizabeth 487 

James  VI.  king  of  Scotland,  seems  determined  to 

levenge  the  death  of  his  mother 487 

He  is  induced  to  live  on  good  terms  with  the  court 

of  England  487 

Naval  exploits  of  Drake  and  Cavendish 48? 

The  sailing  of  the  Spanish  armada  is  retarded. .  487 

1588  Philip  II.  makes  new  and  great  preparations 
for  invading  England... 488 

Naval  and  military  force  of  Elizabeth 488 

Undaunted  courage  of  the  English  queen 488 

The  Spanish  armada  sails 489 

Defeated  by  the  English  fleet,  under  the  earl  of 

Effingham  and  sir  Francis  Drake 489 

It  is  attacked  by  a  violent  storm,  and  wrecked  on 

the  western  isles  of  Scotland  and  on  the  coast  of 

Ireland '. 489 

French  Protestants  reduced  to  great  distress  by  the 

power  of  the  Catholic  League 490  ' 

Ambition  of  the  second  duke  of  Guise 490 

His  violent  death 490 

1589  The  duke  of  Mayenne,  his  brother,  succeeds 
him  in  the  command  of  the  League 490 

Henry  III.  enters  into  a  confederacy  with  the  Hu- 
gpnots,  and  advances  to  the  gates  of  Paris,  which 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  Catholics 490 

He  is  assassinated  by  James  Clement,  a  Dominican 
friar 491 

The  succession  to  the  crown  of  France  left  open  to 
the  king  of  Navarre 491 

Reflections  on  such  fanatical  acts  of  violence. .  491 

LETTER  LXX. 

The  general  View  of  Europe  continued,  from  the 
Accession  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  Peace  of  Vercins, 
in  1598. 

1589  Henry  IV.  is  obliged  to  abandon  the  siege  of 
Paris 491 

Ready  to  sink  under  the  power  of  the  Catholic 
League,  he  applies  to  the  queen  of  England  for 
aid 492 

She  sends  him  a  supply  of  men  and  money 492 

1590  He  gains  the  battle  of  Ivri 492 

Invests  Paris 492 

That  city  is  relieved  by  the  duke  of  Parma 492 

Prince  Maurice  makes  rapid  progress  in  the  Low 

Countries,    during    the    absence   of   this    com- 
mander    492 

The  king  of  France  is  surrounded  with  enemies  492 

1591  Queen  Elizabeth  sends  him  fresh  succours  493 

He  forms  the  siege  of  Rouen 493 

The   duke  of  Parma   compels  him    to  raise  the 

siege 493 

Rupture  among  the  Catholics 493 

1592  Death  of  the  duke  of  Parma 493 

1593  Intrigues  of  the  Spanish  faction  in  France  494 
Henry  IV.,  in  order  to  please  the  majority  of  his  sub- 
jects, embraces  the  Catholic  religion 494 

The  followers  of  both  religions  become  diffident  of 
the  king's  professions 494 

He  removes  their  suspicions  by  his  generosity  and 
humanity  to  all  his  subjects 495 

1594  Paris,  and  other  places  held  by  the  Catholics.-, 
submit  to  the  royal  authority 495 

Progress  of  prince  Maurice  and  sir  Francis  Vere  in 
the  Low  Countries 496 

1595  Henry  IV.  obliges  the  duke  of  Mayenne  to  sue 
for  an  accommodation 496 

The  Spaniards  take  Cambray,  Calais,  :ind  Ami- 
ens  496 

1597  Henry  retakes  Amiens 496 


CONTENTS. 


Pige 

7308  lie  passes  the  edict  of  Nantes  in  favour  of  the 

Hugonots 497 

The  Catholic  League  is  utterly  dissolved 497 

Cadiz  taken  by  an  English  .armament,  under  the 

earls  of  Effingham  and  Essex 497 

Great  loss  sustained  by  the  Spaniards 498 

Peace  concluded  between  Henry  IV.  and  Philip  II. 
atVervins 498 

LETTER  LXXI. 

Spain  and  the  Low  Countries,  from  the  Peace  of 
fereins  to  the  Truce  in  1609,  when  the  Freedom 
of  the  United  Provinces  was  acknowledged. 

1598  Treaty  between  England  and  Holland 498 

Death  and  character  of  Philip  II 498 

He  is  accused  of  the  murder  of  his  son  Don  Car- 


los . 


499 

Decline  of  the  Spanish  monarchy 499 

The  sovereignty  of  the  Low  Countries  transferred 
to  the  infanta  Isabella,  married  to  Albert  arch- 
duke of  Austria 499 

The  states  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of 
their  new  sovereigns 499 

1599  The  United  Provinces  are  precluded  all  inter- 
course with   Spain,   Portugal,  or    the   Spanish 
Netherlands 500 

The  Dutch  turn  their  views  towards  the  East  In- 
dies  •.- 500 

War  carried  on  with  vigour  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries   ............/ 500 

1600  The  Spaniards  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Nieu- 
port 500 

Bravery  of  the  English  troops  under  sir  Francis 
Vere 500 

1601  Siege  of  Ostend 500 

1602  It  is  changed  into  a  blockade 501 

1604  Resumed,  and  the  place  taken  by  the  famous 
Spinola 501 

Progress  of  prince  Maurice 501 

1605  He  is  opposed  by  a  great  army,  under  Spi- 
nola   501 

Rapid  success  of  the  Spanish  commander 502 

1606  His  troops  mutiny  for  want  of  pay 502 

1607  A  suspension  of  arms 502 

1609  Truce  of  twelve    years  concluded    between 

Philip  III.  and  the  United  Provinces 502 

Expulsion  of  the  Morescoes 502 

Impolicy  of  that  measure 502 

The  languishing  condition  of  Spain 502 

LETTER  LXXII. 

•"'•••  domestic  History  of  England,  from  the  Defeat 
..."  the  Spanish  Armada,  in  1588,  to  the  Death  of 
l'.lizabeth,with  some  Particulars  of  Scotland  and 
Ireland. 

1588  Economy  and  vigour  the  leading  character- 
istics of  Elizabeth's  administration 503 

1593  Her  bold  speech  to  the  parliament 503 

She  supports  the  decrees  of  the  Star  Chamber  and 

Court  of  High  Commission 503 

Grievous  monopolies  under  her  reign 503 

Her  jealousy  of  her  prerogative 503 

She  obstinately  refuses  to  name  a  successor. ...  504 
Is   supposed  to  have   encouraged    Cowrie's   con- 
spiracy    504 

Distracted  and  barbarous  state  of  Ireland 504 

Elizabeth  endeavours  to  civilize  it 504 

Account  of  Hugh  O'Neal,  earl  of  Tyrone 505 

1595  He  rises  in  open  rebellion,  and  gains  several 
advantages  over  the  English  commanders 505 

1599  The  earl  of  Essex  sent  against  him,  under  the 
title  of  lord-lieutenant,  with  an  army  of  sixteen 
thousand  men 505 

Essex  fails  in  his  enterprise,  and  returns,  contrary  to 
the  queen's  orders 505 

1600  He  is  divested  of  his  employments,  and  sen- 
tenced to  remain  a  prisoner  during  her  majesty's 
pleasure 505 

She  resolves  to  pardon  him,  but  is  persuaded  to  make 

a  farther  trial  oY  his  submission 506 

H*  cabals  against  her  authority 506 


1601  On  finding  his  intrigues  are  discovered,  he  at- 
tempts, but  in  vain,  to  raise  the  city 506 

Surrenders  at  discretion,  and  is  convicted  of  high- 
treason  506 

Agitation  of  Elizabeth  on  signing  the  warrant  for 

his  execution 506 

He  is  privately  beheaded  in  the  tower 507 

His  character  and  conduct  considered 507 

The  king  of  Scotland  sends  two  ambassadors  to  the 
English  court  to  congratulate  the  queen  on  her 

escape  from  the  late  conspiracy 507 

They  find  the  people  of  England  favourable  to  the 

succession  of  their  master 507 

Lord  Mounljoy  subdues  the  Irish  rebels 507 

Elizabeth  sinks  into  deep  melancholy 507 

Its  cause 508 

It  is  increased  by  a  singular  discovery 50£ 

Death  of  the  queen 509 

Her  character 509 

LETTER  LXXIII. 

France,  from  the  Peace  of  Vervins,  in  1598,  to  the 
Death  of  Henry  /if.,  in  1610,  with  some  Account 
of  the  Jiff  airs  of  Germany  under  Rodolph  II. 

1598  Wretched  state  of  France  at  the  peace  of 

Vervins 509 

Popular  character  and  liberal  policy   of    Henry 


IV. 


510 


Character  of  the  duke  de  Sully,  his  prime  minis- 
ter  510 

Sully 's  attention-  to  the  finances 510 

He  augments   the   revenue,   yet  diminishes    the 

taxes 510 

His  maxims  of  policy  too  rigid  for  a  great  king- 
dom   510 

The  king's  ideas  more  just  and  extensive 511 

1602  He  introduces  the  culture  of  silk 511 

1607  Establishes  manufactures,  and  promotes  com- 
merce   511 


His  licentious  amours 511 

His  favourite  mistresses 511 

1608  Intrigues  of  the  court  of  Spain 512 

Disputed  succession  to  the  dutchies  of  Cleves  and 

Juliers 512 

Pacific  character  and  mild  administration  of  the 
emperor  Rodolph  II.  son  and  successor  of  Maxi- 
milian    512 

Ambition  of  his  brother  Matthias 512 

1609  Evangelical   Union   and  Catholic  League  in 
Germany 512 

Competitors  for  the  dutchies  of  Cleves  and  Ju- 
liers    512 

The  emperor  sequestersjhe  disputed  fiefs 512 

The  Protestant  claimants,  though  abetted  by  the 
Evangelical  Union,  apply  to  the  king  of  France 
for  aid,  in  order  to  be  a  match  for  their  enemies, 
who  were  supported  by  the  Catholic  League,  and 
in  alliance  with  the  king  of  Spain 512,  513 

Henry's  grand  scheme  of  humbling  the  house  of 
Austria,  and  of  erecting  a  balance  of  power  in 
Europe 513 

He  agrees  to  assist  the  Protestant  body  in  Ger- 
many    513 

His  negotiations  and  military  preparations 513 

His  great  resources 513 

He  assists  at  the  coronation  of  his  queen,  Mary  of 
Medicis  .*. 513 

Is  assassinated  next  day  by  Ravaillac,  a  bloodthirsty 
bigot 513,514 

Character  of  Henry  IV.  and  of  his  reign 514 

LETTER  LXXIV. 

A  general  View  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  jrom 
the  Assassination  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  Treaty  of 
Prague,  in  1635. 

Introductory  reflections 514 

1610  The  'dispute  concerning  the  succession  of 
Cleves  and  Juliers  continues 515 

1612  Death  of  Rodolph  II 515 

He  is  succeeded  by  his  brother  Matthias,  who  con- 
cludes an  advantageous  peace  with  the  Turks  515 


XXV111 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

1617  Matthias  alarms  the  Evangelical  Union  by  au 
ambitious  family  compact 515 

1618  Furious  civil  war  in  Bohemia 515 

Death  of  the  emperor  Matthias 515 

1619  His  cousin,  Ferdinand  de  Gratz,  duke  of  Sti- 
rra,  succeeds  him  in  the  imperial  throne 515 

1620  Frederick  V.  elector  palatine,  who  had  ac- 
cepted the  crown  of  Bohemia  from  the  insur- 
gents, is  totally  defeated  near  Prague 516 

1621  He  is  degraded  from  his  electoral  dignity  by 
Ferdinand  II.,  who  assumes  the  tone  of  master  of 
Germany 516 

Conspiracies  for  rendering  the  Spanish  branch  of 

the  house  of  Austria  absolute  in  Italy 516 

Accession  of  Philip  IV 517 

Ambitions  projects  of  his  minister  Olivares  ....  517 
Retrospective  view  of  the  affairs  of  Holland  ..  517 
Account  of  the  dispute  between  Gomar  and  Armi- 

nius 517 

Execution  of  the  pensionary  Barneveldt  (A.  D. 

1619) 517 

Prince  Maurice  becomes  unpopular  by  attempting  to 

usurp  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  Provinces  517 

1622  He  obliges  Spinola  to  relinquish  the  siege  of 
Bergen-op-zoom 518 

Distracted  state  of  France  under  the  reign  of  Mary 

of  Medicis 518 

She  is  wholly  governed  by  her  Italian  favourites, 

Concini  and  his  wife  Galligai 518 

By  them  is  negotiated  a  marriage  between  Lewis 

XIII.  and  the  infanta  Anne  of  Austria  (A.  D. 

1612) 518 

Rise  of  Luines,  the  king's  favourite 518 

Concini  shot  (A.  D.  1617),  and  his  wife  Galligai 

executed 518 

Avarice  and  ambition  of  Luines 518 

Rise  of  cardinal  Richelieu  (A.  D.  1619) 519 

French  Protestants  have  recourse  to  arms  (A.  D. 

1620) 519 

The  king  and  Luines  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  of 

Montauban  (A.  D.  1621) 519 

Death  of  the  favourite 519 

Peace  concluded  with  the  Hugonots 519 

1624  Cardinal  Richelieu  negotiates  a  marriage 

treaty  between  Charles  prince  of  Wales  and  the 

princess  Henrietta  of  France 520 

Hostilities  in  the  Low  Countries 520 

Difficult  situation  of  cardinal  Richelieu,  as  prime 

minister  of  France 520 

1627  The  Hugonots  show  a  disposition  to  render 
themselves  independent 520 

Buckingham,  the  English  minister,  induces  his  mas- 
ter, Charles  I.,  to  undertake  the  defence  of  the 
French  Protestants 520 

His  motives  for  so  doing 521 

He  fails  in  an  attempt  to  succour  Rochelle,  and  to 
reduce  the  isle  of  Rlie 521 

Lewis  XIII.  and  his  minister  cardinal  Richelieu,  in 
person,  form  the  siege  of  Rochelle 521 

1628  The  citizens  make  a  gallant  defence,  but  are  at 
last  obliged  to  surrender , 522 

1629  The  duke  of  Rohan,  after  a  vigorous  struggle 
in  Languedoc,  obtains  favourable  conditions  for 
the  Protestants 522 

They  are  left  in  possession  of  their  estates,  and  in 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  but  deprived  of 
their  cautionary  towns 522 

The  aggrandizement  of  the  French  monarchy  to  be 
dated  from  this  era 522 

Richelieu  resolves  to  humble  the  house  of  Austria 
by  supporting  the  Protestants  in  Germany. . .  522 

Great  power  of  the  emperor  Ferdinand  II 522 

He  attempts  to  revive  the  imperial  jurisdiction  in 
Italy,  on  the  death  of  Vincent  II.  duke  of  Man- 
tua    522 

He  issues  an  edict,  ordering  the  German  Protestants 
to  restore  all  the  church  lands,  which  they  had  held 
sinctitlip  peace  of  Passim 523 

1630  Cardinal  Richelieu  crosses  the  Alps,  and  com- 
pels the  emperor  to  grant  the  investiture  of  Man- 
tua and  Monlferrat  to  the  duke  of  Nevers. . .  523 

The  Protestant  princes  remonstrate  against  the 
edict  of  restitution 523 

They  form  an  alliance  with  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
king  of  Sweden 523 


A  retrospective  view  of  the  northern  kingdoms  523 

A  retrospective  view  of  Sweden 523 

A  retrospective  view  of  Russia 523 

A  retrospective  view  .of  Denmark  and  Norway  524 
Early  exploits  and  wise  administration  of  the  king 

of  Sweden 524 

His  motives  for  engaging  in  the  war  against  the  em 

peror  Ferdinand  II 5-4 

His  negotiations 5-24 

Charles  I.  of  England  furnishes  him.  with  «ix  thou- 
sand men,  and  many  English  and  Scottish  adven- 
turers flock  to  his  standard 524,  525 

1631  Cardinal  Richelieu  engages  to  pay  him  an  an. 
nual  subsidy 525 

The  treaty  between  them  a  masterpiece  in  poli- 
tics    525 

Gustavus  enters  Germany 525 

Defeats  the  imperialists,  under  count  Tilly,  near 
Leipsic  (Sept.  7) 525 

Is  joined  by  the  members  of  the  Evangelical  Union, 
and  makes  himself  master  of  the  whole  country 
from  the  Elbe  to  the  Rhine 52J 

1632  Tilly  killed  in  disputing  the  passage  of  the 
Lech  (April  5) 526 

The  king  of  Sweden  is  repulsed  in  attempting  to 
force  the  intrencbments  of  Walstein,  the  impe- 
rial eeneral,  near  Nuremberg  (August  24).. .  526 

His  retreat  is  conducted  with  great  ability  by  colo- 
nel Hepburn,  a  Scottish  officer 526 

He  gives  battle  to  Walstein,  in  the  plain  of  Lutzen, 
and  is  killed  in  the  heat  of  action  (Novem- 
ber 6)  527 

Circumstances  preceding  and  attending  the  battle 
of  Lutzen 527 

The  Swedes  are  ultimately  victorious 529 

Character  and  anecdotes  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  529 

His  daughter  Christina,  who  succeeds  him  in  the 
throne  of  Sweden,  only  six  years  old  at  his 
death 530 

The  Protestant  confederacy  and  the  alliance  with 
France  preserved  entire,  by  the  great  abilities  of 
the  Swedish  minister,  Oxenstiern 530 

1634  Assassination  of  Walstein 530 

The  king  of  Hungary  succeeds  him  in  the  command 

of  the  imperial  forces 530 

The  Swedes  and  their  allies  totally  routed  in  the 
battle  of  Nordlingen 531 

1635  The  members  of  the  Evangelical  Union,  thrown 
into  consternation  by  this  defeat,  listen  to  propo- 
sals from  the  court  of  Vienna,  and  sign  the  peace 
of  Prague 531 

Substance  of  that  treaty 531 

The  weight  of  the  war  devolves  upon  the  Swedes 
and  their  French  allies 531 

LETTER  LXXV. 

The  general  Vietn  of  the  European  Continent  con 
tinned,  from  the  Treaty  of  Prague,  in  1635,  to  the 
Peace  of  Westphalia,  in  1648. 

1635  Vigorous  but  despotic  administration  of  cardi- 
nal Richelieu 531 

He  concludes  a  new  treaty  with  Oxenstiern,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  France  engages  to  take  an  ac- 
tive part  in  the  war  against  the  emperor 532 

Five  French  armies  are  sent  into  the  field 533 

Their  various  operations 532 

Keisar-Louter  taken  by  the  imperialists  under  gene- 
ral Galas 532 

Galas  also  makes  himself  master  of  Vauder- 
vange 533 

The  French  and  their  allies  yet  more  unfortunate  in 
Italy  and  the  Low  Countries 533 

A  Spanish  army,  under  Piccolomini  and  John  de 
Wert,  enters  France  on  the  side  of  Picardy.  •  533 

1636  The  confederates  begin  the  next  campaign 
with  vigour 533 

The  imperialists  defeated  by  the  Swedes  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Wislock 534 

1637  Death  of  the  emperor  Ferdinand  II 534 

His  son  and  successor  Ferdinand  III.  pursues  the 

same  line  of  policy 534 

1638  The  duke  of  Saxe  Weimar  gains  a  victory 
over  the  imperialists  near  Rhinfeld,  and  makes 
himself  master  of  the  place 534,  535 


CONTENTS. 


XXIX 


He  reduces  Bris.ic,  after  an  obstinate  siege  ....  535 
Lewis  XIII.  forms  a  scheme  of  annexing  Brisac  to 

Uie  crown  of  France 535 

Weimar's  gallant  reply  on  being  requested  to  give 

up  his  conquest 535 

Progress  of  the  Swedes,  under  Bannier,  in  Pome- 

rania 535 

1639  In  Moravia  and  in  Saxony 536 

Bannier  defeats  the  imperialists  in  Bohemia,  and 

makes  the  generals  Hofakirk  and   Montecuculi 

prisoners 536 

Death  of  the  duke  of  Saxe  Weimar 536 

Disputes  in  regard  to  his  army 536 

1640  A  treaty  concluded  between  France  and1  the 
Weimarian  officers 536,  537 

Jealousies  and  dissensions  among  the  generals  of  the 
confederates 537 

They  are  repulsed  in  an  attempt  to  force  Piccolo- 
mini's  camp  at  Saltzburg 537 

He  compels  them  to  quit  the  imperial  domi- 
nions    537 

The  Catalans  revolt 538 

The  Portuguese  throw  off  the  Spanish  yoke,  and 
place  on  the  throne  the  duke  of  Braganza,  under 
the  name  of  John  IV 538 

Particulars  of  that  revolution 538 

Indifference  of  Philip  IV.  on  being  told  of  it. . .  538 

1641  Ferdinand  III.  in  danger  of  being  made  pri- 
soner by  the  French  and  Swedes,  under  Bannier 
and  Guebriant 539 

They  insult  Ratisbon,  while  he  is  holding  a  diet  in 

that  city 539 

Congress  for  a  general  peace  proposed  to  be  held  at 

Minister  and  Osnaburg 539 

Regulations  relative  to  the  negotiations 539 

The  emperor  resolves  to  continue  the  war 539 

He  sends  a  powerful  army  into  the  field,  under  Pic- 

colomini  and  the  archduke  Leopold 539 

Glorious  retreat  of  Bannier 540 

His  death  and  character 540 

Maresciial  Guebriant  defeats  the  imperialists  near 

Wolfenbuttle 540 

1642  And  afterward  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Or- 
dinguen 541 

He  reduces  Lintz,  Hempen,  and  other  places  . .  541 
The  archduke  and  Piccolomini  fail  in  an  attempt  to 

surprise  Torstenson,  who  had  succeeded  Bannier 

in  the  chief  command  of  the  Swedish  forces  541 
He  passes  the  Elbe,  and  gives  them  battle  in  the 

plain  of  Breitenfeld 541 

They  are  totally  defeated,  after  an  obstinate  and 

bloody  dispute 541 

Consternation  of  the  imperial  court 542 

Torstenson  reduces  Leipsic 542 

Progress  of  the  war  on  the  frontiers  of  Spain. .  542 

Conspiracy  against  cardinal  Richelieu 542 

Cinqmars  and  DeThou  executed 542 

The  cardinal  enters  Paris  in  triumph 542 

1643  Death  of  Richelieu 543 

Death  of  Lewis  XIII 543 

Caidinal  Mazarine  succeeds  Richelieu  in  the  admi- 
nistration, and  pursues  the  same  line  of  policy  543 

Spanish  infantry  cut  to  pieces  in  the  battle  of 
Eacroi 543 

Negotiations  at  Munster  and  Osnaburg 543 

Torstenson  carries  war  into  the  dutchy  of  Hoi- 
stein  543 

He  penetrates  into  Jutland,  and  makes  himself  mas- 
ter of  many  places 544 

644  Peace  between  Denmark  andSwed  :n... .  544 


Success  of  the  French  arms  in  Germany,  under 

Turenne  and  Condi  ........................  544 

The  imperialists  are  defeated  in  two  engage- 

ments .....................................  544 

Ragotski,  vaivode  of  Transylvania,  invades  Hun- 

gary ......................................  545 

The  Austrian  army  in  that  kingdom  ruined  at  the 

siege  of  Cassovia  ..........................  545 

The  imperial  forces  in  Lower  Saxony  experience 

a  similar  fate  ..............................  545 

Torstenson,  having  now  no  enemy  to  oppose  him, 

enters  Bohemia  ............................  545 

1645  The  emperor  leaves  Prague,  and  retires  to 

Vienna  ...................................  545 

Masterly  movements  of  Torstenson  ...........  545 

He  gives  the  imperialists  battle  in  the  neighbour- 

hood of  Thabor,  and  totally  routs  them  ......  545 

His  rapid  progress  ...........................  546 

The  emperor,  struck  with  terror,  abandons  Vienna, 

and  takes  refuge  in  Ratisbon  ...............  546 

General  Merci  attacks  Turenne,  by  surprise,  in  the 

plain  of  Mariendal,  and  gains   a   bloody   vic- 

tory ......................................  546 

Obstinate  battle  between  the  French  and  Bava- 

rians, in  which  the  great  military  talents  of  Conde 

and  Turenne  are  fully  displayed  ............  547 

Glorious  death  of  count  de  Merci  .............  547 

The  Bavarians  are  obliged  to  quit  the  field  after 

various  turns  of  fortune  ....................  547 

Turenne  re-establishes  the  elector  of  Triers  in  his 

dominions  .................................  548 

The  elector  of  Saxony  concludes  a  truce  for  six 

months  with  Kdningsmark,  the  Swedish  gene- 

ral .................................. 


548 
The  emperor  makes  peace  with  Ragotski 548 

1646  Torstenson,  having  formed  a  junction  with 
Kdningsmark,  proposes  to  lay  siege  to  Prague  548 

Finding  the  attempt  impracticable,  he  resigns  in 
chagrin,  and  is  succeeded  by  Wrangel  in  the  chief 

command 548 

The  elector  of  Bavaria  signs  a  separate  peace  with 

France 548 

His  example  is  followed  by  other  princes 543 

The    French    unfortunate    on   the    frontiers  of 

Spain 548 

The  duke  d'Harcourt  fails  in  the  siege  of  Lerida  548 

Admirable  conduct  of  the  governor  Don  Antonio 

deBrito 548 

1647  The  prince  of  Condi  obliged  to  raise  the  siege 
of  the  same  place 549 

1648  The  Swedish  and  French  forces,  under  Wran- 
gel and  Turenne,  defeat  the  Austrians  and  Bava- 
rians, under   Montecuculi   and  Wittemberg,  at 
Zusmarhausen 549 

Charles  Gustavus,  prince  palatine  of  Deux-Ponts, 
arrives  from  Sweden  with  fresh  troops,  and  un- 
dertakes the  siege  of  Old  Prague 550 

The  emperor  is  made  sensible  of  the  necessity  of 
peace 550 

Retrospective  view  of  the  progress  of  the  negotia- 
tions at  Munster  and  Osnaburg 550 

The  United  Provinces  had  concluded,  in  .1647,  a 
separate  treaty  with  Spain,  in  which  their  inde- 
pendence was  acknowledged,  and  the  republic  de- 
clared a  sovereign  and  free  state 55C 

The  general  peace  of  Westphalia  signed  at  Muustei 
(Oct.24) 55C 

Civil  stipulations  in  that  treaty 55C 

Sti  pulations  relative  to  religion 551 

War  is  continued  between  France  and  Spain  .    551 


THE 

HISTORY 

OF 

MODERN    EUROPE. 


THE 

HISTORY 

OF 

MODERN    EUROPE. 


PART  I.    • 

FROM  THE  RISE  OF  THE  MODERN  KINGDOMS  TO  THE  PEACE 
OF  WESTPHALIA,  IN  1648. 


LETTER  I. 

Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  Settlement  of  the  Barbarians. 

You  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  finished  your  course  of  Ancient  History, 
under  your  preceptor:  in  the  elements  of  Modern  History  I  myself  will 
undertake  to  instruct  you.  The  establishment  of  the  present  European 
nations;  the  origin  of  our  laws,  manners,  and  customs;  the  progress  of 
society,  of  arts,  and  of  letters,  demand  your  particular  attention,  and  were  ill 
committed  to  the  disquisitions  of  a  mere  scholar. 

Europe  is  the  theatre  on  which  the  human  character  has  appeared  to  most 
advantage,  and  where  society  has  attained  its  most  perfect  form,  both  in 
ancient  and  modern  times ;  its  history  will,  therefore,  furnish  us  with  every 
thing  worthy  of  observation  in  the  study  of  men  or  of  kingdoms.  I  shall, 
however,  turn  your  eye  occasionally  on  the  other  parts  of  the  globe,  that  you 
may  have  a  general  idea,  at  least,  of  the  state  of  the  universe.  But  before  I 
proceed  to  the  history  of  Modern  Europe,  it  will  be  proper  to  say  a  few  words 
concerning  its  ancient  inhabitants,  and  its  situation  at  the  settlement  of  the 
present  nations. 

The  inhabitants  of  Ancient  Europe  may  be  divided  into  three  classes, 
Greeks,  Romans,  and  Barbarians ;  or  those  nations  the  two  former  were 
pleased  to  call  so,  because  less  civilized  than  they.  With  the  Greek  and 
Roman  story  you  are  well  acquainted.  I  shall,  therefore,  only  remind  you, 
that  the  Greeks,  the  most  polished  people  of  antiquity,  inhabited  the  mari- 
time parts  of  the  country  now  known  by  the  name  of  European  Turkey; 
that,  when  corrupted,  they  were  conquered  by  the  Romans ;  and  that,  after 
the  conquest  of  Greece,  the  Romans  turned  their  arms  against  the  Barba- 
rians or  northern  nations,  the  Gauls,  the  Britons,  the  Germans,  whom  they 
also  in  a  great  measure  subdued,  by  their  superiority  in  the  art  of  war,  but 
not  with  the  same  facility  they  had  overcome  the  voluptuous  nations  of  Asia. 
A  single  battle  did  not  decide  the  fate  of  a  kingdom.  Those  brave  and 
independent  people,  though  often  defeated,  resumed  their  arms  with  fresh 
valour,  and  defended  their  possessions  and  their  liberties  with  obstinate 
courage.  But  after  a  variety  of  struggles,  in  which  many  of  them  perished 
in  the  field,  and  many  were  carried  into  slavery,  a  miserable  remnant  sub- 
mitted to  the  Romans ;  while  others  fled  to  their  mountains  for  freedom,  or 
took  refuge  in  the  inaccessible  corners  of  the  North.  There,  defended  b\. 

Voi,.  I.— C 


34  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART! 

lakes  and  rivers,  the  indignant  Barbarians  lived,  until  time  had  ripened  the 
seeds  of  destruction.  Then  rushing  forth,  like  an  impetuous  flood,  and 
sweeping  every  thing  before  them,  they  overturned  the  vast  fabric  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  the  work  and  the  wonder  of  ages,  taking  vengeance  on  the 
murderers  of  mankind ;  established  on  its  ruins  new  governments,  and  new 
manners,  and  accomplished  the  most  signal  revolution  in  the  history  of 
nations.  (1) 

Here  we  must  make  a  pause,  in  order  to  consider  the  moral  and  political 
causes  of  that  great  event,  and  its  influence  on  the  state  of  society. 

As  soon  as  the  Romans  had  subdued  the  north  of  Europe,  they  set  them- 
selves to  civilize  it.  They  transferred  into  the  conquered  countries  their 
laws,  manners,  arts,  sciences,  language,  and  literature.  And  some  have 
thought  these  a  sufficient  compensation  for  the  loss  of  liberty  and  indepen- 
dency. But  you,  my  dear  Philip,  will  judge  very  differently,  I  hope,  what- 
ever veneration  you  may  haffe  for  the  Roman  name. 

Good  laws  are  essential  to  good  government,  arts  and  sciences  to  the  pros- 
perity of  a  nation,  and  learning  and  politeness  to  the  perfection  of  the  human 
character.  But  these,  in  order  to  exalt  a  people,  must  be  the  result  of  the 
natural  progress  of  civilization,  not  of  any  adventitious  ferment,  or  violence 
from  abroad.  The  fruits  of  summer  are  ripened  in  winter  by  art ;  but  the 
course  of  the  seasons  is  necessary  to  give  them  their  proper  flavour,  their 
proper  size,  or  their  proper  taste.  The  spontaneous  produce  of  the  forest, 
though  somewhat  harsh,  is  preferable  to  what  is  raised  by  such  forced  culture . 
and  the  native  dignity,  the  native  manners,  and  rude  virtues  of  the  Barbarian, 
are  superior  to  all  that  can  be  taught  the  slave.  When  mankind  are  obliged 
to  look  up  to  a  master  for  honour  and  consequence,  to  flatter  his  foibles,  and 
to  fear  his  frown,  cunning  takes  place  of  wisdom,  and  treachery  of  fortitude ; 
the  mind  loses  its  vigour,  the  heart  its  generosity,  and  man,  in  being  polished, 
is  only  debased. 

This  truth  was  never,  perhaps,  more  strikingly  exemplified  than  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Roman  empire.  The  degrading  influence  of  its  dominion,  more 
than  any  other  circumstance,  hastened  its  final  dissolution;  for  although 
the  conquered  nations  were  by  that  means  more  easily  kept  in  subjection, 
they  became  unable  to  resist  a  foreign  enemy,  and  might  be  considered  as 
decayed  members  of  the  body  politic,  which  increased  its  size  without 
increasing  its  strength.  An  appearance  of  prosperity,  indeed,  succeeded  to 
the  havoc  of  war ;  the  ruined  cities  were  rebuilt,  and  new  ones  founded ; 
population  flourished ;  civilization  advanced ;  the  arts  were  cultivated ;  but 
the  martial  and  independent  spirit  of  the  people  of  the  northern  provinces 
was  so  totally  extinct  in  a  few  centuries,  that  instead  of  preferring  death  to 
slavery,  like  so  many  of  their  illustrious  ancestors,  they  patiently  submitted 
to  any  contribution  which  a  rapacious  governor  was  pleased  to  levy,  and 
the  descendants  of  those  gallant  warriors  who  had  disputed  the  field  with 
the  Roman  legions  under  Caesar  and  Germanicus  were  unable  to  oppose  the 
most  desultory  inroads  of  a  troop  of  undisciplined  Barbarians.  They  were 
become  incapable  of  either  thinking  or  acting  for  themselves.  Hence  all 
the  countries  which  have  been  subjected  to  the  Roman  yoke,  fell  a  prey  to 
the  first  invader,  after  the  imperial  forces  were  withdrawn. 

Many  other  causes  contributed  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman  empire, 
beside  the  debility  occasioned  by  its  unwieldy  corpulence. 

Rome  owed  her  dominion  as  much  to  the  manners  as  to  the  arms  of  her 
citizens. (2)  Their  dignity  of  sentiment;  their  love  of  liberty  and  of  their 
country;  their  passion  for  glory;  their  perseverance  in  toils ;  their  contempt 


I,ET.  1. 1  MODERN    EUROPE.  35 

of  danger  and  of  death;  their  obedience  to  the  laws;  and,  above  all,  their 
civil  constitution  and  military  discipline,  had  extended  and  cemented  the 
conquests  of  the  Romans.  The  very  usurpations  of  that  sovereign  people 
(for  I  speak  of  the  times  of  the  republic)  were  covered  with  a  certain  ma- 
jesty, which  made  even  tyranny  respectable.  But  their  government  carried 
in  its  bosom  the  seeds  of  destruction.  The  continual  jealousy  between  the 
patricians  and  plebeians,  the  senate  and  the  people,  without  any  balancing 
power,  made  the  ruin  of  the  republic  inevitable,  as  soon  as  the  manners  were 
relaxed :  and  a  relaxation  of  manners  was  necessarily  produced,  by  the  pil- 
lage of  Greece,  and  the  conquest  of  Asia,(l)  by  the  contagious  refinements 
of  the  one,  and  the  influx  of  wealth  from  the  other. 

The  fall  of  Carthage,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Gauls  out  of  Italy,  though 
-'•nningly  the  two  most  fortunate  events  in  the  Roman  history,  contributed 
Iso  to  a  change  of  manners,  and  to  the  extinction  of  Roman  liberty.  While 
Carthage  subsisted,  the  attention  of  all  parties  was  carried  toward  that  rival 
state ;  to  defend  themselves,  or  annoy  their  enemies,  was  the  only  care  of  the 
Romans ;  and  as  long  as  the  Gauls  had  possessions  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
liome,  her  citizens  were  united  by  the  sense  of  a  common  danger ;  but  no 
sooner  were  their  fears  from  abroad  removed,  than  the  people  grew  altogether 
ungovernable.  Ambitious  men  took  advantage  of  their  licentiousness ;  party 
Clashed  with  party.  A  master  became  necessary,  in  order  to  terminate  the 
horrors  of  civil  war,  as  well  as  to  give  union  and  vigour  to  the  state.  Interest 
-uid  vanity,  made  courtiers ;  force  or  fear,  slaves.  The  people  were  disarmed 
by  the  jealousy  of  despotism,  and  corrupted  by  the  example  of  an  abandoned 
court.  Effeminacy,  debauchery,  profligacy,  and  every  atrocious  vice,  was 
common  upon  the  throne. 

A  new  source  of  ruin  disclosed  itself.  Some  disputed  successions  having 
made  the  army  sensible  that  the  sovereignty  was  in  their  hands,  they  thence- 
forth sold  it  to  the  highest  bidder.  Sporting  with  the  lives  of  their  princes, 
as  formerly  with  the  laws  of  the  republic,  they  created  emperors  only  to 
extort  money  from  them,  and  afterward  massacred  them,  in  order  to  extort 
like  sums  from  their  successors.  Emperors  were  opposed  to  emperors,  and 
armies  disputed  the  pretensions  of  armies.  With  obedience,  discipline  was 
lost.  Wise  princes  endeavoured,  but  in  vain,  to  restore  it :  their  zeal  to 
maintain  the  ancient  military  regulations  only  exposed  them  to  the  fury  of 
the  soldiery ;  the  very  name  of  discipline  was  a  signal  for  revolt.  The  armies 
of  Rome  did  not  now  consist  of  free  men,  who  had  voluntarily  chosen  a  mili- 
tary life  ;  or  who,  in  obedience  to  the  laws,  served  for  a  term  of  years ;  but 
of  mercenaries  collected  from  the  provinces,  or  Barbarians  bribed  into  the 
service,  as  more  able  to  undergo  the  fatigues  of  war.  Her  soldiers  were  no 
longer  citizens  armed  in  defence  of  their  country :  they  were  its  oppressors  ; 
they  were  licensed  robbers,  insatiable  of  plunder. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  continual  treasons  of  the  soldiery,  but  especially  the 
Pretorian  bands,  the  emperors  associated  with  themselves  in  the  supreme. 
power,  their  sons,  their  brothers,  or  such  persons  as  they  could  trust;  and 
every  emperor  elected  a  Caesar,  or  successor.  They  likewise  subdivided,  and 
consequently  diminished,  the  power  of  the  Pretorian  prefects,  who  were  the 
grand  viziers  of  their  time,  appointing  four  instead  of  two.  By  these  means 
the  imperial  seat  was  rendered  more  secure :  the  emperors  were  permitted  to 
die  in  their  beds ;  manners  were  softened,  and  less  blood  was  shed  by  ferocity ; 
but  the  state  was  wasted  by  an  enormous  expense,  and  a  new  species  of 
oppression  took  place,  no  less  disgraceful  to  humanity  than  the  former  mas- 
sacres. The  tyranny  was  transferred  from  the  soldiery  to  the  prince ;  the 
cause  and  the  mode  was  changed,  but  the  effect  was  the  same.  Shut  up 
within  the  walls  of  a  palace,  surrounded  by  flatterers  and  women,  and  sunk 
in  the  softness  of  Eastern  luxury,  those  masters  of  empire  governed  in  secret 

(1)  It  was  in  the  delicious  climate  and  pleasurable  groves  of  Asia  (says  Sallust)  that  the  army  of  thi 
Roman  people  first  learned  to  abandon  themselves  to  wine  and  women — to  admire  pictures,  statues,  and 
tases  of  curious  workmanship— and  to  spare  nothing  civil  or  sacred  to  come  at  the  possession  of  them 
Bell.  Catilin 

C2 


16  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  i. 

by  the  dark  and  subtle  artifices  of  despotism.  Iniquitous  judgments,  under 
the  form  of  justice,  seemed  only  to  set  death  at  a  distance,  in  order  to  make 
life  more  miserable,  and  existence  more  precarious.  Nothing-  was  said,  all 
was  insinuated :  every  man  of  prime  reputation  was  accused ;  and  the  warrior 
and  the  politician  daily  saw  themselves  at  the  mercy  of  sycophants,  who  had 
neither  ability  to  serve  the  state  themselves,  nor  generosity  to  suffer  others 
to  serve  it  with  honour.  (1) 

The  removal  of  the  imperial  court  to  Constantinople,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
subsequent  division  of  the  empire  into  Eastern  and  Western,  was  a  new  blow 
to  the  grandeur  of  Rome,  and  likewise  to  its  security :  for  the  veteran  legions, 
that  guarded  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine,  were  also  removed  to 
the  East,  in  order  to  guard  another  frontier ;  and  Italy,  robbed  of  its  wealth 
and  inhabitants,  sunk  into  a  state  of  the  most  annihilating  languor.  Changed 
into  a  garden  by  an  Asiatic  pomp,  and  crowded  with  villas,  now  deserted  by 
their  voluptuous  owners,  this  once  fertile  country  was  unable  to  maintain 
itself;  and  when  the  crops  of  Sicily  and  Africa  failed,  ^he  people  breathed 
nothing  but  sedition. 

These  discontents,  occasioned  by  the  removal  of  the  imperial  court,  wen- 
heightened  by  those  of  religion.  Christianity  had  long  been  making  progress 
in  the  empire :  it  now  ascended  the  throne  of  the  Caesars.  As  the  Christians 
had  formerly  been  persecuted,  they,  in  their  turn,  became  persecutors.  The 
gods  of  Rome  were  publicly  insulted,  their  statues  were  broken,  their  votaries 
were  harassed.  Penal  statutes  were  enacted  against  the  ancient  worship  : 
the  punishment  of  death  was  denounced  against  the  sacrifices  formerly 
ordained  by  law :  the  altar  of  Victory  was  overturned,  the  cross  was  exalted 
in  its  stead,  and  displayed  in  place  of  that  triumphant  eagle,  under  which  the 
world  had  been  conquered. (2)  The  most  dreadful  hates  and  animosities 
arose.  The  Pagans  accused  the  Christians  of  all  their  misfortunes :  they 
rejoiced  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  calamities,  as  if  the  gods  had  been  come 
in  person  to  take  vengeance  on  the  destroyers  of  their  altars ;  while  tlu 
Christians  affirmed,  that  the  remains  of  Paganism  alone  had  drawn  down  the 
wrath  of  Omnipotence.  Both  parties  were  more  occupied  about  their  reli- 
gious disputes  than  the  common  safety ;  and,  to  complete  the  miseries  of  thi& 
unhappy  people,  the  Christians  became  divided  among  themselves.  New 
sects  sprang  up ;  new  disputes  took  place ;  new  jealousies  and  antipathies 
raged ;  and  the  same  punishments  were  denounced  against  Heretics  and 
Pagans.  A  universal  bigotry  debased  the  minds  of  men.  In  a  grand 
assembly  of  the  provinces,  it  was  proposed ;  That,  as  there  are  three  persons 
in  the  Trinity,  they  ought  to  have  three  emperors.  Sieges  were  raised,  and 
cities  lost,  for  the  sake  of  a  bit  of  rotten  wood,  or  withered  bone  which  was 
supposed  to  have  belonged  to  some  saint  or  martyr.  The  effeminacy  of  the 
age  mingled  itself  with  this  infatuation;  and  generals,  more  weak  than  humane, 
sat  down  to  mourn  the  calamities  of  war,  when  they  should  intrepidly  have 
led  on  their  troops  to  battle. (3) 

The  character  of  the  people  with  whom  the  Romans  had  to  contend,  was 
in  all  respects,  the  reverse  of  their  own.  Those  northern  adventurers,  or 
Barbarians  as  they  were  called,  breathed  nothing  but  war.  Their  martial 
spirit  was  yet  in  its  vigour.  They  sought  a  milder  climate,  and  lands  more 
fertile  than  their  forests  and  mountains  :  the  sword  was  their  right :  and  they 
exercised  it  without  remorse,  as  the  right  of  nature.  Barbarous  they  surely 
were,  but  they  were  superior  to  the  people  they  invaded,  in  virtue  as  well  as 

(1)  Montcsq.  Considerat.  sur  Us  Causes  de  la  Grandeur  dcs  Romans,  et  dc  lew  Decad.  chap.  xv.  xvl 
xvii.  and  the  authors  there  cited,  but  especially  Tacitus,  Ammianus,  Marcellinus,  and  Zosimus. 

(2)  Four  respectable  deputations  were  successively  voted  to  the  imperial  court,  representing  the  grie» 
ances  of  the  priesthood,  and  the  senate,  and  soliciting  the  restoration  of  the  altar  of  Victory.    The  conducl 
of  this  important  business  was  intrusted  -to  Symmachus,  a  noble  and  eloquent  orator,  who  thus  makes 
Rome  herself  plead,  before  the  imperial  tribunal,  in  favour  of  the  ancient  worship:  "  These  rites  have  re 
pelled  Hannibal  from  the  city,  and  the  Gaula  from  the  Capitol.    Were  my  gray  hairs  reserved  for  such  in- 
tolerable disgrace  7    I  am  ignorant  of  the  new  system  that  I  ajn  required  to  adopt ;  but  I  am  well  assured, 
that  the  correction  of  old  age  is  always  an  ungrateful  and  ignominious  office."    Symmach.  lib.  x.  epist.  54. 

(3)  Montesq.  Considerat,  Sec.  chap,  xviii— xxii.    See  also  Gibbon's  Hist,  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
I'.oman  Empire,  (in  four  vols.)  vol.  ii— iii.  and  the  authors  there  quoted. 


LEI.  i.j  MODERN    EUROPE.  37 

in  valour.  Simple  and  severe  in  their  manners,  they  were  unacquainted  with 
the  name  of  luxury ;  any  thing  was  sufficient  for  their  extreme  frugality. 
Hardened  by  exercise  and  toil,  their  bodies  seemed  inaccessible  to  disease 
or  pain :  war  was  their  element ;  they  sported  with  danger,  and  met  death 
with  expressions  of  joy.  Though  free  and  independent,  they  were  firmly 
attached  to  their  leaders ;  because  they  followed  them  from  choice,  not  from 
constraint,  the  most  gallant  being  always  dignified  with  the  command.  Nor 
were  these  their  only  virtues.  They  were  remarkable  for  their  regard  to  the 
sanctity  of  the  marriage  bed ;  their  generous  hospitality,  their  detestation  of 
treachery  and  falsehood.  They  possessed  many  maxims  of  civil  wisdom, 
and  wanted  only  the  culture  of  reason  to  conduct  them  to  the  true  principles 
of  social  life.(l) 

What  could  the  divided,  effeminate,  and  now  dastardly  Romans,  oppose  to 
such  a  people?  Nothing  but  fear  and  folly;  or,  what  was  still  more  igno- 
minious, treachery.  Soon  convinced  that  the  combat  was  unequal,  they 
attempted  to  appease  their  invaders  by  money :  but  that  peace  could  not  be 
of  long  continuance  which  put  those  who  sold  it  in  a  better  condition  to  sell 
another.  Force  is  seldom  just.  These  voluntary  contributions  were  changed 
into  a  tribute  which  was  demanded  as  aright ;  and  war  was  denounced  when 
it  was  refused,  or  fell  short  of  the  customary  sum.  Tributes  were  multiplied 
upon  tributes,  till  the  empire  was  drained  of  its  treasure.  Another  expedient 
was  then  fallen  upon :  large  bodies  of  the  Barbarians  were  taken  into  pay, 
and  opposed  to  other  Barbarians.  This  mode  of  defence,  so  contrary  to  the 
practice  of  the  first  Romans,  answered  for  the  moment,  but  terminated  in 
ruin :  those  auxiliaries  proved  the  most  dangerous  enemies  to  the  empire. 
Already  acquainted  with  the  Roman  luxuries,  the  Roman  wealth,  and  the 
Roman  weakness,  they  turned  their  arms  against  their  masters,  inviting  theii 
countrymen  to  come  and  share  with  them  in  the  spoils  of  a  people  unworthy 
of  so  many  accommodations.  They  were  likewise  become  acquainted  with 
what  little  military  skill  yet  remained  among  the  Romans;  and  that,  super- 
added  to  their  natural  intrepidity,  made  them  perfectly  irresistible.  A  third 
expedient,  yet  more  unworthy  of  the  Roman  name,  was  had  recourse  to : — 
assassination  was  employed  by  the  emperors  against  those  princes,  or  leaders, 
whose  arms  they  feared :  it  was  even  concealed  beneath  the  mask  of  friend- 
ship, and  perpetrated  under  the  roof  of  hospitality — in  the  convivial  hour, 
and  at  the  festive  board  !(2) 

This  diabolical  practice,  the  want  of  faith,  and  other  unmanly  vices  of  the 
Romans,  not  only  account  for  the  total  subversion  of  their  empire,  but  also 
for  many  of  the  cruelties  of  the  conquerors.  Inflamed  with  the  passion  of 
revenge,  no  less  than  the  thirst  of  conquest  or  the  lust  of  plunder,  the  inflex- 
ible and  high  spirited,  though  naturally  generous  Barbarians,  were  equally 
deaf  to  the  offers  of  treaty  and  the  voice  of  supplication.  Wherever  they 
marched,  their  route  was  marked  with  blood.  The  most  fertile  and  populous 
provinces  were  converted  into  deserts.  Italy  and  Rome  itself  was  often 
pillaged.  New  invaders,  from  regions  more  remote  and  barbarous,  drove  out 
or  exterminated  the  former  settlers  :  and  Europe  was  successively  laid  waste, 
till  the  North,  by  pouring  forth  its  myriads,  was  drained  of  people,  and  the 
sword  of  slaughter  tired  of  destroying. 

In  less  than  a  hundred  years  after  the  first  northern  invasion,  scarce  any  re- 
mains of  the  laws,  manners,  arts,  or  literature  of  the  Romans  were  left  in 
our  quarter  of  the  globe.  By  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  the  Visi- 
goths had  possessed  themselves  of  Spain ;  the  Franks  of  Gaul ;  the  Saxons 
of  the  Roman  provinces  in  South  Britain ;  the  Huns  of  Pannonia ;  the  Os- 
trogoths of  Italy,  and  the  adjacent  provinces.  New  governments,  laws, 
languages ;  new  manners,  customs,  dresses ;  new  names  of  men  and  of 

f  1)  Tacit  de  JHoribus  Germ.  Priscus,  Exerpt.  de  Logat.  Jornandes,  de  reb  Get.  "  As  in  polished 
s-ocieties,"  says  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  speaking  of  the  Huns,  "  ease  and  tranquillity  are  courted,  they 
delight  in  war  and  dangers.  He  who  falls  in  battle  is  reckoned  happy ;  while  they,  who  die  of  old  age  or 
disease,  are  held  infamous."  Hist.  lib.  xxxi. 

£2}  Montesquieu  and  Gibbon,  ubi  sup. 


46  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART!. 

co  urines  every  where  prevailed.    A  total  change  took  place  in  the  state  of 
Europe. (1) 

How  far  this  change  ought  to  be  lamented  is  not  now  a  matter  of  much 
dispute.  The  human  species  was  reduced  to  such  a  degree  of  debasement 
by  the  pressure  of  Roman  despotism,  that  we  can  hardly  be  sorry  at  any 
means,  however  violent,  which  removed  or  lightened  the  load.  But  we  cannot 
help  lamenting  at  the  same  time,  that  this  revolution  was  the  work  of  nations 
so  little  enlightened  by  science  or  polished  by  civilization :  for  the  Roman 
laws,  though  somewhat  corrupted,  were  yet  in  general  the  best  that  human 
wisdom  had  framed ;  and  the  Roman  arts  and  literature,  though  much  declined, 
were  still  superior  to  any  thing  found  among  rude  nations,  or  which  those 
who  spurned  them  produced  for  many  ages. 

The  contempt  of  the  Barbarians  for  the  Roman  improvements  is  not 
wholly,  however,  to  be  ascribed  to  their  ignorance,  nor  the  suddenness  of  the 
revolution  to  their  desolating  fury ;  the  manners  of  the  conquered  must  come 
in  for  a  share.  Had  the  Romans  not  been  in  the  lowest  state  of  national 
degeneracy,  they  might  surely  have  civilized  the  conquerors ;  had  they  re- 
tained any  of  the  virtues  of  men  among  them,  they  might  have  continued 
under  the  government  of  their  own  laws.  Many  of  the  northern  leaders 
were  endowed  with  great  abilities,  and  several  of  them  were  acquainted  both 
with  the  policy  and  literature  of  the  Romans :  but  they  were  justly  afraid  of 
the  contagious  influence  of  Roman  example;  and  therefore  avoided  every 
thing  allied  to  that  name,  whether  hurtful,  or  otherwise.(2)  They  erected  a 
cottage  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  palace,  breaking  down  the  stately  building, 
and  burying  in  its  ruins  the  finest  works  of  human  ingenuity :  they  ate  out  of 
vessels  of  wood,  and  made  the  vanquished  be  served  in  vessels  of  silver ; 
they  hunted  the  boar  on  the  voluptuous  parterre,  the  trim  garden,  and  expen- 
sive pleasure  ground,  where  effeminacy  was  wont  to  saunter,  or  indolence  to 
loll ;  and  they  pastured  their  herds  where  they  might  have  raised  a  luxuriant 
harvest.  They  prohibited  their  children  the  knowledge  of  literature,  and  of 
all  the  elegant  arts ;  because  they  concluded,  from  the  dastardliness  of  the 
Romans,  that  learning  tends  to  enervate  the  mind,  and  that  he  who  has 
trembled  under  the  rod  of  a  pedagogue  will  never  dare  to  meet  a  sword  with 
an  undaunted  eye.(3)  Upon  the  same  principles  they  rejected  the  Roman 
jurisprudence.  It  reserved  nothing  to  the  vengeance  of  man :  they  therefore, 
not  unphilosophically,  thought  it  must  rob  him  of  his  active  powers.  Nor 
could  they  conceive  how  the  person  injured  could  rest  satisfied,  but  by  pouring 
out  his  fury  upon  the  author  of  the  injustice.  Hence  all  those  judicial  com- 
bats, and  private  wars  which  for  many  ages  desolated  Europe. 

In  what  manner  light  arose  out  of  this  darkness,  order  out  of  this  confu- 
sion, and  taste  out  of  this  barbarism,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  observe  in  the 
course  of  history  :  how  genius  and  magnificence  displayed  themselves  in  a 
new  mode,  which  prevailed  for  a  time,  and  was  exploded;  how  the  sons  came 
to  idolize  that  literature  which  their  fathers  had  proscribed,  and  wept  over 
the  ruins  of  those  sculptures,  paintings,  buildings,  which  they  could  not 
restore;  digging  from. dunghills,  and  the  dust  of  ages,  the  models  of  their 
future  imitations,  and  enervating  themselves  with  the  same  arts  which  had 
enervated  the  Romans. 

In  the  mean  time  we  must  take  a  view  of  the  system  of  policy  and  legis- 
lation established  by  the  Barbarians  on  their  first  settlements. 

(1)  A  similar  change  was  soon  to  take  place  in  the  state  of  Asia,  great  part  of  which  was  still  subject  to 
the  emperors  of  Constantinople.    These  emperors,  though  gradually  robbed  of  their  Asiatic  provinces  by 
the  followers  of  Mahomet,  continued  to;  preserve,  in  the  East,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  an  iui.-iL'- 
of  Roman  greatness,  lung  ailer  Rome  had  been  sacked  by  the  Barbarians,  and  the  Roman  dominion  f;n;ill> 
extinguished  in  the  West.    The  Roman  provinces  in  Africa  were  already  overrun  by  the  Vaml;ii 

had  spread  desolation  with  fire  and  sword. 

(2)  "  When  we  would  brand  an  enemy,"  says  an  enlightened  Barbarian,  "  with  disgraceful  and  con- 
tumelious appellations  we  call  him  a  Roman :  a  name  which  comprehends  whatever  is  base,  cowardly 
avaricious,  luxurious— in  a  word,  lying,  and  all  other  vices."    Liutprand.  Legal,  ap.  Murat.  vol.  ii. 

13)  Procop.  Bell.  Goth,  iib.i. 


II. I  MODERN    EUROPE. 


*  LETTER  II. 

The  system  of  Policy  and  Legislation  established  by  the  Barbarians,  on  settling 
in  the  Provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

THE  ancient  Gauls,  the  Britons,  the  Germans,  the  Scandinavians,  and  all 
the  nations  of  the  north  of  Europe,  had  a  certain  degree  of  conformity  in 
their  government,  manners,  and  opinions.  The  same  leading  character,  and 
the  same  degree  of  conformity,  was  also  observable  among  their  more  modern 
descendants,  who,  under  the  names  of  Goths  and  Vandals,  dismembered  the 
Roman  empire.  Alike  distinguished  by  a  love  of  war  and  of  liberty,  by  a 
persuasion  that  force  only  constitutes  right,  and  that  victory  is  an  infallible 
proof  of  justice,  they  were  equally  bold  in  attacking  their  enemies,  and  hi 
resisting  the  absolute  domination  of  any  one  man.  They  were  free  even  in 
a  state  of  submission.  Their  primitive  government  was  a  kind  of  military 
democracy,  under  a  general  or  chieftain,  who  had  commonly  the  title  of  king. 
Matters  of  little  consequence  were  determined  by  the  principal  men,  but  the 
whole  community  assembled  to  deliberate  on  national  objects.  The  au- 
thority of  their  kings  or  generals,  who  owed  their  eminence  entirely  to  their 
military  talents,  and  held  it  by  no  other  claim,  was  extremely  limited :  it  con- 
sisted rather  in  the  privilege  of  advising,  than  in  the  power  of  commanding 
Every  individual  was  at  liberty  to  choose  whether  he  would  engage  in  any 
warlike  enterprise.  They  therefore  followed  the  chieftain  who  led  them 
forth  in  quest  of  new  settlements  from  inclination,  not  control  ;(1)  as  volun- 
teers who  offered  to  accompany  him,  not  as  soldiers  whom  he  could  order  to 
inarch.  They  considered  their  conquests  as  common  property,  in  which  all 
had  a  right  to  share,  as  all  had  contributed  to  acquire  them :  nor  was  any 
obligation  whatsoever  entailed  on  the  possessors  of  lands  thus  obtained. 
Every  one  was  the  lord  of  his  own  little  territory. 

But  after  settling  in  the  Roman  provinces,  where  they  had  their  acquisi- 
tion to  maintain  not  only  against  the  ancient  inhabitants,  but  also  against 
the  inroads  of  new  invaders,  the  northern  conquerors  saw  the  necessity  of  a 
closer  union,  and  of  relinquishing  some  of  their  private  rights  for  public 
safety.  They  continued  therefore  to  acknowledge  the  general  who  had  led 
them  to  victory :  he  was  considered  as  the  head  of  the  colony  ;  he  had  the 
largest  share  of  the  conquered  lands  ;  and  every  free  man,  or  every  subor- 
dinate officer  and  soldier,  upon  receiving  a  share  according  to  his  military 
rank,  tacitly  bound  himself  to  appear  against  the  enemies  of  the  com- 
munity.^) 

This  new  division  of  property,  and  the  obligations  consequent  upon  it,  gave 
rise  to  a  species  of  government  formerly  unknown,  and  which  is  commonly 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  The  idea  of  a  feudal 
kingdom  was  borrowed  from  that  of  a  military  establishment.  The  victorious 
army,  cantoned  out  in  the  country  which  it  had  siezed,  continued  arranged 
under  its  proper  officers,  who  were  ordered  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  assemble  whenever  occasion  should  require  their  united  operations  or 
counsels. 

But.  that  system  of  policy  apparently  so  well  calculated  for  national 
defence  or  conquest,  and  which  prevailed  for  several  centuries  in  almost  every 
kingdom  of  Europe,  did  not  sufficiently  provide  for  the  interior  order  and 
tranquillity  of  the  state.  The  bond  of  political  union  was  feeble ;  the  sources 
of  dissension  Avere  many;  and  corruption  was  interwoven  with  the  very 
frame  of  the  constitution.  The  partial  division  oi»the  conquered  lands,  which 

(1)  Cssar.  de  Bell.  Oall.  lib.  yi.  Tacit  de  Moribus  German,  cap.  xi. — xlvi.  Amm.  Marcel,  lib.  XXTI 
Pris.  RAet.  ap.  Byz.  Script,  vol.  i.  (2)  Du  Cange,  Gloss,  voc  Miles  et  JHadis. 


40  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART! 

were  chiefly  swallowed  up  by  the  great  officers,  gave  the  few  a  dangerous 
ascendency  over  the  many.  The  king  or  general,  by  his  superior  allotment, 
had  it  amply  in  his  power  to  reward  past  services  or  attach  new  followers, 
for  the  purpose  of  future  wars.  With  this  view  he  parcelled  out  his  lands ; 
binding  those,  on  whom  he  bestowed  them,  to  attend  them  in  all  his  military 
enterprises,  under  the  penalty  of  forfeiture.  The  nobles,  or  great  officers, 
followed  his  example,  annexing  the  same  conditions  to  their  benefices  or 
grants  of  land,  and  appearing  at  the  head  of  their  numerous  vassals,  like  so 
many  independent  princes,  whenever  their  pride  was  wounded  or  their  pro- 
perty injured.  They  disputed  the  claims  of  the  sovereign ;  they  withdrew 
their  attendance,  or  turned  their  arms  against  him.(l)  A  strong  barrier  was 
thus  formed  against  a  general  despotism  in  the  state  ;  but  the  nobles  them- 
selves, by  means  of  their  warlike  retainers,  were  the  tyrants  of  every  inferior 
district,  holding  the  people  in  servitude,  and  preventing  any  regular  admin- 
istration of  justice,  every  one  claiming  that  prerogative  within  his  own 
domain.  Noi  wa&  this  the  only  privilege  those  haughty  nobles  usurped; 
they  also  extorted  from  the  crown  the  right  of  coining  money  in  their  own 
name,  and  of  carrying  on  war  against  their  private  enemies. (2) 

In  consequence  of  these  encroachments  on  the  royal  prerogative,  the  pow- 
erful vassals  of  the  crown  obtained  grants  during  life,  and  afterward  others 
including  their  heirs,  of  such  lands  as  they  had  originally  enjoyed  only 
during  pleasure ;  and  they  appropriated  to  themselves  titles  of  honour,  as 
well  as  offices  of  power  and  of  trust,  which  became  hereditary  in  many 
families.  The  ties  which  connected  the  principal  members  of  the  constitu- 
tion with  its  head  were  dissolved;  almost  all  ideas  of  political  subjection 
were  lost,  and  little  appearance  of  feudal  subordination  remained.  The 
nobility  openly  aspired  at  independence ;  they  scorned  to  consider  themselves 
as  subjects  ;  and  a  kingdom,  considerable  in  name  and  extent,  was  often  a 
mere  shadow  of  monarchy,  and  really  consisted  of  as  many  separate  princi- 
palities as  it  contained  baronies.  A  variety  of  feuds  and  jealousies  subsisted 
among  the  barons,  and  gave  rise  to  so  many  wars. (3)  Hence  every  country 
in  Europe,  wasted  or  kept  in  continual  alarm  by  these  internal  hostilities,  was 
filled  with  castles  and  places  of  strength,  in  order  to  protect  the  inhabitants 
from  the  fury  of  their  fellow-subjects. 

Kingdoms  so  divided,  and  torn  by  domestic  broils,  were  little  capable  of 
any  foreign  effort.  The  wars  of  Europe,  therefore,  during  several  centuries, 
as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  resembled  more  the  wild  and  desultory 
incursions  of  pirates,  or  banditti,  than  the  regular  and  concerted  operations 
of  national  force.  Happily,  however,  for  posterity,  the  state  of  every  king- 
dom was  nearly  the  same ;  otherwise  all  must  have  fallen  a  prey  to  one ;  the 
independent  spirit  of  the  North  might  have  been  extinguished  for  ever :  and 
the  present  harmonious  system  of  European  policy,  which  so  gloriously 
struggled  from  the  chaos  of  anarchy,  would  have  sunk  in  eternal  night. 

The  particular  manner  in  which  the  Barbarians  conducted  their  judicial 
proceedings,  when  they  first  settled  in  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire, 
cannot  now  be  ascertained ;  but  their  form  of  government,  their  manners, 
and  a  variety  of  other  circumstances,  lead  us  to  believe  that  it  was  nearly  the 
same  with  that  which  prevailed  in  their  original  countries ;  where  the  autho- 
rity of  the  magistrate  was  so  limited,  and  the  independence  of  individuals 
so  great,  that  they  seldom  admitted  any  umpire  but  the  sword.(4) 

Our  most  ancient  historical  records  justify  this  opinion ;  they  represent  the 
exercise  of  justice  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe,  and  the  ideas  of  men  with 
respect  to  equity,  as  little  different  from  those  which  prevail  in  a  state 
of  nature,  and  deform  the  first  stages  of  society  in  every  country.  Resent- 
ment was  almost  the  sole  motive  for  prosecuting  crimes  ;  and  the  gratification 
of  that  passion,  more  than  any  view  to  the  prosperity  and  good  order  ol 
society,  was  the  end,  and  »lso  the  rule  in  punishing  them.  He  that  suffered 

(1)  Montesquieu,  IS  Esprit  dea  LOIK,  liv.  xxx.  xxxi. 

(2)  Moiite«quieu,  ubi  supra.    Robertson's  Introd.    Hist.  Charles  V.— Hume's  Hist.  Eng.    (University 
Ed  )  Append,  ii.  (3)  Id.  ibid.  (4)  Fergusop,  Essay  on  thoHist.  of  Cicil  Society,  part  ii. 


LET.  III.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  41 

the  wrong  was  the  only  person  who  had  a  right  to  pursue  the  aggressor — to 
demand  or  remit  the  punishment :  and  he  might  accept  a  compensation  for 
any  offence,  how  heinous  soever.  The  prosecution  of  criminals  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  community,  in  order  to  deter  others  from  violating 
the  laws,  now  justly  deemed  the  great  object  of  legislation,  was  a  maxim 
of  jurisprudence  then  little  understood  in  theory,  and  still  less  regarded  in 
practice.  The  civil  and  criminal  judges  could,  in  most  cases,  do  no  more 
than  appoint  the  lists,  and  leave  the  parties  to  decide  their  cause  by  the 
sword.  Fierce  and  haughty  nobles,  unfriendly  to  the  restraints  of  law,  con- 
sidered it  as  infamous  to  give  up  to  another  the  right  of  determining  what 
reparation  they  should  accept  of,  or  with  what  vengeance  they  should  rest 
satisfied :  they  scorned  to  appeal  to  any  tribunal  but  their  own  right-arm. 
And  if  men  of  inferior  condition  sometimes  submitted  to  award  or  arbitration, 
it  was  only  to  that  of  the  leader  whose  courage  they  respected,  and  whom' 
in  the  field  they  had  been  accustomed  to  obey.(l)  Hence  every  chieftain 
became  the  judge  of  his  tribe  in  peace,  as  well  as  its  general  in  war. — The 
pernicious  effects  of  this  power  upon  government  and  upon  manners,  and 
the  many  absurd  modes  of  trial  established  before  its  abolition,  we  shall  have 
frequent  occasion  to  observe  in  the  history  of  every  modern  kingdom. 

The  feudal  system,  however,  with  all  its  imperfections,  and  the  disorders 
to  which  it  gave  birth,  was  by  no  means  so  debasing  to  humanity  as  the  uni- 
form pressure  of  Roman  despotism.  Very  different  from  that  dead  calm 
which  accompanies  peaceful  slavery,  and  in  which  every  faculty  of  the  soul 
sinks  into  a  kind  of  somnolency,  it  kept  the  minds  of  men  in  continual  fer- 
ment, and  their  hearts  in  agitation.  If  animosities  were  keen,  friendships 
also  were  warm.  The  commonalty  were  unfortunately  degraded  to  the  con- 
dition of  slaves,  but  the  nobility  were  exalted  to  the  rank  of  princes.  The 
gentry  were  their  associates  :  and  the  king,  without  the  form  of  compact, 
was  in  reality  but  chief  magistrate,  or  head  of  the  community,  and  could 
literally  do  no  WRONG  ;  or  none,  at  least,  with  impunity. 


LETTER  III. 

Rise  of  the  French,  Monarchy,  and  the  History  of  France,  under  the  Kings  of 

the  First  Race. 

IN  history,  as  in  all  other  sciences,  it  is  necessary  to  set  certam  limits  to 
our  inquiries,  if  Ave  would  proceed  with  certainty  ;  and,  where  utility  more 
than  curiosity  is  our  object,  we  must  even  contract  these  boundaries.  We 
must  not  only  confine  ourselves  to  those  periods  where  truth  can  be  ascer- 
tained, but  to  those  events  chiefly  which  were  followed  by  some  civil  or  poli- 
tical consequence,  which  produced  some  alteration  in  the  government  or  the 
manners  of  a  people ;  and,  even  of  such  events,  we  should  be  more  particu- 
larly attentive  to  those  which  continue  to  operate  upon  our  present  civil  or 
political  system. 

In  these  few  words,  my  dear  Philip,  in  order  to  avoid  egotism,  I  have 
indirectly  given  you  an  account  of  the  manner  in  which  I  mean  to  conduct 
that  History  of  Modern  Europe  which  is  intended  for  your  instruction.  The 
first  epochs  of  modern,  as  Avell  as  ancient  history,  are  involved  in  fable ;  and 
the  transactions  of  the  immediately  succeeding  periods  are  handed  down  to 
us  in  barren  chronicles,  which  convey  no  idea  of  the  character  of  the  agents, 
and  consequently  are  destitute  alike  of  instruction  and  amusement ;  while 
the  events  of  latter  ages  are  related  with  a  copiousness  so  profuse  and  undis- 
tinguishing,  that  a  selection  becomes  absolutely  necessary  for  such  as  would 

(1)  This  subject  has  been  finely  illustrated  by  Dr.  Robertson,  (Tntrod.  Hist.  Charles  V.")  and  by  the  pre- 
sident Montesquieu,  (IS Esprit  des  Loix,  Hv.  xviii. — xxxi.)  who  has  written  a  philosophical  commentary 
on  the  Laws  of  the  Barbarians.  It  has  also  been  treated  with  much  learning  and  ingenuity,  by  Dr.  Stuart 
in  his  View  of  Society,  and  by  Mr.  Gibbon  in  his  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Umpire 
chap,  xxxviii.  . 


42  THE    HISTO.RY    OF  [PAHT  1. 

not  willingly  spend  a  life  time  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  transactions 
of  those  who  have  lived  before  them.  And  as  I  would  rather  have  you 
acquainted  with  the  character  of  one  living  than  of  ten  dead  statesmen  or 
heroes,  I  shall  be  as  concise  in  my  narration  as  is  consistent  with  perspicuity, 
and  as  select  in  my  matter  as  information  will  allow;  yet  always  taking  care 
to  omit  no  anecdote  which  can  throw  light  on  the  history  of  the  human  heart, 
nor  any  circumstance  that  marks  the  progress  of  civil  society. 

Modern  History  is  of  little  importance  before  the  time  of  Charlemagne;  and 
a  late  celebrated  writer  has  fixed  upon  the  coronation  of  that  prince  at  Rome, 
in  the  year  800,  as  the  proper  era  of  its  commencement.  But  for  the  sake 
of  order,  as  well  as  to  gratify  the  curiosity  we  naturally  have  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  origin  of  nations,  I  shall  give  you  a  short  sketch  of  the 
state  of  Modern  Europe  previous  to  that  era. 

The  French  monarchy  first  claims  our  notice;  not  on  account  of  its  anti- 
quity only,  but  because  of  its  early  and  continued  consequence.  Gaul  was 
shared  by  the  Romans,  the  Visigoths,  and  the  Burgundians,  when  Clovis  king 
of  the  Franks  (son  of  Childeric,  and  grandson  of  Merovius,  head  of  the  Salian 
tribe),  defeated  Syagrius,  a  Roman  usurper  in  that  province,  and  established  a 
new  kingdom,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  France,  or  the  Land  of  Free 
Men.(l]  How  ill  applied  in  latter  times ! 

Though  Clovis  was  only  nineteen  years  of  age  when  he  obtained  this  vic- 
tory, his  prudence  appears  to  have  been  equal  to  his  valour.  And  many  cir- 
cumstances conspired  to  his  farther  aggrandizement.  The  Gauls  hated  the 
dominion  of  the  Romans,  and  were  strongly  attached  to  Christianity :  Clovis 
gained  on  their  piety,  by  favouring  their  bishops ;  and  his  marriage  with  Clo- 
tilda, niece  to  Gondebaud,  king  of  Burgundy,  made  them  hope  that  he  would 
speedily  embrace  the  faith.  The  attachment  of  his  countrymen  to  their 
ancient  worship  was  the  sole  objection;  the  pious  exhortations  of  the  queen 
had  some  effect ;  and  the  king  having  vanquished  the  Allemanni  at  Tolbiac, 
near  Cologne,  after  an  obstinate  engagement,  politically  ascribed  that  victory 
to  the  God  of  Clotilda,  whom  he  said  he  had  invoked  during  the  time  of  battle, 
under  promise  of  becoming  a  Christian,  if  crowned  with  success.  He 
was  accordingly  baptized  by  St.  Remigius,  bishop  of  Rheims,  and  almost  the 
whole  French  nation  followed  his  example. (2) 

This  was  a  grand  circumstance  in  favour  of  Clovis ;  and  he  did  not  fail  to 
take  advantage  of  it.  The  Gauls  were  stanch  Catholics ;  but  the  Visigoths 
and  Burgundians  were  Arians.  Clotilda,  however,  happily  was  a  Catholic, 
though  nursed  in  the  bosom  of  Arianism ;  and  Clovis  himself  overflowed  with 
zeal  for  the  same  faith,  as  soon  as  he  found  it  would  second  his  ambitious 
views.  Under  colour  of  religion,  he  made  war  upon  Alaric,  king  of  the  Visi- 
goths, who  possessed  the  country  between  the  Rhone  and  'the  Loire.  The 
Gallic  clergy  favoured  his  pretensions ;  and  the  battle  of  Vouill6,  in  which 
the  king  of  the  Visigoths  was  vanquished  and  slain,  near  Poictiers,  added  to 
the  kingdom  of  France  the  province  of  Aquitaine.(S) 

But  Clovis,  instead  of  enjoying  his  good  fortune  with  dignity,  disfigured 
the  latter  part  of  his  reign  by  perfidies  and  cruelties  towards  the  princes  of 
his  house,  whom  he  extirpated.  He  died  in  511,  after  attempting  to  atone 
for  his  crimes  by  building  and  endowing  churches  and  monasteries,  and  as- 
sembling a  council  at  Orleans  for  the  regulation  of  church-discipline. (4) 

The  death  of  Clovis  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  grandeur  of  the  French 
monarchy.  He  left  four  sons,  who  divided  his  extensive  dominions  among 
them.  Thierry,  the  eldest,  had  the  largest  share  :  he  was  king  of  Austrasia, 
or  that  part  of  the  Oriental  France  which  lies  between  the  Rhine  and  tho 

'!)  Gregor.  Turon.  lib.  ii.  cap.  27. 

(2)  Gest.  Franc,  cap.  xv.  Greg.  Turon.  lib.  ii.  cap.  31.  Of  the  miracles  said  to  have  been  wrought  on 
the  conversion  of  Clovis,  the  author  of  this  work  says  nothing,  as  he  would  not  wish  to  foster  pious  cre- 
dulity ;  but  the  lovers  of  the  marvellous  will  find  sufficient  food  for  their  passion  in  Hincmar.  (Vit  St 
Remig.)  It  may  not,  however,  be  improper  to  observe,  that  Clovis,  when  warmed  with  the  eloquence  of 
the  bishop  of  Rheims,  in  describing  the  passion  and  death  of  Christ,  started  up,  and  seizing  his  spear,  vlo 
lently  exclaimed,  "Had  I  been  there  with  the  valiant  Franks,  I  would  have  redressed  his  wrongs'  • 
Fredig.  F.pitvm.  cap.  xxi.  (3)  Greg.  Tur.  lib.  ii.  cap.  37.  (4)  Ibid.  lib.  ii.  cap  40 — 13 


LET    III.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  43 

Meuse :  Metz  was  his  capital.  Childebert  was  king  of  Paris,  Cludomir  of 
Orleans,  and  Clotaire  of  Soissons.(l)  This  division  of  the  empire  of  the 
Franks,  into  four  independent  kingdoms,  not  only  weakened  its  force,  but 
gave  rise  to  endless  broils.  The  brothers  became  enemies  whenever  their 
interests  jarred.  The  most  frightful  barbarities  were  the  consequence  of 
their  dissensions.  Murders  and  assassinations  grew  common  events. 

The  experience  of  these  evils,  however,  did  not  prevent  a  like  division 
taking  place  after  the  death  of  Clotaire,  the  sole  successor  of  his  brothers 
and  nephews.  His  four  sons  divided  the  four  kingdoms  by  lot. (2)  The 
kingdom  of  Paris  fell  to  the  lot  of  Caribert ;  Soissons  to  Chilperic ;  Austra- 
sia  to  Sigebert;  and  Orleans  to  Gontran,  in  whose  lot  also  was  included 
Burgundy,  which  had  been  conquered  by  the  united  forces  of  Childebert  and 
Clotaire.  This  new  division  was  followed  by  consequences  still  more  fatal 
than  the  former.  Two  queens,  more  deserving  the  name  of  furies  than  of 
women,  sacrificed  every  thing  to  their  bloody  ambition — Brunechilda,  prin- 
cess of  Spain,  wife  to  Sigebert  king  of  Austrasia,  and  Fredegonda,  first  con- 
cubine and  afterward  wife  to  Chilperic  King  of  Soissons.  Their  mutual 
hatred,  conjoined  with  their  influence  over  their  husbands,  was  productive  of 
an  infinite  number  of  crimes,  equally  ruinous  to  the  people  and  the  royal 
family,  and  the  most  enormous  to  be  met  with  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

After  the  murder  of  a  multitude  of  princes,  and  many  years  of  civil  war, 
carried  on  a  with  the  most  vindictive  spirit,  and  accompanied  with  every  form 
of  treachery  and  cruelty,  Clotaire  II.  son  of  Chilperic  and  Fredegonda,  was 
left  sole  monarch  of  France.(S)  He  re-established  tranquillity,  and  gained 
the  hearts  of  the  people  by  his  justice  and  generosity:  and  he  attached  the 
nobility  to  him  by  augmenting  their  consequence.  He  committed  the  govern- 
ment of  the  provinces  of  Austrasia  and  Burgundy  to  the  Mayors  of  the 
Palace,  as  they  were  called ;  a  kind  of  viceroys,  who,  daily  acquiring  power, 
at  last  made  their  way  to  the  throne. 

The  vices  of  Dagobert,  the  son  of  Clotaire  ;  the  taxes  with  which  he  loaded 
the  people,  to  furnish  his  debauches,  or  to  atone  for  them,  according  to  the 
custom  of  those  times,  by  pious  profusions,  weakened  the  royal  authority,  at 
the  same  time  that  they  debased  it.  His  two  sons,  Sigeb'ert  II.  and  Clovis  II. 
were  only  the  founders  of  new  convents.  They  were  nobody  in  their  king- 
doms, the  mayors  were  every  thing. 

On  the  death  of  Sigebert,  Grimoald,  mayor  of  Austrasia,  set  his  own  son 
upon  the  throne  of  that  kingdom.  The  usurper  was  deposed;  but  the  se- 
ducing example  remained  as  a  lure  to  future  ambition.  The  succeeding 
sovereigns  were  as  weak  as  their  predecessors ;  and  Pepin  Heristel,  duke  of 
Austrasia,  governed  France  twenty-eight  years,  under  the  title  of  mayor, 
with  equal  prudence  and  fortitude.  The  kings  were  not  more  than  decorated 
pageants,  to  be  shown  to  the  people  occasionally.  The  appellation  of  slug- 
gards, which  was  given  them,  aptly  expresses  their  stupid  inactivity. 

After  the  death  of  Pepin,  who,  by  restoring  national  assemblies,  which 
the  despotism  of  former  mayors  had  abolished,  by  turning  the  restless  impe- 
tuosity of  the  French  against  foreign  enemies,  whom  he  always  overcame, 
and  other  wise  measures,  had  quietly  enjoyed  a  power  hitherto  unknown  in 
the  monarchy:  his  authority  passed  into  the  hands  of  his  widow  Plectrude, 
whose  grandson,  yet  an  infant,  was  created  mayor.  So  high  was  the  vene- 
ration of  the  French  for  the  memory  of  that  great  man! — but  the  government 
of  a  woman  was  ill  suited  to  tho'se  turbulent  times,  though  the  insignificant 
kings  were  content  to  live  under  the  guardianship  of  a  child.  Charles  Mar- 
tel,  natural  son  of  Pepin,  was  suspected  of  ambitious  views  by  Plectrude,  and 
imprisoned.  He  found  means,  however,  to  make  his  escape,  and  was  re- 
ceived by  the  Austrasians  as  their  deliverer.  His  superior  talents  soon  ex- 
alted him  to  the  same  degree  of  power  which  his  father  had  enjoyed,  and  he 
was  no  less  worthy  of  it.  He  saved  France  from  the  sword  of  the  Saracens, 
who  had  already  subjected  Spain,  and  he  kept  all  the  neighbouring  nations 

(1)  Greg.  Tur.  lib.  iii.  cap.  3  (2)  Ibid.  lib.  iv.  cap. 22.    Oest.  Franc,  cap.  xxix 

<&  I'redig.  C/iron.  cap.  xliii 


44  THEHISTORYOF  [PAST  I 

in  awe  by  his  wise  and  vigorous  administration ;  yet  he  never  styled  himself 
any  more  than  Duke  of  France,  conscious  that  the  title  of  King  could  add 
nothing  to  his  power.  But  his  son  Pepin,  less  modest  or  more  vain,  assumed 
the  sovereignty  in  name  as  well  as  reality :  excluding  for  ever  the  descend- 
ants of  Clovis,  or  the  Merovingian  race,  from  the  throne  of  France.(l) 

The  circumstances  of  that  revolution  I  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  relate 
At  present  we  must  take  a  view  of  the  other  states  of  Europe. 


LETTER  IV. 

Spain  under  the  Dominion  of  the  Visigoths,  and  under  the  Moors,  till  the 
Reign  of  Abdurrahman. 

SPAIN,  my  dear  Philip,  next  merits  your  attention,  as  the  second  great  king- 
dom on  this  side  of  the  Alps.  Soon  after  the  Visigoths  founded  their  mo- 
narchy in  that  Roman  province,  already  overrun  by  the  Vandals  and  the 
Suevi,  the  clergy  became  possessed  of  more  power  than  the  prince.  So  early 
was  the  tyranny  of  the  church  in  Spain !  Almost  all  causes,  both  civil  and 
ecclesiastical,  were  referred  to  the  bench  of  bishops :  they  even  decided  in 
their  councils  the  most  weighty  affairs  of  the  nation.  Along  with  the  nobles, 
among  whom  they  held  the  first  rank,  they  often  disposed  of  the  crown  which 
was  more  elective  than  hereditary.(2)  The  kingdom  was  one  theatre  of  re- 
volutions and  crimes.  The  number  of  kings  assassinated  fills  the  soul  with 
horror.  The  Barbarians,  after  their  establishment,  contracted  new  vices . 
their  ferocity  became  bloody.  What  crimes  did  not  bigotry  alone  produce  ! 

In  order  to  make  you  fully  sensible  of  this,  as  well  as  acquainted  with  all 
that  is  necessary  to  be  known  in  the  history  of  the  Visigoths  in  Spain,  I  need 
only  mention  the  principal  reigns. 

Leovigild,  who  died  in  585,  and  who  is  so  much  celebrated  for  his  victories 
over  the  Suevi,  whom  he  entirely  subdued,  put  to  death  his  son  Hermenegild, 
because  he  had  embraced  the  Catholic  faith,  he  himself  being  an  Arian. 
Recared,  however,  his  other  son  and  successor,  abjured  Arianism.  The 
Arians  were  persecuted  in  their  turn.  The  spirit  of  persecution  daily 
increased.  Sisebut,  a  prince  in  other  respects  wise,  and  whose  valour  dis- 
possessed the  Greek  emperors  of  what  territory  they  had  continued  to  hold 
on  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean,  obliged  the  Jews,  on  pain  of  death,  to 
receive  baptism.  In  the  reign  of  this  monarch  the  empire  of  the  Visigoths 
was  at  its  height ;  comprehending  not  only  Spain,  but  also  some  neighbour- 
ing provinces  of  Gaul,  and  part  of  Mauritania.  Chintila,  a  subsequent  king, 
banished  all  the  Jews  ;  and  a  council,  or  assembly  of  divines,  convoked  during 
his  reign,  declared  that  no  prince  could  ascend  the  Spanish  throne  without 
swearing  to  enforce  all  the  laws  enacted  against  that  unfortunate  people. 
Under  the  reign  of  Recesuint,  the  election  of  kings  was  reserved  by  a  council 
to  the  bishops  and  palatines.  These  palatines  were  the  principal  officers  of 
the  crown. — Thus  the  Spanish  nobility  lost  one  of  their  most  essential  rights. 

Wamba,  who  defeated  the  Saracens  in  an  attempt  upon  Spain,  was  excluded 
the  throne,  because  he  had  been  clothed  in  the  habit  of  a  penitent,  while 
labouring  under  the  influence  of  poison,  administered  by  the  ambitious  Er- 
viga !  This  stroke  of  priestcraft,  the  first  of  the  kind  we  meet  with  in 
history,  shows  at  a  distance  what  might  be  expected  from  clerical  finesse.  A 
council  adjudged  the  throne  to  Erviga ;  and  another  council,  held  during  his 
reign,  prohibited  the  kings,  under  penalty  of  damnation,  from  marrying  a 
king's  widow.  This  canon  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  spirit  of  legislation 
which  at  that  time  prevailed  in  Spain.  The  debauchery,  cruelty,  and  impiety 
of  Witiza,  whose  wickedness  knew  no  bounds,  occasioned  a  civil  war  in  710. 

;n  Adon.  Chron.  Annul.  Metens.         (2)  Geddes's  Tracts,  vol.  ii.    See  also  Saavedra,  Corona  Gotliica 


LET.  IV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  45 

Roderic,  or  Roderigue,  dethroned  this  prince,  and  was  himself  dethroned  h"" 
a  people  whom  nothing-  could  withstand.  (1) 

The  Mahometan  religion  was  already  established  in  many  countries.  Ma- 
homet, its  founder,  who  erected  at  Mecca  a  spiritual  and  temporal  monarchy, 
had  died  632 ;  and  his  countrymen,  the  Arabs  or  Saracens,  soon  after  overran 
great  part  of  Asia,  and  all  the  part  of  Africa  which  was  under  the  Roman 
dominion.  Animated  by  the  most  violent  spirit  of  fanaticism,  their  valour 
was  altogether  irresistible.  The  Koran  promised  heaven  and  eternal  sen- 
suality to  such  as  fell  in  battle,  and  the  conquerors  always  tendered  liberty 
and  protection  to  those  who  embraced  their  superstition.  They  threatened 
the  whole  world  with  subjection.  Count  Julian,  whose  daughter  king  Roderic 
had  dishonoured,  invited  them,  it  is  said,  to  land  in  Spain.  Nor  is  this  cir- 
cumstance by  any  means  improbable,  considering  the  character  of  the  times, 
more  revolutions  being  then  occasioned  by  the  private  vices  of  princes  than 
any  other  cause. 

The  Saracens,  already  masters  of  Mauritania,  now  Barbary  (a  name  which 
the  lawless  ferocity  of  their  descendants  has  given  to  that  country,  as  it  gave 
to  them  the  name  of  Maures  or  Moors),  made  a  descent  upon  Spain ;  and  by 
the  decisive  battle  of  Xeres,  in  Andalusia,  put  an  end  to  the  empire  of  the 
Visigoths. (2)  Muza,  viceroy  of  Africa,  under  the  caliph  Walid,  came  over  to 
finish  the  conquest.  According  to  the  prudent  policy  of  the  Mahometans 
(the  only  enthusiasts  who  ever  united  the  spirit  of  toleration  with  a  zeal  for 
making  proselytes),  he  offered  the  inhabitants  their  religion  and  laws,  on 
condition  that  they  should  pay  to  him  the  same  subsidy  they  had  paid  their 
former  sovereigns :  and  such  as  embraced  the  religion  of  the  conquerors  were 
entitled  to  all  their  privileges.  Most  cities  submitted  without  resistance . 
those  that  held  out  he  reduced  by  force,  burning  and  pillaging  them.  Oppas, 
Archbishop  of  Seville,  and  uncle  to  the  children  of  Witiza,  was  not 
ashamed  on  this  occasion  to  join  the  Saracens,  and  sacrificed  his  country  and 
his  religion  to  his  hatred  against  Roderic.  But  Pelagius,  a  prince  of  the 
royal  blood,  remained  firm  in  his  faith  and  his  duty;  and  when  he  could  no 
longer  keep  the  field  against  the  Infidels,  he  retired  to  the  mountains  o) 
Asturias,  followed  by  a  number  of  faithful  adherents.  There  he  founded  a 
Christian  kingdom,  which  he  defended  by  his  valour,  and  transmitted  to  hi* 
posterity.  (3) 

Meanwhile  the  Saracens  or  Moors,  little  willing  to  confine  their  ambition 
within  the  limits  of  the  Pyrenees,  made  an  unsuccessful  attack  upon  Eudes, 
duke  of  Aquitaine.  But  that  check  was  soon  forgot.  Abdurrahman,  the 
new  emir  or  governor  of  Spain,  made  a  second  irruption  with  superior  forces, 
and  penetrated  as  far  as  Sens.  Repelled  there  by  bishop  Ebbo,  he  fell  upon 
Aquitaine,  vanquished  the  duke,  and  advanced  towards  the  heart  of  France. 
Charles  Martel  put  a  step  to  his  career,  between  Poictiers  and  Tours,  by  a 
memorable  battle  in  which  Abdurrahman  himself  was  slain ;  and,  if  we  believe 
the  historians  of  those  times,  the  Saracens  lost  in  this  action  above  three 
hundred  thousand  men.  But  such  exaggerations  are  only  fit  for  romance. 

Spain  was  at  first  very  miserable  under  the  dominion  of  the  Moors.  The 
emirs  being  dependent  on  the  viceroy  of  Africa,  who  allowed  them  to  con- 
tinue but  a  short  time  in  their  government,  were  more  busy  in  fleecing  the 
Spanish  nation,  than  in  the  administration  of  justice  or  the  preservation  of 
good  order.  Civil  Avars  arose  among  the  Moslems  themselves,  and  the  caliphs 
or  vicars  of  the  prophet,  the  successors  of  Mahomet,  who  had  made  Damascus 
the  seat  of  their  court,  were  unable  to  quell  those  disorders.  The  competi- 
tions for  the  caliphat,  as  may  be  expected,  even  favoured  the  projects  of  the 
rebels.  At  length  that  august  dignity,  which  included  both  the  highest  regal 
and  sacerdotal  eminence,  passed  from  the  family  of  the  Ommiades  to  that  of 
the  Abbassides.  This  revolution,  which  was  bloody,  gave  birth  to  another, 
truly  advantageous  to  Spain,  but  injurious  to  the  Christian  faith. 

(1)  Isidor.  Cron.  Goth.    Ferreras,  Hist.  Hisp.  vol.  ii.    Mariana,  ibid.    Greg.  Turon.  lib.  vi. 

(3)  Rod.  Tolet.  Hist.  Arab.    Ferreras,  ubi  sup.  (3)  Mariana,  vol.  i.    Ferreras,  rol.  ii. 


46  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

Abdurrahman,  called  also  Almanzor,  a  prince  of  the  blood  royal,  who 
escaped  in  the  massacre  of  the  Ommiades,  founded  in  Spain  an  independent 
kingdom,  consisting  of  all  those  provinces  which  had  been  subject  to  the 
caliphs. (1)  He  fixed  his  residence  at  Cordova,  which  he  made  the  seat  of  the 
arts,  of  magnificence,  and  of  pleasure.  Without  persecuting  the  Christians, 
lie  was  able,  by  his  artful  policy,  almost  to  extinguish  Christianity  in  his  domi- 
nions :  by  depriving  the  bishops  of  their  diocesses ;  by  reserving  all  honour 
and  offices  for  the  followers  of  his  prophet ;  and  by  promoting  intermarriages 
between  the  Christians  and  Mahometans.  No  prince  in  Europe  equalled 
Abdurrahman  in  wisdom,  nor  any  people  the  Arabs,  in  whatever  tends  to  the 
aggrandizement  of  the  human  soul.  Lately  enemies  to  the  sciences,  they 
now  cultivated  them  with  success,  and  enjoyed  a  considerable  share  both  of 
learning  and  politeness,  while  the  rest  of  mankind  were  sunk  in  ignorance 
and  barbarism. (2) 

I  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  be  more  particular  on  this  subject.  In 
the  mean  time,  we  must  cast  an  eye  on  Italy,  Rome,  Constantinople,  and 
France,  from  the  time  of  Charles  Martel  to  that  of  Charlemagne. 


LETTER  V. 

Italy  under  the  Dominion  of  the  Ostrogoths,  and  under  the  Lombards,  till  the 
reign  of  Liutprand. 

ITALY  experienced  a  variety  of  fortunes  after  it  lost  its  ancient  masters, 
before  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Charlemagne.  It  was  first  wholly  conquered 
by  the  Heruli,  a  people  from  the  extremity  of  the  Euxine  or  Black  Sea,  who 
held  it  only  a  short  time,  being  expelled  by  the  Ostrogoths.  Theodoric  the 
first  Gothic  king  of  Italy,  and  several  of  his  successors,  were  princes  of  great 
prudence  and  humanity.  They  allowed  the  Italians,  or  Romans,  as  they 
still  affected  to  be  called,  to  retain  their  possessions,  their  laws,  their  reli- 
gion, their  own  government,  and  their  own  magistrates,  reserving  only  to 
the  Goths  the  principal  military  employments.  They  acknowledged  the 
emperors  of  Constantinople  their  superiors  in  rank,  but  not  in  jurisdiction. 
Ravenna  was  the  seat  of  their  court,  and  in  real  magnificence  vied  with 
ancient  Rome,  as  their  equitable  administration  did  with  the  reigns  of  Trajan 
and  Antoninus. (3)  They  were  at  last  subdued  by  Belisarius  and  Narses, 
the  generals  of  Justinian,  who,  having  recovered  Africa  from  the  Vandals, 
had  the  pleasure  of  uniting  Italy  once  more  to  the  Roman  Eastern,  or  Greek 
empire ;  the  Western  empire,  which  took  its  rise,  as  a  separate  state,  on  the 
death  of  Theodosius  in  395,  being  totally  annihilated  by  Odoacer  king  of  the 
Heruli. 

Soon  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Ostrogoths,  great  part  of  Italy  was  seized 
by  Alboinus,  king  of  the  Lombards  or  Langobards,  a  Gothic  nation.  He 
and  his  successors  made  Pavia  the  place  of  their  residence.  The  govern- 
ment of  Italy  was  now  entirely  changed.  Alboinus  established  the  feudal 
policy  in  those  countries  which  he  had  conquered,  settling  the  principal  offi- 
cers of  his  army,  under  the  name  of  duke,  in  the  chief  cities  of  every  pro- 
vince.(4)  A  similar  kind  of  government  prevailed  in  that  part  of  Italy  which 
remained  subject  to  the  emperors  of  Constantinople ;  the  exarch  or  supreme 
governor,  who  resided  at  Ravenna,  appointing  the  dukes  or  chief  magistrates 
of  the  other  cities,  and  removing  them  at  pleasure.  Even  Rome  itself  was 
governed  by  a  duke,  the  very  name  of  the  senate  and  consuls  being  abolished. 

(I)  Ferreras,  ubi  sup.  (2)  Oekloy,  Hist.  Sarac.  vol.i.  ii. 

(3)  Procop.  Sell.  Goth.  Cassiodor.  lib.  viii.  The  lenity  of  the  Ostrogoths,  on  first  settling  in  Italy 
may  be  accounted  for  from  two  causes:  partly  from  that  polish  which  their  manners  may  be  supposed 
(o  have  received  during  their  intercourse  with  the  Romans,  whom  they  had  long  served  as  auxiliaries 
•t:rainst  tlu;  Huns  and  other  barbarous  nations;  partly  from  the  character  of  Theodoric  the  Gothfc  con- 
luiTor.  who  having  been  educated  at  Constantinople,  and  initiated  in  all  the  learning  of  the  times,  retained 
ever  after  a  just  admiration  of  the  Roman  laws  and  arts. 

(41  Paul.  Diac.  de  Gest.  Lartgob.  I'b.  iii. 


LET.  V.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  47 

Albointis  was  one  of  the  greatest  princes  of  his  time,  and  no  less  skilled 
in  the  science  of  reigning  than  in  the  art  of  war ;  but  he  was  slain  by  the 
treachery  of  his  wife  Rosamund,  before  he  had  leisure  to  perfect  the  govern- 
ment of  his  kingdom.  Clephis,  his  successor,  was  an  able,  but  a  barbarous 
prince.  His  cruelties  gave  the  Lombards  such  an  aversion  against  regal 
power,  that  they  resolved,  after  his  death  to  change  their  form  of  gove"rn- 
ment ;  accordingly,  for  the  space  of  twelve  years,  they  chose  no  other  king, 
but  lived  subject  to  their  dukes.  These  dukes  had  hitherto  acknowledged 
the  royal  authority:  but,  when  the  kingly  power  was  abolished,  each  duke 
became  sovereign  of  his  own  city  and  its  district. 

The  Lombards,  during  that  interregnum,  extended  their  conquests  in  Italy. 
But,  being  threatened  by  foreign  enemies,  they  saw  the  necessity  of  a  closer 
union ;  of  restoring  their  ancient  form  of  government  -r  and  committing  the 
management  of  the  war  to  a  single  person. 

For  this  purpose  the  heads  of  the  nation  assembled,  and  with  one  voice 
called  Autharis,  the  son  of  Clephis,  to  the  throne.  Autharis  perfected  that 
form  of  government  which  had  been  established  by  Alboinus.  Sensible  that 
the  dukes,  who  had  ruled  their  several  districts  like  independent  princes,  for 
so  many  years,  would  not  willingly  part  with  their  authority,  he  allowed  them 
to  continue  in  their  governments,  but  reserved  to  himself  the  supreme  juris- 
diction. He  made  them  contribute  a  part  of  their  revenues  towards  the  sup- 
port of  his  royal  dignity,  and  take  an  oath  that  they  would  assist  him  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power  in  time  of  war.(l)  After  settling  the  government  of 
his  kingdom,  he  enacted  several  salutary  laws  for  its  tranquillity  and  good 
order.  He  was  the  first  of  the  Lombard  kings  who  embraced  Christianity, 
and  many  of  his  subjects  followed  his  example :  but  being  of  the  Arian  per- 
suasion, like  most  of  the  northern  conquerors,  whose  simple  minds  could 
not  comprehend  the  mysteries  of  the  Trinity  and  incarnation,  many  disputes 
were  by  that  means  occasioned  between  the  Arian  and  Catholic  bishops ;  for 
the  Romans,  or  native  Italians,  were  then  as  stanch  Catholics  as  at  this  day. 

Liberty  of  conscience,  however,  was  allowed  under  all  the  Lombard  kings ; 
and  Rotharis,  who  surpassed  all  his  predecessors  in  wisdom  and  valour,  was 
so  moderate  in  his  principles,  and  so  indulgent  to  his  people,  that  during  his 
reign  most  cities  of  Italy  had  two  bishops,  one  Catholic,  and  the  other  Arian 
He  was  the  first  prince  who  gave  written  laws  to  the  Lombards.  For  that 
purpose  he  summoned  at  Pavia  a  general  diet  of  the  nobles ;  and  such  regu- 
lations as  they  approved  he  ordered  to  be  digested  into  a  code,  and  observed 
over  all  his  dominions.  His  military  talents  were  not  inferior  to  his  civil. 
He  very  much  extended  the  limits  of  his  kingdom,  and  gained  so  many  ad- 
vantages over  the  imperial  forces,  that  no  future  hostilities  passed  between 
the  exarchs  and  the  kings  of  the  Lombards,  till  the  reign  of  Luitprand. 

But  the  emperor  Constans,  before  that  time  landed  in  Italy  with  a  con- 
siderable army,  which  he  commanded  in  person,  determined  to  expel  the 
Barbarians,  and  reunite  the  kingdom  of  Lombardy  to  his  dominions.  He  at 
first  gained  some  inconsiderable  advantages ;  but  his  army  was  afterward 
totally  routed  by  Romuald,  duke  of  Benevento,  whose  father,  Grimoald,  had 
been  elected  king  of  the  Lombards. — Grimoald  was  a  prudent  prince,  and 
in  all  respects  worthy  of  the  dignity  to  which  he  had  been  raised.  As  soon 
as  he  was  free  from  the  alarms  of  war,  he  applied  himself  wholly  to  the  arts 
of  peace.  He  reformed  the  laws  of  Rotharis,  which  were  now  from  choice 
appealed  to  by  the  Italians,  as  well  as  the  .Lombards ;  revoking  some,  and 
enacting  others  more  applicable  to  the  circumstances  of  the  times.  Influenced 
by  the  arguments  of  John,  Bishop  of  Bergamo,  he  renounced  the  tenets  of 
Arius.  His  successors  followed  his  example,  all  professing  the  Catholic 
faith ;  so  that  Arianism  was  in  a  short  time  forsaken  by  the  whole  nation  of 
the  Lombards.  (2) 

Luitprand  gave  strong  proofs  of  his  wisdom  and  valour  from  the  moment 
he  ascended  the  throne ;  but  his  courage  sometimes  bordered  on  rashness 

(1)  Paul.  Diac.  de  Gest.  Langob.  lib.  iii.  (2)  Paul.  Diac.  lib.  v. 


48  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  L 

Informed  that  two  of  his  attendants  had  conspired  against  his  life,  and  only 
waited  an  opportunity  to  put  their  design  in  execution,  he  walked  out  with 
them  alone,  and  upbraided  them  Avith  their  guilt.  Struck  with  such  heroic 
firmness,  they  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  as  wretches  unworthy  of  mercy. 
The  king,  however,  thought  otherwise :  he  not  only  pardoned  them,  but 
received  them  into  favour,  promoting  them  afterward  to  principal  employ- 
ments. Having  thus  Avon  his  domestic  enemies  by  kindness,  and  strength- 
ened his  interests  abroad  by  marrying  the  daughter  of  the  duke  of  the 
Boioarii,  Luitprand  applied  himself  in  imitation  of  his  two  illustrious  prede- 
cessors, Rotharis  and  Grimoald,  to  the  formation  of  new  laws.  In  one  of 
these,  his  sagacity  appears  highly  conspicuous.  He  blames  "  the  ridiculous 
custom  of  trials  by  duel,  in  which  we  would  force  God  to  manifest  his  justice 
according  to  the  caprice  of  men ;"  adding,  "  that  he  has  only  tolerated  the 
abuse,  because  the  Lombards  are  so  much  attached  to  it."(l) 

But  Luitprand's  great  qualities  were  in  some  measure  shaded  by  his 
boundless  ambition.  Not  satisfied  with  the  extensive  dominions  left  him  by 
nis  predecessors,  he  formed  the  design  of  making  himself  sole  master  of 
Italy :  and  a  favourable  opportunity  soon  offered  for  the  execution  of  that 
enterprise. 

Leo  Isauricus,  then  emperor  of  Constantinople,  where  theological  disputes 
had  long  mingled  with  affairs  of  state,  and  where  casuists  were  more  com- 
mon upon  the  throne  than  politicians,  piously  prohibited  the  worship  of 
images ;  ordering  all  the  statues  to  be  broken  in  pieces,  and  the  paintings  in 
the  churches  to  be  pulled  down  and  burnt.  The  populace,  whose  devotion 
extended  no  further  than  such  objects,  and  the  monks  and  secular  priests, 
interested  in  supporting  the  mummery,  were  so  highly  provoked  at  this 
innovation,  that  they  publicly  revolted  in  many  places.  The  emperor,  how- 
ever, took  care  to  have  his  edict  put  in  force  in  the  East ;  and  he  strictly 
enjoined  the  exarch  of  Ravenna,  and  his  other  officers  in  the  West,  to  see 
it  as  punctually  obeyed  in  their  governments.  In  obedience  to  that  com- 
mand, the  exarch  began  to  pull  down  the  images  in  the  churches  and  public- 
places  at  Ravenna ;  a  conduct  which  incensed  the  superstitious  multitude  to 
such  a  degree,  that  they  openly  declared  they  would  rather  renounce  their 
allegiance  to  the  emperor  than  the  worship  of  images.  They  considered 
him  as  an  abominable  heretic,  whom  it  was  lawful  to  resist  by  force,  and 
took  arms  for  that  purpose. (2) 

Luitprand  judging  this  the  proper  season  to  put  his  ambitious  project  in 
execution,  suddenly  assembled  his  forces,  and  unexpectedly  appeared  before 
Ravenna ;  not  doubting  but  the  reduction  of  that  important  place  would  be 
speedily  followed  by  the  conquest  of  all  the  imperial  dominions  in  Italy. 
The  exarch,  though  little  prepared  for  such  an  assault,  defended  the  city 
with  much  courage ;  but  finding  he  could  not  long  hold  out  against  so  great 
a  force,  and  despairing  of  relief,  he  privately  withdrew.  Luitprand,  informed 
of  this,  made  a  vigorous  attack,  carried  the  city  by  storm,  and  gave  it  up  to 
be  plundered  by  his  soldiers,  who  found  in  it  an  immense  booty,  as  it  had 
been  successively  the  seat  of  the  western  emperors,  of  the  Gothic  kings,  and 
of  the  exarchs.  Alarmed  at  the  fate  of  Ravenna,  most  other  cities  in  the 
exarchate  surrendered  without  resistance. (3)  Luitprand  seemed,  therefore, 
in  a  fair  way  to  become  master  of  all  Italy.  But  that  conquest  neither  he 
nor  any  of  his  successors  was  ever  able  to  complete :  and  the  attempt  proved 
fatal  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards. 

(1)  Leg.  Langob.  in  Codex  Lindenbrog.  (2)  Memb.  Hist  IconoiUst. 

(3)  Paul.  Diac.  lib.  vi. 


LET.  VI.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  49 


LETTER  VI. 

Rue  of  the  Pope's  temporal  Power,  with  some  Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Italy,  the 
Empire  of  Constantinople,  and  the  Kingdom  of  France,  from  the  Time  oj 
Charles  Martel  to  that  of  Charlemagne.  • 

THOUGH  Rome  was  now  governed  by  a  duke,  who  depended  on  the  exarch 
of  Ravenna,  the  pope,  or  bishop,  had  the  chief  authority  in  that  city.  He 
was  yet  less  conspicuous  by  his  power,  than  the  respect  which  religion 
inspired  for  his  see,  and  the  confidence  which  was  placed  in  his  character. 
St.  Gregory,  who  died  604,  had  negotiated  with  princes  upon  several  matters 
of  state,  and  his  successors  divided  their  attention  between  clerical  and  poli- 
tical objects.  To  free  themselves  from  the  dominion  of  the  Greek  emperors, 
without  falling  a  prey  to  the  kings  of  Italy,  was  the  great  object  of  these 
umbitious  prelates.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  important  purpose,  they 
employed  successively  both  religion  and  intrigue ;  and  at  last  established  a 
spiritual  and  temporal  monarchy,  which  of  all  human  institutions,  perhaps, 
most  merits  the  attention  of  man,  whether  we  consider  its  nature,  its  progress, 
or  its  prodigious  consequences. 

Gregory  II.  had  offended  the  emperor  Leo,  by  opposing  his  edict  against 
the  worship  of  images :  but  he  was  more  afraid  of  the  growing  power  of  the: 
Lombards,  than  of  the  emperor's  threats  ;  he  therefore  resolved  to  put  a  stop, 
if  possible,  to  the  conquest  of  Luitprand.  The  only  prince  in  Italy  to  whom 
he  could  have  recourse,  was  Ursus,  duke  of  Venice,  the  Venetians  making 
already  no  contemptible  figure.  Not  less  alarmed  than  Gregory  at  the  pro- 
gress of  so  powerful  a  neighbour,  Ursus  and  the  Venetians  promised  to  assist 
the  exarch  (who  had  fled  to  them  for  protection)  with  the  whole  strength  of  the 
republic.  They  accordingly  fitted  out  a  considerable  fleet,  while  the  exarch 
conducted  an  army  by  land,  and  retook  Ravenna  before  Luitprand  could 
march  to  its  relief. 

As  the  recovery  of  Ravenna  had  been  chiefly  owing  to  the  interposition  of 
Gregory,  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  prevail  on  the  emperor  to  revoke  his  edict 
against  the  worship  of  images  in  the  West.  Leo,  however,  being  sensible 
that  the  pope  had  been  influenced  merely  by  his  own  interest  in  the  measures 
he  had  taken  relative  to  that  event,  was  only  more  provoked  at  his  obstinacy, 
and  resolved  that  the  edict  should  be  obeyed  even  in  Rome  itself.  For  this 
purpose  he  recalled  Scholasticus,  exarch  of  Ravenna,  and  sent  in  his  stead. 
Paul,  a  Patrician,  ordering  him  to  get  the  pope  assassinated,  or  to  seize  him. 
and  send  him  in  chains  to  Constantinople.  But  Gregory,  far  from  being  in- 
timidated by  the  emperor's  threats,  solemnly  excommunicated  the  exarch  for 
attempting  to  put  the  imperial  edict  in  execution,  exhorting  all  the  Italian 
cities  to  continue  steadfast  in  the  Catholic  faith.  Luitprand,  though  highly 
incensed  against  Gregory,  assisted  him  in  his  distress ;  and  the  populace  rose  at 
Ravenna,  and  murdered  the  exarch,  making  prodigious  slaughter  of  the 
Iconoclasts,  or  image-breakers,  as  the  abettors  of  the  edict  were  called.  The 
duke  of  Naples  shared  the  same  fate  with  the  exarch;  and  as  Leo  still 
insisted  that  his  favourite  edict  should  be  enforced  at  Rome,  the  people  of 
that  city,  at  the  instigation  of  Gregory,  withdrew  their  allegiance  from  the 
Greek  emperor.(l)  Hence  the  rise  of  the  pope's  temporal  power. 

Informed  of  this  revolt,  and  not  doubting  who  was  the  author  of  it,  Leo 
ordered  a  powerful  army  to  be  raised,  with  a  design  both  to  chastise  the 
rebels  and  take  vengeance  on  the  pope.  Gregory,  alarmed  at  these  warlike 
preparations,  looked  round  for  some  power  on  which  he  might  depend  for 
protection.  The  Lombards  were  possessed  of  sufficient  force,  but  they  were 
too  near  neighbours  to  be  trusted ;  and  the  Venetians,  though  zealous  Catho- 
lics, were  not  yet  in  a  condition  to  withstand  the  strength  of  the  empire. 

(1)  Anast.  in  Fit.  Greg.  II.  Meimb.  Hist.  Iconoclast 

VOL.  I.— D  3 


50  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

Spain  was  at  that  time  overrun  by  the  Saracens  :  the  French  seemed,  there- 
fore, the  only  people  to  whom  it  was  advisable  to  apply  for  aid,  as  they  were 
at  once  able  to  oppose  the  emperor,  and  enemies  to  his  edict.  France  was 
then  governed  by  Charles  Martel,  the  greatest  commander  of  his  age. 
Gregory  sent  a  solemn  embassy  to  Charles,  entreating  him  to  take  the  Romans 
and  the  church  under  his  protection,  and  defend  them  against  the  attempts  of 
Leo.  The  ambassadors  were  received  with  extraordinary  marks  of  honour : 
a  treaty  was  concluded  ;(1)  and  the  French,  glad  to  get  any  concern  in  the 
affairs  of  Italy,  became  the  protectors  of  the  church. 

In  the  mean  time  considerable  alterations  were  made  by  death.  Gregory 
II.  did  not  live  to  see  his  negotiation  with  France  finished.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  see  of  Rome  by  Gregory  III.,  and,  some  years  after,  Leo 
Isauricus  was  succeeded  on  the  imperial  throne  by  his  son  Constantine 
Copronymus,  who  not  only  renewed  his  Father's  edict  against  the  worship 
of  images,  but  prohibited  the  invocation  of  saints.  This  new  edict  confirmed 
the  Romans  in  the  resolution  they  had  taken  of  separating  themselves 
entirely  from  the  empire  ;  more  especially  as,  being  now  under  the  protection 
of  France,  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  Constantinople.  They  accordingly 
drove  out  of  their  city  such  of  the  imperial  officers  as  had  hitherto  been  suf- 
fered to  continue  there ;  and  abolished,  by  that  means,  the  very  shadow  of 
subjection  to  the  emperor.  Soon  after  Leo,  died  Charles  Martel,  and  also 
Gregory  III.  who  was  succeeded  in  the  see  of  Rome  by  Zachary,  an  active 
and  enterprising  prelate.  Immediately  after  his  election,  he  waited  upon 
Luitprand,  and  obtained  the  restoration  of  four  cities  in  the  territory  of  Rome, 
which  had  been  yielded  to  that  prince  as  a  ransom  for  the  capital,  when 
ready  to  fall  into  his  hands.  (2) 

Luitprand  henceforth  laid  aside  all  ambitious  thoughts,  dying  in  peace  with 
the  church  and  with  men.  Rachis,  his  successor,  confirmed  the  peace  with 
Zachary ;  but  being  afterward  seized  with  a  thirst  of  conquest,  he  invaded 
the  Roman  dukedom,  and  laid  siege  to  Perugia.  Zachary,  before  he  solicited 
the  assistance  of  France,  the  only  power  on  which  he  could  depend,  resolved 
to  try  once  more  his  personal  influence.  He  accordingly  went  in  person  to 
the  camp  of  Rachis ;  and  being  respectfully  received  by  that  prince,  he 
represented  so  forcibly  to  him  the  punishment  reserved  for  those  who  unjustly 
invade  the  property  of  others,  that  Rachis  not  only  raised  the  siege,  but  was 
so  much  subdued  by  the  eloquence  of  the  pontiff,  that  he  renounced  his  crown, 
and  retired  to  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino ;  prostrating  himself  first  at 
Zachary's  feet,  and  taking  the  habit  of  St.  Benedict.  (3) 

While  things  were  in  this  situation  in  Italy,  Pepin,  son  of  Charles  Martel, 
governed  France  in  the  character  of  mayor,  under  Childeric  III.  and,  ac- 
quainted no  doubt  with  the  sentiments  of  his  Holiness,  proposed  to  Zachary 
a  case  of  conscience,  which  had  not  hitherto  been  submitted  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome.  He  desired  to  know,  Whether  a  prince  incapable  of  governing, 
or  a  minister  invested  with  royal  authority,  and  who  supported  it  with 
dignity,  ought  to  have  the  title  of  king.  Zachary,  decided  in  favour  of  the 
minister ;  and  the  French  clergy  supported  the  pretensions  of  Pepin,  because 
he  had  restored  the  lands  of  which  Charles  Martel  had  robbed  them.  The 
nobles  respected  him,  because  he  was  powerful  and  brave ;  and  the  people 
despised  the  sluggard  kings,  whom  they  scarcely  knew  by  name.  The 
judgment  of  the  pope  therefore  silenced  every  scruple.  Childeric  was 
deposed ;  or  more  properly,  degraded,  for  he  could  never  be  said  to  reign. 
He  was  shut  up  in  a  monastery.  Pepin  was  raised  to  the  throne ;  and  St. 
Boniface,  bishop  of  Mentz,  the  famous  apostle  of  the  Germans,  anointed 
lim  solemnly  at  Soissons.(4) 

This  ceremony  of  anointing,  borrowed  from  the  Jews,  and  hitherto  uri- 
xnown  to  the  French  nation,  or  at  most  only  used  on  the  conversion  of 
Clovis,  seemed  to  bestow  on  the  king  a  kind  of  divine  character :  and  so  far 
it  w?.s  useful,  by  inspiring  respect.  But  as  ignorance  abuses  all  things,  the 

'D  Bigon.  Reg.  Jtal.         (2)  Paul.  Diac.  lib.  vi.          (3)  Id.  ibid.          (4)  Sigon.  Reg.  ftn> 


w.  VI.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  51 

bishops  soon  imagined  they  could  confer  royalty  by  anointing  princes — an 
opinion  which  was  followed  by  many  fatal  consequences.  The  eastern 
emperors  had  long  been  crowned  by  the  patriarchs  of  Constantinople ;  the 
popes,  in  like  manner  crowned  the  emperors  of  the  West.  Crowning'and 
anointing  were  supposed  necessary  to  sovereignty.  A  pious  ceremony  gave 
the  church  a  power  of  disposing  of  kingdoms. 

The r  e  observations,  my  dear  Philip,  you  will  find  frequent  occasion  to 
appl  f  I  offer  them  here,  in  order  to  awaken  your  attention.  We  must  <se.e 
things  in  their  causes,  to  reason  distinctly  on  their  effects. 

Success  soon  attended  the  crafty  policy  of  the  popes :  the  new  king  ol 
France  repaid  their  favour  with  interest.  Astulphus,  the  successor  of  Ra- 
chis,  less  piously  inclined  than  his  brother,  thought  only  of  conquest.  In 
imitation  of  Luitprand,  he  resolved  to  make  himself  master  of  all  Italy: 
and  as  the  emperor  Constantine  Copronymus  was  now  engaged  in  a  war 
with  the  Saracens  and  Bulgarians,  and  in  a  still  more  hot  and  dangerous  war 
against  images,  Astulphus  judged  this  a  proper  season  to  invade  the  imperial 
dominions.  He  accordingly  entered  the  exarchate  at  the  head  of  a  con- 
siderable army ;  took  Ravenna,  subdued  the  whole  province,  and  also  Penta- 
polis,  which  he  added  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards,  reducing  the  ex- 
archate and  its  ancient  metropolis  to  the  condition  of  a  dukedom.(l) 

Ambition  is  only  increased  by  accession  of  dominion.  Astulphus  no  sooner 
saw  himself  master  of  Ravenna  and  its  territory,  than  he  began  to  lay  claim 
to  the  Roman  dukedom,  and  to  Rome  itself.  He  urged  the  right  of  conquest. 
This,  he  alleged,  entitled  him  to  the  same  power  over  that  city  and  its  duke- 
dom which  the  emperors,  and  also  the  exarchs,  their  viceroys,  had  formerly 
enjoyed,  as  he  was  now  in  possession  of  the  whole  exarchate.  And,  in  order 
to  enforce  his  demand,  he  marched  an  army  towards  Rome,  reducing  many 
cities  in  its  neighbourhood,  and  threatening  to  put  the  inhabitants  to  the 
sword,  if  they  refused  to  acknowledge  him  as  their  sovereign.  Stephen  III. 
then  pope,  no  less  alarmed  at  the  approach  of  so  powerful  a  monarch  than 
at  the  severity  of  his  message,  endeavoured  to  appease  him  by  a  solemn 
embassy.  But  presents,  prayers,  and  entreaties  were  employed  in  vain; 
Astulphus  wanted  to  govern  Rome. 

Made  sensible  at  last  that  force  must  be  repelled  by  force,  Stephen  resolved, 
in  imitation  of  his  predecessors,  to  crave  the  protection  of  France.  He  ac- 
cordingly applied  to  Pepin,  who,  mindful  of  his  obligations  to  Zachary,  and 
now  firmly  seated  on  the  throne  of  Clovis,  readily  promised  the  pope  his 
assistance,  and  sent  two  ambassadors  to  conduct  him  to  Paris.  Astulphus 
permitted  him  to  pass :  and  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  both,  at  the 
expense  of  the  emperors  of  Constantinople  and  the  kings  of  Italy.  Stephen 
anointed  Pepin  anew,  with  the  holy  uriction,  and  also  his  two  sons  Charles 
and  Carloman,  declaring  each  of  them  Romanorum  Patricius,  or  Protector 
of  the  Roman  people ;  and  the  French  monarch  in  return  for  these  honours, 
promised  to  make  a  donation  of  the  exarchate  and  Pentapolis  to  the  Romish 
church.(2) 

Pepin  however  endeavoured,  before  he  set  out  for  Italy,  to  persuade  Astul- 
phus to  be  content  with  the  dominions  of  his  predecessors ;  to  restore  what 
he  had  conquered ;  and  thus  prevent  the  effusion  of  Christian  blood.  But 
finding  the  king  of  the  Lombards  deaf  to  his  entreaties,  he  crossed  the  Alps, 
and  advanced  to  Pavia.  Astulphus  now,  convinced  of  his  danger,  sued  for 
peace,  and  obtained  it,  on  condition  that  he  should  deliver  up  to  the  pope,  not 
to  the  emperor,  all  the  places  he  had  taken.  He  consented,  but,  instead  of 
fulfilling  his  engagements,  no  sooner  did  he  think  the  storm  blown  over  by 
the  departure  of  Pepin,  than  he  broke  again  into  the  Roman  dukedom,  took 
several  cities,  and  laid  siege  to  Rome. 

In  this  extremity,  Stephen  had  again  recourse  to  his  protector  the  king  01 
France,  writing  to  him  those  famous  letters  which  are  still  extant,  and  in 
which  he  artfully  introduces  St.  Peter,  to  whom  the  donation  of  the  ex- 

(1)  Sigon.  Reg  Hal.  (2)  Leo  Ostiensis,  lib.  i. 

DS 


i>2  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

archate  had  been  made,  conjuring  Pepin,  his  two  sons,  and  the  states  of  France 
to  come  to  his  relief;  promising  them  all  good  things,  both  in  this  world  and 
the  next,  in  case  of  compliance,  and  denouncing  damnation  as  the  reward  of 
refrisal.(l)  Pepin,  much  affected  by  this  eloquence,  wild  as  it  may  seem, 
crossed  the  Alps  a  second  time,  and  Astulphus  again  took  refuge  in  Pavia. 

Meanwhile  the  emperor  Constantine  Copronymus,  informed  of  the  treaty 
between  the  king  of  France  and  the  Pope,  by  which  the  latter  was  to  be  put 
in  possession  of  the  exarchate  and  Pentapolis,  remonstrated  by  his  ambassa- 
dors against  that  agreement,  offering  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war.  But 
Pepin  replied,  that  the  exarchate  belonged  to  the  Lombards,  who  had  acquired 
it  by  the  right  of  arms,  as  the  Romans  had  originally  done :  that  the  right  of 
the  Lombards  was  now  in  him,  so  that  he  could  dispose  of  that  territory  as 
he  thought  proper.  He  had  bestowed  it,  he  said,  on  St.  Peter,  that  the 
Catholic  faith  might  be  preserved  in  its  purity,  free  from  the  damnable  here- 
sies of  the  Greeks ;  and  all  the  money  in  the  world,  he  added,  should  never 
make  him  revoke  that  gift,  which  he  was  determined  to  maintain  to  the 
church  with  the  last  drop  of  his  Wood.  In  consequence  of  this  resolution, 
the  ambassadors  were  dismissed,  without  being  suffered  to  reply.  Pepin 
pressed  the  siege  of  Pavia ;  and  Astulphus,  finding  himself  unable  to  hold 
out,  agreed  to  fulfil  the  former  treaty,  giving  hostages  as  a  pledge  of  hie 
fidelity,  and  putting  the  pope  immediately  in  possession  of  Commachio,  a 
place  of  great  importance  at  that  time.(2) 

Before  Pepin  returned  to  France  he  renewed  his  donation  to  St.  Peter, 
yielding  to  Stephen  and  his  successors  the  exarchate ;  Emilia,  now  Romagna, 
and  Pentapolis,  now  Marca  d'Ancona,  with  all  the  cities  therein,  to  be  held 
by  them  for  ever ;  the  kings  of  France,  as  patricians,  retaining  only  an  ideal 
superiority,  which  was  soon  forgot.  (3)  Thus  was  the  sceptre  added  to  the 
keys,  the  sovereignty  to  the  priesthood,  and  the  popes  enriched  with  the 
spoils  of  the  Lombard  kings  and  the  Roman  emperors. 

Astulphus,  soon  after  ratifying  his  treaty  with  France,  was  killed  by  acci- 
dent, when  he  was  preparing  to  recover  his  conquests.  Pepin  continued  to 
extend  his  sway  and  his  renown  till  the  year  768 ;  when,  after  having 
imposed  tribute  on  the  Saxons  and  Sclavonians,  having  made  the  duke  of 
Bavaria  take  an  oath  of  fidelity,  and  reunited  Aquitaine  to  his  crown, — 
equally  respected  at  home  and  abroad,  he  died  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his 
age,  and  the  seventeenth  of  his  reign.  He  never  affected  absolute  power, 
but  referred  all  matters  of  importance  to  the  national  assemblies,  of  which 
he  was  the  oracle.  By  the  consent  of  the  nobles,  he  divided  his  kingdom 
between  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  Carloman. 

The  reign  of  Charles,  known  by  the  name  of  Charlemagne  or  Charles  the 
Great,  introduces  a  new  era,  and  will  furnish  the  subject  of  a  future  Letter. 
In  the  mean  time,  we  must  trace  the  settlement  of  other  Barbarians,  and  the 
rise  of  another  great  kingdom. 


LETTER  VII. 

Britain  from  the  time  it  was  relinquished  by  the  Romans,  to  the  end  of  the  Saxon 

Heptarchy. 

THE  affairs  of  our  own  island,  my  dear  Philip,  now  claim  your  attention. 
It  was  ultimately  evacuated  by  the  Romans  about  the  year  448,  after  they 
had  been  masters  of  the  southern  and  most  fertile  part  of  it  for  almost  four 
centuries. 

(1)  Anastaf.  in  Tit.  Steph.  III.  (2)  Leo  Ostiensis,  ubi  sup. 

(3)  Many  disputes  have  arisen  concerning  the  nature  of  Pepin's  donation,  and  some  writers  liave  even 
denied  that  euch  a  donation  was  ever  made ;  but,  on  comparing  authorities,  and  observing  the  scope  of  his- 
tory, the  matter  seems  to  have  been  nearly  as  represented  in  the  text.  The  impertinences  of  Voltawe  on 
tois  subject,  under  the  form  of  reasoning,  are  too  contemptible  to  deservo  notice 


LET.  VII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  53 

Never,  perhaps,  was  the  debasing  influence  of  despotism  so  fully  displayed 
as  in  its  effect  on  our  ancient  countrymen.  No  people  were  ever  more  brave, 
none  more  jealous  of  liberty,  than  the  Britons.  With  ordinary  weapons,  and 
little  knowledge  of  military  discipline,  they  struggled  long  with  the  Roman 
power,  and  were  only  subdued  at  last  by  reason  of  their  want  of  union.  But 
after  three  centuries  of  tranquil  submission,  when  the  exigencies  of  the 
empire  obliged  the  Romans  to  recall  their  legions  from  this  island,  and  resign 
to  the  inhabitants  their  native  rights,  the  degenerate  Britons  were  incapable 
of  prizing  the  gift.  Conscious  of  their  inability  to  protect  themselves  against- 
their  northern  neighbours,  and  wanting  resolution  to  attempt  it,  they  would 
gladly  have  lived  in  security  and  slavery. (1)  They  had  therefore  recourse, 
again  and  again,  to  their  conquerors :  and  the  Romans,  beside  occasionally 
sending  over  a  legion  to  the  aid  of  the  Britons,  assisted  them  in  rebuilding 
the  wall  of  Antoninus,  which  extended  between  the  friths  of  Forth  and  Clyde. 
This  wall  was  esteemed  by  the  Romans  a  necessary  barrier  first  against  the 
Caledonians,  and  afterward  against  the  Scots  and  Picts. 

Much  time  has  been  spent  in  inquiring  after  the  origin  of  the  Scots  and 
Picts,  and  many  disputes  have  arisen  on  the  subject. (2)  The  most  probable 
opinion,  however,  seems  to  be,  that  they  were  two  tribes  of  native  Britons, 
who  at  different  times  had  fled  from  the  dominion  of  the  Romans,  choosing 
liberty  and  barren  mountains  rather  than  fertile  plains  and  slavery.  But 
whoever  they  were,  they  are  allowed  to  have  been  brave  and  warlike  adven- 
turers, who  often  invaded  the  Roman  territories,  and  were  greatly  an  over- 
match for  the  now  dastardly  and  dispirited  Britons. 

These  two  nations  or  tribes  no  sooner  heard  of  the  final  departure  of  the 
Romans,  than  they  considered  the  whole  British  island  as  their  own.  One 
party  crossed  the  frith  of  Forth,  in  boats  made  of  leather,  while  another 
attacked  with  fury  the  Roman  wall,  which  the  Britons  had  repaired  for  their 
defence,  but  which  they  abandoned  on  the  first  assault,  flying  like  timorous 
deer,  and  leaving  their  country  a  prey  to  the  enemy.  The  Scots  and  Picts 
made  dreadful  havoc  of  the  fugitives ;  and,  meeting  with  no  opposition,  they 
laid  all  the  southern  part  of  the  island  waste  with  fire  and  sword.  Famine 
followed,  with  all  its  horrid  train.  The  miserable  Britons,  in  this  frightful 
extremity,  had  once  more  recourse  to  Rome.  They  wrote  to  ^Etius,  then  consul 
the  third  time,  that  memorable  letter  entitled  The  Groans  of  the  Britons,  and 
which  paints  their  unhappy  condition  strongly  as  it  is  possible  for  words  : 
"  We  know  not,"  say  they,  "  even  which  way  to  flee.  Chased  by  the  Bar- 
barians to  the  sea,  and  forced  back  by  the  sea  upon  the  Barbarians,  we  have 
only  left  us  the  choice  of  two  deaths ;  either  to  perish  by  the  sword,  or  be 
swallowed  up  by  the  waves."(3)  What  answer  they  received  is  uncertain ; 
but  it  is  well  known  they  received  no  assistance,  Rome  being  then  threatened 
by  Attila,  the  most  terrible  enemy  that  ever  invaded  the  empire. 

The  Britons,  however,  amid  all  their  calamities,  had  one  consolation :  they 
had  embraced  Christianity ;  a  religion  which  above  all  others  teaches  the 
endurance  of  misfortunes,  which  encourages  its  votaries  to  triumph  in  adver- 
sity, and  inspires  the  soul  with  joy  in  the  hour  of  affliction.  Many  of  them 
fled  over  to  Gaul,  and  settled  in  the  province  of  Armorica,  to  which  they 
gave  the  name  of  Brittany ;  part  of  them  submitted  to  the  Scots  and  Picts ; 
and  part,  collecting  courage  from  despair,  sallied  from  their  woods  and  caves 
upon  the  secure  and  roving  invaders,  cut  many  of  them  to  pieces,  and  obliged 
the  rest  to  retire  into  their  own  country.  But  the  enemy  threatening  to 
return  next  season  with  superior  forces,  the  distressed  Britons,  by  the  advice 
of  Vortigem,  prince  of  Dunmonium,  who  then  possessed  the  principal  authority 

(1)  Gildas,  Bede,  lib.  i.    Mr.  Gibbon,  whose  historical  skepticism  is  as  well  known  as  his  theological 
incredulity,  has  attempted  to  controvert  the  degeneracy  of  the  Britons  under  the  Roman  government.    But 
facts  will  speak  for  themselves:  these  lie  has  not  been  able  to  destroy.    The  Britons,  who  fled  before 
their  naked  and  barbarous  neighbours,  were  surely  inferior  to  those  that  intrepidly  contended  with  the 
Roman  legions,  under  Julius  Caesar  and  other  great  commanders. 

(2)  See  Macpherson's  Introd.  Hist.  Brit.  Origin,  &c.  of  the  Caledonians,  Whitakes'8  Hist.  •/  Man- 
chester, Genuine  Hist.  Brit,  and  Hume's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  i.  note  A. 

(3-  Bede.  Gildas,  ubi  SUB.    Gul.  Malms,  lib.  i. 


64  THEHISTJR1OF  [PART  F 

among  them,  called  over  to  their  assistance,  by  a  solemn  deputation,  the 
Saxons  and  Angles,  or  Anglo-Saxons. (1) 

The  Saxons,  like  all  the  ancient  German  tribes,  were  a  free,  brave,  inde- 
pendent people.  They  had  arrived  at  that  degree  of  civilization  in  which  the 
mind  has  acquired  sufficient  force  for  enterprise,  and  seems  to  derive  energy 
from  the  unimpaired  vigour  of  the  body.  A  nation,  taken  collectively, "is 
never  perhaps  capable  of  such  great  achievements  as  in  this  state  of  half- 
civilization.  •  The  Saxons  had  spread  themselves  over  Germany  and  the  Low 
'  Countries  from  the  Cimbrian  Chersonesus,  now  Jutland,  taking  possession 
of  the  whole  territory  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe ;  and,  when  the 
Britons  sent  to  implore  their  assistance,  they  were  masters  not  only  of  the 
present  Westphalia,  Saxony,  East  and  West  Friesland,  but  also  of  Holland 
and  Zealand.  They  readily  complied  with  the  request  of  Vortigern :  and 
having  fitted  out  three  large  transports,  about  fifteen  hundred  of  them  put  to 
sea  under  the  command  of  Hengist  and  Horsa,  two  brother  chiefs,  said  to  be 
descended  from  Woden,  their  tutelary  god.  The  Saxon  chiefs  landed  in  the 
isle  of  Thanet,  which  was  assigned  them  as  a  possession,  and  a  league  was 
entered  into  between  them  and  the  British  prince. (2)  Soon  after  their  ar- 
rival, they  marched  against  the  Scots  and  Picts,  who  made  a  new  irruption, 
and  advanced  as  far  as  Stamford.  These  northern  ravagers,  unable  to  with 
stand  the  steady  valour  of  the  Saxons,  were  routed  with  great  slaughter ;. 
and  the  Britons,  felicitating  themselves  on  an  expedient  by  which  they  had 
freed  their  country  from  so  cruel  an  enemy,  hoped  thenceforth  to  enjoy 
security  under  the  protection  of  their  warlike  auxiliaries. 

But  mankind,  in  the  possession  of  present  good,  are  apt  to  overlook  the 
.  prospect  of  future  evil.  The  Britons  did  not  foresee  that  their  deliverers 
were  to  be  their  conquerors ;  though  it  must  have  been  evident  to  any  dis- 
interested observer,  that  the  day  of  subjection  was  nigh.  The  reflections  of 
TIengist  and  Horsa,  after  their  victory  over  the  Scots  and  Picts,  were  very 
different  from  those  of  the  Britons.  They  considered  with  what  ease  they 
might  subdue  a  people,  who  had  been  unable  to  resist  such  feeble  invaders  ; 
and  sent  to  their  countrymen  intelligence  of  the  fertility  and  opulence  of 
Britain,  inviting  them  to  come  and  share  in  the  spoils  of  a  nation,  without 
union  and  without  Valour,  sunk  in  indolence  and  sloth. (3) 

The  invitation  was  readily  accepted.  Seventeen  vessels  soon  arrived  with 
five  thousand  men,  who,  joined  to  those  already  in  the  island,  formed  a  con- 
siderable army. (4)  Though  now  justly  alarmed  at  the  number  of  their  allies, 
the  Britons  sought  security  and  relief  only  in  passive  submission ;  and  even 
tli at  unmanly  expedient  soon  failed  them.  The  Saxons  pulled  off  the  mask  : 
they  complained  that  their  subsidies  were  ill  paid,  and  demanded  larger  sup- 
plies of  corn  and  other  provisions.  These  being  refused,  as  exorbitant,  they 
formed  an  alliance  with  the  Scots  and  Picts ;  and  proceeded  to  open  hostilities 
against  the  people  they  had  come  over  to  protect. 

The  Britons  were  at  last  under  the  necessity  of  taking  arms ;  and  having 
deposed  Vortigern,  who  was  become  odious  by  his  vices,  and  the  unfortunate 
issue  of  his  rash  councils,  they  put  themselves  under  the  command  of  his  son 
Vortirrier.  Many  battles  were  fought  between  the  Saxons  and  Britons  with 
various  success,  though  commonly  on  the  side  of  the  former :  and,  in  one  oJ 
these  battles,  the  Saxon  general,  Horsa,  was  slain.  The  sole  command  now 
devolved  xipon  Hengist ;  who,  continually  reinforced  with  fresh  adventurer* 
from  Germany,  carried  desolation  to  the  most  remote  possessions  of  the 
Britons.  Anxious  to  spread  the  terror  of  his  arms,  he  spared  neither  age,  sex, 


LET  VII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  55 

nor  condition.(l)     The  description  is  too  horrible  to  read  ;  and,  for  the  honour 
of  humanity,  I  am  willing  to  suppose  it  to  be  partly  untrue. 

Of  the  unhappy  Britons  who  escaped  the  general  slaughter,  some  took 
icfuge  among  inaccessible  rocks  and  mountains  ;  many  perished  by  hunger; 
and  many,  forsaking  their  asylum,  preserved  their  lives  at  the  expense  of  their 
liberty.  Others,  crossing  the  sea,  sought  shelter  among  their  countrymen  in 
Armorica.  They  who  remained  at  home  suffered  every  species  of  misery  : 
they  were  not  only  robbed  of  all  temporal,  but  spiritual  benefits.  (2)  In  this 
extremity,  a  British  and  a  Christian  hero  appeared.  Arthur,  prince  of  the 
Silures,  revived  the  expiring  valour  of  his  countrymen.  He  defeated  the 
Saxons  in  several  engagements  ;  and  particularly  in  the  famous  battle  of 
Badon-hill,  which  procured  the  Britons  tranquillity  for  upwards  of  forty  years. 
But  the  success  of  Hengist  and  his  followers  having  excited  the  ambition  of 
other  German  tribes,  who  arrived  at  different  times,  and  under  different 
leaders,  yet  all  speaking  one  language,  being  governed  by  the  same  regula- 
tions, and  passing  under  the  common  appellation  of  Saxons  or  Angles,  they 
were  naturally  led  to  unite  against  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  island.  The 
Britons,  therefore,  ultimately  found  themselves  unequal  to  the  contest,  and 
retired  to  the  mountains  of  Cornwall  and  Wales,  where  they  formed  inde- 
pendent principalities,  protected  by  their  remote  and  inaccessible  situation.  (3) 

The  Saxons  and  Angles,  or  Anglo-Saxons  (for  they  are  mentioned  under 
both  these  denominations),  were  now  absolute  masters  of  the  whole  fertile 
and  cultivated  part  of  South  Britain,  which  had  changed  not  only  its  inhabit- 
ants, but  its  language,  customs,  and  political  institutions.  (4)  History  affords 
an  example  of  few  conquests  more  bloody,  and  few  revolutions  so  violent  as 
that  effected  by  the  Saxons.  In  the  course  of  their  wars  with  the  Britons, 
which  continued  a  hundred  and  thirty-five  years,  they  had  established  many 
separate  kingdoms,  the  seventh  and  last  of  which  was  that  of  Northumber- 
land. The  names  of  the  other  kingdoms  were  Kent,  Sussex,  Essex,  Wessex, 
Mercia,  and  East  Anglia.  These  seven  kingdoms  formed  what  is  commonly 
called  the  Saxon  Heptarchy.  (5) 

While  the  Saxons  had  to  struggle  with  the  Britons  for  dominion,  their 
several  princes  leagued  against  the  common  enemy,  and  a  union  of  coun- 
cils and  interests  was  preserved.  But  after  the  wretched  natives  were  shut 
up  in  their  barren  mountains,  and  the  conquerors  had  nothing  to  fear  from 
them,  the  bond  of  alliance  was  in  a  great  measure  dissolved  among  the 
princes  of  the  Heptarchy;  and  although  one  prince  seems  still  to  have 
assumed,  or  to  have  been  allowed,  some  ascendant  over  the  rest,  his  autho- 
rity was  so  very  limited,  that  each  state  acted  as  if  entirely  independent. 
Jealousies,  and  dissensions  arose  among  the  Saxon  chiefs,  and  these  were 
followed  by  perpetual  wars  ;  which,  in  Milton's  opinion,  are  no  more  worthy 
of  a  particular  narration,  than  the  combats  of  kites  or  crows.  And,  inde 
pendent  of  so  great  an  authority,  which  however  it  would  be  presumption  to 
slight,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  the  barren  records  transmitted  to  us, 
and  the  continued  barbarities  of  the  times,  render  it  impossible  for  the  most 
eloquent  and  discerning  writer  to  make  this  portion  of  our  history  either 
instructive  or  entertaining.  It  will  therefore  be  sufficient  for  me  to  observe, 
that  after  a  variety  of  inferior  revolutions,  the  seven  kingdoms  of  the  Saxon 
Heptarchy  were  united  under  Egbert,  king  of  Wessex,  in  the  year  827.(6) 
His  dominions  were  nearly  of  the  same  extent  with  what  is  now  properlv 


(Alfor.  a  nn  .  ence  te  compoun  name  o  ngo-axons,  gven  em  y  mos  wrers.  a 
Jutes  had  also  a  considerable  share  iu  the  conquest  of  South  Britain,  and  settled  themselves  in  Kent  and 
the  Isle  of  Wight.  Essex,  Middlesex,  Surry,  Sussex,  and  all  the  southern  counties,  as  far  as  Cornwall, 
were  peopled  by  Saxons.  The  Saxons  also  took  possession  of  the  northern  counties.  Norfolk,  Suffolk! 
and  all  the  midland  counties  were  inhabited  by  Angles.  Bede,  lib.  i.  ii.  Elhelwerd,  lib.  i.  H.  Hunting,  lib 
ii.  Hume,  vol.  i.  chap.  i. 

(5)  The  extent  of  the  different  kingdoms  is  of  too  little  importance  now  to  deserve  particular  description 

(6)  Wessex,  or  the  kingdoms  of  the  West  Saxons,  extended  over  the  counties  of  Hants,  Dorset,  Wilts 
Uerks,  and  the  Isle  of  Wight.    ' 


66  THEHISTORYOF  [PART! 

ailed  ENGLAND  ;  a  name  which  was  given  to  the  empire  of  the  Saxons  in 
Britain,  immediately  after  the  termination  of  the  Heptarchy. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  before  this  period  had  been  converted  to  Christianity 
by  the  preaching  of  Augustine,  a  Roman  monk,  and  the  zeal  of  Bertha, 
daughter  of  Garibert,  king  of  Paris,  and  wife  to  Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent ;  but 
as  they  received  that  doctrine  through  the  polluted  channels  of  the  church  of 
Rome,  though  it  opened  an  intercourse  with  the  more  polished  states  of 
Europe,  it  had  not  hitherto  been  very  effectual  either  in  purifying  their  minds, 
or  in  softening  their  manners.  The  grossest  ignorance  and  superstition  pre- 
vailed among  them.  Reverences  to  saints  and  relics  seemed  to  have  sup- 
planted the  worship  of  the  Supreme  Being ;  donations  to  the  church  atoned 
for  every  violation  of  the  laws  of  society ;  and  monastic  observances  were 
more  esteemed  than  moral  virtues.  Even  the  military  virtues  so  habitual  to 
the  Saxons  began  to  fall  into  neglect.  The  nobility  themselves  began  to 
prefer  the  indolence  and  security  of  the  cloister  to  the  toils  and  tumults  of 
war ;  and  the  crown,  impoverished  by  continual  benefactions  to  the  church, 
had  no  rewards  for  the  encouragement  of  valour. 

This  corrupt  species  of  Christianity  was  attended  with  another  train  ol 
inconveniences,  proceeding  from  a  superstitious  attachment  to  the  see  ol 
Rome.  The  Britons  had  conducted  all  ecclesiastical  matters  by  their  own 
synods  and  councils,  acknowledging  no  subordination  to  the  Roman  pontiff; 
but  the  Saxons,  having  received  their  religion  through  the  medium  of  Italian 
monks,  were  taught  to  consider  Rome  as  the  capital  of  their  faith.  Pilgrim- 
ages to  that  city  were  accordingly  represented  as  the  most  meritorious  acts 
of  devotion ;  and  not  only  noblemen  and  ladies  of  rank  undertook  this  tedious 
journey,  but  kings  themselves,  resigning  their  crowns,  implored  a  safe  pass- 
port to  heaven  at  the  foot  of  St.  Peter's  chair,  and  exchanged  the  purple  for 
the  sackloth.(l) 

But  England,  even  in  those  times  of  British  darkness,  gave  birth  to  some 
men  equal  at  least  to  any  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived.  Offa,  king  of  Mer- 
cia,  was  thought  worthy  the  friendship  of  Charlemagne,  the  greatest  prince 
that  Europe  had  produced  for  many  centuries ;  and  Alcuin,  an  English  cler- 
gyman, had  the  honour  of  instructing  that  illustrious  monarch  in  the  sciences, 
at  the  time  when  he  was  surrounded  by  all  the  literati  of  Christendom. 

Having  mentioned  Charlemagne,  I  think  it  necessary  to  observe,  That  1 
shall  finish  the  history  of  that  great  conqueror  and  legislator,  before  we  pro- 
ceed to  the  reign  of  Egbert,  the  first  English  monarch ;  who,  as  you  will  after- 
ward have  occasion  more  fully  to  know,  was  educated  in  the  court,  and  in  the 
armies  of  the  new  emperor  of  the  West.  Meanwhile,  my  dear  Philip,  I  must 
say  a  few  words  of  the  government,  laws,  and  manners  of  the  Saxons,  after 
their  settlement  in  Britain. 


LETTER  VIII. 

Government  and  Laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxons. 

HAD  the  Saxons,  on  their  settlement  in  Britain,  established  the  same  form 
of  government  with  the  other  northern  nations  that  seized  the  provinces  of 
the  Roman  empire,  this  letter  would  have  been  in  a  great  measure  unneces- 
sary ;  but  as  they  rather  exterminated  than  subdued  the  natives,  and  wero 
under  few  apprehensions  from  foreign  enemies,  they  had  no  occasion  to  bur- 
den themselves  with  feudal  services.  They  therefore  retained  entire  their 
civil  and  military  institutions ;  they  transplanted  into  this  island  those  prin- 
ciples of  liberty  and  independency  which  they  had  so  highly  cherished  at 
home,  which  had  been  transmitted  to  them  from  their  ancestors,  and  which 
still  continued  to  flourish  among  their  descendants.  Their  original  constitu- 
tion was  a  kind  of  military  democracy,  in  which  the  protection  of  the  state 

(1)  Bale,  lib.  i.  ii.  Spell.  Cone.  II.  Hunting,  lib  ill 


LET.  VIIL]  MODERN   EUROPE.  57 

was  the  voluntary  care  of  its  members,  as  every  free  man  had  a  share  in  the 
government ;  and  conquest  was  the  interest  of  all,  as  all  partook  in  the  ac- 
quisitions. Their  king,  or  chief,  was  only  the  first  citizen  of  the  community : 
his  authority  was  extremely  limited ;  and  depended,  as  did  his  station,  prin- 
cipally on  his  personal  qualities.  The  succession  was  neither  elective  nor 
hereditary.  A  son  who  inherited  his  father's  virtues  and  talents  was  sure  to 
succeed  to  his  sway :  but  if  he  happened  to  be  weak,  wicked,  or  under  age, 
the  next  in  blood  was  generally  raised  to  the  throne,  or  the  person  of  most 
eminence  in  the  state. (1) 

We  owe  to  the  masterly  pen  of  Tacitus  this  account  of  the  primitive  go- 
vernment of  the  Saxons,  who  were  a  tribe  of  the  ancient  Cimbri.  Unfortu- 
nately the  Saxon  annals  are  too  imperfect  to  enable  us  to  delineate  exactly 
the  prerogatives  of  the  crown,  and  the  privileges  of  the  people,  after  their 
settlement  in  Britain.  The  government  might  be  somewhat  different  in  the 
different  kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy,  and  might  also  undergo  several  changes 
before  the  Norman  conquest ;  but  of  those  changes  we  are  in  a  great  mea- 
sure ignorant.  We  only  know,  that  at  all  times,  and  in  all  the  kingdoms,  there 
was  a  national  council,  a  Wittenagemot,  or  Assembly  of  the  Wise  Men,  whose 
consent  was  necessary  to  the  enacting  of  laws,  and  to  give  sanction  to  the 
measures  of  public  administration.  But  who  the  constituent  members  of 
that  assembly  were,  has  not  hitherto  been  determined  with  certainty  The 
most  probable  conjecture  however  seems  to  be,  that  it  consisted  of  the  no- 
bility, the  dignified  clergy,  and  all  freeholders  possessing  a  certain  portion  of 
land. 

The  Saxons  were  divided  into  three  orders  of  men ;  the  noble,  the  free, 
and  the  servile.  These  distinctions  the*  brought  into  Britain  with  them. 
The  nobles  were  called  Thanes,  and  wer*of  two  kinds,  the  greater  and  less 
Thanes.  The  latter  seem  to  have  had  some  dependence  on  the  former,  as 
the  former  had  on  the  king,  but  of  what  nature  is  uncertain.  The  lower 
kind  of  freemen  among  the  Saxons  were  denominated  ceorles,  and  were  chiefly 
employed  in  husbandry — whence  a  husbandman  and  ceorle  came  to  be 
synonymous  terms.  They  farmed  the  lands  of  the  nobility,  or  higher  orders, 
and  appear  to  have  been  removable  at  pleasure.  But  the  slaves,  or  villains, 
were  by  much  the  most  numerous  class  in  the  community;  and  being  the 
property  of  their  masters,  were  consequently  incapable  of  holding  any  pro- 
perty themselves.  They  were  of  two  kinds ;  household  slaves,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  ancients ;  and  rustic  slaves,  who  were  sold  and  transferred,  like 
cattle,  with  the  soil.  The  long  wars  between  the  Saxons  and  Britons,  and 
afterward  between  the  different  kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy,  seem  to  have 
been  the  cause  of  the  disproportionate  number  of  these  unhappy  men :  for 
prisoners  taken  in  battle,  were  reduced  to  slavery  by  the  laws  of  war,  and 
entirely  at  the  disposal  of  their  masters.  (2) 

The  higher  nobility  and  dignified  clergy  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  possessed 
a  criminal  jurisdiction  within  their  own  territories,  and  could  punish  without 
appeal  such  as  they  judged  worthy  of  death.  This  was  a  dangerous  privilege, 
and  liable  to  the  greatest  abuse.  'But  although  the  Anglo-Saxon  government 
seems  at  last  to  have  become  in  some  measure  aristocratical,  there  were 
still  considerable  remains  of  the  ancient  democracy.  All  the  freeholders 
assembled  twice  a  year  in  the  county-courts,  or  Shiremotes,  to  receive 
appeals  from  the  inferior  courts — a  practice  well  calculated  for  the  pre- 
servation of  general  liberty,  and  for  restraining  the  exorbitant  power  of  the 
nobles.  In  these  courts  they  decided  all  causes  ecclesiastical  as  well  as 
civil,  the  bishop  and  aldermen,  or  earl,  presiding  over  them.  The  case  was 
determined  by  a  majority  of  voices,  without  much  pleading,  formality,  or 
delay ;  the  bishop  and  earl  having  no  farther  authority  than  to  keep  order 
among  the  freeholders,  and  offer  their  advice  when  necessary. (3)  Though  it 
should  therefore  be  granted,  that  the  Wittenagemot  was  composed  entirely 

(1)  Tacit,  de  Moribus  Germ.  cap.  xl. 

(2)  L.  Edg.  sec.  xiv.  ap.  Spelman,  Ct-nc.  vol.  i.    Brady  Gen.  Pres.  p.  7,  8,  9.    Nithard.  Hist,  lib  w 

(3)  Hickes,  Ditsert.  Episl.  ii— viii 


68  THE   HIS  TORY   OF  [PART!. 

of  the  greater  Thanes  and  dignified  clergy,  yet  in  a  government  where  few 
taxes  were  imposed  by  the  legislature,  and  few  statutes  enacted,  where  the 
nation  was  less  governed  by  laws  than  by  customs,  which  allowed  much  lati 
tude  of  interpretation,  the  county  courts,  where  all  the  freeholder?  were 
admitted,  and  which  regulated  all  the  daily  occurrences  of  life,  formed  a  wide 
basis  for  freedom. 

The  criminal  laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  of  most  barbarous  nations, 
were  uncommonly  mild ;  a  compensation  in  money  being  sufficient  for  mur- 
der of  any  species,  and  for  the  life  of  persons  of  any  rank,  not  excepting  the 
king  and  the  archbishop,  whose  head,  by  the  laws  of  Kent,  was  estimated 
higher  than  the  king's.  The  price  of  all  kinds  of  wounds  was  also  settled : 
and  he  who  was  caught  in  adultery  Avith  his  neighbour's  wife,  was  ordered, 
by  the  laws  of  Ethelbert,  to  pay  him  a  fine,  and  buy  him  another  wife — a 
proof,  though  somewhat  equivocal,  of  the  estimation  in  which  women  were 
then  held.  The  punishments  for  robbery  were  various,  but  none  of  them 
capital.  If  any  person  could  track  his  stolen  cattle  into  another's  ground, 
'he  owner  of  the  ground  was  obliged  to  show  their  tracks  out  of  it,  or  pay  the 
ralue  of  the  cattle. (1) 

But  if  the  punishments  for  crimes  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  singular, 
their  proofs  were  no  less  so.  When  any  controversy  about  a  fact  was  too  intri- 
cate for  the  ignorant  judges  to  unravel,  they  had  recourse  to  what  they  called 
the  judgment  of  God  ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  chance.  Their  modes  of  con- 
sulting that  blind  divinity  were  various,  but  the  most  common  was  the  ordeal. 
This  method  of  trial  was  practised  either  by  boiling  water,  or  red-hot  iron. 
The  \yatar  01  iron  was  consecrated  by  many  prayers,  masses,  fastings,  and 
exorcisms  ;  a  %er  which  the  person  accused  either  took  up  with  his  naked  hand 
a  stone  sunk  iu  the  water  to  a  certain  depth,  or  carried  the  iron  to  a  certain 
distance.  The  hand  was  immediately  wrapped  up,  and  the  covering  sealed 
for  three  days  ;  and  if  on  examining  it  there  appeared  no  marks  of  burning 
or  scalding,  the  ptisan  Accused  was  pronounced  innocent ;  if  otherwise,  he 
was  declared  guilty.(2;  The  same  kinds  of  proof,  or  others  equally  extra- 
vagant, existed  among  ail  the  nations  on  the  continent ;  and  money,  in  like 
manner,  was  every  wbece  jb.  atonement  for  guilt,  both  in  a  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical sense. 


iVTTER  IX. 

The  Reign  of  Charlemagne,  o    \.Ji  <»*'ee  the  Great,  King  of  France  and. Emperor 

of  t'lt  West. 

CHARLES  and  Carloman,  thi  two  suns  of  Pepin,  and  his  successors  in  the 
French  monarchy,  were  m^n  of  vory  different  dispositions.  Charles  was 
open  and  generous,  Carloman  dark  and  suspicious  :  it  was  therefore  happy 
foimankind  that  Carloman  died  soon  after  his  father,  as  perpetual  wars  must 
have  been  the  consequence  of  the  opposite  tempers  and  interfering  interest 
of  the  brothers.  Now  alone  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  kingdom,  Charles's 
great  and  ambitious  genius  soon  gave  birth  to  projects  which  will  render  his 
name  immortal.  A  prosperous  reign  of  forty-six  years,  abounding  with  mili- 
tary enterprises,  political  institutions,  and  literary  foundations,  offers  to  our 
view,  in  the  midst  of  barbarism,  a  spectacle  worthy  of  more  polished  ages. 

But  before  we  proceed  to  the  history  of  this  illustrious  reign,  I  must  say  a 
few  words  of  the  state  of  Germany  at  that  time. 

Germany  was  anciently  possessed  by  a  number  of  free  and  independert 
nations,  who  bravely  defended  their  liberties  against  the  Romans,  and  were 
never  totally  subjected  by  them.  On  the  decline  of  the  Roman  empire,  many 
of  those  nations  left  their  native  country,  as  we  have  seen,  and  founded 
empires  of  their  own ;  so  that  Germany,  at  the  accession  of  Charlemagne  to 

(1)  Anglo  Saxon  Laws,  ap.  Wilkins.  (2)  Spelman, in  Verb.Ordeal. 


LET.  IX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  59 

the  crown  of  France,  was  principally  occupied  by  the  Saxons.  Of  their 
government  I  have  already  spoken.  They  were  still  Pagans.  What  was 
then  considered  as  their  territory  comprehended  a  vast  tract  of  countiy.  It 
was  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  German  Ocean,  by  Bohemia  on  the  east,  on 
the  north  b'y  the  Baltic  Sea,  and  on  the  south  by  Germanic  France,  extending 
along  the  lower  Rhine  and  from  Issel  beyond  Mentz.  This  extensive  empire 
was  governed  by  an  infinite  number  of  independent  princes,  and  inhabited 
by  a  variety  of  tribes,  under  different  names,  who,  by  reason  of  their  want 
of  union,  had  become  tributary  to  the  French  monarchs.  But  whenever  the 
throne  of  France  was  vacated  by  death,  or  when  the  kings  of  France  were 
engaged  either  in  foreign  or  domestic  wars,  the  Saxon  princes  threw  off  their 
allegiance,  and  enteredthe  French  territories.  (1)  Charles  had  occasion  to  quell 
one  of  those  revolts  immediately  after  the  death  of  his  brother :  and  the  work 
was  but  imperfectly  executed,  when  his  arms  were  wanted  in  another  quarter. 

Charles  and  Carloman  had  married  two  daughters  of  Desiderius,  king  of 
the  Lombards.  Carloman  left  two  sons  by  his  wife  Berta ;  but  Charles  had 
divorced  his  consort,  under  pretence  that  she  was  incapable  of  bearing  chil- 
dren, and  married  Ildegarda,  a  princess  of  Suabia.  Berta,  the  widow  of  Car- 
loman, not  thinking  herself  and  her  children  safe  in  France  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  fled  to  her  father  in  Italy,  and  put  herself  and  her  two  sons 
under  his  protection.  Desiderius  received  them  with  joy.  Highly  incensed 
against  Charles  for  divorcing  his  other  daughter,  he  hoped  by  means  of  these 
refugees  to  raise  such  disturbances  in  France  as  might  both  gratify  his 
revenge,  and  prevent  the  French  monarch  from  intermeddling  in  the  affairs  of 
Italy.  In  this  hope  he  was  encouraged  by  his  intimacy  with  pope  Adrian  I. 
to  whom  he  proposed  the  crowning  and  anointing  of  Carloman's  two  sons. 
But  Adrian,  though  sufficiently  disposed  to  oblige  him,  refused  to  comply 
with  the  request;  sensible  that  by  so  doing  he  must  incur  the  displeasure  of 
Charles,  the  natural  ally  of  the  church,  and  the  only  prince  capable  of  pro- 
tecting him  against  his  ambitious  enemies.  Enraged  at  a  refusal,  Desiderius 
ravaged  the  papal  territories,  or,  as  they  were  called,  the  Patrimony  of  St. 
Peter,  and  threatened  to  lay  siege  to  Rome  itself.  In  order  to  avert  the 
pressing  danger,  Adrian  resolved  to  have  recourse  to  France,  in  imitation  of 
his  predecessors.  He  accordingly  sent  ambassadors  privately  to  Charle- 
magne, not  only  imploring  His  assistance,  but  inviting  him  to  the  conquest  of 
Italy,  his  friendship  for  Desiderius  being  now  converted  into  the  most  ranco- 
rous hate.  The  French  monarch,  who  waited  only  an  opportunity  to  revenge 
himself  on  that  prince  for  keeping  his  nephews,  and  still  more  for  wanting 
to  crown  them,  received  the  pope's  invitation  with  incredible  satisfaction. 
He  immediately  left  Germany,  concluding  a  kind  of  treaty  with  the  Saxons, 
and  collected  such  an  army  as  evidently  showed  that  his  object  was  nothing 
less  than  the  extinction  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards. (2) 

Desiderius,  informed  of  these  preparations,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a 
great  army,  and  sent  several  bodies  of  troops  to  guard  the  passes  of  the  Alps. 
But  Charlemagne,  apprised  of  this  precaution,  sent  a  detachment  under  ex- 
perienced guides  to  cross  the  mountains  by  a  different  route.  The  French 
completed  their  march ;  and  falling  unexpectedly  upon  the  Lombards  who 
guarded  the  passes,  struck  them  with  such  terror,  that  they  fled  in  the  utmost 
confusion.  Charles  now  entered  Italy  unmolested,  and  marched  in  quest  of 
Desiderius.  Finding  himself  unable  to  keep  the  field,  the  king  of  the  Lom- 
bards retired  to  Pavia,  his  capital;  sending  his  son  Adalgisus,  and  his 
daughter  Berta,  the  widow  of  Carloman,  with  her  two  sons,  to  Verona,  a 
place  not  inferior  in  strength  to  Pavia. 

As  soon  as  Charlemagne  understood  that  Desiderius  had  taken  shelter  in 
Pavia,  he  assembled  his  whole  army,  and  laid  siege  to  that  city,  resolving 
not  to  withdraw  his  forces  till  it  had  submitted ;  but,  as  the  Lombards  made 
a  gallant  defence,  he  changed  the  siege  into  a  blockade,  and  marched  with 
part  of  his  troops  to  invest  Verona.  Adalgisus  defended  the  place,  for  a 

(!)  Eginhard.  in  Vit.  Cat    Mag.  (2)  Sigon.  Reg.  Ital.    Anast.  in   rit.  Hadriwni 


60  THE   HISTORY   OF  TART  i. 

time.,  with  great  bravery,  but  finding  himself,  at  last,  reduced  to  extremities, 
and  despairing  of  relief,  he  secretly  withdrew,  and  fled  to  Constantinople, 
where  he  was  cordially  received  by  the  emperor.  Verona  now  surrendered 
to  Charles ;  wl.o  having  got  Berta,  his  brother's  widow,  and  her  two  sons, 
into  his  power,  sent  them  immediately,  under  a  strong  guard,  into  France. 
What  afterward  became  of  them  history  has  not  told  us.  It  is  much  to  be 
feared,  however,  that  their  fate  was  little  to  the  honour  of  the  conqueror 
Humanity  was  not  the  characteristic  of  those  times. 

The  siege  of  Pavia  was  renewed,  and  pushed  with  fresh  vigour.  But  the 
festival  of  Easter  approaching,  which  Charles  had  resolved  to  spend  at  Rome, 
he  left  the  conduct  of  the  siege  once  more  to  his  uncle  Bernard.  The  pope 
received  his  deliverer  in  the  most  pompous  manner,  the  magistrates  and 
judges  walking  before  him  with  their  banners,  and  the  clergy  repeating, 
"  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord !"  After  Charles  had 
satisfied  his  curiosity,  and  confirmed  the  donation  which  his  father  Pepin  had 
made  to  St.  Peter,  he  returned  to  the  camp  before  Pavia.  The  Lombards 
still  continued  to  defend  that  city  with  obstinate  valour,  so  that  the  siege  was 
little  if  at  all  advanced ;  but  a  plague  breaking  out  among  the  besieged,  the 
unfortunate  Desiderius  was  obliged  at  last  to  surrender  his  capital,  and  deliver 
up  himself,  his  wife,  and  his  children,  to  Charles,  who  sent  them  all  into 
France,  where  they  either  died  a  violent  death,  or  languished  out  their  days 
in  obscurity,  being  never  more  heard  of.(l) 

Thus  ended  the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards  in  Italy,  after  it  had  subsisted 
two  hundred  and  six  years.  They  are  represented  by'the  monkish  historians 
as  a  cruel  and  barbarous  people,  because  they  opposed  the  ambitious  vie^s 
of  the  popes ;  but  the  many  wholesome  laws  which  they  left  behind  them, 
and  which  devouring  time  has  still  spared,  are  convincing  proofs  of  their 
justice,  humanity,  and  wisdom. 

A  short  account  of  the  state  of  Italy  at  the  time  it  was  entered  by  Charle 
magne  will  here  be  proper,  and  also  of  the  new  form  of  government  intro- 
duced there  by  the  conqueror. 

Italy  was  then  shared  by  the  Venetians,  the  Lombards,  the  popes,  and  the 
emperors  of  the  East.  The  Venetians  were  become  very  considerable  by  their 
trade  to  the  Levant,  and  bore  no  small  sway  in  the  affairs  of  Italy,  though 
it  does  not  appear  that  they  had  yet  any  town  oft  the  terra  firma,  or  conti- 
nent. The  pope,  by  the  generosity  of  Pepin  and  his  son  Charles,  was  now 
master  of  the  exarchate  and  Pentapolis.  The  dukedom  of  Naples,  and  some 
cities  in  the  two  Calabrias,  were  still  held  by  the  emperors  of  the  East.  All 
the  other  provinces  of  Italy  belonged  to  the  Lombards ;  namely,  the  duke- 
doms of  Friuli,  Spoleto,  and  Benevento,  together  with  the  provinces  of  Ligu- 
ria,  Venetia,  Tuscany,  and  the  Alpes  Cottiae,  which  were  properly  called  the 
kingdom  of  the  Lombards.  Thes  Ceharles  claimed  by  right  of  conquest, 
and  caused  himself,  in  imitation  of  them,  to  be  crowned  king  of  Italy,  with 
an  iron  crown,(2)  which  is  still  preserved  in  the  little  town  of  Monza. 

The  ceremony  of  coronation  being  over,  the  conqueror  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  settle  the  government  of  his  new  kingdom,  before  he  left  Italy ;  and, 
after  consulting  with  the  pope,  who  declared  him  patrician  of  Rome,  and 
protector  of  the  apostolic  see,  he  agreed  that  the  people  should  be  permitted 
to  live  under  their  former  laws,  and  that  all  things  should  remain  as  esta- 
blished by  his  predecessors.  Accordingly  he  allowed  the  dukes  of  Friuli, 
Spoleto,  and  Benevento,  the  same  authority  which  they  had  enjoyed  under 
ihe  Lombard  kings.  He  also  permitted  the  other  dukes  to  hold  the  duke- 
doms, contenting  himself  with  an  oath  of  allegiance,  which  he  obliged  them, 
and  likewise  the  three  great  dukes,  to  take  annually.  It  was  conceived  in 
these  words :  "  I  promise,  without  fraud  or  deceit,  to  be  faithful  to  my  sove 
reign  Chartes,  and  his  sons,  as  long  as  I  live :  and  I  swear,  by  these  holy 
Gospels,  that  I  will  be  faithful  to  him,  as  a  vassal  to  his  lord  and  sovereign ; 
Deither  will  I  divulge  any  thing  which,  in  virtue  of  my  allegiance,  he  shall 

(1)  Leo  Osticns.  Monach.  Engolism  (2)  Eginliard.  in.  Tit.  Car.  May. 


LET.  IX.]  MODERNEUROPE.  fi| 

commit  to  me.''  He  never  transferred  a  dukedom  from  one  family  to  another, 
unless  when  the  duke  broke  his  oath,  or  died  without  male  issue.  This  trans- 
lation from  one  to  another  was  called  investiture ;  and  hence  it  came,  that 
fiefs  were  not  granted  but  by  investiture,  as  was  afterward  the  case  with 
respect  to  other  vassals  and  feudatories.(l) 

Charles  committed  the  boundaries  of  his  new  kingdom,  and  the  territory 
of  cities,  to  the  care  of  counts,  who  were  vested  with  great  authority.  These 
boundaries  were  called  Marchae  or  Marches,  and  those  who  had  the  care  of 
them  were  styled  Counts  of  the  Marches,  or  Marquisses ;  whence  the  title 
Marquis  had  its  rise.  He  also  sent  occasionally  missi.,  or  commissaries,  who 
Avere  vested  with  higher  powers,  and  examined  into  the  conduct  of  the  counts, 
whose  province  it  was  to  administer  justice  over  all  the  dominions  of  Charle- 
magne.— That  Italy  might  retain  at  least  some  shadow  of  liberty,  he  con 
vened,  as  often  as  he  returned  thither,  a  general  assembly  of  all  the  bishops, 
abbots,  and  barons  of  the  kingdom,  in  order  to  settle  affairs  of  national  im- 
portance. The  Lombards  had  but  one  order  in  the  state,  composed  of  the 
barons  and  judges ;  but  the  French,  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  had  two, 
the  clergy  and  nobility;  hence  was  added  by  Charles  in  Italy,  after  the  manner 
of  France,  the  order  of  ecclesiastics  to  that  of  the  barons  or  nobles.(2) 

The  affairs  of  Italy  being  thus  settled,  Charles  returned  to  France,  and 
marched  immediately  against  the  Saxons,  who  had  again  revolted  during  his 
absence.  But  his  wars  with  that  barbarous,  though  brave  and  independent 
people,  which  lasted  upwards  of  thirty  years,  and  formed  the  principal  busi- 
ness of  his  reign,  could  afford  little  pleasure  to  a  humanized  mind.  J  shall 
therefore  only  observe,  that,  after  a  number  of  battles  gallantly  fought,  and 
many  cruelties  committed  on  both  sides,  the  Saxons  were  totally  subjected. 
and  Germany  became  part  of  the  empire  of  Charlemagne.  A  desire  to  con- 
vert the  Saxons  to  Christianity  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  principal 
motives  for  prosecuting  this  conquest ;  and  as  they  were  no  less  tenacious  ol 
their  religion  than  their  liberty,  persecution  marched  in  the  train  of  war,  and 
stained  with  blood  the  fetters  of  slavery. 

Witikind,  so  deservedly  celebrated  by  his  nation,  was  the  most  eminent 
Saxon  general  during  these  hostilities.  He  frequently  roused  the  drooping 
valour  of  his  countrymen,  and  revived  in  their  hearts  the  love  of  liberty 
and  independency.  Nor  were  they  wanting  to  him  in  attachment,  for  which 
they  severely  paid.  After  an  unsuccessful  revolt,  when  they  went  to  make 
submission  to  Charlemagne,  he  ordered  four  thousand  five  hundred  of  their 
principal  men  to  be  massacred,  because  they  refused  to  deliver  up  their  gene- 
ral.(3)  An  equal  instance  of  severity  is  not,  perhaps,  to  be  met  with  in  the 
history  of  mankind ;  especially  if  we  consider,  that  the  Saxons  were  not 
Charles's  natural  subjects,  but  an  independent  people  struggling  for  freedom. 
Witikind  at  last  submitted,  and  embraced  Christianity,  continuing  ever  after 
faithful  to  his  engagements.  But  he  could  never  inspire  his  associates  with 
the  same  docile  sentiments :  they  were  continually  revolting ;  and  submitting, 
that  they  might  have  it  in  their  power  to  revolt  again.  On  the  final  reduc- 
tion of  their  country,  the  more  resolute  spirits  retired  into  Scandinavia,  carry- 
ing along  with  them  the  vindictive  hatred  against  the  dominion  and  the  reli- 
gion of  France. 

A  word  here  of  religion. — Charlemagne  very  justly  considered  the  mild 
doctrines  of  Christianity  as  the  best  means  of  taming  a  savage  people ;  but 
he  was  mistaken  in  supposing  that  force  will  ever  make  Christians.  His 
Capitulars  for  the  Saxons  are  almost  as  barbarous  as  their  manners.  He 
obliged  them,  under  pain  of  death,  to  receive  baptism ;  he  condemns  to  the 
severest  punishments  the  breakers  of  Lent ;  in  a  word,  he  everywhere  sub- 
stitutes force  for  persuasion.  Instead  therefore  of  blaming  the  obstinacy  of 
these  barbarians,  we  ought  to  be  filled  with  horror  at  the  cruel  bigotry  of  the 
conqueror. 
Almost  every  year  of  Charles's  reign  was  signalized  by  some  military  expe- 

U)  Sigonius.  ubi  sup.  (2)  Ibid.  (3)  Eginhard.  in  AnnaL 


62  THE   HISTORY   01  [PART! 

dition,  though  very  different  from  those  of  our  times.  War  was  then  carried 
on  Mithout  any  settled  plan  of  operations.  The  troops  were  neither  regu- 
larly disciplined  nor  paid.  Every  nobleman  led  forth  his  vassals,  who  were 
only  obliged  to  serve  for  a  certain  time  ;  so  that  there  Avas  a  kind  of  necessity 
of  concluding  the  war  with  the  campaign.  The  army  was  dissolved  on  the 
approach  of  winter,  and  assembled  next  season,  if  necessary.  Hence  we  are 
enabled  to  account  for  the  circumstance  which  would  otherwise  appear  inex- 
plicable, in  the  reign  of  this  great  prince. — Beside  the  Lombards  and  Saxons, 
whom  he  conquered,  Charles  vanquished  in  several  engagements  the  Abares 
or  Huns,  plundered  the  capital,  and  penetrated  as  far  as  Raab  on  the  Danube. 
He  likewise  made  an  expedition  into  Spain,  and  carried  his  arms  to  the  banks 
of  the  Ebro.(l) 

Abdurrahman,  the  Moorish  king,  whom  I  have  already  mentioned,  still 
reigned  with  lustre  at  Cordova.  A  superb  mosque,  now  the  cathedral  of  that 
city,  six  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  in  breadth,  sup- 
ported by  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  columns  of  alabaster,  jasper,  and 
black  marble,  continues  to  manifest  the  grandeur  of  this  monarch.  No  other 
people  but  the  Arabs  could  then  either  have  conceived  or  executed  such  a 
work.  The  little  Christian  king  of  the  Asturias  had  prudently  sued  for  peace 
from  Abdurrahman ;  but  the  Moorish  governors  of  Saragossa  and  Arragon 
having  revolted,  implored  the  assistance  of  Charlemagne,  offering  to  acknow- 
ledge him  as  their  sovereign.  Willing  to  extend  his  empire  on  that  side, 
Charles  crossed  the  Pyrenees  with  all  expedition,  took  Pampeluna  and  Sara- 
gossa, and  re-established  the  Moorish  governors  under  his  protection.  In 
repassing  the  mountains,  his  rear-guard  was  defeated  by  the  duke  of  Gascony, 
at  Roncevaux.(2)  Here  fell  the  famous  Roland,  so  much  celebrated  in 
romance,  and  represented  as  nephew  to  Charlemagne ;  though  history  only 
tells  us  that  he  commanded  on  the  frontiers  of  Bretagne. 

But  Charles,  though  engaged  in  so  many  wars,  was  far  from  neglecting 
the  arts  of  peace,  the  happiness  of  his  subjects,  or  the  cultivation  of  his  own 
mind.  Government,  manners,  religion,  and  letters,  were  his  constant  study. 
He  frequently  convened  the  national  assemblies,  for  regulating  affairs  both 
of  church  and  state.  In  these  assemblies  he  proposed  such  laws  as  he  con- 
sidered to  be  of  public  benefit,  and  allowed  the  same  liberty  to  others;  but  of 
this  liberty,  indeed,  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  deprive  the  French  nobles. 
who  had  been  accustomed,  from  the  foundation  of  the  monarchy,  to  share  the 
legislation  with  their  sovereign.  His  attention  extended  even  to  the  most 
distant  corner  of  his  empire,  and  to  all  ranks  of  men.  Sensible  how  much 
mankind  in  general  reverence  old  customs,  and  those  constitutions  undci 
which  they  have  lived  from  their  youth,  he  permitted  the  inhabitants  of  all 
the  countries  that  he  conquered  to  retain  their  own  laws,  making  only  such 
alterations  as  he  judged  absolutely  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  community. 
He  was  particularly  tender  of  the  common  people,  and  every  where  studie  ! 
their  ease  and  advantage.  This  benevolence  of  mind,  which  can  never  b  • 
sufficiently  admired,  was  both  more  necessary  and  more  meritorious  in  tbos 
times,  as  the  commonalty  were  then  in  a  state  of  almost  universal  oppres- 
sion, and  scarcely  thought  entitled  to  the  common  sympathies  of  humanity. 
The  same  love  of  mankind  led  him  to  repair  and  form  public  roads ;  to  build 
bridges,  where  necessary;  to  make  rivers  navigable,  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
merce ;  and  to  project  that  grand  canal,  which  would  have  opened  a  communi- 
cation between  the  German  Ocean  and  the  Black  Sea,  by  uniting  the  Danube 
and  the  Rhine.(3)  This  illustrious  project  failed  in  the  execution,  for  want 
of  those  machines  which  art  has  since  constructed.  But  the  greatness  of 
the  conception,  and  the  honour  of  having  attempted  it,  were  beyond  the  power 
of  contingencies :  and  posterity  has  done  justice  to  the  memory  of  Charles, 
by  considering  him,  on  account  of  that  and  his  other  public  spirited  plans,  as 
one  of  those  few  conquerors  who  did  not  merely  desolate  the  earth;  as  a  hero 

(1)  Eginhard.  in  Jtnnal.  (2)  Eginhard.  ubi  sup. 

'3)  Eginhard.  Kit.  da  M<tg. 


LET.  IX.]  MODERNEUROPE.  63 

truly  worthy  of  the  name,  who  sought  to  unite  his  own  glory  with  the  welfare 
of  his  species. 

This  great  prince  was  no  less  amiable  in  private  life  than  illustrious  in  his 
public  character.  He  was  an  affectionate  father,  a  fond  husband,  and  a 
generous  friend.  His  house  was  a  model  of  economy,  and  his  person  of  sim- 
plicity and  true  grandeur.  "  For  shame  !"  said  he  to  some  of  his  nobles,  who 
were  finer  dressed  than  the  occasion  required ;  "  learn  to  dress  like  men,  and 
let  the  world  judge  of  your  rank  by  your  merit,  not  your  habit.  Leave  silks 
and  finery  to  women,  or  reserve  them  for  those  days  of  pomp  and  ceremony 
when  robes  are  worn  for  show,  not  use."  On  some  occasions  he  himseli 
appeared  in  imperial  magnificence,  and  freely  indulged  in  every  luxury ;  but 
in  general  his  dress  was  plain,  and  his  table  frugal.  His  only  excess  was  in 
the  pleasure  of  the  sexes,  at  once  the  most  natural  and  the  most  excusable : 
and  this,  it  must  be  owned,  he  sometimes  carried  to  such  a  height  as  to 
endanger  his  very  athletic  constitution,  he  being  almost  seven  feet  high,  and 
proportionably  strong.  He  had  his  set  hours  for  study,  which  he  seldom 
omitted,  either  in  the  camp  or  the  court ;  and  notwithstanding  his  continual 
wars,  and  unremitted  attention  to  the  affairs  of  a  great  empire,  he  found 
leisure  to  collect  the  old  French  poems  and  historical  ballads,  with  a  view  to 
illustrate  the  history  of  the  monarchy.  The  loss  of  this  collection  is  much 
to  be  lamented,  and  could  never  have  happened  if  every  one  had  been  as  well 
acquainted  with  its  importance  as  Charles.  But  he  was  the  phoenix  of  his 
age;  and,  though  not  altogether /ree  from  its  prejudices,  his  liberal  and  com- 
prehensive mind,  Avhich  examined  every  thing,  and  yet  found  time  for  all 
things,  would  have  done  honour  to  the  most  enlightened  period.  He  was  fond 
of  the  company  of  learned  men,  and  assembled  them  about  him  from  all  parts 
of  Europe,  forming  in  his  palace  a  kind  of  academy,  of  which  he  himself 
condescended  to  become  a  member.  He  also  established  schools,  in  the 
cathedrals  and  principal  abbeys,  for  teaching  writing,  arithmetic,  grammar, 
and  church  music  ;(1)  certainly  no  very  elevated  sciences,  yet  considerable 
at  a  time  when  many  dignified  ecclesiastics  could  not  subscribe  to  the  canons 
of  those  councils  in  which  they  sat  as  members,(2)  and  when  it  was  deemed 
a  sufficient  qualification  for  a  priest  to  be  able  to  read  the  Gospels  and  under- 
stand the  Lord's  prayer.(3} 

Alcuin,  our  learned  countryman,  was  the  companion  and  particular  favourite 
of  Charlemagne  ;  instructed  him  in  the  sciences,  and  was  at  the  head  of  his 
royal  academy.  A  circumstance  so  much  to  the  honour  of  this  island  should 
not  be  omitted  by  a  British  historian.  Three  rich  abbeys  were  the  reward  ol 
the  learning  and  talents  of  Alcuin.  This  benevolence  has  been  thought  to 
border  on  profusion ;  but  in  that  age  of  darkness,  when  even  an  enthusiastic 
zeal  for  letters  was  a  virtue,  no  encouragement  could  be  too  great  for  the 
illuminators  of  the  ljuman  mind. 

Had  Charles's  religious  enthusiasm  been  attended  with  no  worse  conse- 
quences than  his  literary  ardour,  his  piety  would  have  been  as  deservedly 
admired  as  his  taste.  But  a  blind  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  Christianity, 
which  extinguished  his  natural  feelings,  made  him  guilty,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  of  severities  that  shock  humanity;  and  a  superstitious  attachment  to 
the  See  of  Rome,  which  mingled  itself  with  his  policy,  led  him  to  engage  in 
theological  disputes  and  quibbles  unworthy  of  his  character.  The  honours 
which  his  father  Pepin  and  he  owed  to  the  popes  can  only  render  him  in  any 
degree  excusable.  But  although  the  theological  side  of  Charles's  character 
is  by  no  means  the  brightest,  it  merits  your  attention,  as  it  serves  to  show  the 
prejudices  of  the  age,  the  littlenesses  of  a  great  man,  and  the  great  effects 
that  frequently  proceed  from  little  causes. 

As  Charlemagne  was  equally  a  friend  to  religion  and  letters,  and  as  any 
learning  which  yet  remained  among  mankind,  in  our  quarter  of  the  globe, 
was  monopolised  by  the  clergy,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  obtained  manv 

(1)  Eginhard,  Fit.  Car.  Mag.  (2)  Jfov.  Traits  Diplom. 

(3)  Reg.  Bruraiens.  ap.  Bruck.  ffigt.  Philos. 


64  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I 

singular  marks  of  his  favour.  Even  the  payment  of  tithes,  then  considered 
as  a  grievous  oppression,  but  which  he  ordered  as  a  compensation  for  the 
lands  withheld  from  the  church;  and  the  consequence  which  he  gave  to 
churchmen,  by  admitting  them  into  the  national  assemblies,  and  associating 
them  along  with  the  counts  in  the  administration  of  justice ;  appear  less  ex- 
travagant than  his  sitting  himself  in  councils  merely  ecclesiastical,  assembled 
about  the  most  frivolous  points  of  a  vain  theology.  But,  like  some  princes 
of  later  times,  Charles  seems  to  have  been  ambitious  to  be  considered  not 
only  as  the  protector,  but  the  head  of  the  church;  and  his  power, and  munifi- 
cence made  this  usurpation  be  overlooked,  notwithstanding  the  height  at 
which  the  papal  dignity  had  then  arrived.  We  accordingly  find  him  seated 
on  a  throne  in  the  council  of  Frankfort,  with  one  of  the  pope's  legates  on  each 
hand,  ana  mree  hundred  bishops  waiting  his  nod. 

The  purpose  of  that  council  was  to  examine  the  doctrine  of  two  Spanish 
bishops,  who,  in  order  to  refute  the  accusation  of  polytheism,  brought  against 
the  Christians  by  the  Jews  and  Mahometans,  maintained  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  son  of  God  only  by  adoption.  The  king  opened  the  assembly  himself, 
and  proposed  the  condemnation  of  this  heresy.  The  council  decided  con- 
formably to  his  will :  and  in  a  letter  to  the  churches  of  Spain,  in  consequence 
of  that  decision,  Charles  expresses  himself  in  these  remarkable  words :  "  You 
entreat  me  to  judge  of  myself:  I  have  done  so :  I  have  assisted  as  an  auditor, 
and  an  arbiter,  in  an  assembly  of  bishops :  we  have  examined,  and,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  we  have  settled,  what  must  be  believed !"  Neither  Constantino 
nor  any  other  of  the  Greek  emperors,  so  jealous  of  their  theological  preroga- 
tive, ever  used  a  more  positive  language. 

Charlemagne  went  still  farther  in  the  question  of  images.  Leo  IV.  the 
son  of  Constantine  Coprouymus,  as  zealous  an  image-breaker  as  his  father, 
had  banished  his  wife  Irene,  because  she  hid  images  beneath  her  pillow.  This 
devout  and  ambitious  princess  coming  afterward  to  the  government,  during 
the  minority  of  her  son  Constantine  Porphyrogenetus,  with  whom  she  was 
associated  in  the  empire,  re-established  that  worship  which  she  loved,  from 
policy  no  less  than  piety.  The  second  council  of  Nice  accordingly  decreed. 
That  we  ought  to.  render  to  images  an  honorary  worship,  but  not  a  real  adora- 
tion, whii  h  is  due  to  God  alone.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  translation 
of  the  acts  of  this  council,  which  Pope  Adrian  sent  into  France,  was  so 
defective,  that  the  sense  of  the  article  relating  to  images  was  entirely  per- 
verted, running  thus ;  "  I  receive  and  honour  images  according  to  that  adora- 
tion which  I  pay  to  the  Trinity."  Charles  was  so  much  incensed  at  this 
impiety,  that  he  composed,  by  the  assistance  of  clergy,  and  published  in  his 
own  name,  what  are  called  the  Caroline  Books,  in  which  the  council  of  Nice  is 
treated  with  the  utmost  contempt  and  abuse.  He  sent  these  books  to  Adrian  I. 
desiring  him  to  excommunicate  the  empress  and  her  Jon.  The  pope  pru- 
dently excused  himself  on  the  score  of  images,  making  Charles  sensible  of 
the  mistake  upon  which  he  had  proceeded  ;  but  he  insinuated  at  the  same, 
time,  that  he  would  declare  Irene  and  Constantine  heretics,  unless  they 
restored  certain  lands  which  had  belonged  to  the  church ;  artfully  hinting  at 
certain  projects  which  he  had  formed  for  the  exaltation  of  the  Roman  church 
and  the  French  monarchy.(l)  The  exaltation  of  the  monarchy  was  at  hand, 
though  Adrian  did  not  live  to  be  the  instrument  of  it. 

Leo  III.  who  succeeded  Adrian  in  the  papacy,  sent  immediately  to  Charle- 
magne the  standard  of  Rome,  begging  him  to  send  some  person  to  receive 
the  oath  of  fidelity  from  the  Romans  ;(2)  a  most  flattering  instance  of  sub- 
mission, as  well  as  a  proof  that  the  sovereignty  of  Rome,  at  that  time, 
belonged  to  the  kings  of  France  Three  y*ars  after,  Pascal  and  Campule, 
two  nephews  of  the  late  pope,  not  only  offered  themselves  as  accusers  of  Leo, 
but  attacked  him  in  the  public  streets,  wounded  him  in  several  places,  and 
dragged  him  half  dead  into  the  church  of  St.  Mark.  He  made  his  escape  bv 

(1)  Element  d"  Hist.  Gen.  par.M.  AbW  Millot,  par.  U.  torn.  i. 

(2)  Efiinhard.  in  Vit.  Car.  Mag. 


HET.  IX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  65 

the  assistance  of  some  friends ;  and  the  duke  of  Spoleto,  general  of  the  French 
forces,  sent  him  under  an  escort  to  Charlemagne.  Charles  received  him 
with  all  possible  marks  of  respect,  sent  him  back  with  a  numerous  retinue  of 
guards  and  attendants,  and  went  soon  after  to  Italy  in  person  to  do  him 
justice. (l) 

On  the  arrival  of  the  French  monarch  at  Rome,  he  spent  six  days  in  private 
conferences  with  the  pope ;  after  which  he  convoked  the  bishops  and  nobles, 
to  examine  the  accusation  brought  against  the  pontiff.  "  The  apostolic  see," 
exclaimed  the  bishops,  "cannot  be  judged  by  man!"  Leo,  however,  spoke 
to  the  accusation:  he  said  the  king  came  to  know  the  cause;  and,  no  proof 
appearing  against  him,  he  purged  himself  by  oath. 

The  trial  of  a  pope  was  doubtless  an  uncommon  scene,  but  one  soon  fol- 
lowed yet  more  extraordinary.  On  Christmas-day,  as  the  king  assisted  at 
mass  in  St.  Peter's  church,  in  the  midst  of  the  ecclesiastical  ceremonies, 
and  while  he  was  on  his  knees  before  the  altar,  the  supreme  pontiff  advanced, 
and  put  an  imperial  crown  upon  his  head.  As  soon  as  the  people  perceived 
it,  they  cried,  "  Long  life  and  victory  to  Charles  Augustus,  crowned  by  the 
hand  of  God ! — Long  live  the  great  and  pious  emperor  of  the  Romans." 
During  these  acclamations,  the  pope  conducted  him  to  a  magnificent  throne, 
which  had  been  prepared  for  the  purpose ;  and  as  soon  as  he  was  seated, 
paid  him  those  honours  which  his  predecessors  had  been  accustomed  to  pay 
to  the  Roman  emperors,  declaring  that,  instead  of  the  title  of  Patrician,  he 
should  henceforth  style  him  Emperor  and  Augustus.  Leo  now  presented 
him  with  the  imperial  mantle  ;  with  which  being  invested,  Charles  returned 
amid  the  acclamations  of  the  populace  to  his  palace. (2) 

The  pope  had  surely  no  right  to  proclaim  an  emperor ;  but  Charles  was 
worthy  of  the  imperial  ensigns :  and  although  he  cannot  properly  be  ranked 
among  the  successors  of  Augustus,  he  is  justly  considered  as  the  founder  of 
the  New  Empire  of  the  West. 

CharLemagne  was  no  sooner  proclaimed  emperor  than  his  title  was  univer- 
sally acknowledged ;  and  he  received  several  embassies,  which  must  have 
given  him  high  satisfaction,  as  they  did  equal  honour  to  the  prince  and  the 
man.  Irene,  empress  of  the  east,  the  most  artful  and  ambitious  woman  of 
her  time,  who  had  deposed  her  son  Constantine,  that  she  might  reign  alone, 
made  the  new  emperor  a  proposal  of  marriage.  This  proposal  was  made 
with  a  view  to  secure  her  Italian  dominions,  which  she  was  informed  Charles 
intended  to  seize ;  and  the  marriage  treaty  was  actually  concluded,  when 
Nicephorus,  the  patrician,  conspired  against  Irene,  banished  her  to  the  island 
of  Lesbos,  and  ascended  the  imperial  throne.  Nicephorus  also  fearing  the 
power  of  Charles,  sent  ambassadors  to  him  under  the  title  of  Augustus. 
They  s'ettled  the  limits  of  the  two  empires,  by  a  new  treaty ;  according  to 
which,  Calabria,  Sicily,  the  sea-coast  of  Naples,  Dalmatia,  and  Venice,  were 
to  continue  under  the  dominion  of  the  emperors  of  Constantinople.  (3)  This 
treaty  proves  that  the  Venetians  were  not  yet  altogether  independent ;  but 
they  aspired  at  independency,  and  soon  deservedly  obtained  it. 

The  renown  of  Charles  extended  even  into  Asia.  He  kept  a  correspond- 
ence with  the  famous  Harun-al-Raschid,  the  twenty-fifth  caliph,  and  one  of 
those  who  contributed  most  to  enlighten  and  polish  the  Arabs.  This  prince 
valued  the  friendship  of  Charlemagne  above  that  of  all  other  potentates ;  as 
a  proof  of  which,  he  complimented  him  with  an  embassy  soon  after  he  was 
proclaimed  emperor,  and  ceded  to  him,  if  not  the  lordship  of  Jerusalem,  as 
some  authors  affirm,  at  least  the  holy  places  in  that  city,  whither  devotion 
already  led  a  great  number  of  Christians.  Among  the  presents  which  the 
ambassadors  of  Al-Raschid  brought  into  France  was  a  striking  clock,  the  first 
ever  seen  in  that  kingdom ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Charlemagne 
to  enlighten  his  nation,  the  scholars  of  his  court  were  by  no  means  equal  to 
those  of  the  caliph's  in  knowledge,  nor  his  people  in  the  arts,  either  liberal  or 
mechanical.  The  Arabs  might  then  have  been  preceptors  to  all  Europe 

(1)  Anast.  in  Vit.  Leon.  (2)  Id.  ib.    Eginhard.  in  AnnuL 

(3)  Eginhard.  in  Vit.  Car   Mar     Adon.  C/iron.  Tneoph.  Chrmographia. 

VOL.  I.— E 


66  THEHISTORYOF  [PART! 

I  must  here  say  a  few  words  of  this  surprising  phenomenon. 

The  Abassides  having  ascended  the  throne  of  Mahomet,  transferred  the 
seat  of  the  caliphat  from  Damascus  to  Caffa,  and  afterward  to  Bagdad,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tigris.  Thither  the  caliph  Al-Mansur  attracted  the  arts  and 
sciences.  The  Greeks  had  furnished  ideas,  and  communicated  taste  to  theii 
barbarous  conquerors — a  species  of  triumph  reserved  for  civilized  nations, 
even  in  a  state  of  servitude.  Al-Mohdi,  successor  of  Al-Mansur,  cultivated 
these  precious  seeds ;  and  Al-Raschid,  successor  of  Al-Mohdi,  augmented 
their  fecundity  by  his  knoAvledge  and  attention,  being  equally  liberal  and 
enlightened.  Under  Al-Mamun,  Al-Motasem,  Al-Watheck,  and  their  im- 
mediate successors,  the  sciences  flourished  still  more ;  but,  at  length,  dissen- 
sions and  civil  wars  robbed  the  Arabs,  in  their  turn,  of  the  fruits  of  genius  and 
the  lights  of  learning,  which  are  almost  inseparable  from  public  tranquillity. 

In  all  nations  the  same  revolutions  are  produced  by  the  same  causes. 
Nothing  merits  your  attention  more  in  the  study  of  history. 

One  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  fall  of  empires  has  ever  been,  but  more 
especially  in  modern  times,  the  error  of  dividing  the  same  monarchy  among 
different  princes.  The  custom  was  established  before  Charlemagne :  he  fol- 
lowed it  by  a  testamentary  division  of  his  dominions,  among  his  three  sons, 
Charles,  Pepin,  and  Lewis.  The  particulars  of  this  division  are  of  little  con- 
sequence, as  Lewis  only  survived  his  father.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to 
observe,  that  the  Italian  provinces  were  assigned  to  Pepin ;  a  donation  which 
was  confirmed  to  his  son  Bernard,  with  the  title  of  King  of  Italy,  and 
proved  the  ruin  of  that  prince,  as  well  as  the  cause  of  much  disturbance  to 
the  empire. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  emperor  was  threatened  by  a  new  enemy,  and  the 
most  formidable  he  had  ever  encountered.  The  Normans,  as  the  French 
call  them,  or  the  inhabitants  of  the  great  northern  peninsula  of  Europe, 
(whom  I  shall  afterward  have  occasion  more  particularly  to  mention)  had 
long  harassed  the  coasts  of  his  extensive  dominions  with  their  robberies  and 
piracies ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  wise  measures  of  Charles,  who  created  a 
powerful  marine,  and  took  every  other  precaution  against  their  ravages, 
they  not  only  continued  their  depredations,  but  made  a  formal  descent  in 
Friezland,  under  Godfrey  their  king,  laying  every  thing  waste  before  them. 
Charles  assembled  all  his  forces  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Rhine,  and  was 
preparing  for  a  decisive  battle,  which  might  perhaps  have  terminated  the 
empire  of  the  Franks,  as  Godfrey  was  not  inferior  to  the  emperor  either  in 
valour  or  military  skill,  and  had  a  numerous  body  of  fearless  adventurers 
under  his  command.  But  the  issue  of  this  battle  was  prevented  by  the  death 
of  the  Norman  prince,  who  was  assassinated  by  one  of  his  followers.  His 
forces  were  immediately  re-embarked,  and  a  peace  was  afterward  concluded 
with  his  son.(l) 

The  satisfaction  which  Charles  must  have  received  from  this  deliverance, 
and  the  general  tranquillity  which  he  now  enjoyed,  was  more  than  balanced 
by  his  domestic  misfortunes.  He  lost  his  favourite  daughter  Rotrude  (for 
whom  he  is  supposed  to  have  felt  more  than  a  fatherly  affection),  his  son 
Pepin,  and  his  son  Charles.  Soon  after  the  death  of  Charles,  he  associated 
his  son  Lewis  with  him  in  the  empire.  The  ceremony  was  very  solemn. 
As  if  this  great  man  had  foreseen  the  usurpations  of  the  church,  he  placed  the 
imperial  crown  upon  the  altar,  and  ordered  the  prince  to  lift  it,  and  set  it  on 
his  own  head  ;(2)  intimating  thereby,  that  he  held  it  only  of  God. 

The  emperor  died  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  his  usual  residence,  in  the  seventy- 
first  year  of  his  age,  and  the  forty-seventh  of  his  reign.  The  glory  of  the 
French  empire  seemed  to  expire  with  him.  He  possessed  all  France,  all 
Germany,  part  of  Hungary,  part  of  Spain,  the  Low  Countries,  and  the  Conti- 
nent of  Italy  as  far  as  Benevento.(S)  But  to  govern  such  an  extent  of  terri- 
tory, a  monarch  must  be  endowed  with  the  genius  of  a  Charlemagne. 

•1)  Adon.  Chron.    Eginhard.  in  Vit.  Car.  Mag.        (2)   Vit.  I.udovici  Pii.        &)  Eginhard.  ubi  sup. 


LKT.  X.J  MODERN   EUROPE..  67 


LETTER  X. 

Empire  of  Charlemagne  and  the  Church,  from  the  Accession  of  his  Son,  Lewis  the 
Deoonnaire,  to  the  Death  of  Charles  the  Bald. 

THE  history  of  Europe,  for  several  ages  after  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  is 
little  more  than  a  catalogue  of  crimes,  and  a  register  of  the  debasing  effects  of 
ignorance  and  superstition.  His  empire  soon  experienced  the  fate  of  Alex- 
ander's. It  had  quickly  attained  its  height ;  and  yet,  while  animated  by  the 
superior  genius  of  Charles,  it  possessed  a  surprising  degree  of  strength  and 
harmony.  But  these  not  being  natural  to  the  feudal  system,  the  discordant 
elements  began  to  separate  under  his  son  Lewis  the  Debonnaire,  so  called  on 
account  of  the  gentleness  of  his  manners ;  and  that  vast  body,  no  longer 
informed  by  the  same  spirit,  was  in  a  short  time  entirely  dismembered. 

Lewis,  though  a  prince  of  some  abilities,  was  unable  to  support  so  great  a 
weight  of  empire :  and  his  piety  and  parental  fondness,  however  amiable  in 
themselves,  enfeebled  a  character  already  too  weak,  and  an  authority  never 
respected.  He  rendered  himself  odious  to  the  clergy  by  attempting  to  reform 
certain  abuses,  without  foreseeing  that  this  powerful  body  would  not  pay  the 
same  submission  they  had  yielded  to  the  superior  capacity  of  his  father. 
More  religious  than  political,  he  spent  less  time  in  settling  the  affairs  of  his 
empire  than  those  of  his  soul ;  ignorant  that  true  religion  consists  in  fulfilling 
the  duties  of  our  station,  and  that  the  practices  of  the  cloister  are  improperly 
associated  with  the  functions  of  the  throne.  But  his  greatest  error  was  occa- 
sioned by  his  paternal  affection,  and  a  blind  imitation  of  his  father's  example, 
in  dividing  his  dominions  among  his  children.  Soon  after  his  accession  to 
the  throne,  he  associated  his  eldest  son  Lothario  with  him  in  the  empire ;  he 
created  Pepin  king  of  Aquitaine;  Lewis,  king  of  Bavaria;  and,  after  the  cere- 
mony of  coronation  was  over,  he  sent  them  to  the  government  of  their  respec- 
tive kingdoms. (1) 

Bernard,  king  of  Italy,  the  grandson  of  Charlemagne,  was  offended  at  that 
division.  He  thought  his  right  to  the  empire  superior  to  Lothario's,  as  his 
father  Pepin  was  the  elder  brother  of  Lewis.  The  archbishops  of  Milan  and 
Cremona  flattered  him  in  his  pretensions  ;  he  revolted,  and  levied  war  against 
his  uncle,  in  contempt  of  the  imperial  authority,  to  which  his  crown  was  sub- 
ject. Lewis  acted  on  this  occasion  with  more  vigour  than  either  his  friends 
or  his  enemies  expected :  he  immediately  raised  a  powerful  army,  and  was 
preparing  to  cross  the  Alps,  when  Bernard  was  abandoned  by  his  troops. 
That  unfortunate  prince  was  made  prisoner,  and  condemned  to  lose  his  head; 
but  his  uncle,  by  a  singular  kind  of  lenity,  mitigated  the  sentence  to  the  loss 
of  his  eyes.  He  died  three  days  after  the  punishment  was  inflicted;  and 
Lewis,  to  prevent  future  troubles,  ordered  three  natural  sons  of  Charlemagne 
to  be  shaved,  and  shut  up  in  a  convent.  (2) 

In  consequence  of  these  rigours,  the  emperor  was  seized  with  keen 
remorse ;  accusing  himself  of  the  murder  of  his  nephew,  and  of  tyrannic 
cruelty  to  his  brothers,  inhumanly  secluded  from  the  world.  He  was  encou- 
raged by  the  monks  in  this  melancholy  humour;  which  at  last  grew  to  such 
a  height,  that  he  impeached  himself  in  an  assembly  of  the  states,  and  begged 
the  bishops  to  enjoin  him  public  penance. (3)  The  clergy  now  sensible  of 
Lewis's  weakness,  set  no  bounds  to  their  usurpations.  The  popes  thought 
they  might  do  any  thing  under  so  pious  a  prince ;  they  did  not  wait  for  the 
emperor's  confirmation  of  their  election,  but  immediately  assumed  the  tiara, 
and  were  guilty  of  every  other  irregularity.  The  bishops  exalted  themselves 
above  the  throne,  and  the  whole  fraternity  of  the  church  claimed  an  exemption 
from  all  civil  j  urisdiction.  Even  that  set  of  men  who  pretend  to  renounce  the 
world,  the  monks,  seemed  to  aspire  at  the  government  of  it. 

(1)  Nithard.  de  Disseniionibus  Filiorum  Ludovici  PH.          (2)   Vit.  laid.  Pit.  (3)  Theophan.  dt 

Kcl>  Oest.  Lud.  Pii. 


88  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

Lewis,  by  the  advice  of  his  ministers,  who  were  desirous  to  divert  him  from 
his  monastic  habits,  had  married  a  second  wife,  whose  name  was  Judith, 
descended  from  one  of  the  noblest  families  in  Bavaria,  and  distinguished  both 
by  her  mental  and  personal  qualities.  That  princess  brought  him  a  son, 
afterward  known  by  the  name  of  Charles  the  Bald,  whose  birth  was  the 
occasion  of  much  joy,  but  proved  eventually  the  cause  of  many  sorrows. 
For  this  son  there  was  no  inheritance,  the  imperial  dominions  being  already 
divided  among  the  children  of  the  first  marriage.  The  empress,  who  had 
gained  a  great  ascendancy  over  her  husband,  therefore,  pressed  Lewis  to 
place  her  son  Charles  on  a  footing  with  his  other  children,  by  a  new  division 
of  the  empire. (1)  Aquitaine  and  Bavaria  were  small  kingdoms,  from  them 
nothing  could  be  expected;  but  Lothario's  share  was  large,  and  might  spare 
a  little.  Sensible  of  the  wishes  of  his  indulgent  father,  and  prevailed  on  by 
the  entreaties  of  his  fond  mother,  Lothario  consented  that  some  provision 
should  accordingly  be  made  for  his  brother  Charles.  But  he  soon  repented 
of  his  too  easy  concession,  and  the  three  brothers  joined  in  a  rebellion 
against  their  father  ;(2)  the  most  singular  circumstance,  perhaps,  to  be  met 
with  in  history. 

These  disorders  we  refostered  by  Walla,  abbot  of  Corbie,  a  monk  of  high 
birth,  who  had  formally  been  in  the  confidence  of  Lewis,  but  was  now  in 
disgrace.  He  declaimed  against  the  court,  and  against  the  empress  in  parti- 
cular, accusing  her  of  an  adulterous  commerce  with  count  Bernard,  the 
prime  minister.  His  schemes  succeeded.  The  emperor  was  abandoned  by 
his  army,  and  made  prisoner,  along  with  his  wife  Judith,  and  her  son  Charles. 
The  empress  was  shut  up  in  a  cloister,  and  Lewis  himself  would  have  been 
obliged  to  take  the  monastic  habit,  had  it  not  been  supposed  that  he  would 
make  a  voluntary  resignation  of  his  crown.  He  had  the  courage,  however, 
to  insist  on  the  rectitude  of  his  intentions,  while  he  acknowledged  his  errors, 
and  promised  to  act  with  more  circumspection  in  future.  The  nobility  pitied 
their  humbled  sovereign ;  and  by  the  intrigues  of  the  monk  Gombaud,  who 
sowed  dissensions  among  the  brothers,  Lewis  was  restored  to  his  dignity, 
and  seemingly  reconciled  with  his  family.  (3) 

The  first  use  that  the  emperor  made  of  his  liberty  was  to  recall  his  consort 
to  court,  though  not  without  the  permission  of  the  pope,  as  she  had  formally 
taken  the  veil.  Bernard  was  also  recalled,  and  Walla  banished ;  yet  Lewis 
did  not  long  enjoy  either  peace  or  tranquillity.  The  monk  Gombaud  thought 
he  had  a  right  to  be  prime  minister,  as  the  reward  of  his  services :  and  a? 
women  generally  repay  flattery  with  favour,  they  as  generally  reserve  ven- 
geance for  insult;  the  empress  brought  her  animosities  along  with  her. 
Walla's  friends  were  persecuted,  and  Lothario  was  deprived  of  the  title  oi 
emperor,  that  the  succession  might  be  reserved  for  young  Charles.  The 
three  brothers  again  associated  themselves  in  a  league  against  their  father.(4) 
Count  Bernard,  dissatisfied  with  his  master's  conduct,  joined  the  rebels ;  and 
Gregory  IV.  then  pope,  went  to  France  in  the  army  of  Lothario,  under  pre- 
tence of  accommodating  matters,  but  really  with  an  intention  to  employ 
against  the  emperor  that  power  which  he  derived  from  him,  glad  of  an  oppor- 
tunity to  assert  the  supremacy  and  independency  of  the  Holy  See. 

The  presence  of  the  pope,  in  those  days  of  superstition,  was  of  itself  suffi- 
cient to  determine  the  fate  of  Lewis.  After  a  deceitful  negotiation,  and  an 
interview  with  Gregory  on  the  part  of  Lothario,  the  unfortunate  emperor 
found  himself  abandoned  by  his  army,  and  at  the  mercy  of  his  rebellious  sons. 
He  was  deposed  in  a  tumultuous  assembly  held  on  the  spot,  and  Lothario 
proclaimed  in  his  stead.(5)  After  that  infamous  transaction  the  pope  returned 
to  Rome. 

In  order  to  give  permanency  to  this  revolution,  as  well  as  to  apologise  for 
their  own  conduct,  the  bishops  of  Lothario's  faction  bethought  themselves  of 
an  artifice,  like  that  which  had  been  made  use  of  to  degrade  king  Wamba  in 
Spain.  "  A  penitent,"  said  they,  "  is  incapable  of  ah1  civil  offices ;  a  royal 

(])  Vit.  Lud.  Pii.  (2)  Nithard.  ubi.  sup.  (3)  Theogan.  de  Gegt.  Lud.  Pit 

(4)  Nithard.  de  Distent.  Filior.    Lvd  Pti.  (5)  Theogan.  de  Gesl.  Lud.  Pii. 


LET.  X.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  69 

penitent  must  then  be  incapable  of  reigning ;  let  us  subject  Lewis  to  a  per- 
petual penance,  and  he  can  never  ascend  the  throne."  He  was  accordingly 
arraigned  in  the  assembly  of  the  states,  by  Ebbo,  archbishop  of  Rheims  (who 
had  been  raised  by  his  bounty  from  the  condition  of  a  slave),  and  condemned 
to  do  penance  for  life.(l) 

Lewis  was  then  a  prisoner  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Medard,  at  Soissons ; 
and,  being  much  intimidated,  he  patiently  submitted  to  a  ceremony  no  less 
solemn  than  debasing.  He  prostrated  himself  on  a  hair-cloth,  which  was 
spread  before  the  altar,  and  owned  himself  guilty  of  the  charge  brought 
against  him,  in  the  presence  of  many  bishops,  canons,  and  monks ;  Lothario 
being  also  present,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  his  father's  humiliation 
But  this  acknowledgment  was  not  enough ;  they  gave  him  a  written  confession 
to  read  aloud,  in  which  he  is  made  to  accuse  himself  of  sacrilege  and  murder, 
and  to  number  among  his  crimes  the  marching  of  troops  in  Lent,  calling  an 
assembly  on  Holy  Thursday,  and  taking  arms  to  defend  himself  against  his 
rebellious  children! — for  superstition  can  transform  into  crimes  the  most 
innocent  and  even  the  most  necessary  actions.  After  having  finished  his 
confession,  this  unhappy  prince,  by  order  of  the  ungrateful  archbishop,  laid 
aside  his  sword  and  belt,  divested  himself  of  the  royal  robes,  put  on  the 
penitential  sackcloth,  and  had  a  cell  assigned  him.(2) 

But  the  feelings  of  nature,  and  the  voice  of  humanity,  prevailed  over  the 
prejudices  of  the  age,  and  the  policy  of  the  clergy.  Lothario  was  univer- 
sally abhorred,  and  his  father  no  less  generally  pitied  :  his  two  brothers  united 
against  him  in  behalf  of  that  father  whom  they  had  contributed  to  humble. 
The  nobility  returned  to  their  obedience  :  they  paid  homage  to  Lewis  as  their 
lawful  sovereign ;  and  the  ambitious  Lothario  was  obliged  to  crave  mercy,  in 
the  sight  of  the  whole  army,  at  the  feet  of  a  father,  and  an  emperor,  whom 
he  had  lately  insulted  in  the  habit  of  a  penitent.  (3)  He  received  it,  and  was 
permitted  to  retain  the  kingdom  of  Italy. 

Lewis  immediately  demanded  absolution,  (such  was  his  weakness !)  and  an 
assembly  held  at  Thionville  formally  restored  him  to  his  dignity,  declaring 
void  every  thing  that  had  been  done  at  Soissons.  He  might  now  have  ended 
his  days  in  peace,  but  for  the  intrigues  of  the  empress  Judith,  who,  still 
ambitious  of  the  aggrandizement  of  her  son  Charles,  again  entered  into  a 
negotiation  with  Lothario,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  his  brother  Pepin. 
An  assembly  was  held  at  Worms,  to  which  he  was  invited.  His  father  received 
him  kindly,  the  empress  loaded  him  with  caresses.  The  kingdom  of  Neustria 
had  been  lately  added  to  the  dominions  originally  assigned  her  son  ;  and  the 
object  of  all  these  intrigues  was,  to  engage  Lothario  in  a  scheme  by  which 
Charles  should  also  become  possessed  of  the  kingdom  of  Aquitaine,  at  the 
expense  of  Pepin's  children.  Lothario  assented  to  what  he  was  not  in  a  con- 
dition to  dispute.  But  Lewis,  king  of  Bavaria,  though  not  injured  by  this  new 
division  of  the  empire,  was  so  much  incensed  at  this  injustice,  as  he  pretended, 
that  he  assembled  the  whole  force  of  his  dominions.  His  father  marched 
against  him,  but  was  suddenly  taken  ill ;  and  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  happening 
at  the  same  time,  the  superstitious  old  man  had  the  vanity  to  think  that  Heaven 
had  taken  the  trouble  to  foretell  to  mankind  the  death  of  a  prince  whose  very 
virtues  dishonoured  the  throne,  and  who  should  never  have  stirred  beyond  the 
walls  of  a  cloister.  He  therefore  repeatedly  received  the  communion,  and 
scarce  any  other  nourishment,  till  his  piety  fulfilled  the  prediction  which  his 
folly  had  suggested.  (4) 

Lewis  died  near  Mentz,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age,  and  the 
twenty-eighth  of  his  reign.  He  left  a  crown,  a  sceptre,  and  a  very  rich 
sword,  to  Lothario,  by  which  it  was  supposed  he  also  left  him  the  empire,  on 
condition  that  he  should  fulfil  his  engagement  to  the  empress  and  her  son 
Charles.  His  brother,  the  bishop  of  Mentz,  observing  that  he  had  left  nothing 
to  his  son  Lewis,  then  in  arms  against  him,  reminded  him  that  forgiveness  at 
least  was  his  duty.  "  Yes,  I  forgive  him !"  cried  the  dying  monarch  with 

(1)  Theogan.  de  Oest.  Lud.  Pii.  (2)  Jet.  Ezavet.  Lud.  PH. 

^'3)  N'thard.  de  Z>is.  Lud.  Pii.         (4)  Fit.  Lud.  Pii.  Annul.  Bertiniani.    Tbeogan.  de  Gest.  Lud.  Pii 


70  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

much  emotion ;  but  tell  him  from  me,  to  seek  forgiveness  also  of  God,  for 
bringing  my  gray  hairs  in  sorrow  to  the  grave. (1) 

A  bad  son,  my  dear  Philip,  is  not  likely  to  make  a  good  brother ;  for  the 
natural  feelings  in  the  second  relation  are  necessarily  weaker  than  in  the 
first :  you  must  therefore  expect  to  see  the  sons  of  Lewis  the  Debonnaire 
armed  against  each  other.  No  sooner  was  Lothario  informed  of  his  father's 
death,  than  he  considered  himself  as  emperor  in  the  most  extensive  sense  of 
the  word,  and  resolved  to  make  himself  master  of  the  whole  imperial 
dominions,  regardless  of  his  engagements  with  Judith  and  her  son  Charles 
the  Bald,  or  the  right  of  his  brother  Lewis  to  the  kingdom  of  Bavaria.  And 
he  seemed  likely  to  obtain  the  object  of  his  ambition.  He  was  a  prince  of 
great  subtlety  and  address,  could  wear  the  complexion  of  the  times,  and  was 
possessed  of  an  extensive  territory,  beside  the  title  of  emperor,  which  was 
still  much  respected :  he  therefore  assured  himself  of  success  against  his 
brothers ;  Charles  being  only  a  youth  of  seventeen,  under  the  tuition  of  his 
mother,  and  Lewis  a  prince  of  no  high  reputation.  He  was  deceived,, 
however,  in  his  conjectures.  These  two  princes,  united  by  a  sense  oi 
common  interest,  gave  him  a  battle  at  Fontenai,  in  Burgundy,  where  fraternal 
hatred  appeared  in  all  its  horrors.  Few  engagements  have  been  so  bloody. 
A  hundred  thousand  men  are  said  to  have  fallen  on  the  spot. '  Lothario  and 
his  nephew  Pepin  (who  had  joined  him  to  assert  his  right  to  the  crown  of 
Aquitaine,)  were  totally  defeated. (2)  Pepin  fled  to  Aquitaine,  and  Lothario 
towards  Italy,  abandoning  France  to  the  victorious  army. 

Nothing  now  remained  for  Lewis  and  Charles  but  to  secure  their  con- 
quests. For  this  purpose  they  applied  to  the  clergy;  and  with  hopes  so 
much  the  better  founded,  that  Lothario,  in  order  to  raise  troops  with  more 
expedition,  had  promised  the  Saxons  the  liberty  of  renouncing  Christianity, 
or,  in  other  words,  liberty  of  conscience — a  thing  held  in  abhorrence  by  the 
church  of  Rome.  Several  bishops  assembled  at  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  and,  after 
examining  the  misconduct  of  the  emperor,  asked  the  two  princes,  whether 
they  chose  to  follow  his  example,  or  govern  according  to  the  laws  of  God  ? 
Their  answer  may  be  easily  imagined.  "  Receive  then  the  kingdom  by  the 
divine  authority,"  added  the  prelates :  "  we  exhort  you,  we  command  you  to 
receive  it."(3) 

This  command  would  have  taken  effect  in  its  most  extensive  meaning,  if 
Lothario  had  respected  it  as  much  as  his  brothers.  But  that  artful  prince, 
by  means  of  his  indulgence  to  the  Saxons,  and  other  political  expedients,  was 
enabled  to  set  on  foot  a  new  army.  He  became  again  formidable.  The  two 
victorious  princes,  therefore,  thought  it  advisable  to  negotiate  with  him. 
By  a  new  treaty  of  division,  he  was  left  in  possession  of  the  kingdom  of 
Italy,  with  the  imperial  dignity,  and  the  countries  situated  between  the  Rhone 
and  the  Alps,  the  Meuse  and  the  Rhine.  Charles  retained  Neustria  and  Aqui- 
taine ;  and  Lewis,  afterward  styled  the  German,  had  all  the  provinces  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Rhine,  and  some  cities  on  this  side  of  it.  (4) 

The  extinction  of  the  civil  war  made  but  one  evil  less  in  the  empire  of 
Charlemagne,  ravaged  in  different  parts  by  the  Normans,  and  by  the  Sara- 
cens, who  pillaged  Italy.  The  turbulent  independency  of  the  nobles,  accus- 
tomed during  the  last  reign  to  despise  the  prince  and  the  laws,  the  discon- 
tents of  the  clergy,  and  the  ambitious  projects  of  both,  were  the  source  of 
new  troubles.  Every  thing  threatened  the  most  fatal  revolutions,  every  thing 
tended  to  anarchy. 

In  order  to  lessen  these  evils,  the  three  brothers  entered  into  an  associa- 
tion, the  effect  of  weakness  more  than  affection,  by  which  the  enemies  of 
one  were  to  be  considered  as  the  enemies  of  all,  (so  low  was  the  empire  of 
the  great  Charles !)  and  in  an  assembly  held  at  Mersen  on  the  Meuse,  they 
settled  certain  constitutions  relative  to  the  succession,  and  other  public  mat- 
ters. By  these  it  was  established,  that  the  children  of  the  reigning  prince, 
whether  of  age  or  under  age,  should  succeed  to  his  dominions,  and  owe 

fl)  Vit.  Lud.  Pii.  (2)  Nitliard.  de  Dissent.  Laid.  Pii. 

•'31  Nitliard.  ft  Ditsent.  Lud  Pii.  Annul.  JKelcns,          (4)  NUhard.  uhi  sup. 


LET.  X.}  MODERN    EUROPE.  71 

nothing1  to  the  other  princes  of  the  monarchy  but  the  respect  due  to  the  ties 
of  blood  ;(1)  a  regulation  well  calculated  to  prevent  civil  wars,  though  it 
proved"  ineffectual  in  those  disorderly  times.  But  other  constitutions  of  the 
assembly  at  Mersen  tended  to  enfeeble  the  royal  authority,  which  had  already 
but  too  much  need  of  support.  They  provide,  that  the  crown  vassals  shall 
no  longer  be  obliged  to  follow  the  king,  unless  in  general  wars,  occasioned 
by  foreign  invasions ;  and  that  every  free  man  shall  be  at  liberty  to  choose, 
whether  he  will  be  the  vassal  of  the  king  or  of  a  subject.(2)  The  first  of 
these  regulations  increased  the  independency  of  the  crown  vassals,  and  the 
second  their  power,,  by  augmenting  the  number  of  their  retainers ;  for  many 
persons  chose  rather  to  depend  upon  some  neighbouring  nobleman,  whose 
immediate  protection  they  might  claim  (at  a  time  when  protection  was  neces- 
sary, independent  of  the  laws),  than  on  the  sovereign,  whose  attention  they 
had  less  reason  to  expect,  and  whose  aid  was  more  distant  or  doubtful. 

Lothario,  some  years  after,  took  the  habit  of  a  monk,  that,  according  to 
the  language  of  those  times,  he  might  atone  for  his  crimes ;  and,  though  he 
had  lived  a  tyrant,  die  a  saint.  In  this  pious  disguise  he  expired  before  he 
had  worn  it  quite  a  week.  He  had  divided  his  dominions  among  his  children ; 
and,  by  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  Mersen,  they  quietly  succeeded  to  their  allot- 
ments. Lewis  had  Italy  with  the  title  of  emperor ;  Lothario  the  provinces 
between  the  Rhone,  the  Somme,  the  Meuse,  the  Escaut,  and  the  Rhine,  called 
from  his  own  name  the  kingdom  of  Lotharingia,  and  by  corruption  Lorrain. 
Charles  had  Provence,  Dauphine,  and  part  of  Burgundy.  He  took  the  title 
of  king  of  Provence.  One  might  have  imagined  there  were  now  kings 
enough  in  this  monarchy ;  yet  Charles  the  Bald  declared  his  infant  son  king 
of  Aquitaine.(3) 

Thus  was  the  empire  of  Charlemagne,  split  by  continual  subdivisions,  the 
source  of  perpetual  wars,  till  it  became,  to  use  the  language  of  Shakspeare, 
only  "a  stage  to  feed  contention  on."  Foreign  invasions  conspired  with 
civil  dissensions  to  spread  terror  and  disorder  in  every  quarter ;  but  more 
especially  through  the  dominions  of  Charles  the  Bald — a  prince  as  weak  as 
his  father,  and  restless  as  his  mother.  The  Normans  carried  fire  and  sword 
into  the  heart  of  his  kingdom,  to  Rouen,  and  even  to  the  gates  of  Paris. 
Young  Pepin,  son  of  the  last  king  of  Aquitaine,  joined  the  invaders,  and 
ravaged  that  country  over  which  he  had  been  born  to  reign.  Nomenoe,  duke 
of  Bretagne,  usurped  the  title  of  king,  which  Charles  was  obliged  to  confirm 
to  his  son  Herispee,  by  whom  he  had  been  totally  defeated.  The  spirit  of 
revolt  became  every  day  more  general.  Some  factious  nobles  invited  Lewis 
the  German  to  usurp  his  brother's  kingdom.  He  came  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  army,  and  received  the  homage  of  the  principal  nobility.  Venilon, 
archbishop  of  Sens,  and  other  prelates  of  Lewis's  party,  at  the  same  time 
declared  that  Charles  had  forfeited  his  dignity  -ty  mal-administration,  and 
crowned  his  brother  the  German.  (4) 

Charles,  however,  recovered  his  kingdom  as  quickly  as  he  had  lost  it.  The 
prelates  of  his  party  excommunicated  those  who  had  dethroned  him ;  which 
brought  the  rebels  into  contempt,  and  even  abhorrence.  Lewis  sent  back 
his  army  into  Germany,  that  he  might  not  give  umbrage  to  the  French,  and 
he  was  afterward  obliged  to  take  the  same  route  himself. (5)  Charles  no 
sooner  appeared  than  he  was  universally  acknowledged ;  his  restoration  did 
not  cost  a  single  blow.  The  most  terrible  anathemas  were  now  denounced 
against  Lewis  the  German  by  the  French  clergy,  unless  he  submitted  to  the 
rigours  of  the  church,  among  which  were  included  penance ;  and  he  was 
weak  enough  to  reply,  that  he  must  first  consult  the  bishops  of  his  own 
kingdom.(6) 

The  weakness  of  Charles  the  Bald  was  still  more  extraordinary.  Having 
assembled  a  council  to  judge  the  traitor  Venilon,  he  presented  a  memorial 
against  him,  in  which  is  the  following  singular  passage :  "  I  ought  not  to 
have  been  deposed,  or  at  least  not  before  I  had  been  judged  by  the  bishops, 

(1)  Annul.  Bertiniani.  (2)  Ibid.  (3)  Annul  Fuldena 

it)  Jinnal.  Bertiniani.    Condi.  Oal.  torn.  ii.  (5)  Jlnnal.  Berlin.     '     (6)  Ibid. 


72  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  1 

who  gave  me  the  royal  authority!  I  have  always  submitted  to  their  correction, 
and  am  ready  now  to  submit  to  it !  Venilon  escaped  punishment  by  making 
his  peace  with  the  prince :  and  the  bishops  of  the  council  bound  themselves 
by  a  canon  to  remain  united,  "for  the  correction  of  kings,  the  nobility,  and 
the  people  .'"(1) 

A  variety  of  circumstances  show,  that  the  clergy  now  aspired  at  the  right 
of  disposing  of  crowns,  which  they  founded  on  the  custom  of  anointing 
kings.  They  employed  fictions  and  sophisms  to  render  themselves  inde- 
pendent :  they  refused  the  oath  of  fealty,  "  because  sacred  hands  could  not, 
without  abomination,  submit  to  hands  impure  !"(2)  One  usurpation  led  to 
another;  abuse  constituted  right — a  quibble  appeared  a  divine  law.  Ignorance 
sanctified  every  thing  •  and  we  may  safely  conclude  from  the  abject  language 
of  Charles,  in  publicly  acknowledging  the  right  of  the  bishops  to  depose  him, 
and  other  examples  of  a  like  nature,  that  the  usurpations  of  the  clergy  were 
in  a  great  measure  occasioned  by  the  slavish  superstition  of  the  laity,  equally 
blind,  wicked,  and  devout. 

The  zeal  of  the  bishops  to  establish  their  independency  was  favourable  to 
the  projects  of  the  court  of  Rome.  Sergius  II.  the  successor  of  Gregory  IV. 
had  taken  possession  of  the  Apostolic  See,  in  844,  without  the  approbation 
of  Lothario,  then  emperor.  Incensed  at  such  an  insult,  Lothario  sent  his 
son  Lewis  to  Rome  with  troops  and  prelates.  The  pope  having  conducted 
the  prince  to  St.  Peter's  gate,  said  to  him,  "  I  permit  you  to  enter,  if  your 
intentions  are  good ;  if  not,  I  will  not  suffer  you  to  enter !"  and  the  French 
soldiers  being  guilty  of  some  irregularities,  he  actually  ordered  the  gates  to 
be  shut.  Lothario  complained ;  Sergius  was  cited  to  appear  before  a  council ; 
he  appeared,  and  justified  himself  in  the  eye  of  the  priesthood. (3)  Leo 
IV.  celebrated  for  the  courage  with  which  he  defended  Rome  against  the 
Saracens,  and  Benedict  III.  elected  in  spite  of  the  emperor,  both  lived  in 
peace  with  royalty;  but  Nicholas  I.  more  bold  than  any  of  his  predecessors, 
made  himself  the  judge  of  kings  and  bishops,  and  realized  the  chimera  of 
lying  decretals. 

A  grand  occasion  offered  in  France  for  Nicholas  to  exercise  that  authority 
which  he  attributed  to  himself.  Lothario,  king  of  Lorrain,  divorced  his  wife 
Teutberge,  falsely  accused  of  incest.  She  was  cleared  by  the  trial  of  boiling 
water,  but  afterward  convicted  by  her  own  confession — if  an  involuntary 
acknowledgment,  the  effect  of  violence  and  fear,  can  be  called  conviction.  A 
council  held  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  authorized  Lothario  to  espouse  Waldrade,  a 
young  lady  whom  he  had  seduced.  The  guilty  parties  were  equally  desirous 
of  this  marriage ;  a  criminal  amour  had  drawn  them  to  the  brink  of  dis- 
honour. The  scandal  was  horrible !  Nicholas  laid  hold  of  the  affair,  and 
attempted  to  force  the  king  to  take  back  his  first  wife.  For  this  purpose  he 
ordered  the  bishops  to  hold  a  council  at  Metz,  along  with  his  legates,  and 
there  to  cite  and  judge  Lothario.  They  confirmed  the  divorce,  contrary  to 
the  expectations  of  the  pontiff;  a  decree  which  so  much  enraged  him,  that 
he  deposed  the  bishops  of  Treves  and  Cologne,  who  had  been  appointed  to 
present  to  him  the  acts  of  the  council.  These  bishops  complained  to  the 
emperor  Lewis  II.  He  went  immediately  to  Rome,  displayed  his  authority, 
and  seemed  determined  to  repress  the  papal  power.  But  he  fell  ill :  a  super- 
stitious fear  seized  him ;  and  retired,  after  having  approved  the  conduct  of 
Nicholas,  who  became  still  more  imperious.  Lothario  humbled  himself  in 
vain  before  the  haughty  pontiff;  though  he  went  so  far  as  to  offer  to  come 
and  justify  himself  in  person.  The  pope  insisted,  that  Waldrade  should  first 
be  dismissed ;  and  a  legate  threatened  the  king  with  immediate  excommuni- 
cation, if  he  continued  in  disobedience.  Lothario,  intimidated,  now  sub- 
mitted :  he  recalled  Teutberge,  and  even  consented  that  the  legate  should 
lead  Waldrade  in  triumph  to  Rome.  She  set  out  on  that  mortifying  journey, 
but  escaped  by  the  way :  and,  in  a  short  time,  resumed  her  place  both  as 

(1)  Conctt.  Galat.  torn.  ii.  Fleury,  Hist.  Eeclet.  (2)  Hist,  de  VEglise  G'llir 

'3)  Coneil.  Gal.  torn.  ii.    Fleury,  Hitt.  Eeclet. 


LEU.  X.]  MODERNEUROPE.  73 

tress  and  queen.  Meanwhile  the  unfortunate  Teutberge,  sinking  beneath 
the  weight  of  persecution  and  neglect,  at  last  desired  to  be  separated  from 
Lothario,  protesting  that  her  marriage  was  void,  and  that  Waldrade's  was 
legitimate.  But  nothing  could  move  the  inflexible  Nicholas :  he  continued 
obstinate.  (1) 

We  may  consider  this  pope  as  the  forerunner  of  Gregory  VII.,  and,  in  the 
same  circumstances,  he  would  likely  have  carried  his  ambition  to  the  same 
height.  The  bishops  of  Treves  and  Cologne  accused  him,  in  an  invectivp, 
of  making  himself  emperor  of  the  whole  world ;  and  that  expression,  though 
somewhat  strained,  was  not  altogether  without  foundation.  He  asserted  his 
dominion  over  the  French  clergy,  by  re-establishing  Rothade  of  Soissons, 
deposed  by  a  provincial  council;  and  he  received  appeals  from  all  ecclesiastics 
dissatisfied  with  their  bishops.  By  these  means  he  accustomed  the  people 
to  acknowledge  a  supreme  tribunal  at  a  distance  from  their  own  country,  and 
consequently  a  foreign  sway.  He  gave  orders  for  the  succession  to  the  king- 
dom of  Provence,  which  Charles  the  Bald  disputed  with  the  emperor  Lewis, 
brother  to  the  deceased  king.  "  Let  nobody  hinder  the  emperor,"  says  he,  in 
a  letter  on  that  subject,  "to  govern  the  kingdoms  which  he  holds  in  virtue  of 
a  succession  confirmed  by  the  Holy  See,  and  by  the  crown  which  the  sove- 
reign pontiff  has  set  upon  his  head."(2) 

Nicholas  died  in  867 ;  but  his  principles  had  taken  such  deep  root,  that 
Adrian  II.,  his  successor,  though  more  moderate,  and  desirous  of  peace, 
thought  his  condescension  great  in  permitting  Lothario  to  come  to  Rome,  in 
order  to  justify  himself,  or  do  penance.  Charles  the  Bald  and  Lewis  the 
German  waited  with  impatience  for  the  excommunication  of  their  nephew, 
persuaded  that  they  should  then  have  a  right  to  seize  his  dominions.  Thus 
the  blind  ambition  of  princes  favoured  the  exercise  of  a  power,  which  they 
ought  to  have  foreseen  might  be  turned  against  themselves ;  Avhich  afterward 
became  the  scourge  of  royalty  and  made  every  crowned  head  tremble. 

Lothario,  while  at  Rome,  employed  all  possible  means  to  soften  the  pope ; 
he  received  the  communion  from  his  hand,  after  having  sworn  he  never  had 
any  criminal  commerce  with  Waldrade,  since  the  prohibition  of  Nicholas,  nor 
ever  would  have  any  in  future. (3)  He  died  at  Placentia,  in  his  way  home. 
This  accident  was  considered  as  a  just  vengeance ;  as  a  mark  of  the  divine 
displeasure  against  perjury,  and  rendered  the  proof  by  the  eucharist  still 
more  important. 

The  emperor  Lewis  II.  brother  of  Lothario,  ought  legally  to  have  succeeded 
to  his  dominions  ;  but  he  being  at  that  time  employed  in  expelling  the  Sara- 
cens, who  had  plundered  Italy,  and  consequently  not  in  a  condition  to  assert 
h^  right  by  arms,  Charles  the  Bald  laid  hold  of  the  succession,  and  retained 
it,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  the  pope.  "  The  arms  which  God 
has  put  into  our  hand,"  wrote  Adrian,  "  are  prepared  for  his  defence  !"(4) 
Charles  was  more  afraid  of  the  arms  of  his  brother  the  German,  with  whom 
he  found  it  necessary  to  share  the  kingdom,  though  the  nobility  and  clergy 
of  Lorrain  had  voluntarily  submitted  to  him. 

The  pope  still  continued  his  remonstrances  in  favour  of  the  emperor, 
hoping  at  least  to  obtain  something  for  him  ;  but  they  were  disregarded  by 
the  French  monarch,  who  had  now  thrown  off  much  of  his  piety,  and 
answered  in  a  spirited  manner  by  the  famous  Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims. 
This  bold  and  independent  prelate  desired  the  pope  to  call  to  mind  that 
respect  and  submission  which  the  ancient  pontiffs  had  always  paid  to  princes : 
he  bid  him  know  that  his  dignity  gave  him  no  right  over  the  government  of 
kingdoms;  that  he  could  not  be  at  the  same  time  pope  and  king;  that  the 
choice  of  sovereigns  belongs  to  the  people  ;  that  anathemas  ill  applied  have 
no  effect  upon  the  soul ;  and  that  free  men  are  not  to  be  enslaved  by  a  bishop 
of  Rome. (5) 

Adrian  affected  to  despise  these  arguments,  and  continued  for  some  time 

(1)  Hincmar  de  Divert.  Lothar.  et  Tlieutterg.        (2)  Epist.  Jficol.  Pap. 

(3)  Adon.  Chron.  Lotharii.  Reg.  Geit.  Rom.  (4)  Epist.  Adrian.  (5)  Fleury,  Hist.  Eccla 

4 


74  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I 

his  menaces,  both  against  Hincmar  and  the  king;  but,  finding  them  ineffec- 
tual, he  changed  his  tone  and  wrote  several  flattering  letters  to  Charles,  pro- 
mising him  the  empire  on  the  death  of  his  nephew,  then  in  a  languishing 
condition.  This  project  in  favour  of  the  French  monarch  was  executed 
under  John  VIII.,  Adrian's  successor.  The  emperor  Lewis  II.  died  without 
male  heirs.  Lewis  the  German  claimed  the  ^succession,  and  the  imperial 
dignity,  as  the  elder  brother  of  Charles ;  but  the  pope  preferred  the  claim  of 
Charles  for  political  reasons,  which,  with  the  court  of  Rome,  never  fail  to 
taTte  place  of  equity.  Lewis  seemed  fast  approaching  to  his  end,  and  had 
three  sons  among  whom  his  dominions  must  be  divided.  Charles  was  a 
younger  man,  and  had  only  one  son ;  he  therefore  appeared  the  most  proper 
person  to  choose  as  a  protector.  He  crossed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of  his 
army,  and  accordingly  received  the  imperial  crown  as  a  present  from  the 
pope ;  but  much  in  the  same  manner  that  many  presents  of  the  like  kind  are 
obtained  in  our  days,  by  paying  roundly  for  it.  In  an  assembly  at  Pavia,  the 
bishops,  abbots,  and  Italian  nobles  recognised  him  in  the  following  words : 
"  Since  the  divine  favour,  through  the  merits  of  the  holy  apostles,  and  of  their 
vicar  pope  John,  has  raised  you  to  the  empire,  according  to  the  judgment  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  we  elect  you  unanimously  for  our  protector  and  lord."(l) 

On  the  death  of  Lewis  the  German,  a  prince  of  considerable  abilities  both 
as  a  warrior  and  politician.  Charles  the  Bald,  always  ambitious  and  imprudent, 
attempted  to  seize  that  part  of  Lorrain  which  he  had  granted  to  his  brother, 
and  was  deservedly  defeated.(2)  His  three  nephews,  Carloman,  Lewis,  and 
Charles  preserved  their  possessions  by  maintaining  a  strict  union  among 
themselves.  The  first  had  Bavaria,  the  second  Saxony,  and  the  third  Suabia. 

About  this-  time  the  Saracens  renewed  the  ravages  in  Italy.  They  took 
•and  plundered  Comachio.  Pope  John  had  recourse  to  the  emperor;  and 
desired  him  "  to  remember  the  hand  that  had  given  him  the  empire  ;  lest," 
added  he,  "  if  driven  to  despair,  we  should  change  our  opinion !"  Tha 
menace,  sufficiently  intelligible,  had  its  effect.  Though  France  Avas  then 
overrun  by  the  Normans,  whom  Charles  was  unable  to  resist,  he  undertook 
to  expel  the  Saracens ;  and  he  was  scarce  arrived  in  Italy,  when  he  received 
intelligence  of  a  new  enemy.  Carloman,  his  nephew,  had  advanced  against 
him,  with  an  intention  to  seize  the  imperial  crown  and  the  kingdom  of  Italy, 
in  virtue  of  his  father's  will,  and  the  right  of  primogeniture.  Charles,  be- 
trayed by  his  nobles,  retired  with  precipitation ;  fell  ill,  and  died  in  a  misera- 
ble cottage,  at  a  village  called  Brios,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age. (3) 

A  capitular  in  the  last  year  of  Charles's  reign  permits  the  nobility  to  trans- 
mit their  employments  to  their  sons,  or  other  male  heirs. (4)  This  privilege, 
extorted  from  the  crown,  as  I  have  already  observed,(5)  was  one  of  the 
principal  sources  of  disorder  in  the  feudal  government,  and  tended,  as  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  see,  to  the  abolition  of  all  political  subjection.  In  the 
mean  time,  I  must  speak  of  a  people,  who  deserve  your  attention,  no  less  on 
account  of  their  manners  than  their  warlike  achievements. 


LETTER  XI. 

The  Normans  or  Danes  before  their  Settlement  in  France  and  England. 

THE  bravest  and  most  liberal-minded  of  the  Saxons,  my  dear  Philip,  on  the 
final  reduction  of  their  country  by  Charlemagne,  having  fled  from  the  domi- 
nion and  persecutions  of  the  conqueror  into  the  ancient  Scandinavia,  or  that 
part  of  the  northern  peninsula  of  Europe  which  comprehends  the  present 
kingdoms  of  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Norway,  carried  with  them  (as  already 
observed) (6)  their  vengeance  and  violent  aversion  against  Christianity 

(1)  Fieury,  Hi  ft.  />/•//<  (2)  rfnn.il.  f'uldens.  (3)  Sigon  de  Reg.  Hal.  9n\,d.  Berliiiiani. 

r  4)  Cantt.  Caroli.  Culvi.  W  Letter  II.  '61  Letter  IX. 


LET.  XI.]  MODERN    EUR  OPE.  75 

There  meeting  with  men  of  dispositions  similar  to  their  own,  and  the  same 
religion  with  themselves,  they  were  cordially  received,  and  soon  stimulated 
the  natives  to  deeds  of  arms  ;  to  enterprises  which  at  once  promised  revenge 
to  the  fugitives,  and  subsistence  to  the  inhabitants  of  countries  then  over- 
stocked with  people. 

In  their  various  incursions  on  the  continent,  these  ferocious  adventurers 
were  known  by  the  general  name  of  Normans,  from  their  northern  situation; 
and  in  their  attacks  upon  Britain,  by  the  common  appellation  of  Danes,  to 
whatever  country  they  might  belong.  They  became  the  terror  of  all  the 
maritime  parts  of  Europe  :  but  before  I  speak  of  their  depredations,  I  must 
say  a  few  words  of  their  religion  and  manners. 

The  manners  of  a  people,  and  their  popular  superstition,  depend  mutually 
on  each  other.  Religion  takes  its  complexion  originally  from  the  manners  : 
men  form  a  deity  according  to  their  own  ideas,  their  prejudices,  their  pas- 
sions ;  and  the  manners  are,  in  a  great  measure,  continued  or  altered  by  the 
established  religion  of  any  country,  especially  if  calculated  to  affect  the 
imagination.  The  religion  of  the  ancient  Scandinavians  was  highly  so,  and 
was  preserved  entire  among  the  Normans,  who  also  retained  their  unadulte- 
rated manners.  They  were  worthy  of  each  other :  equally  bloody  and  barba- 
rous, but  formed  to  inspire  the  most  enthusiastic  courage,  and  the  most  unre- 
mitted  perseverance  in  toil.  Odin,  whom  the  Saxons  called  Woden,  was 
their  supreme  divinity.  They  painted  him  as  the  God  of  terror — the  Author 
of  devastation— the  Father  of  carnage ! — and  they  worshipped  him  accord- 
ingly. They  sacrificed  to  him,  when  successful,  some  of  the  captives  taken 
in  war : — and  they  believed  those  heroes  would  stand  highest  in  his  favour 
who  had  killed  most  enemies  in  the  field ;  that,  after  death,  the  brave  would 
be  admitted  into  his  palace,  and  there  have  the  happiness  of  drinking  beer 
(the  favourite  liquor  of  the  northern  nations)  out  of  the  skulls  of  their 
slaughtered  foes.(l) 

In  consequence  of  this  belief,  fatigues,  wounds,  combats  and  perils,  were 
the  exercise  of  infancy,  and  the  sport  of  youth.  They  were  forbid  to  pro- 
nounce the  word  fear,  even  on  the  most  trying  occasions.  Education,  preju- 
dice, manners,  example,  habit,  all  contributed  to  subdue  in  them  the  sensation 
of  timidity ;  to  make  them  covet  danger,  and  seem  greedy  of  death.  (2) 
Military  discipline  was  only  wanting  to  have  enabled  them  to  enslave  -the 
whole  Christian  world,  then  sinking  under  the  weight  of  a  debasing  super- 
stition, and  cringing  beneath  the  rod  of  priestly  tyranny. 

Though  Charlemagne,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  notice,  took  many  wise 
precautions  against  the  Normans,  he  was  not  able  wholly  to  prevent  their 
irruptions,  and  was  only  freed  by  the  death  of  their  leader  from  a  dangerous 
competition.  Under  Lewis  the  Debonnaire,  they  threw  all  France  into 
alarm ;  and  under  Charles  the  Bald,  they  committed  frightful  devastations. 
Their  fleets,  which  were  composed  of  light  barks,  braved  the  storms  of  the 
ocean,  and  penetrated  every  creek  and  river;  so  that  they  landed  sometimes 
on  the  coasts,  and  sometimes  in  the  interior  parts  of  the  kingdom.  As  the 
government  took  no  effectual  measures  for  repelling  them,  the  unprotected 
people  knew  nothing  but  fear.  Fire  and  sword,  on  all  hands,  marked  the 
route  of  the  ravagers.  With  their  booty  they  carried  off  women,  to  whom 
they  were  much  addicted,  and  boys  to  recruit  their  predatory  bands.  They 
were  no  sooner  gone  than  they  again  returned.  They  pillaged  Rouen  twice  ; 
they  surprised  and  burnt  Paris ;  they  laid  waste  Aquitaine  and  other  provinces, 
and  reduced  the  French  monarch  to  the  greatest  distress. (3) 

Shut  up  at  St.  Denis,  while  his  capital  was  in  flames,  Charles  the  Bald  was 
no  less  anxious  about  saving  his  people  than  the  relicks.  Instead  of  en- 

(1)  See  the  Kdda,  or  System  of  Runic  Mythology.    In  that  state  of  festivity,  the  departed  warriors 
were  supposed  to  be  served  at  table  by  beautiful  virgins  called  Valker,  who  ministered  to  other  pleasures 
beside  those  of  the  feast.    (Kdda  Mytkol.  xxxi.)    And  war  and  arms,  the  delight  of  the  Scandinavians  in 
this  life,  were  believed  to  be  their  amusement  in  another  world.    Edda  Mythol.  xxxy. 

(2)  "  The  battle  is  as  pleasing  to  me,"  says  Lodbrog  (who  was  a  king  and  a  warrior  as  well  as  a  poet), 
"  as  the  bed  of  a  virgin  in  the  glow  of  her  charms,  or  the  kiss  of  a  young  widow  in  her  most  secret 
QDartmeiU."     Epiced.  Stroph.  xb  (31  Ver.  Chron.  Hist.  Jforn. 


76  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART!. 

countering  the  enemy,  he  bought  a  peace,  or,  in  other  words,  he  furnished 
the  Normans  with  the  means,  while  he  inspired  them  with  the  motive  of  a 
new  war.  They  returned  accordingly;  and  Charles,  to  complete  his  dis- 
grace, published,  when  going  to  assist  the  pope,  in  the  last  year  of  his  reign, 
a  capitular  to  regulate  the  contributions  to  be  paid  to  the  Normans.(l) 

England  had  also  experienced  a  variety  of  calamities  from  the  incursions 
of  these  plunderers,  when  it  found  a  protector  in  the  great  Alfred.  But  before 
I  exhibit  the  exploits,  or  consider  the  institutions  of  that  illustrious  prince, 
we  must  take  a  view  of  the  reigns  of  his  predecessors  from  the  end  of  the 
Saxon  Heptarchy. 


LETTER  XII. 

England,  from  the  End  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy,  to  the  Death  of  Alfred 

the  Great. 

EGBERT,  the  first  sole  monarch  of  England,  Avas  a  prince  of  eminent  abilities 
and  great  experience.  He  had  enjoyed  a  considerable  command  in  the 
armies  of  Charlemagne,  by  whom  he  was  much  respected,  and  had  acted 
successfully  against  the  Normans,  and  other  enemies  of  the  empire.  After 
his  return  to  Britain  he  was  engaged  in  a  variety  of  struggles  before  he 
obtained  the  supreme  dominion  ;  but  having  surmounted  those  difficulties,  he 
found  himself  without  a  rival.  Being  the  only  remaining  descendant  of 
Hengist  and  Horsa,  the  first  Saxon  leaders  who  landed  in  this  island,  and 
who  were  supposed  to  be  sprung  from  Woden,  the  chief  divinity  of  the 
ancient  Saxons,  the  people  readily  transferred  their  allegiance  to  a  prince 
who  appeared  to  merit  it  equally  by  his  birth  and  talents ;  so  that  Egbert 
was  no  sooner  seated  on  the  throne  of  England,  than  the  seven  kingdoms  of 
the  Heptarchy  were  strongly  cemented  into  one  monarchy.  A  union  of 
government  seemed  to  promise  internal  tranquillity ;  and  the  Saxons,  from 
their  insular  situation,  and  their  power,  had  little  reason  to  be  afraid  of 
foreign  enemies.  The  Britons  were  humbled ;  and  the  Scots  and  Picts, 
wa.sted  by  continual  wars  with  each  other,  being  in  no  condition  to  molest 
Egbert,  he  flattered  himself  with  peace  and  security.  But  human  foresight 
is  very  limited :  a  fleet  of  those  northern  adventurers,  whom  we  have  already 
seen  ravaging  France,  under  the  name  of  Normans,  soon  gave  the  English 
monarch  reason  to  alter  his  opinion.  They  first  landed  in  the  isle  of  Sheppey, 
pillaged  it,  and  carried  off  their  booty  with  impunity.  They  returned  next 
year  in  thirty-five  ships.  Egbert  gave  them  battle  at  Charmouth  in  Dorset- 
shire, where  they  were  worsted,  after  an  obstinate  dispute,  but  made  good 
their  retreat  to  their  ships.  Now  sensible  what  an  enemy  they  had  to  deal 
with,  they  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  Britons  of  Cornwall ;  and,  landing 
in  that  country,  their  confederates  and  they  made  an  irruption  into  the  county 
of  Devon.  They  were  met  by  Egbert  at  Hengesdown,  and  totally  defeated. (2) 
But  while  England  was  threatened  with  new  alarms  from  the  same  quarter, 
this  warlike  monarch,  who  alone  was  able  to  oppose  the  invaders,  unfortu- 
nately died,  and  left  the  kingdom  to  his  son  Ethelwolf,  a  prince  better  fitted 
to  wear  the  cowl  than  the  crown. 

Ethelwolf  began  his  reign  with  dividing  his  dominions,  according  to  the 
absurd  custom  of  those  times ;  delivering  over  to  his  eldest  son  Athelstan 
the  counties  of  Essex,  Kent,  and  Sussex.  But  no  inconveniences  seem  to 
have  arisen  from  this  partition,  the  terror  of  the  Danish  invaders  preventing 
all  domestic  dissensions.  Time  proved  that  this  terror  was  but  too  just. 
The  Danes  returned  with  redoubled  fury ;  and,  though  often  repulsed,  and 
sometimes  defeated,  they  always  obtained  their  end,  by  committing  plunder, 
and  carrying  off  their  booty.  They  avoided  coming  to  a  general  engage- 
ment, which  was  not  suited  to  their  plan  of  operations.  Their  vessels  being 

(1)  Capit.  Caroli  CaM.  (2)  Citron.  Saz. 


LET.  XII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  77 

small,  ran  easily  up  the  creeks  and  rivers :  they  drew  them  ashore,  and 
formed  an  entrenchment  around  them,  leaving  them  under  a  guard.  They 
scattered  themselves  over  the  face  of  the  country  in  small  parties,  making 
spoil  of  every  thing  that  came  in  their  way — goods,  cattle,  and  women.  If 
opposed  by  a  superior  force,  they  betook  themselves  to  their  vessels,  set  sail, 
and  invaded  some  distant  quarter,  not  prepared  for  their  reception.  All 
England  was  kept  in  continual  alarm :  nor  durst  the  inhabitants  of  one  part 
go  to  the  assistance  of  another,  lest  their  own  families  and  possessions 
should  be  exposed  to  the  fury  of  the  ravagers.(l)  Every  season  of  the  year 
was  alike :  no  man  could  compute  on  a  moment's  safety. 

Encouraged  by  their  past  successes,  the  Danes  at  length  landed  in  so  large 
a  body,  as  seemed  to  threaten  the  whole  island  with  subjection.  But  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  though  labouring  under  the  weight  of  superstition,  were  still 
a  gallant  people  :  they  roused  themselves  with  a  vigour  proportioned  to  the 
necessity,  and  defeated  their  invaders  in  several  engagements. (2)  The 
Danes,  however,  ventured,  for  the  first  time,  to  take  up  their  winter  quarters  in 
England ;  and  receiving  in  the  spring  a  strong  reinforcement,  by  three  hundred 
and  fifty  vessels,  they  advanced  from  the  isle  of  Thanet,  where  they  had 
stationed  themselves,  and  burnt  the  cities  of  London  and  Canterbury.  They 
were  again  defeated  in  several  engagements  ;  yet  they  still  maintained  their 
settlement  in  the  isle  of  Thanet,  and  spent  next  winter  in  the  isle  of  Sheppey. 

The  harassed  state  of  his  kingdom  did  not  hinder  Ethelwolf  from  making 
a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  Thither  he  carried  Alfred,  his  fourth  and  favourite 
son,  then  only  six  years  of  age.  In  his  return,  after  a  twelvemonth  spent 
in  devotions  and  benefactions  to  the  see  of  Rome,  Ethelwolf  married  Judith, 
daughter  of  the  emperor  Charles  the  Bald;  and  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
England,  he  conferred  a  perpetual  and  very  important  donation  on  the 
church,  by  granting  to  the  clergy  a  tenth  out  of  all  the  produce  of  land. 
This  enormous  tax  upon  industry  had  been  long  claimed  by  the  servants  of 
the  altar  as  a  perpetual  property  belonging  to  the  priesthood — a  jargon 
founded  on  the  practice  of  the  Jews.  Charlemagne  had  ordered  the  tithe 
to  be  paid  in  consideration  of  the  church-lands  seized  by  the  laity ;  but,  in 
England,  no  such  invasion  had  been  made.  The  church  enjoyed  many 
lands,  and  was  enriched  by  the  continual  oblations  of  the  people :  the  English 
clergy,  therefore,  had  not  hitherto  been  able  to  obtain  their  demand.  But 
a  favourable  opportunity  now  offered,  and  religion  furnished  the  motive ;  a 
weak  and  superstitious  prince,  and  an  ignorant  people  dejected  by  their 
losses,  and  in  terror  of  future  invasions,  greedily  laid  hold  of  any  means, 
however  costly,  of  bribing  the  protection  of  Heaven.(3) 

During  the  absence  of  Ethelwolf,  his  eldest  son  Athelstan  died ;  and 
Ethelbald,  the  second  son,  had  formed  the  project  of  excluding  his  father  from 
the  throne.  This  unnatural  attempt  gave  the  pious  monarch  little  concern. 
He  complied  with  most  of  his  son's  demands,  and  the  kingdom  was  divided 
between  them.  Ethelwolf  lived  only  two  years  after  his  return  to  England, 
which  he  left  by  his  will  to  be  shared  between  his  two  eldest  sons,  Ethelbald 
and  Ethelbert. 

Ethelbald  was  a  profligate  prince,  but  his  reign  was  happily  short ;  and 
Ethelbert  succeeding  to  the  government  of  the  whole  kingdom,  conducted 
himself,  during  a  reign  of  five  years,  in  a  manner  more  suitable  to  his  rank. 
England  was  still  infested  by  the  depredations  of  the  Danes,  who,  in  this 
reign,  sacked  Winchester,  but  were  there  defeated. 

Ethelbert  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Ethelred,  whose  whole  reign  was 
one  continued  struggle  with  the  Danes.  He  defended  his  kingdom  with 
much  bravery,  and  was  gallantly  seconded  in  all  his  efforts  by  his  younger 
brother  Alfred,  who,  though  excluded  from  a  large  inheritance  left  him  by 
his  father,  generously  sacrificed  his  resentment  to  the  public  good.  Ethelred 
died  in  the  midst  of  these  troubles,  and  left  his  disordered  kingdom  to  his 
brother  Alfred. 

(1)  Alured  Beverl.  (2)  Oiron.  Sax  (3)  Selden,  Hist.  Tyth.  cap/.viii 


78  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

Alfred  was  now  twenty  years  of  age,  and  a  prince  of  very  promising 
talents.  He  had  no  sooner  buried  his  brother,  than  he  was  obliged  to  take 
the  field  against  the  Danes.  They  had  seized  Wilton,  and  were  ravaging 
the  neighbouring  country.  He  gave  them  battle,  and  at  first  gained  some 
advantages  over  them ;  but,  pursuing  his  victory  too  far,  he  was  worsted  by 
means  of  the  enemy's  numbers.  The  loss  of  the  Danes,  however,  was  so 
considerable,  that,  fearing  Alfred  might  suddenly  receive  reinforcements 
from  his  subjects,  they  stipulated  for  a  safe  retreat,  under  a  promise  to 
depart  the  kingdom.  But  they  were  no  sooner  freed  from  danger,  than  they 
renewed  their  ravages.  A  new  swarm  of  Danes  landed  under  three  principal 
leaders ;  and  Alfred,  in  one  year,  fought  eight  battles  with  these  faithless 
and  inhuman  invaders,  and  reduced  them  to  the  greatest  extremity.  But 
this  generous  prince  again  condescending  to  treat  with  them,  was  again 
deceived.  While  he  was  expecting  the  execution  of  the  agreement,  a  third 
swarm  landed  from  the  northern  hive,  and  reduced  the  Saxons  to  despair. 
They  believed  themselves  abandoned  by  Heaven,  and  devoted  to  destruc- 
tion; since,  after  all  their  vigorous  efforts,  fresh  invaders  still  poured  in 
upon  them,  as  greedy  of  spoil  and  slaughter  as  the  former.  Some  left  their 
country,  others  submitted  to  the  conquerors,  but  none  would  listen  to  the 
exhortations  of  Alfred,  who,  still  undismayed,  begged  them  to  make  one 
exertion  more  in  defence  of  their  possessions,  their  liberties,  and  their 
prince.  (1) 

Thus  abandoned  by  his  subjects,  this  illustrious  monarch  was  obliged  to 
lay  aside  the  ensigns  of  his  dignity,  and  assume  the  habit  of  a  peasant.  In 
that  mean  disguise  he  eluded  the  pursuit  and  the  fury  of  his  enemies ;  and, 
in  order  to  save  his  country,  he  even  condescended  to  live  for  some  time  as 
servant  to  a  grazier.  But  the  human  mind  is  as  little  suited  to  employments 
beneath,  as  above  its  capacity:  the  great  Alfred  made  a  bad  cow-herd.  His 
guardian  genius  was  occupied  about  higher  cares ;  and,  as  soon  as  he  found 
the  search  of  his  enemies  become  more  remiss,  he  collected  some  of  his 
adherents,  and  retired  to  the  middle  of  a  morass,  formed  by  the  stagnating 
waters  of  the  Thone  and  Parret ;  where  finding  some  firm  ground,  he  built 
and  fortified  a  castle,  no  less  secure  by  its  own  strength,  than  by  its  remote 
and  inaccessible  situation.  This  place  is  called  JEthelingey,  or  the  Isle  ol 
Nobles.  It  now  bears  the  name  of  Athelney.  Here,  during  a  twelvemonth, 
Alfred  lay  concealed,  but  not  inactive :  he  made  frequent  and  unexpected 
sallies  upon  the  Danes,  who  often  felt  the  vigour  of  his  arm,  but  knew  not 
whence  the  blow  came,  or  by  whom  it  was  directed.  At  length  a  prosperous 
event  emboldened  the  royal  fugitive  to  leave  his  retreat,  and  enter  on  a  scene 
of  action  more  worthy  of  himself. 

Oddune,  earl  of  Devonshire,  being  besieged  in  his  castle  by  Hubba,  a  cele- 
brated Danish  general,  made  an  unexpected  sally  upon  the  enemy,  put  them 
to  rout,  and  pursued  them  with  great  slaughter;  killed  Hubba  himself,  and 
got  possession  of  the  famous  Reafen,  or  Raven,  an  enchanted  standard,  in 
which  the  Danes  put  great  confidence. (2)  The  news  of  this  victory  was 
immediately  carried  by  the  faithful  earl  to  Alfred,  who  was  happy  to  find  the 
seeds  of  valour  beginning  to  revive  among  his  subjects ;  but,  before  he  would 
assemble  them  in  arms,  he  resolved  to  inspect  the  situation  of  the  enemy, 
and  judge  of  the  probability  of  success,  as  an  unfortunate  attempt  in  the 
present  state  of  national  despondency,  must  have  terminated  in  final  ruin. 
In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  he  entered  the  Danish  camp  under  the  dis- 
guise of  a  harper,  and  passed  unsuspected  through  every  quarter.  He 
observed  the  supine  security  of  the  ravagers,  their  contempt  of  the  English, 
and  their  neglect  of  all  military  regulations.  Encouraged  by  these  propitious 
appearances,  he  sent  secret  intelligence  to  his  most  powerful  subjects,  and 
summoned  them  to  assemble,  along  with  their  retainers,  on  the  borders  of 
Selwood  forest.(3)  The  English  who,  instead  of  ending  their  calamities  by 
submission,  as  they  fondly  hoped,  had  found  the  insolence  and  rapine  of  the 

CAron  Sax     Alured  Beverl.  ">•  Citron.  Sax.    Abbas  Rieval.  (3)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  i\ 


LET.  XII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  79 

conquerors  more  intolerable  than  the  dangers  and  fatigues  of  war,  joyluily 
resorted  to  the  place  of  rendezvous.  They  saluted  their  beloved  monarch 
with  bursts  of  applause  ;  they  could  not  satiate  their  eyes  with  the  sight  oi 
a  prince  whom  they  had  believed  dead,  and  who  now  appeared  as  their  de- 
liverer; they  begged  to  be  led  to  liberty  and  vengeance.  Alfred  did  not 
suffer  their  ardour  to  cool :  he  conducted  them  instantly  to  Eddington,  where 
the  Danes  lay  encamped ;  and  taking  advantage  of  his  previous  knowledge 
of  the  enemy's  situation,  he  directed  his  attack  against  their  most  unguarded 
quarter.  Surprised  to  see  an  army  of  Englishmen,  whom  they  considered 
as  totally  subdued,  and  still  more  to  find  Alfred  at  their  head,  the  Danes  made 
but  a  feeble  resistance,  notwithstanding  their  superior  numbers. (1)  They 
were  soon  put  to  flight,  and  routed  with  great  slaughter. 

Alfred,  no  less  generous  than  brave,  and  who  knew  as  well  how  to  govern 
as  to  conquer,  took  the  remainder  of  the  Danish  army,  and  their  prince  Guth- 
rum,  under  his  protection.  He  granted  them  their  lives  on  submission,  and 
liberty  to  settle  in  the  kingdoms  of  Northumberland  and  East  Anglia,  (which 
were  entirely  desolated  by  the  frequent  inroads  of  their  countrymen)  on  con- 
dition that  they  should  embrace  Christianity.  .They  consented,  and  were 
baptized.  The  king  stood  godfather  for  Guthrum.(2) 

This  mode  of  population  fully  answered  Alfred's  expectations.  The  greater 
part  of  the  Danes  settled  peaceably  in  their  new  possessions ;  and  the  more 
turbulent  made  an  expedition  into  France,  under  their  famous  leader  Hastings, 
who  afterward  invaded  England,  but  was  expelled  by  the  valour  and  vigilance 
of  Alfred.(3) 

In  the  mean  time  this  great  prince  was  employed  in  establishing  civil  and 
military  institutions ;  in  composing  the  minds  of  men  to  industry  and  justice, 
and  in  providing  against  the  return  of  like  calamities.  After  rebuilding  the 
ruined  cities,  particularly  London,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Danes 
in  the  reign  of  Ethelwolf,  he  established  a  regular  militia  for  the  defence  of 
the  kingdom.  He  took  care  that  all  his  subjects  should  be  armed  and  regis- 
tered, and  assigned  them  a  regular  round  of  duty :  he  distributed  one  part  into 
the  castles  and  fortresses,  which  he  erected  at  proper  places ;  he  appointed 
another  to  take  the  field  on  any  alarm,  and  assemble  at  stated  places  of 
rendezvous ;  and  he  left  a  sufficient  number  at  home,  who  were  employed  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  lands,  and  afterward  took  their  turn  in  military  s'ervice. 
The  whole  kingdom  was  like  one  garrison :  the  Danes  could  no  sooner  land 
in  any  quarter,  than  a  sufficient  force  was  ready  to  oppose  them,  and  that 
without  leaving  the  other  parts  naked  or  defenceless. (4) 

But  Alfred  did  not  trust  solely  to  his  land  forces.  He  may  be  considered 
as  the  creator  of  the  English  navy,  as  well  as  the  establisher  of  the  monarch)7. 
Sensible  that  ships  are  the  most  natural  bulwark  of  an  island,  a  circumstance 
hitherto  entirely  overlooked  by  the  Saxons  or  English,  as  they  began  now  to 
be  generally  called,  he  provided.himself  with  a  naval  force,  and  met  the  Danes 
on  their  own  element.  A  fleet  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  armed  vessels  was 
stationed  upon  the  coast ;  and  being  provided  with  warlike  engines,  and  expert 
seamen,  both  Frisians  and  English,  maintained  a  superiority  over  the  enemy, 
and  gave  birth  to  that  claim  which  England  still  supports— to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  ocean. (5) 

In  this  manner  did  Alfred  provide  for  the  security  of  his  kingdom ;  and 
the  excellent  posture  of  defence  every  where  established,  together  with  the 
wisdom  and  valour  of  the  prince,  at  length  restored  peace  and  tranquillity 
to  England,  and  communicated  to  it  a  consequence  hitherto  unknown  in  the 
monarchy.  But  I  should  convey  to  you,  my  dear  Philip,  a  very  imperfect 
idea  of  Alfred's  merit,  were  I  to  confine  myself  merely  to  his  military  and 
political  talents.  His  judicial  institutions,  and  his  zeal  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  arts  and  sciences,  demand  your  particular  attention.  We  must  now, 
therefore,  consider  him  in  a  character  altogether  civil — as  the  father  of 
English  law  and  English  literature. 

(1)  C/iron.  Sax.  Simon  Dunelra.    Alured  Beverl  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Gul  Malmes  lib  ii 

4)  Id.  ibid.    M  Westin.  (5)  Spelman's  Life  of  Alfred. 


80  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  1 

Though  Alfred  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign  had  subdued,  settled,  or  ex- 
pelled the  Danes,  as  a  body,  straggling  bands  of  that  people  afterward  con- 
tinued to  infest  the  kingdom  with  their  robberies ;  and  even  the  native 
English,  reduced  to  extreme  indigence  by  these  and  former  depredations, 
abandoned  themselves  to  a  like  disorderly  life.  They  joined  the  robbers  in 
pillaging  the  more  wealthy  part  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Those  evils  re- 
quired redress,  and  Alfred  took  means  effectually  to  remove  them.  In  order 
to  render  the  execution  of  justice  more  strict  and  regular,  he  divided  all 
England  into  counties ;  these  counties  he  subdivided  into  hundreds,  and  the 
hundreds  into  tythings.  Every  householder  was  answerable  for  the  beha- 
viour of  his  family,  of  his  slaves,  and  even  of  his  guests,  if  they  resided 
above  three  days  in  his  house.  Ten  neighbouring  householders,  answerable 
for  each  other's  conduct,  were  formed  into  one  corporation,  under  the  name 
of  a  tything,  decennary,  or  fribourg,  over  which  a  person  called  a  tything- 
man,  headbourg,  or  borsholder,  presided.  Every  man  was  punished  as  an 
outlaw  who  did  not  register  himself  in  some  tything;  and  no  man  could 
change  his  habitation  without  a  warrant  and  certificate  from  the  borsholder 
of  the  tything  to  which  he  formerly  belonged.(l) 

These  regulations  may  seem  rigorous,  and  are  not  perhaps  necessary  in 
times  when  men  are  habituated  to  obedience  and  justice.  But  they  were 
well  calculated  to  reduce  a  fierce  and  licentious  people  under  the  salutary 
restraints  of  law  and  government;  and  Alfred  took  care  to  temper  their 
severity  by  other  institutions  favourable  to  the  freedom  and  security  of  the 
subject.  Nothing  can  be  more  liberal  than  his  plan  for  the  administration  of 
justice.  The  borsholder,  summoned  his  whole  decennary  to  assist  him  in 
the  decision  of  smaller  differences  among  the  members  of  the  corporation : 
in  controversies  of  greater  moment,  the  dispute  was  brought  before  the 
hundred,  which  consisted  of  ten  decennaries,  or  a  hundred  families  of  freemen, 
and  was  regularly  assembled  once  in  four  weeks,  for  the  trying  of  causes.(2) 
Their  mode  of  decision  claims  your  attention:  twelve  freeholders  were 
chosen,  who,  having  sworn  along  with  the  magistrate  of  the  hundred  to 
administer  impartial  justice,  proceeded  to  the  examination  of  the  cause  that 
was  submitted  to  them.  In  this  simple  form  of  trial  you  will  perceive  the 
origin  of  juries,  or  judgment  by  equals,  an  institution  now  almost  peculiar  to 
the  English  nation,  admirable  in  itself,  and  the  best  calculated  for  the  pre- 
servation of  man's  natural  rights,  and  the  administration  of  justice,  that 
human  wisdom  ever  devised. (3) 

Besides  these  monthly  meetings  of  the  hundred,  there  was  an  annual 
meeting,  appointed  for  the  more  general  inspection  of  the  police  of  the 
district;  inquiring  into  crimes,  correcting  abuses  in  magistrates,  and  obliging 
every  person  to  show  the  decennary  in  which  he  was  registered.  In  imitation 
of  their  ancestors,  the  ancient  Germans,  the  people  on  those  occasions 
assembled  in  arms ;  whence  a  hundred  was  sometimes  called  a  Wapentake, 
and  its  court  served  for  the  support  of  military  discipline,  as  well  as  the 
administration  of  justice. (4) 

The  next  superior  court  to  that  of  the  hundred  was  the  county-court, 
which  met  twice  a-year,  and  consisted  of  all  the  freeholders  of  the  county, 
who  had  an  equal  vote  in  the  decision  of  causes ;  but  of  this  court  I  have 
already  spoken  in  treating  of  the  laws  and  government  of  the  Saxons.  I  shall 
therefore  only  add  here,  that  to  the  alderman  and  bishop,  Alfred  added  a 
third  judge  in  each  county,  under  the  name  of  Sheriff,  who  enjoyed  equal 
authority  with  the  two  former.(5)  His  office  also  empowered  him  to  guard 
the  rights  of  the  crown  in  the  county,  and  levy  the  fines  imposed ;  which,  in 
an  age  when  money  atoned  for  almost  every  violation  of  the  laws  of  society, 
formed  no  inconsiderable  branch  of  the  public  revenue. 

(1)  Fcedus  Alfred,  el  Oothurn.  cap.  iii.  ap.  Wilkins.  (2)  Id.  ibid. 

(3)  Trial  by  jury  was  known  to  the  Saxons,  at  least  in  criminal  cases,  before  their  settlement  in 
Britain.  But,  among  the  nations  on  the  continent,  it  was  not  necessary  that  the  members  of  a  jury  should 
be  unanimous  in  their  decision:  a  majority  of  voices  was  sufficient  to  acquit  or  condemn  the  person 
•ecused.  Stiernhook  de  Jure  Sucon.  et  Oothor.  Vetust.  lib.  i. 

lib  Spelra.  Gloas.  in  voc.  IVapentake.  (5)  Inguiph. 


LET.XIl.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  8. 

In  default  of  justice  from  all  these  courts,  an  appeal  lay  to  the  king  himself 
ji  council ;  and  as  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  Alfred  were  universally  revered, 
ne  was  soon  overwhelmed  with  appeals  from  all  parts  of  his  dominions.  In 
order  to  remedy  this  inconvenience,  he  chose  the  earls  and  sheriffs  from 
among  the  men  most  celebrated  for  probity  and  knowledge  in  the  kingdom : 
he  punished  severely  all  malversation  in  office ;  he  removed  all  whom  he 
found  unequal  to  the  trust  ;(1)  and,  the  better  to  guide  magistrates  of  all 
kinds  in  the  administration  of  justice,  he  framed  a  body  of  laws;  which, 
though  now  lost,  served  long  as  the  basis  of  English  jurisprudence,  and  is 
generally  esteemed  the  origin  of  our  COMMON  LAW. 

Alfred  appointed  regular  meetings  of  the  states  of  England  twice  a-year 
in  the  city  of  London,  which  he  himself  had  repaired  and  beautified,  and 
which  thenceforth  became  the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  Every  thing  soon 
wore  a  new  face  under  his  wise  and  equitable  government.  Such  success 
attended  his  legislation,  and  so  exact  was  the  general  police,  that  he  is  said 
to  have  hung  up,  by  way  of  trial,  golden  bracelets  near  the  high  roads,  and  no 
man  dared  to  touch  them. (2)  But  this  great  prince,  though  rigorous  in  the 
administration  of  justice,  which  he  wisely  considered  as  the  best  means  of 
repressing  crimes,  preserved  the  most  sacred  regard  to  the  liberty  of  his 
people.  His  concern  on  this  subject  extended  even  to  future  times,  and 
ought  to  endear  his  memory  to  every  Englishman.  "  It  is  just,"  says  he 
in  his  will,  "that  the  English  should  ever  remain  FREE  AS  THEIR  OWN 

THOUGHTS."(3) 

After  providing  for  the  security  of  his  kingdom,  and  taming  his  subjects  to 
the  restraints  of  law,  Alfred  extended  his  care  to  those  things  which  aggran- 
dize a  nation,  and  make  a  people  happy.  Sensible  that  good  morals  and 
knowledge  are  almost  inseparable  in  every  age.  though  not  in  every  individual, 
he  gave  great  encouragement  to  the  pursuit  of  learning.  He  invited  over  the 
most  celebrated  scholars  from  all  parts  of  Europe :  he  established  schools 
every  where  for  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant:  he  founded,  or  at  least 
repaired,  the  .university  of  Oxford,  and  endowed  it  with  many  privileges, 
revenues,  and  immunities  :  he  enjoined  by  law  all  freeholders,  possessed  of 
two  hides  of  land,  to  send  their  children  to  school ;  and  he  gave  preferment, 
either  in  church  or  state,  to  such  only  as  had  made  some  proficiency  in 
knowledge.(4)  But  the  most  effectual  expedient  employed  by  Alfred  for  the 
encouragement  of  learning  was  his  own  example,  and  the  progress  which  he 
made  in  science.  Notwithstanding  the  multiplicity  of  civil  objects  which 
engaged  his  attention,  and  although  he  fought  in  person  fifty-six  battles  by 
sea  and  land,  this  illustrious  hero  and  legislator  was  able  to  acquire  by  his 
unremitted  industry,  during  a  life  of  no  extraordinary  length,  more  knowledge, 
and  even  to  produce  more  books,  than  most  speculative  men,  in  more  for- 
tunate ages,  who  have  devoted  their  whole  time  to  study.  He  composed  a 
variety  of  poems,  fables,  and  apt  stories,  to  lead  the  untutored  mind  to  the 
love  of  letters,  and  bend  the  heart  to  the  practice  of  virtue.  For  the  same 
purpose  he  translated  from  the  Greek  the  instructive  fables  of  .<Esop.  He 
also  gave  Saxon  translations  of  the  histories  of  Orosius  and  Bede,  and  of  the 
Consolation  of  Philosophy,  by  Boetius.(5) 

Alfred  was  no  less  attentive  to  the  propagation  of  those  mechanical  arts 
which  have  a  more  sensible  though  not  a  more  intimate  connexion  with  the 
welfare  of  a  state.  He  introduced  and  encouraged  manufactures  of  all 
kinds,  and  suffered  no  inventor  or  improver  of  any  useful  or  ingenious  art  to 
go  unrewarded.  He  prompted  men  of  activity  and  industry  to  apply  them- 
selves to  navigation,  and  to  push  commerce  into  the  most  distant  countries ; 
and  he  set  apart  a  seventh  portion  of  his  own  revenue  for  maintaining  a 
number  of  workmen,  whom  he  employed  in  rebuilding  the  ruined  cities  and 
castles.  The  elegancies  of  life  are  said  to  have  been  brought  to  him  even 

(1)  Le  Miroir  de  Justice,  chap.  ii.  (2)  Gul.Malmes.lib.il.  (3)  Asser.  p.  24. 

(4)  H.  Hunt.  lib.  vi.  A  hide  contained  land  sufficient  to  employ  one  plough.  Gervase  of  Tilbury  says 
it  commonly  consisted  of  a  hundred  acres,  (5)  Gul.  Matoes.  lib.  ii.  (6)  Id.  ibid 


82  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

from  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Indies  ;(6)  and  his  subjects  seeing  these 
desirable  productions,  and  the  means  of  acquiring  riches  by  trade,  were 
taught  to  respect  those  peaceful  virtues  by  which  alone  such  blessings  can 
be  earned  or  ensured. 

This  extraordinary  man,  who  is  justly  considered,  both  by  natives  and 
foreigners,  as  the  greatest  prince  after  Charlemagne  that  Europe  saw  for 
several  ages,  and  as  one  of  the  wisest  and  best  that  ever  adorned  the  annals 
of  any  nation,  died  in  the  year  901,  in  the  vigour  of  his  age,  and  full  strength 
of  his  faculties,  after  a  life  of  fifty-three  years,  and  a  glorious  reign  of  twenty- 
nine  years  and  a  half.  His  merit,  both  in  public  and  private  life,  may  be  set 
in  opposition  to  that  of  any  sovereign  or  citizen  in  ancient  or  modern  times. 
He  seems  indeed,  as  is  observed  by  an  elegant  and  profound  historian,(l)  to 
be  the  complete  model  of  that  perfect  character  which,  under  the  denomina- 
tion of  a  sage,  or  truly  wise  man,  philosophers  have  been  so  fond  of  deline 
ating  without  the  hopes  of  ever  seeing  it  realized. 


LETTER  XIII. 

tLmpire  of  Charlemagne  and  the  Church,  from  the  Death  of  Charles  the  Bald,  to 
the  Death  of  Lewis  IV-  when  the  Imperial  Dignity  was  translated  from  the 
French  to  the  Germans. 

THE  continent  of  Europe,  my  dear  Philip,  towards  the  close  of  the  ninth 
century,  offers  nothing  to  our  view  but  calamities,  disorders,  revolutions,  and 
anarchy.  Lewis  the  Stammerer,  son  of  Charles  the  Bald,  may  be  said  to 
have  bought  the  crown  of  France  at  the  price,  and  on  the  conditions,  which 
the  bishops  and  nobles  were  pleased  to  impose  on  him.  He  was  not  acknow- 
ledged till  after  he  had  heaped  lands,  honours  and  offices  on  the  nobility ;  and 
promised  that  the  clergy  should  enjoy  the  same  emoluments,  and  the  same 
privileges,  which  they  had  possessed  under  Lewis  the  Debonnaire.(2) 

Pope  John  VIII.  made  an  effort  to  get  Lewis  elected  emperor,  in  the  room 
of  his  father,  by  the  Italian  States;  but  not  being  able  to  carry  his  point,  he 
retired  into  France,  and  held  a  council  at  Troyes,  where  he  excommunicated 
the  Duke  of  Spoleto,  and  the  Marquis  of  Tuscany,  for  opposing  his  measures, 
and  attacking  the  ecclesiastical  state.  One  of  the  canons  of  this  council  is 
very  remarkable:  it  expressly  asserts,  that  "the  powers  of  the  world  shall 
"  not  dare  to  seat  themselves  in  the  presence  of  bishops,  unless  desired."(3) 

Lewis  the  Stammerer  died  in  879,  after  a  reign  of  about  eighteen  months, 
and  left  his  queen  Adelaide  pregnant.  He  was  succeeded  by  Lewis  III.  and 
Carloman  II.  two  sons  by  a  former  wife,  whom  he  had  divorced.  Duke 
Boson,  father-in-law  to  Carloman,  procured  them  the  crown,  that  he  might 
afterward  share  the  monarchy.  By  his  intrigues  with  the  pope  and  the 
clergy,  he  got  a  council  to  declare  the  necessity  of  erecting  a  new  kingdom : 
and  they  bestowed,  by  the  divine  inspiration,  to  use  their  own  language,  the 
kingdom  of  Aries,  or  Provence,  upon  this  ambitious  duke. (4)  Italy  was 
in  possession  of  Carloman,  king  of  Bavaria,  who  had  also  seized  part  of  Lor- 
rain,  and  the  French  nobility  already  enjoyed  most  of  the  lands ;  so  that  a 
king  of  France  retained  little  more  than  the  mere  shadow  of  royalty. 

On  the  death  of  Lewis  and  Carloman,  the  joint  kings  of  France,  who  lived 
in  harmony  notwithstanding  their  confined  situation,  their  brother  Charles, 
born  after  his  father's  death,  and  known  by  the  name  of  the  Simple,  ought  to 
have  succeeded  to  the  monarchy,  by  the  right  of  birth ;  but  as  he  was  only 
five  years  old,  and  the  nobility  were  desirous  of  a  king  capable  of  governing, 
or  at  least  were  afraid  of  the  advancement  of  Hugh,  surnamed  the  Abbot,  to 
the  regency  (a  nobleman  of  great  integrity  and  abilities),  they  elected  Charles 
the  Fat,  son  of  Lewis  the  German,  already  emperor,  and  successor  to  his  two 

(1)  Hume,  vol  I.  (2)  Airnon.  lib.  v.  (3)  Concil.  Gall.  torn.  iii.  (4)  Id..ibid 


LET.  XIII. J  MODERN   EUROPE.  83 

brothers. (1)  He  reunited  in  his  person  all  the  French  empire,  except  the 
kingdom  of  the  usurper  Boson  ;  and  proved,  what  those  who  elected  him  had 
not  sufficiently  attended  to,  if  they  meant  the  welfare  of  the  state,  that  a 
prince  may  conduct  his  affairs  with  judgment,  while  confined  within  a  mode- 
rate compass,  and  yet  be  very  unfit  for  the  government  of  a  great  empire. 

The  incapacity,  and  even  the  cowardice  of  Charles,  became  soon  too  obvious 
to  be  denied.  Though  he  had  governed  his  paternal  dominions  without  any 
visible  defect  of  judgment,  and  raised  himself  to  the  empire  by  his  reputation 
and  address,  his  mind,  instead  of  expanding  itself  to  its  new  object,  even 
shrunk  from  it,  and  contracted  itself,  till  eveiy  mark  of  abilities  disappeared. 
After  disgracing  himself  by  ceding  Friezland  to  the  Normans,  and  promising 
them  a  tribute  for  forbearance,  he  roused  them  by  his  perfidy,  while  he 
encouraged  them  by  his  weakness.  Enraged  at  the  death  of  their  king,  who 
had  been  invited  to  a  conference  and  murdered,  they  entered  France,  pene- 
trated as  far  as  Pontoise,  burnt  that  city,  and  besieged  Paris.(2) 

This  siege  is  much  celebrated  by  the  French  historians  :  prodigies  are  re- 
lated of  both  sides.  Eudes,  count  of  Paris,  whom  we  shall  soon  see  on  the 
throne  of  France ;  his  brother  Robert ;  bishop  Goslin ;  and  after  his  death, 
bishop  Anscheric,  and  Abbot  Eble,  nephew  to  Goslin,  Avere  particularly  dis 
tinguished  by  their  valour  and  patriotism.  The  besieged  defended  them- 
selves more  than  a  year  against  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  and  the 
combined  efforts  of  courage  and  stratagem,  before  the  emperor  came  to  their 
relief.  At  length  Charles  appeared  on  the  mountain  of  Montmart,  with  the 
whole  militia  of  his  dominions  under  arms,  fully  persuaded  that  the  Normans 
would  retire  at  the  sight  of  his  standards. (3)  But  he  soon  found  his  mis- 
take :  they  did  not  show  the  smallest  alarm ;  and  Charles  preferring  a  shame- 
ful negotiation  to  a  doubtful  victory,  engaged  to  pay  them  a  prodigious  ran- 
som for  his  capital,  and  the  safety  of  his  kingdom.  Nay,  what  was  still  more 
disgraceful,  not  being  able  to  raise  the  money  till  the  spring,  it  being  then  the 
month  of  November,  he  permitted  the  Normans  to  winter  in  Burgundy,  which 
had  not  yet  acknowledged  his  authority ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  continue  their 
ravages,  which  they  did  with  the  most  insatiable  fury.  (4) 

This  ignominious  treaty,  and  its  consequences,  entirely  ruined  the  em- 
peror's reputation,  which  was  already  low.  He  had  no  minister  in  whom  he 
could  confide :  for  he  was  neither  loved  nor  feared.  The  Germans  first  re- 
volted. Charles  had  incurred  the  hatred  of  the  nobility  by  attempting  to  limit 
the  hereditary  fiefs ;  and  he  made  the  clergy  his  enemies,  while  he  exposed 
himself  to  universal  contempt,  by  prosecuting  Ludard,  bishop  of  Verceil,  his 
prime  minister,  and  the  only  person  of  authority  in  his  service,  on  a  suspicion 
of  a  criminal  correspondence  with  the  empress  Rachel,  whom  he  imprisoned, 
and  who  completed  his  disgrace.  She  kept  no  measures  with  him :  she 
affirmed,  that  she  was  not  only  innocent  of  the  crime  laid  to  her  charge,  but 
a  pure  virgin,  yet  untouched  by  her  husband  and  her  accuser ;  in  support  of 
which  asseveration  she  offered  to  undergo  any  trial  that  should  be  assigned 
her,  according  to  the  superstitious  custom  of  those  times,  when  an  absurd 
appeal  to  heaven  supplied  the  place  of  a  jury  of  matrons,  and  insisted  on 
being  admitted  to  her  purgation.  Ludard  fostered  the  general  discontent ;  and 
Charles  was  deposed  in  a  diet  of  the  empire,  and  neglected  to  such  a  degree, 
as  to  be  obliged  to  subsist  by  the  liberality  of  the  bishop  of  Mentz.(5) 

Arnold,  the  bastard  son  of  Carloman,  late  king  of  Bavaria,  and  grandson  of 
Lewis  the  German,  was  now  raised  to  the  Imperial  dignity.  Italy  submitted 
alternately  to  Berengarius,  duke  of  Friuli,  and  Guidp,  or  Guy  duke,  of  Spo- 
leto,  both  of  the  family  of  Charlemagne  by  the  mother's  side.  Their  com- 
petitions were  long  and  bloody.  Count  Eudes,  whose  valour  had  saved 
Paris,  and  whose  father,  Robert  the  Strong,  had  been  no  less  brave  and 
illustrious,  was  elected  king  of  France ;  which  he  agreed  to  hold  in  trust  for 
Charles  the  Simple,  yet  a  minor.  (6) 

But  France,  notwithstanding  the  courage  and  talents  of  Eudes,  was  still . 

(1)  Aimoa.  Yb.  v.  (2)  Chron.  de  Gest.  Norm.  (3)  Paul.  JEmil.  de  Gest.  Fran*. 

(4)  Chron.  Qest.  Norm.  (5)  Annal.  Fuldens.  Regin.  Chronicon.  (0)  Jlnnal.  JUetent. 

F2 


84  "HE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

a  scene  01  contention  and  disorder.  A  faction  pretended  to  assert  the  right 
of  the  lawful  heir,  who  was  not  really  injured,  and  Eudes  ceded  to  him  the 
greater  part  of  the  kingdom.  Count  Ralph,  or  Rodclph,  established  the 
kingdom  of  Burgundy  Transjuran  (so  called  on  account  of  its  relation  to 
mount  Jura),  which  comprehended  nearly  the  present  Switzerland  and  Franche 
Comte.  A  council  confirmed  to  Lewis,  the  son  of  Boson,  the  kingdom  of 
Aries,  as  a  council  had  given  it  to  his  father.  (1)  History  would  be  nothing 
but  a  mere  chaos,  were  it  to  comprehend  all  the  effects  of  violence,  treachery, 
arid  anarchy  that  disgraced  this  period.  I  shall  therefore  only  notice  the 
leading  circumstances,  which  alone  deserve  your  attention. 

Eudes  died  in  898,  without  being  able  to  remedy  the  disorders  of  the  state , 
and  Charles  the  Simple,  but  too  justly  so  named,  now  acknowledged  King  of 
France  in  his  own  right,  increased  by  his  weakness  the  prevailing  evils.  The 
nobles  aspired  openly  at  independency.  They  usurped  the  governments  with 
which  they  had  been  intrusted,  and  extorted  confirmations  of  them  from 
Charles  for  themselves  and  their  heirs,  on  the  easy  condition  of  an  empty 
homage.(2)  A  large  and  once  well  regulated  kingdom  was  divided  into  a 
multitude  of  separate  principalities,  altogether  independent  of  the  crown,  or 
dependent  only  in  name,  whose  possessors  waged  continual  wars  with  each 
other,  and  exercised  an  insupportable  tyranny  over  their  dependents,  their 
vassals,  and  sub-vassals. (3)  By  these  means  the  great  body  of  the  people 
was  either  reduced  to  a  state  of  absolute  servitude,  or  to  a  condition  so  pre- 
carious and  wretched,  that  they  were  often  happy  to  exchange  it  for  protec- 
tipn  and  slavery.  (4) 

The  Normans  took  advantage  of  this  state  of  weakness  and  anarchy  to 
establish  themselves  in  France.  Rollo,  one  of  their  most  illustrious  leaders, 
and  truly  a  great  captain,  after  having  spread  terror  over  all  the  maritime 
provinces  of  Europe,  sailed  up  the  Seine,  took  Rouen,  fortified  it,  and  made 
it  his  head-quarters.  Now  sure  of  a  safe  retreat,  he  set  no  bounds  to  his 
depredations;  and  soon  became  so  formidable,  that  Charles  offered  him  his 
daughter  in  marriage,  with  the  province  of  Neustria  as  her  dower.  Francon. 
archbishop  of  Rouen,  was  charged  with  the  negotiation.  He  only  demanded 
that  Rollo  should  acknowledge  Charles  as  his  superior,  and  become  a  Chris- 
tian ;  and,  in  order  to  induce  the  Norman  to  embrace  the  faith,  the  prelate 
preached  of  a  future  state,  of  hell,  and  of  heaven.  Interest,  not  superstition, 
determined  Rollo.  After  consulting  his  soldiers,  who,  like  most  gentlemen 
of  the  sword,  were  very  easy  on  the  article  of  religion,  he  agreed  to  the 
treaty;  on  condition  that  the  province  of  Bretagne  also  should  be  ceded  to 
him,  till  Neustria,  then  entirely  laid  waste  by  the  ravages  of  his  countrymen, 
could  be  cultivated-  His  request  was  granted ;  he  was  baptized,  and  did 
homage  for  his  crown,  less  as  a  vassal  than  a  conqueror.(5) 

Rollo  was  worthy  of  his  good  fortune :  he  sunk  the  soldier  in  the  sove- 
reign, and  proved  himself  no  less  skilled  in  the  arts  of  peace  than  those  of 
war.  Neustria,  which  henceforth  took  the  name  of  Normandy,  in  honour  of 
its  new  inhabitants,  soon  became  happy  and  flourishing  under  his  laws. 
Sensible  that  the  power  of  a  prince  is  always  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
his  subjects,  he  invited  the  better  sort  of  Normans  from  all  parts,  to  come 
and  settle  in  his  dominions.  He  encouraged  agriculture  and  industry;  was 
particularly  severe  in  punishing  theft,  robbery,  and  every  species  of  violence  ; 
and  rigidly  exact  in  the  administration  of  justice,  which  he  saw  was  the  great 
basis  of  policy,  and  without  which  his  people  would  naturally  return  to  their 
former  irregularities.(6)  A  taste  for  the  sweets  of  society  increased  with  thf 

(1)  Regin.  Chron.  (2)  Orig.  de  Dignitcz  ct  de  JUagist.  de  France,  par  P.  Fauchcl 

(3)  Id.  ibid.  (4)  L' Esprit  des  Loix,  lib.  xxs. 

(51  When  he  came  to  the  last  part  of  the  ceremony,  which  was  that  of  kneeling  and  kissing  the  king's 
toe,  be  positively  refused  compliance  ;  and  it  was  with  much  difficulty  he  could  be  persuaded  to  make  that 
compliment,  even  by  one  of  his  officers.  At  length,  however,  he  agreed  to  the  alternative.  But  all  the 
Normans,  it  seems,  were  bad  courtiers ;  for  the  officer  commissioned  to  represent  Rollo,  despising  so  un- 
warlike  a  prince  as  Charles,  caught  bis  majesty  by  the  foot,  and  pretending  to  carry  it  to  his  mouth  that 
he  might  kiss  it,  overturned  both  him  and  his  chair  before  all  bis  nobility.  This  insult  was  passed  ovei 
aa  an  accident,  because  the  French  nation  was  in  no  condition  to  revenge  it.  Gul.  Gemet  Chron.  de  JJuet 
4$  Jformandie. 

6}  Gul.  Gemet.  ubi  tup.    Dudon.  dt  Morib.  et  Act.  de  JVorm.  Due. 


LKT.  XIV]  MODERN    EUROPE.  B5 

conveniences  of  life,  and  the  love  of  justice  with  the  benefits  derived  from 
it ;  so  that  the  dutehy  of  Normandy  was  in  a  short  time  not  only  populous 
and  cultivated,  but  the  Normans  were  regular  in  their  manners,  and  obedient 
to  the  laws.  A  band  of  pirates  became  good  citizens,  and  their  leader  the 
ablest  prince  and  the  wisest  legislator  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

While  these  tilings  passed  in  France,  great  alterations  took  place  in  the 
neighbouring  states,  and  among  the  princes  of  the  blood  of  Charlemagne. 
The  most  remarkable  only  merit  our  attention.  Arnold,  king  of  Germany, 
and  emperor  of  the  West,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Lewis  IV.  only  seven 
years  of  age.  Another  Lewis,  king  of  Aries,  and  son  of  the  usurper  Boson, 
srossed  the  Alps,  and  obliged  pope  Benedict  IV.  to  crown  him  emperor.  But 
he  was  soon  after  surprised  at  Verona  by  Berengarius,  who  put  out  his  eyes, 
and  ascended  the  throne  of  Italy,  which  he  had  long  disputed  with  the  em- 
peror Arnold.(l)  In  the  mean  time  Lewis  IV.  died,  and  the  empire  departed 
from  the  French  to  the  Germans ;  from  the  family  of  Charlemagne  to  those 
Faxons  whom  he  had  subdued  and  persecuted,  who  became,  in  their  turn,  the 
jrotectors  of  that  religion  for  which  they  had  suffered,  and  the  persecutors  oi 
nher  Pagans.  But  this  revolution  deserves  a  particular  Letter. 


LETTER  XIV. 

The  German  Empire,  from  the  Election  of  Conrad  I.  to  the  Death  of  Henry 

the  Fowler. 

SOME  historians,  my  dear  Philip,  are  of  opinion,  that  the  German  empire 
does  not  properly  commence  till  the  reign  of  Otho  the  Great,  when  Italy  was 
reunited  to  thelmperial  dominions ;  but  the  extinction  of  the  race  of  Charle- 
nagne  in  Germany  when  the  empire  was  wholly  detached  from  France,  and 
the  imperial  dignity  became  elective,  seems  to  me  the  most  natural  period  to 
ix  its  origin,  though  the  first  two  emperors  never  received  the  papal  sanction. 
{  shall  therefore  begin  with  Conrad,  the  first  German  who  ruled  the  empire 
after  it  ceased  to  be  considered  as  an  appendage  of  France. 

Though  the  successors  of  Charlemagne  possessed  that  empire  which  he 
had  formed  by  virtue  of  hereditary  descent,  they  had  usually  procured  the 
consent  of  the  nobles  to  their  testamentary  deeds,  that  no  dispute  might 
irise  in  regard  to  the  succession.  This  precaution  was  highly  necessary  in 
those  turbulent  times,  especially  as  the  imperial  dominions  were  generally 
divided  among  the  children  of  the  reigning  family,  who  were  by  that  means 
put  in  a  better  condition  to  contest  a  doubtful  title.  What  was  at  first  no 
more  than  a  political  condescension  in  the  emperors  became  gradually  to  be 
interpreted  into  a  privilege  of  the  nobility ;  and  hence  originated  the  right 
of  those  electors,  by  whom  the  emperor  is  still  invested  with  the  imperial 
power  and  dignity.  They  had  already  deposed  Charles  the  Fat,  and  raised 
;o  the  empire  Arnold,  bastard  of  Carloman,  king  of  Bavaria.(2) 

Thus  authorized  by  custom,  the  German  nobles  assembled  at  Worms,  on 
the  death  of  Lewis  IV.  and  not  judging  Charles  the  Simple  worthy  to  govern 
them,  they  offered  the  imperial  crown  to  Otho,  Duke  of  Saxony.  But  he  de- 
clined it,  on  account  of  his  age ;  and,  with  a  generosity  peculiar  to  himself, 
recommended  to  the  electors  Conrad,  count  of  Franconia,  though  his  enemy. 
Conrad  was  accordingly  chosen  by  the  diet.  The  empire  of  Germany  then 
comprehended  Franconia,  the  provinces  of  Bamberg,  Suabia,  Constance, 
Basil,  Bern,  Lausanne,  Burgundy,  Bezancon,  Lorrain,  Metz,  Liege,  Cambray, 
Arras,  Flanders,  Holland,  Zealand,  Utrecht,  Cologne,  Treves,  Mentz,  Worms, 
Spire,  Strasbourgh,  Friezland,  Saxony,  Hesse,  Westphalia,  Thuringia,  Wet- 
teravia,  Misnia,  Brandenburg,  Pomerania,  Rugen,  Stetin,  Holstein,  Austria, 
Carinthia,  Stiria,  the  Tyrolese,  Bavaria,  the  Grisons,  and,  hi  general,  all  the 
countries  situated  among  these  provinces,  and  then-  dependencies. 

/W  Anna .  Melons.  &)  See  Lett.  X. 


86  THE   HISTORY   OF  PACT  k. 

The  reign  of  Conrad  1.  was  one  continued  scene  of  troubles,  though  he 
took  every  necessary  measure  to  support  his  authority  and  preserve  the 
tranquillity  of  the  empire.  He  was  no  sooner  elected  than  he  had  occasion 
to  march  into  Lorrain,  where  the  nobility,  being  attached  to  the  family  of 
Charlemagne,  acknowledged  Charles  the  Simple  as  their  sovereign,  and  offered 
to  put  him  in  possession  of  that  country.  Before  Conrad  could  settle  the 
affairs  of  Lorrain,  he  was  recalled  by  the  revolt  of  several  powerful  dukes, 
who  envied  his  promotion.  One  rebellion  succeeded  another ;  and,  to  com- 
plete his  misfortunes,  the  Huns,  or  Hungarians,  invaded  the  empire.  They 
had  for  some  time  been  accustomed  to  pass  the  entrenchments  formed  by 
Charlemagne  along  the  Raab  in  order  to  restrain  their  incursions ;  and,  no 
less  fierce  than  their  ancestors,  they  had  laid  every  thing  waste  before  them, 
and  borne  down  all  opposition.  In  901  they  ravaged  Bavaria,  Suabia,  Fran- 
conia :  all  Germany  felt  their  fury.  Lewis  IV.  submitted  to  pay  them  an 
annual  tribute.  They  had  several  times  pillaged  Italy ;  and  now  in  their 
way  from  that  country,  where  they  had  humbled  Berengarius  (taking  advan- 
tage of  the  troubles  of  the  empire),  they  made  irruptions  into  Saxony,  Thu- 
ringia,  Franconia,  Lorrain,  and  Alsace,  which  they  desolated  with  fire  and 
sword,  and  obliged  Conrad  to  purchase  a  peace  on  the  most  shameful  condi- 
tions^ l)  He  died  without  male  heirs,  in  919,  after  recommending  to  the 
Germanic  body  as  his  successor,  Henry  duke  of  Saxony,  son  of  that  Otho 
to  whom  he  owed  his  crown. 

Henry  I.,  surnamed  the  Fowler,  because  he  delighted  much  in  the  pursuit 
of  birds,  was  elected  with  universal  approbation  by  the  assembled  states ; 
composed  of  the  dignified  clergy,  the  principal  nobility,  and  the  heads  of 
the  army. 

This  right  of  choosing  an  emperor,  originally  common  to  all  the  members 
of  the  Germanic  body,  was  afterward  confined,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
see,  to  seven  of  the  chief  members  of  that  body,  considered  as  representa- 
tives of  the  whole,  and  of  all  its  different  orders ;  namely,  the  archbishops  of 
Mentz,  Cologne,  and  Treves,  chancellors  of  the  three  great  districts  into 
which  the  German  empire  was  anciently  divided,  the  king  of  Bohemia,  the 
duke  of  Saxony,  the  marquis  of  Brandenburg,  and  the  count  palatine  of  the 
Rhine.(2) 

It  was  still  undecided  whether  Lorrain  should  belong  to  France  or  Germany. 
Henry,  as  soon  as  the  situation  of  his  affairs  would  permit,  entered  it  with  a 
powerful  army,  and  subdued  the  whole  country.  His  next  care  was  the 
internal  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  empire.  He  published  a  general  amnesty 
in  favour  of  all  thieves  and  banditti,  provided  they  would  enlist  in  his  armies, 
and  actually  formed  them  into  a  troop.  He  created  marquises,  in  imitation 
of  Charlemagne,  to  guard  the  frontiers  of  the  empire  against  the  Barba- 
rians, and  obliged  all  vassals  and  sub-vassals  to  furnish  soldiers,  and  corn  for 
their  subsistence. (3)  He  likewise  ordered  the  principal  towns  to  be  sur- 
rounded with  walls,  bastions,  and  ditches ;  and  that  the  nobility  might  be 
habituated  to  the  use  of  arms,  even  in  time  of  peace,  he  instituted  certain 
military  games,  or  tournaments,  in  which  they  vied  with  each  other  in  dis- 
playing their  valour  and  address. 

After  taking  these  wise  measures  for  the  welfare  of  the  state,  Henry  began 
to  prepare  for  war  against  the  Hungarians,  whom  he  had  exasperated  by 
refusing  the  annual  composition,  and  other  marks  of  disdain  and  defiance. 
Enraged  at  his  firmness,  they  entered  Germany  with  an  army  of  three  hundred 
thousand  men,  breathing  vengeance.  But  Henry  being  supported  by  the 
whole  force  of  his  dominions,  though  still  inferior  to  theirs,  defeated  them 
with  great  slaughter  at  Mersbourg,  and  rescued  the  empire  from  a  barbarous 
enemy  and  an  ignominious  tribute.  (4) 

Having  thus  subdued  his  enemies,  and  secured  the  tranquillity  of  his  sub- 
jects both  at  home  and  abroad,  the  emperor  began  to  taste  the  fruits  of  hi« 
wisdom  and  valour,  when  the  pope  and  the  citizens  of  Rome  invited  him  to 

(1)    Inn.  Hildist.    Annal.  German,  ap.  Struv.     Corp.  Hist.  vol.  1. 

a  Coldast.  Politic.  Imperial,  init.  {3)  J3n*t.  Sax.  (4)  Engelhus.  p  174. 


LtT.XV]  MODERN    EUROPE.  87 

the  conquest  of  Italy,  still  distracted  by  civil  wars,  offering  him  the  holy 
unr-tion,  and  the  title  of  Augustus.  Henry,  who  was  ambitious  to  be  master 
of  Italy,  and  no  doubt  desirous  of  the  papal  sanction  to  the  imperial  crown, 
set  out  immediately  for  that  country  at  the  head  of  his  troops ;  but  being 
seized  with  an  apoplexy  on  his  march,  he  was  obliged  to  return,  and  died  at 
Mansleben  in  Thuringia.(l)  Before  his  death,  he  convoked  the  princes  of 
the  empire,  who  settled  the  succession  on  his  son  Otho. 

Henry  was  universally  allowed  to  be  the  ablest  statesman  and  the  greatest 
prince  of  Europe  in  his  time ;  but  his  successor  Otho,  afterward  styled  the 
Great,  surpassed  him  both  in  power  and  renown,  though  not  perhaps  in 
valour  or  abilities.  For,  as  Voltaire  well  observes,  the  acknowledged  heir  of 
a  great  prince,  who  has  been  the  founder  or  restorer  of  a  state,  is  always 
more  powerful  than  his  father,  if  not  very  much  inferior  in  courage  and 
talents  ; — and  the  reason  is  obvious.  He  enters  on  a  career  already  opened 
to  him,  and  begins  where  his  predecessor  ended.  Hence  Alexander  went 
farther  than  Philip,  Charlemagne  than  Pepin,  and  Otho  the  Great  than 
Henry  the  Fowler.  But  before  I  proceed  to  the  reign  of  Otho,  we  must 
take  a  view  of  the  troubles  of  France  under  Charles  the  Simple,  and  his 
unhappy  successors  of  the  Carlovingian  race. 


LETTER  XV. 

f'rance,from  the  Settlement  of  the  Normans  to  the  Extinction  of  the  Carlovingian 

Race. 

You  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  the  usurpations  of  the  nobles,  and 
the  settlement  of  the  Normans  in  France,  under  Charles  the  Simple.  He 
gave  daily  more  proofs  of  his  weakness,  and  became  equally  contemptible  to 
the  French  and  Normans.  A  violent  attempt  was  made  to  dethrone  him  by 
Robert,  duke  of  France,  brother  to  Eudes,  the  late  king.  This  rebellion  was 
defeated,  in  the  first  instance,  by  the  unexpected  answer  of  Rollo,  duke  of 
Normandy,  who  generously  declared,  when  solicited  to  join  in  it,  that  he 
was  equally  incapable  of  abetting  or  suffering  injustice  !(2)  Yet  Rollo,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  once  a  robber  by  profession.  But  then,  as  ought  to  be 
observed  in  his  vindication,  he  was  under  engagements  to  no  prince,  and 
claimed  the  protection  of  no  laws :  he  was  then  on  a  footing  with  the  Caesars 
and  the  Alexanders,  and  now  only  inferior  in  power  to  the  Alfreds  and  the 
Charlemagnes. 

After  the  death  of  Rollo,  duke  Robert  renewed  his  intrigues.  He  first 
made  the  king  dismiss  Haganon,  his  favourite  minister ;  and  next  seized  that 
minister's  treasures,  with  which  he  gratified  his  adherents.  They  declared 
Charles  incapable  of  reigning,  and  proclaimed  Robert  king  of  France.  He 
was  soon  after  killed  in  battle,  yet  his  party  triumphed ;  and  his  son  Hugh 
the  Great,  or  the  Abbot,  as  he  is  styled  by  some  writers,  on  account  of  the 
number  of  rich  abbeys  which  he  held,  had  the  crown  in  his  power.  But  he 
chose  to  place  it  on  the  head  of  Rodolph,  duke  of  Burgundy,  who  assumed 
the  title  of  king,  and  was  almost  universally  acknowledged.(3) 

In  this  extremity  Charles  had  recourse  to  William  I.  duke  of  Normandy, 
and  to  the  emperor  Henry  the  Fowler,  who  were  preparing  to  assist  him, 
when  he  was  decoyed  by  the  treacherous  friendship  of  Herbert,  count  of  Ver- 
mandois,  into  the  fortress  of  Chateau- Thierri,  and  there  detained  prisoner. 
The  unfortunate  monarch  now  became  the  sport  of  the  ambition  of  his  own 
rebellious  subjects.  The  count  released  him,  and  paid  homage  to  him  as  his 
sovereign,  when  he  wanted  to  gain  his  ends  with  Rodolph,  and  shut  him  up 
when  they  were  accomplished.  The  county  of  Laon  was  the  price  of 
Charles's  confinement.  He  died  in  prison.  (4) 

(1)  Ann.  Sax  (2)  Flodoard.  Chron.  (3)  Monach.  (4)  Glab.  Hist  tui  Temp 


88  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

After  the  death  of  Charles  the  Simple,  Rodolph  acted  with  much  spirit  and 
resolution.  He  repelled  the  incursions  of  some  new  tribes  of  Normans,  re- 
strained the  licentiousness  of  the  nobles,  and  restored  both  tranquillity  and 
vigour  to  the  kingdom.  But  as  this  prince  died  without  issue,  France  was 
again  involved  in  troubles,  and  a  kind  of  interregnum  ensued.  At'  length 
Hugh  the  Great,  still  disdaining  the  title  of  king,  or  afraid  to  usurp  it,  re- 
called Charles's  son  Lewis,  surnamed  the  Stranger,  from  England,  whither 
he  had  been  carried  by  his  mother  Egina,  daughter  of  Edward  the  Elder,  and 
granddaughter  of  the  great  Alfred. (1)  She  had  taken  refuge  in  the  court  of 
her  brother  Athelstan. 

Lewis  was  only  in  his  seventeenth  year  when  he  was  recalled,  and  in  a 
great  measure  unacquainted  with  the  affairs  of  France ;  yet  he  conducted 
himself  with  a  spirit  becoming  his  rank,  though  not  without  some  degree  of 
that  imprudence  natural  to  his  age.  He  attempted  to  rescue  himself  from 
the  tyranny  of  duke  Hugh,  who  had  been  appointed  his  tutor,  and  allowed 
him  little  more  than  the  name  of  a  king.  But,  after  a  variety  of  struggles, 
he  was  obliged  to  make  peace  with  his  vassal,  and  confirm  to  him  the  county 
of  Laon,(2)  to  which  almost  the  whole  royal  domain  was  reduced. 

Lewis  the  Stranger  died  in  954,  and  left  a  shadow  of  royalty  to  his  son 
Lothario ;  or  rather  Hugh  the  Great  was  pleased  to  grant  him  the  title  of 
king,  that  he  himself  might  enjoy  the  power. (3)  This  ambitious  nobleman, 
no  less  formidable  than  the  ancient  mayors,  died  in  955.  He  was  succeeded 
in  consequence  and  abilities  by  his  son  Hugh  Capet,  whom  we  shall  soon  see 
on  the  throne  of  France. 

Lothario  wanted  neither  courage  nor  ambition.  He  attempted  to  recover 
Lorrain,  which  had  been  for  some  time  in  the  possession  of  the  emperors  ot 
Germany.  But  Otho  II.  by  an  artful  stroke  of  policy,  disconcerted  his  mea- 
sures, and  ruined  his  reputation.  He  ceded  the  disputed  territory  to  the 
king's  brother  Charles,  on  condition  that  he  should  hold  it  as  a  fief  of  the 
empire.(4)  Lothario,  incensed  at  this  donation,  by  which  his  brother  was 
benefited  at  the  expense  of  his  character,  his  interest,  and  the  honour  of  his 
crown,  assembled  a  powerful  army,  and  marched  suddenly  to  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  where  he  surprised  the  emperor,  and  put  him  to  flight.  He  himself 
was  vanquished,  in  his  turn,  and  again  victorious. (5)  But,  after  all,  he  was 
obliged  to  resign  Lorrain,  which  was  divided  between  his  brother  Charles 
and  the  Emperor  Otho. 

Lothario  died  in  986,  and  was  quietly  succeeded  by  his  son  Lewis  V.  who 
governed  under  the  direction  of  Hugh  Capet,  during  a  short  reign  of  one 
year  and  two  months,  which  was  one  continued  scene  of  troubles.  In  him 
ended  the  Carlovingians,  or  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne,  the  second 
race  of  French  kings. — The  affairs  of  the  empire  now  claim  your  attention 


LETTER  XVI. 

'Hie  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Italian  States,  under 
Otho  the  Great,  and  his  Successors  of  the  House  of  Saxony. 

OTHO  I.  the  most  powerful  emperor  since  Charlemagne,  and  who  had  the 
nonour  of  reuniting  Italy  to  the  imperial  dominions,  was  elected  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  in  936,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  diet  there  assembled,  ac- 
cording to  the  promise  made  to  his  father,  Henry  the  Fowler.  (6)  He  began 

(1)  Flodoard.  Ckron.  (2)  Aimon.  lib.  v.  (3)  Flodoard.  Chron. 

W  Aimon.  lib.  v.  (5)  Id.  ibid. 

(o)  The  diets  of  the  German  empire  were  originally  the  same  with  the  national  assemblies  held  by  thi 
kings  of  France.  They  met  at  least  once  a  year,  and  every  freeman  had  a  right  to  be  present.  They 
were  great  councils,  in  which  the  sovereign  deliberated  with  his  subjects  concerning  their  common  inie 
re*«  But  when  the  nobles  and  dignified  clergy  acquired,  with  the  rank  of  princes,  territorial  and  inde- 
pendent jurisdiction,  the  diet  became  an  assembly  of  the  separate  states  that  formed  the  confederacy  of 
which  the  emperor  was  the  head  ;  and  in  which,  if  any  member  possessed  more  than  one  of  those  states, 
ne  was  allowed  a  proportional  number  of  suffrage*.  On  the  same  principle  the  imperial  cities,  as  soon  oa 


LET.  XVI.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  89 

his  reign  with  the  most  upright  administration,  and  seemed  desirous  to  live 
in  peace  and  tranquillity.  But  his  quiet  was  soon  interrupted  by  wars  both 
foreign  and  domestic,  which  he  had  sufficient  abilities  to  manage,  and  which 
terminated  in  his  aggrandizement. 

The  Hungarians,  according  to  custom,  invaded  the  empire,  committing 
every  species  of  barbarity.  Otho,  however,  soon  put  a  stop  to  their  ravages. 
He  came  up  with  them  on  the  plain  of  Dortmund,  in  Westphalia,  and  de- 
feated them  with  great  slaughter.  But  the  Hungarians  were  not  the  only 
enemy  that  Otho  had  to  encounter.  Immediately  after  his  return  from  this 
victory,  he  was  informed  that  the  Bohemians  had  revolted.  Bohemia  was 
then  entirely  barbarous,  and  mostly  Pagan.  Otho,  after  a  variety  of  strug- 
gles, rendered  it  tributary  to  Germany,  and  also  obliged  the  inhabitants  to 
embrace  Christianity.  (1) 

In  the  mean  time  the  emperor  was  engaged  in  many  disputes  with  his  own 
rebellious  subjects.  Arnold,  duke  of  Bavaria,  being  dead,  his  son  Everhard 
refused  to  do  homage  to  Otho,  on  pretence  that  he  was  not  his  vassal,  but 
his  ally.  This  struggle  between  the  crown  and  the  great  fiefs,  between 
power  which  always  seeks  increase,  and  liberty  which  aspires  at  independency, 
for  a  long  time  agitated  Europe.  It  subsisted  in  Spain,  while  the  Christians 
had  to  contend  with  the  disciples  of  Mahomet ;  but  after  the  expulsion  of 
the  Moors,  the  sovereign  authority  got  the  ascendant.  It  was  this  competi- 
tion that  involved  France  in  troubles  till  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Lewis 
XI.  when  the  feudal  lordships  were  gradually  stripped  of  their  power,  and 
the  nobles  reduced  to  a  dependence  on  the  prince ;  that  established  in  England 
the  mixed  government,  to  which  we  owe  our  present  greatness,  and  cemented 
in  Poland  the  liberty  of  the  nobles  with  the  slavery  of  the  people.  The  same 
spirit  hath,  at  different  times,  troubled  Sweden  and  Denmark,  and  founded 
the  republics  of  Holland  and  Swisserland ;  the  same  cause  hath  almost  every 
where  produced  different  effects ! — The  prerogatives  of  the  prince  have,  in 
some  instances,  as  in  that  of  the  German  empire,  been  reduced  to  a  mere 
title,  and  the  national  union  itself  preserved  only  in  the  observance  of  a  few 
insignificant  formalities.  The  duke  of  Bavaria  was  not  willing  to  observe 
even  these  formalities :  Otho  therefore  entered  that  country  with  an  army, 
expelled  Everhard,  and  bestowed  the  dutchy  upon  his  uncle  Bartolf,  who 
willingly  did  homage  for  such  a  present.(2)  The  emperor  at  the  same  time 
created  one  of  Everhard's  brothers  count  palatine  of  Bavaria,  and  the  other 
count  palatine  of  the  Rhine. 

This  dignity  of  count  palatine  was  revived  from  the  counts  of  the  palace 
of  the  Roman  and  French  emperors.  These  palatines  were  at  first  supreme 
judges,  and  gave  judgment  in  the  last  appeal,  in  the  name  of  the  emperor. 
They  were  also  intrusted  with  the  government  of  the  imperial  domains. 

Otho  having  thus  settled  the  internal  tranquillity  of  the  empire,  (which, 
however,  was  soon  disturbed  by  the  rebellion  of  his  brother)  assembled  a 
diet  at  Arensberg,  where  among  other  things  it  was  debated,  whether  inherit- 
ance should  descend  in  a  direct  line ;  whether,  for  example,  a  grandson,  heir 
to  an  elder  son,  should  succeed,  on  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  in  preference 
to  his  uncles.  The  diet  not  being  able  to  come  to  any  determination  on  this 
point,  though  so  clear  according  to  our  present  ideas  of  inheritance,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  cause  which  had  suggested  the  doubt  should  be  decided  by 
duel.  An  equal  number  of  combatants  were  accordingly  chosen  on  both 
sides :  and  the  suit  was  determined  in  favour  of  the  grandson,  his  champions 
being  victorious. (3)  The  decision  by  arms  was,  for  once,  consistent  with 
equity :  the  law  is  now  universal.  This  mode  of  trial  soon  became  general 
over  Europe ;  and  under  the  following  reign  a  diet  ordained,  that  doubtful 

they  oecame  free,  and  acquired  supreme  and  independent  jurisdiction  within  their  own  territories,  were 
received  as  members  of  the  diet.  (Alrumieus  de  Comittis  Rom.  Germ.  Imperii.)  The  powers  of  the 
diet  extend  to  every  thing  relative  to  the  common  interests  of  the  Germanic  body,  as  a  confederacy,  but 
not  to  the  interior  government  of  the  different  states,  unless  when  domestic  disorders  disturb  or  threaten 
ihe  peace  of  the  empire.  Psessel  Abrege. 
(1)  Dubrav.  Hist.  Bohem.  (2)  Barre,  Hist.  fMlemagne,  torn.  iii.  3)  Id  ibid- 


31)  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

cases  should  no  longer  be  decided  upon  oath,  but  by  the  sword.(l)  The 
base  at  least  were,  by  that  ordinance,  deprived  of  the  advantages  which  they 
might  have  reaped  from  perjury,  whatever  other  inconveniences  might  attend 
it.(2)  And  the  regulation  itself  proves  the  baseness  as  well  as  the  ignorance 
of  the  age. 

In  order  to  counterbalance  the  power  of  the  nobility,  Otho  augmented  the 
privileges  of  the  German  clergy.  He  conferred  on  them  dutchies  and  coun- 
ties, with  all  the  rights  of  other  princes  and  nobles :  and,  like  Charlemagne, 
the  founder  of  that  empire,  whose  lustre  he  restored,  he  propagated  Chris- 
tianity by  force  of  arms.  He  obliged  the  Danes  to  pay  him  tribute,  and 
receive  baptism,  as  an  earnest  of  their  good  behaviour.(s)  The  Bohemians, 
as  I  have  already  observed,  were  also  subjected  to  the  same  conditions. 

No  sooner  did  Otho  find  himself  in  quiet  possession  of  the  North,  than  the 
South  attracted  his  eye :  and  a  favourable  opportunity  now  offered  of  grati- 
fying his  ambition  without  injury  to  his  humanity.  Italy  was  torn  by  factions, 
and  ruled  by  tyrants.  Rodolph  II.  king  of  the  two  Burgundies,  had  dethroned 
Berengarius,  and  been  himself  dethroned  by  Hugh,  marquis  of  Provence, 
whose  son  Lothario  was  also  dethroned  by  Berengarius  II.  This  Berengarius 
kept  Adelaida,  the  widow  of  Lothario,  in  confinement.  She  invited  Otho  to  her 
relief.  He  entered  Italy  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  delivered  Adelaida, 
married  her,  and  obliged  Berengarius  to  take  an  oath  of  fealty,  generously 
leaving  him  in  possession  of  the  kingdom.(4) 

The  pleasure  which  Otho  must  have  received  from  the  conquest  of  Italy 
was  allayed  by  the  revolt  of  his  son  Ludolphus,  who,  though  already  declared 
successor  to  the  empire,  was  so  much  chagrined  at  his  father's  second  mar- 
riage, that  he  engaged  in  a  rebellion  against  him  with  the  duke  of  Franconia, 
and  other  German  noblemen.  Pursued  by  the  vigilance  of  the  emperor, 
Ludolphus  took  refuge  in  Ratisbon,  where  he  was  soon  reduced  to  extremity. 
At  the  intercession  of  his  friends,  however,  he  was  permitted  to  retire  with 
his  followers.  He  again  rebelled;  but  returning  soon  after  to  a  sense  of 
his  duty,  he  took  an  opportunity,  when  Otho  was  hunting,  to  throw  himself 
at  his  feet,  and  implored  forgiveness  in  the  most  humiliating  language. 
"  Have  pity,"  said  he,  (after  a  pathetic  pause)  "  on  your  child,  who  returns, 
like  the  prodigal  son,  to  his  father.  If  you  permit  him  to  live,  who  has  so 
often  deserved  to  die,  he  will  be  faithful  and  obedient  for  the  future,  and  have 
time  to  repent  of  his  folly  and  ingratitude."  The  emperor,  equally  surprised 
and  affected  at  this  moving  spectacle,  raised  his  son  from  the  ground,  while 
the  tears  trickled  from  his  eyes,  received  him  into  favour,  and  forgave  all  his 
followers.  (5) 

This  young  prince  afterward  died  in  Italy,  whither  he  had  been  sent  by  his 
father,  to  humble  the  ungrateful  Berengarius,  who  had  broken  his  faith  with 
the  emperor,  and  tyrannized  over  his  countrymen.  The  untimely  death  of 
Ludolphus,  which  greatly  affected  Otho,  gave  Berengarius  time  to  breathe. 
He  was  soon  absolute  master  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Lombardy,  but  not 
of  Rome,  which  was  then  governed  by  Octavianus  Sporco,  grandson  of  the 
celebrated  Marozia,  concubine  of  Sergius  III.  By  the  great  interest  of  his 
family,  he  had  been  elected  pope  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  when  he  was  not  even 
in  orders.  He  took  the  name  of  John  XII.  out  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
his  uncle,  John  XI.  and  was  the  first  pope  who  changed  his  name  on  his 
accession  to  the  pontificate. (6) 

This  John  XII.  was  a  patrician,  or  nobleman  of  Rome,  and  consequently 
united  in  the  papal  chair  the  privileges  of  both  temporal  and  spiritual  authority, 
by  a  right  whose  legality  could  not  be  disputed.  But  he  was  young,  sunk  in 
debauchery,  and  unable  to  oppose  the  tyranny  of  Berengarius  and  his  son 
Adelbert ;  he  therefore  conjured  Otho,  "  by  the  love  of  God  and  of  the  holv 
apostles,  to  come  and  deliver  the  Roman  church  from  the  fangs  of  two 

0)   Lea  Langob.  lib.  H. 

3)  This  reason  is  actually  assigned,  In  a  Barbarian  Code,  in  favour  of  the  judicial  combat,  in  cases 
ere  an  oath  might  settle  the  dispute.    Leg.  Dv.rgv.nd.  tit.  xlv.  (3)  Jinn.  Sax. 

•  I    Flodoard.  lib.  iv.  (5)  Jlnnal.  Germ,  ex  Meib.  (6)  Sigon.  Reg.  Hal.  lib.  vi 


LET.  XVL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  91 

monsters."  This  flittering  invitation  was  accompanied  with  an  offer  of  the 
papal  sanction  to  the  imperial  crown,  and  of  the  kingdom  of  Lombardy,  from 
the  Italian  states. (1) 

In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  pope,  or  rather  with  the  occasion  it 
afforded  of  gratifying  his  own  ambition,  the  emperor  assembled  a  powerful 
army,  and  marched  into  Italy,  after  having  convoked  a  diet  at  Worms,  where 
his  son  Otho,  by  Adelaida,  was  elected  his  successor;  a  necessary  precaution 
in  those  troublesome  times  for  securing  the  crown  in  a  family.  Berengarius 
fled  before  him :  he  entered  Pavia  without  opposition,  and  was  crowned  king 
of  Lombardy  at  Milan,  by  the  archbishop  of  that  city,  in  presence  of  the 
nobility  and  clergy,  who  had  formerly  deposed  Berengarius.  Rome  also 
opened  its  gates  to  Otho :  and  the  pope  crowned  him  emperor  of  the  Romans, 
dignified  him  with  the  title  of  Augustus,  and  swore  allegiance  unto  him  on 
the  tomb  where  the  body  of  St.  Peter  is  said  to  be  deposited.  (2)  The  emperor 
at  the  same  time  confirmed  to  the  Apostolic  See  the  donations  made  by  Pepin 
and  Charlemagne,  "  saving  in  all  things,"  says  he,  "  our  authority,  and  that  of 
our  son  and  descendants  ;"(3)  expressions  by  which  it  appears  that,  in  this 
grant,  Otho  reserved  to  the  empire  the  supreme  jurisdiction  over  the  papal 
territories. 

The  emperor  next  marched  in  pursuit  of  Berengarius,  whom  he  seized, 
and  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment.  Meanwhile  the  pope,  finding 
that  he  had  given  himself  a  master  in  a  protector,  repented  of  what  he  had 
done ;  broke  his  oath  to  the  emperor,  and  entered  into  a  league  with  Adelbert, 
the  son  of  Berengarius,  though  formerly  his  most  implacable  enemy.  Otho 
suddenly  returned  to  Rome ;  Adelbert  fled ;  and  a  council  deposed  John  XII. 
for  his  debaucheries,  as  was  pretended,  but  in  reality  for  revolting  against  the 
emperor,  though  his  licentiousness  was  sufficiently  enormous  to  render  him 
unworthy  of  any  civil  or  ecclesiastical  dignity.  Leo  VIII.  a  layman,  but  a 
man  of  virtue,  was  elected  his  successor;  and  the  clergy  and  citizens  of  Rome 
took  anew  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Otho,  and  bound  themselves  neither  to 
elect  or  consecrate  a  pope  without  the  consent  of  the  emperor. (4) 

But  Otho  having  occasion  to  quell  some  disturbances  in  Spoleto,  a  faction 
reinstated  John  XII.,  a  new  council  deposed  Leo,  and  a  canon  was  enacted, 
declaring,  "  that  no  inferior  can  degrade  a  superior  :"(5)  by  which  was  meant 
to  be  intimated,  not  only  that  the  bishops  and  cardinals  had  no  power  to 
depose  a  pope,  but  that  the  emperor,  as  a  layman,  owed  to  the  church  that 
very  allegiance  which  he  exacted  from  her. 

Soon  after  this  revolution,  pope  John  was  assassinated  in  the  arms  of  one 
of  his  mistresses.  His  party  however  still  refused  to  acknowledge  Leo,  and 
proceeded  to  the  election  of  Benedict  V.  who  was  accordingly  promoted  to 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  Informed  of  these  audacious  and  faithless  proceed- 
ings, Otho  marched  back  to  Rome,  which  he  reduced,  and  restored  Leo  VIII. 
to  his  dignity.  Benedict  appeared  before  a  council ;  owned  himself  guilty 
of  usurpation ;  stripped  himself  of  the  pontifical  robes ;  implored  compassion, 
and  was  banished  to  Hamburgh.  Leo  VIII.  with  all  the  clergy  and  Roman 
people,  made  at  the  same  time  a  celebrated  decree,  which  was  long  considered 
as  a  fundamental  law  of  the  empire ;  '  That  Otho,  and  his  successors  in  the 
kingdom  of  Italy,  should  always  have  the  power  of  choosing  a  successor, 
of  naming  the  pope,  and  of  giving  investiture  to  bishops."(6) 

The  affairs  of  Italy  being  thus  settled,  Otho  returned  to  Germany ;  where 
he  was  scarce  arrived,  when  the  Italians  again  revolted,  and  expelled  John 
XIII.  who  had  been  elected  in  presence  of  the  imperial  commissioners,  after 
the  death  of  Leo  VIII.  Enraged  at  so  many  instances  of  perfidy,  Otho  once 
more  entered  Italy,  and  marched  to  Rome,  which  he  treated  with  a  severity 
somewhat  bordering  on  revenge,  but  justly  merited.  He  banished  the  consuls, 
hanged  the  tribunes,  and  caused  the  prefect  of  Rome,  who  aimed  at  the  cha- 
racter of  a  second  Brutus,  to  be  whipped  naked  through  the  streets  on  an 

(1)  Didmar.  lib.  II.  (2)  Fr.  Hen.  Bod.  Synt  ex  Meib.       i A,  Exemplar.  Diplom.  Othon.  ap.  Baron 

'4)  Sigon.  W  vii.  (5j  Luitprand,lib.  vi.  (6)  JSzfrocS.inGratiana. 


93  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART!. 

ass.(l)  These  ancient  dignities  subsisted  only  in  name,  and  the  people  were 
destitute  of  every  virtue.  They  had  repeatedly  broken  their  faith  to  the 
prince,  whose  protection  they  had  craved,  and  to  whom  they  had  sworn 
allegiance;  an  attempt  therefore* to  restore  the  republic,  which  had  at  one 
time  been  considered  the  height  of  patriotism,  was  now  deservedly  punished 
as  a  seditious  revolt — though  a  person  of  no  less  eminence  than  Voltaire 
seems  to  consider  both  in  the  same  light. 

After  re-establishing  the  pope,  and  regulating  the  police  of  Rome  Otho 
retired  to  Capua,  where  he  received  ambassadors  from  Nicephorus,  the  Greek 
emperor,  who  wanted  to  renew  the  old  alliance  between  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Empires,  and  also  proposed  a  marriage  between  his  daughter  Theo- 
phania  and  Otho's  son,  lately  associated  with  his  father  in  the  supreme 
power.  In  the  course  of  this  negotiation,  however,  the  Greek  grew  jealous 
of  the  German,  and  ordered  the  nobles  to  be  assassinated  who  came  to 
receive  the  princess.  Incensed  at  so  enormous  a  perfidy,  Otho  directed  his 
generals  to  enter  Calabria,  where  they  defeated  the  Greek  army,  cut  off  the 
noses  of  their  prisoners,  and  sent  them  in  that  condition  to  Constantinople.^) 

But  peace  was  soon  after  established  between  the  two  empires.  Nicephorus 
being  put  to  death  by  his  subjects,  John  Zimices,  his  successor,  sent  the 
princess  Theophania  into  Italy,  where  her  marriage  with  young  Otho  was 
consummated,(3)  and  all  differences  happily  accommodated.  The  emperor 
returned  to  Germany,  covered  with  glory  and  success,  and  lived  to  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  victories  two  years  in  his  native  Saxony.  He  died  in  973,  after 
a  reign  of  thirty-six  years ;  during  which,  by  his  generosity  and  courage,  he 
had  justly  acquired  the  appellation  of  OTHO  the  GREAT,  the  Conqueror  of 
Italy,  and  the  Restorer  of  the  Empire  of  Charlemagne. 

Otho  II  surnamed  the  Sanguinary,  on  account  of  the  blood  spilt  under  his 
reign,  succeeded  his  father  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  •  His  youth  occasioned 
troubles,  which  his  valour  enabled  him  to  dissipate.  Henry,  duke  of  Bavaria, 
and  several  other  noblemen  rebelled,  but  were  all  reduced  in  a  short  time. 
Denmark  and  Bohemia  felt  his  power,  and  Rome,  by  new  crimes,  offered  a 
theatre  for  his  justice.  The  consul  Crescentius,  son  of  the  abandoned  The- 
odora, who  had  been  concubine  to  pope  John  X.,  revived  the  project  of 
restoring  the  republic,  and  caused  Benedict  VI.  who  adhered  to  the  emperor, 
to  be  murdered  in  prison.  His  faction  elected  Boniface  VII.,  another  faction 
elected  Benedict  VII.,  and  a  third  John  XIV.,  who  was  put  to  death  by. 
Boniface.(4) 

These  horrors  succeeded  one  another  so  rapidly  that  chronologers  have 
not  been  able  to  ascertain  the  dates,  nor  historians  accurately  to  settle  the 
names  of  the  pontiffs.  The  pope  of  one  party  was  the  antipope  of  another. 
But  Benedict  VII.  and  the  imperial  party  prevailing,  Boniface  went  in  person 
to  Constantinople,  and  implored  the  Greek  emperors,  Basil  and  Constantine, 
to  come  and  restore  the  throne  of  the  Caesars  in  Italy,  and  deliver  the  Romans 
from  the  German  yoke.(5) 

This  circumstance,  my  dear  Philip,  merits  your  attention.  The  popes,  in 
order  to  increase  their  power,  had  formerly  renounced  their  allegiance  to  the 
Greeks,  and  called  in  the  Franks.  They  afterward  had  recourse  to  the 
Germans,  who  confirmed  the  privileges  granted  them  by  the  French;  and  now 
they  seemed  ready  to  receive  their  ancient  masters,  or  rather  to  acknowledge 
no  master  at  all :  and  hence  they  have  been  accused  of  boundless  ambition 
But  in  these  proceedings  I  can  see  no  foundation  for  such  a  charge.  It  is 
natural  for  man  to  desire  sway ;  and  when  obtained,  to  seek  to  increase  it. 
When  the  popes  were  become  temporal  princes,  they  would  consequently 
seek  to  secure  and  extend  their  dominion.  If  they  had  acted  otherwise,  they 
would  not  have  been  men.  I  am  much  more  offended  at  that  dominion  of 
blind  belief,  which  they  endeavoured  to  extend  over  the  human  mind.  The 
one  was  a  generous,  the  other,  an  ignoble  ambition ;  the  first  made  only  a 

(1)  Sigon.lib.  rii.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3   Annal.  de  FEmp.  torn,  i 

(4)  Bi«on.  lib.  vi».  (5)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.XVI.]  MODERN    EUROPE  93 

few  men  change  their  sovereign,  the  latter  subjected  millions  to  a  debasing 
superstition,  and  was  necessarily  accompanied  with  hypocrisy  and  fraud. 

1  have  already  mentioned,  in  the  history  of  France,  the  dispute  about 
Lorrain,  which  Otho  II.  politically  divided  with  Lothario's  brother  Charles, 
on  condition  that  the  French  prince  should  do  homage  for  it  after  the  custom 
of  those  times,  with  bended  knee,  and  closed  hands.  That  war  being  finished, 
and  the  affairs  of  Germany  settled,  Otho  marched  into  Italy,  entered  Rome 
without  opposition,  and  severely  chastised  the  rebels ;  but  attempting  to  wrest 
Calabria  from  the  Greeks,  his  army  was  cut  in  pieces  by  the  Saracens,  whom 
the  Greeks  had  called  to  their  assistance. (1)  He  died  soon  after  at  Rome, 
while  preparing  to  take  revenge  on  the  enemy. 

Otho  III.  already  elected  emperor,  succeeded  his  father  at  twelve  years  of 
age ;  and  his  uncle  and  his  mother  disputing  the  administration,  Germany 
was  disquieted  by  a  turbulent  regency,  while  Rome  became  a  prey  to  new 
factions,  and  the  scene  of  new  crimes.  Crescentius  blew  again  the  trumpet 
of  liberty,  and  persuaded  the  Romans  they  were  still  free,  that  he  might  have 
it  in  his  power  to  enslave  them. 

But  when  the  emperor,  who  proved  a  brave  and  enterprising  prince,  came 
of  age,  all  things  were  soon  reduced  into  order.  He  defeated  the  Danes,  who 
had  invaded  the  empire,  and  entered  into  a  friendly  alliance  with  Eric,  king 
of  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Norway,  on  condition  that  German  missionaries 
should  be  allowed  to  preach  the  gospel  in  his  dominions  ;(2)  a  great  con- 
cession in  those  times,  and  highly  mortifying  to  the  worshippers  of  Odin. 

The  affairs  of  the  North  being  settled,  Otho  marched  into  Italy  at  the 
intercession  of  John  XV.  who  was  persecuted  by  Crescentius.  Alarmed  at 
the  name  of  Otho,  which  had  so  often  proved  fatal  to  their  confederates,  the 
rebels  returned  to  their  duty,  and  Crescentius  was  pardoned.  But  scarce 
had  the  emperor  left  Rome,  when  that  licentious  spirit  again  revolted ; 
expelled  Gregory  V.  the  successor  of  John  XV.  and  elevated  to  the  papal 
chair  a  creature  of  his  own,  under  the  name  of  John  XVI.  Enraged  at  this 
fresh  insult,  Otho  returned  with  a  powerful  army  to  Rome,  which  he  took  by 
assault ;  ordered  Crescentius  to  be  beheaded,  and  the  antipope  to  be  thrown 
from  the  top  of  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  after  his  eyes  had  been  put  out,  and 
his  nose  cut  off.  (3) 

Having  thus  punished  the  rebels,  restored  Gregory,  and  received  anew  the 
allegiance  of  the  citizens  of  Rome,  Otho  returned  to  Germany ;  whence  he 
proceeded  to  Poland,  which  he  erected  into  a  kingdom  at  the  solicitation  of 
the  duke  Boleslaus,  who  did  him  homage,  and  agreed  to  hold  his  dominions 
as  a  fief  of  the  empire. (4) 

But  the  Saracens  about  this  time  making  an  irruption  into  the  Campania 
of  Rome,  the  emperor  Avas  again  obliged  to  march  into  Italy.  He  expelled 
the  ravagers,  and  repaired  with  a  small  body  of  troops  to  Rome,  where  hi? 
life  was  endangered  by  a  conspiracy ;  and,  while  he  was  assembling  forces 
to  punish  the  rebels,  he  is  said  to  have  been  poisoned  by  a  pair  of  gloves  sent 
him  by  the  widow  of  Crescentius,  whom  he  had  debauched  under  a  promise 
of  marriage. (5) 

The  empire  sustained  a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  this  prince,  who  was 
equally  brave,  resolute,  and  just,  and  by  a  glorious  reign  of  eighteen  years, 
changed  the  surname  of  Infant,  which  had  been  given  him  at  his  accession, 
into  that  of  the  Wonder  of  the  World. 

As  Otho  III.  died  without  children,  a  number  of  competitors  started  up  for 
the  empire,  three  of  whom  were  supposed  alike  qualified  to  wear  the  imperial 
crown ;  Henry,  duke  of  Bavaria,  Herman,  duke  of  Suabia,  and  Ekkard,  marquis 
ol  Saxony.  But  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  being  grandson  to  Otho  II.  by  the 
female  line,  was  elected  in  consequence  of  his  superior  power,  and  confirmed 
and  consecrated  under  the  name  of  Henry  II. 

The  new  emperor  had  no  sooner  settled  the  affairs  of  Germany,  and  dis- 

<1)  Leo  Ostiensis,  lib.  ii.  (2)  Annul,  de  VEmp.  torn.  i.  (3)  Annul,  de  VEmp.  torn.  i.  Heiss, 

Hist,  de  VEmp.  torn.  i.  (4)  Baron.  (5)  Hist,  de  FEglise  •  par  Rened 


94  THEH1STORYOP  [PART  I. 

concerted  an  association  formed  against  him  by  the  king  of  Poland,  than  he 
found  it  necessary  to  march  into  Italy,  where  Ardouin,  marquis  of  Ivrea. 
had  assumed  the  sovereignty.  Ardouin  retired  at  the  approach  of  Henry, 
who  was  crowned  king  of  Lombardy,  at  Pavia,  by  the  archbishop  of  Milan ; 
but  the  marquis  having  some  partisans  in  that  city,  they  inflamed  the  populace 
to  such  a  degree,  that  the  emperor  was  in  danger  of  being  sacrificed  to  their 
fury.  The  tumult  was  at  last  quelled  by  the  imperial  troops.  Those  within 
the  city  defended  the  palace,  while  detachments  from  the  camp  scaled  the 
walls,  and  committed  terrible  slaughter  in  the  streets,  till  Henry  ordered  them 
to  desist,  and  retired  to  the  fortress  of  St.  Peter.  Thither  the  principal  citi- 
zens repaired  in  a  body ;  implored  the  emperor's  clemency ;  protested  their 
loyalty,  and  laid  the  blame  of  the  sedition  on  the  partisans  of  Ardouin,  who 
had  practised  on  the  ignorance  of  the  vulgar.  Henry  generously  admitted 
their  apology :  "  Mercy,"  said  he,  "  is  my  favourite  virtue ;  and  I  would 
much  rather  find  your  obedience  the  result  of  affection  than  the  consequence 
of  fear."(l) 

The  troubles  of  Germany  obliged  the  emperor  to  leave  Italy  without  visiting 
Rome.  But  these  being  quelled,  and  the  king  of  Poland,  who  had  revolted, 
reduced  to  obedience,  Henry  afterward  returned  to  Italy  with  his  wife  Cune- 
gunda,  and  was  crowned  in  St.  Peter's  by  Benedict  VIII.  He  at  the  same 
time  defeated  Ardouin,  who  had  reassumed  the  royal  authority  in  his  absence, 
and  quieted  the  disorders  of  Lombardy. 

Cloyed  with  success,  sick  of  human  greatness  or  of  the  toils  of  empire, 
and  charmed  with  the  tranquillity  of  a  monastic  life,  Henry  had  for  some  time 
expressed  a  desire  of  retiring  from  the  world,  and  now  actually  took  the 
religious  habit.  But  the  abbot  of  St.  Vail,  when  he  received  the  emperor  as 
a  brother,  wisely  imposed  the  following  command  on  him :  "  Monks  owe 
obedience  to  their  superior,"  said  he :  "  I  order  you  to  continue  at  the  helm  of 
government."(2) 

In  consequence  of  this  injunction,  Henry  consented  to  wear  the  crown, 
and  increased  in  prosperity  to  the  hour  of  his  death.  Yet  he  seems  to  have 
been  a  prince  of  a  weak  mind ;  for,  besides  his  monastic  whim,  it  appears 
that  he  had  made  a  vow  of  chastity.  And,  when  he  felt  his  end  approaching, 
he  sent  for  the  parents  of  his  wife  Cunegunda,  and  said,  "  You  gave  her 
to  me  a  virgin,  and  I  restore  her  a  virgin  !"(3)  Can  a  restraint  on  the 
natural  inclinations  be  a  virtue,  where  their  indulgences  does  not  interfere 
with  the  welfare  of  society?  Do  not  think  so.  Such  a  declaration  from  a 
husband  is  sufficient  to  make  us  credit  the  accusations  of  adultery  laid 
against  Cunegunda,  though  she  is  said  to  have  proved  her  innocence  b> 
handling  red-hot  iron. 


LETTER  XVII. 

England,from  the  Death  of  Alfred  to  the  Reign  of  Canute  the  Great. 

ENGLAND,  my  dear  Philip,  from  the  reign  of  Alfred  to  the  Danish  conquest, 
affords  few  objects  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  scholar,  the  gentleman,  or 
the  politician.  Little  attention  was  paid  to  arts  or  letters;  which,  with 
manners,  suffered  a  decline.  The  constitution  continued  nearly  the  same.  A 
concise  account  of  the  principal  reigns  will  therefore  be  sufficient  for  your 
purpose ;  more  especially  as  England,  during  this  period,  had  no  connexion 
with  the  affairs  of  the  continent. 

Alfred  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Edward  the  Elder,  being  the  first  of  that 
name  who  gat  on  the  English  throne.  Though  inferior  to  his  father  in  genius 
and  erudition,  he  equalled  him  in  military  talents ;  and  he  had  occasion  for 
them.  Ethelwald,  his  cousin-german,  son  to  king  Ethelbert,  Alfred's  elder 

.  ;--s.  Mb.ii.    Barre,  torn.  iii.  (2)  Annul,  de  I'Emp.  torn.  i.  '3)  Id.  ibid 


fiET.  XVII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  95 

brother,  disputed  the  crown,  and  called  in  the  Danes  to  support  his  claim. 
The  death  of  Ethelwald,  who  fell  in  a  battle  with  the  Kentish  men,(l)  decided 
the  quarrel ;  but  Edward's  wars  with  the  Danes  continued  during  the  greater 
part  of  his  reign,  though  he  was  successful  in  almost  every  engagement. 
He  died  in  925. 

Athelstan,  Edward's  natural  son,  obtained  the  kingdom  in  preference  to  his 
legitimate  children.  As  he  was  arrived  at  an  age  more  suited  to  the  cares  of 
government,  and  the  nation,  exposed  to  foreign  and  domestic  wars,  required 
a  prince  of  vigour  and  abilities,  the  stain  in  his  birth  was  overlooked. 

No  sooner  was  Athelstan  securely  seated  on  the  throne,  than  he  endea- 
voured to  give  it  stability  by  providing  against  the  insurrections  of  the 
domestic  Danes.  With  this  view  he  marched  into  Northumberland,  their 
most  considerable  settlement;  and  finding  that  they  bore  with  impatience  the 
English  yoke,  he  judged  it  prudent  to  confer  on  Sitheric,  a  Danish  nobleman, 
the  title  of  king,  and  to  give  him  his  sister  Editha  in  marriage,  as  a  farther 
motive  of  attachment.  But  this  policy,  though  apparently  wise,  proved  the 
source  of  many  troubles. 

Sitheric  died  within  a  twelvemonth  after  his  elevation ;  and  his  two  sons 
by  a  former  marriage,  Anlaf  and  Godfrid,  founding  pretensions  on  their 
father's  rank,  assumed  the  sovereignty,  without  waiting  for  the  approbation 
of  Athelstan.  But  they  were  soon  expelled  by  that  powerful  monarch,  who 
was  no  less  brave  than  politic.  The  former  took  shelter  in  Ireland,  the  latter 
in  Scotland ;  where  he  was  protected  for  some  time  by  the  clemency  of 
Constantine,  who  then  swayed  the  Scottish  sceptre.  Continually  solicited, 
however,  and  even  menaced,  by  the  English  monarch,  Constantine  at  last 
promised  to  deliver  up  his  guest ;  but  secretly  detesting  such  treachery  he 
gave  Godfrid  a  hint  to  make  his  escape.  Incensed  at  Constantine's  beha- 
viour, though  the  death  of  the  fugitive  had  freed  him  from  all  apprehensions, 
Athelstan  entered  Scotland  with  a  numerous  army,  and  reduced  the  Scots  to 
such  distress,  that  their  king  was  happy  to  preserve  his  crown  by  the  most 
humble  submission.  (2) 

Athelstan  afterward  defeated  the  Scotch,  Welsh,  and  Danes,  in  a  general 
engagement  at  Brunsbury,  in  Northumberland.  In  consequence  of  this  vic- 
tory lie  enjoyed  tranquillity  during  the  rest  of  his  reign.  He  appears  to  have 
been  one  of  the  most  able  and  active  of  our  ancient  princes ;  and  his 
memorable  law  for  the  encouragement  of  commerce  discovers  a  liberality  of 
mind  worthy  of  the  most  enlightened  ages;  that  a  merchant,  who  had  made 
two  voyages,  on  his  own  account,  to  distant  lands,  should  be  admitted  to  the 
rank  of  a  less  thane  or  gentleman. (3) 

Athelstan  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Edmund ;  who,  on  his  accession, 
met  with  some  disturbance  from  the  Northumbrian  Danes,  whom  he  reduced 
to  obedience.  He  also  conquered  Cumberland  from  the  Britons,  and  con- 
ferred that  principality  on  Malcolm,  king  of  Scotland,  on  condition  that  he 
should  do  homage  to  England  for  it,  and  protect  the  northern  counties  from 
all  future  incursions  of  the  foreign  Danes.  (4) 

Edmund's  reign  was  short,  and  his  death  violent.  As  he  was  solemnizing 
a  feast  in  Gloucestershire,  a  notorious  robber  named  Leolf,  whom  he  had 
sentenced  to  banishment,  audaciously  entered  the  hall  where  his  sovereign 
dined,  and  seated  himself  at  one  of  the  tables.  Enraged  at  such  insolence, 
Edmund  ordered  him  to  be  seized ;  but  observing  that  the  ruffian  was  pre- 
paring to  resist,  the  indignant  monarch  sprung  up,  and,  catching  him  by  the 
hair,  dragged  him  out  of  the  hall.  Meanwhile  Leolf,  having  drawn  his  dag- 
ger, lifted  his  arm  with  a  furious  blow,  and  stabbed  the  king  to  the  heart,  who 
immediately  expired  on  the  bosom  of  his  murderer.(5) 

Edmund  left  male  issue ;  but  as  his  eldest  son  was  too  young  to  govern 
the  kingdom,  his  brother  Edred  was  raised  to  the  throne.  The  beginning 
»f  Edred's  reign,  like  those  of  his  predecessors,  was  disturbed  by  the  rebel- 

(I)  Chron.  Sax.    H.  Hunting  (2)  Hovcden.  (3)  Brompton. 

(4)  Gul  Malmes.  lib.  ii.  (5)  Id.  ibid.  H.  Hunting,  lib.  v. 


96  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART! 

lion  of  the  Northumbrian  Danes.  Though  frequently  humbled,  tney  were 
never  entirely  subdued,  nor  had  they  ever  paid  a  sincere  allegiance  to  the 
English  crown.  .Their  obedience  lasted  no  longer  than  the  present  terror. 
Edred,  instructed  by  experience,  took  every  precaution  to  prevent  their  future 
insurrections.  He  settled  English  garrisons  in  their  most  considerable  towns, 
and  placed  over  them  an  English  governor,  to  watch  their  motions,  and  check 
the  first  appearance  of  revolt.  He  also  obliged  Malcolm,  king  of  Scotland, 
to  renew  his  homage  for  Cumberland.(l) 

But  Edred,  though  a  brave  and  active  prince,  lay  under  the  influence  of 
the  lowest  superstition,  and  had  blindly  delivered  over  his  conscience  to  the 
guidance  of  Dunstan,  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  commonly  called  St.  Dunstan, 
whom  he  advanced  to  the  highest  offices  of  state,  and  who  concealed  beneath 
an  appearance  of  sanctity  the  most  insatiable  and  insolent  ambition.  In 
order  to  impose  on  the  credulity  of  mankind,  this  designing  monk  had  long 
secluded  himself  from  the  world  in  a  miserable  cell,  where  he  is  said  to  have 
had  frequent  conflicts  with  the  Devil ;  until  one  day,  when  the  infernal  spirit 
attempting  to  seduce  him  in  the  shape  of  a  woman,  Dunstan  seized  him  by 
the  nose  with  a  pair  of  red-hot  pincers,  and  held  him  till  the  whole  neigh- 
bourhood resounded  with  his  bellowings.(2)  Satan,  thus  vanquished,  durst 
never  more  show  his  face.  This  story,  and  others  of  the  like  nature,  then 
seriously  believed,  obtained  the  abbot  a  reputation,  both  with  prince  and 
people,  which  no  real  piety  or  virtue  could  possibly  have  procured  him.  Soon 
after  his  return  from  solitude,  he  was  placed  by  Edred  at  the  head  of  the 
treasury ;  and,  sensible  that  he  owed  his  advancement  solely  to  the  opinion 
of  his  austerity,  he  professed  himself  a  friend  to  the  rigid  monastic  rules, 
which  about  this  time  began  to  prevail,  and  by  which  monks  were  excluded 
from  all  commerce  with  the  world  and  with  women.  He  introduced  them 
into  the  convents  of  Glastonbury  and  Abingdon,  and  endeavoured  to  render 
them  universal  in  the  kingdom.  (3) 

A  word  here  of  the  monastic  life. 

There  had  been  monasteries  in  England  from  the  first  introduction  of 
Christianity  among  the  Saxons,  and  these  establishments  had  been  greatly 
multiplied  by  the  mistaken  piety  of  the  English  princes  and  nobles,  who 
sought  to  bribe  Heaven  by  donations  to  the  church.  But  the  monks  had 
hitherto  been  a  species  of  secular  priests,  who  were  at  liberty  either  to  marry 
or  continue  single,  and  who  lived  after  the  manner  of  our  present  canons  or 
prebendaries.  They  both  intermingled  with  the  world,  in  some  degree,  and 
endeavoured  to  render  themselves  useful  to  it.  A  superstitious  devotion, 
however,  had  produced  in  Italy  a  new  species  of  monks,  who  secluded  them- 
selves entirely  from  the  world,  renounced  all  claim  to  liberty,  and  made  a 
merit  of  the  most  inviolable  chastity.  Dunstan  laid  hold  of  this  circum 
stance  to  commence  reformer.  The  popes  had  favoured  the  doctrine  from 
motives  of  general  policy,  as  detaching  the  ecclesiastical  from  the  civil 
power :  the  abbot  embraced  it  for  his  own  aggrandisement.  Celibacy  was 
therefore  extolled  as  the  universal  duty  of  priests ;  and,  in  England,  the 
minds  of  men  were  already  prepared  for  such  an  innovation,  though  it  mili- 
tates against  the  strongest  propensities  in  human  nature. 

The  first  preachers  of  Christianity  among  the  Saxons  had  carried  to  the 
most  extravagant  height  the  praises  of  inviolable  chastity;  the  pleasures  of 
love  had  been  represented  as  incompatible  with  Christian  perfection;  and 
an  abstinence  from  all  commerce  with  the  softer  sex,  certainly  the  highest 
act  of  self-denial,  was  deemed  a  sufficient  atonement  for  the  greatest  enormi- 
ties. It  therefore  naturally  followed,  as  a  consequence  of  this  doctrine,  that 
those  who  officiated  at  the  altar  should  at  least  be  free  from  such  pollution. 
And  Dunstan  and  his  reformed  monks  knew  well  how  to  avail  themselves 
of  these  popular  topics,  and  set  off  their  own  character  to  the  best  advantage. 
On  the  other  hand,  their  rivals  the  secular  clergy,  who  were  numerous  and 
rich,  and  possessed  of  the  ecclesiastical  dignities,  defended  themselves  with 

U)  Hoveden.  (2)  Osberne  in  Anglici.  Sacra,  vol.  ii  (3)  .d. ibid. 


LET.  XVII.]  MODERN    EUROPE  97 

vigour,  and  boldly  maintained  the  sanctity  of  the  institution  of  marriage.(l) 
The  whole  nation  was  thrown  into  a  ferment. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  power  of  the  monks  received  a  check  by  the  death 
of  Edred,  the  dupe  of  their  ambition.  He  left  children,  but  in  an  infant 
state  ;  the  crown  was  therefore  conferred  on  Edwy,  his  nephew,  son  to  Ed- 
mund his  brother  and  predecessor.(2) 

This  prince,  who  was  only  seventeen  years  of  age  at  his  accession,  possessed 
an  elegant  person,  and  the  most  amiable  and  promising  virtues.  But  neither 
the  graces  of  his  figure  nor  the  accomplishments  of  his  mind  could  screen  him 
from  the  fury  of  the  monks,  whom  he  unhappily  offended  in  the  beginning  of 
kis  reign.  The  beautiful  Elgiva,  his  second  or  third  cousin,  had  made  an 
impression  on  the  susceptible  heart  of  Edwy;  and,  as  he  was  at  an  age  when 
the  tender  passions  are  most  keenly  felt,  he  ventured  to  marry  her,  though 
within  the  degrees  of  affinity  prohibited  by  the  church.  The  austerity  of  the 
monks  made  them  particularly  violent  on  this  occasion :  the  king  therefore 
entertained  a  strong  aversion  against  them,  and  determined  to  oppose  their 
project  of  expelling  the  seculars  from  the  convents.  But  he  had  soon  reason 
to  repent  his  rashness  in  provoking  such  dangerous  enemies.  On  the  day  of 
his  coronation,  while  the  nobility,  assembled  in  the  great  hall,  were  indulging 
themselves  in  riot  and  disorder,  after  the  example  of  their  German  ancestors, 
Edwy,  attracted  by  the  gentler  pleasures  of  love,  retired  to  the  queen's  apart- 
ment, and  gave  loose  to  his  fondness,  which  was  but  feebly  checked  by  the 
presence  of  her  mother.  Dunstan  conjectured  the  reason  of  the  king's 
absence ;  and  carrying  along  with  him  Odo,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  over 
whom  he  had  gained  an  absolute  ascendant,  he  burst  into  the  royal  privacy; 
upbraided  Edwy  of  lasciviousness,  tore  him  from  the  arms  of  his  consort, 
and  pushed  him  back  ignominiously  into  the  company  of  the  nobles,  loading 
the  queen  with  the  most  opprobrious  epithets. (3) 

Though  Edwy  Avas  young,  and  had  the  prejudices  of  the  age  to  encounter, 
he  found  means  to  revenge  this  public  insult.  He  accused  Dunstan  of  mal- 
versation in  office,  while  at  the  head  of  the  treasury;  and  as  that  minister 
did  not  clear  himself  of  the  charge,  the  king  banished  him  the  realm.  But 
Dunstan's  party  were  not  idle  during  his  absence.  They  poisoned  the  minds 
of  the  people  to  such  a  degree  by  declamations  against  the  king,  and  pane- 
gyrics on  the  abbot's  sanctity,  that  the  royal  authority  was  despised,  and 
still  more  outrageously  insulted.  Archbishop  Odo  ordered  the  queen  to  be 
seized ;  and  after  her  face  had  been  seared  with  a  red-hot  iron,  in  order  to 
destroy  that  fatal  beauty  which  had  ensnared  the  king,  she  was  carried  into 
Ireland,  there  to  remain  in  perpetual  exile. (4) 

Edwy,  finding  resistance  ineffectual,  was  obliged  to  consent  to  a  divorce, 
which  Avas  pronounced  by  the  imperious  Odo.  But  these  were  not  the  only 
evils  which  attended  this  unfortunate  prince  and  his  consort.  The  amiable 
Elgiva  was  made  prisoner,  by  her  persecutors,  and  cruelly  murdered  in 
returning  to  the  embraces  of  the  king,  whom  she  still  considered  as  her  hus- 
band. Nothing  less  than  her  death  could  satisfy  the  archbishop  and  the 
monks.  Edwy  was  dethroned  by  the  same  influence,  in  order  to  make  room 
for  his  brother  Edgar,  a  boy  of  thirteen  years  of  age.  Dunstan  returned  to 
England  and  took  upon  him  the  government  of  the  young  king  and  his  party. 
He  was  first  installed  in  the  see  of  Worcester,  next  in  that  of  London,  and 
afterward  in  that  of  Canterbury ;  of  all  which,  lie  long  kept  possession.  In 
the  mean  time  the  unhappy  Edwy  was  excommunicated,  and  pursued  by  his 
enemies  with  unrelenting  vengeance. (5)  But  his  death  soon  freed  them  from 
all  inquietude,  and  left  Edgar  in  peaceable  possession  of  the  throne. 

The  reign  of  Edgar  is  one  of  the  most  fortunate  in  the  English  annals. 
Though  he  ascended  the  throne  in  early  youth,  he  soon  discovered  an  excel- 
lent capacity  for  government.  He  showed  no  aversion  against  war:  he  took 
the  wisest  precautions  for  public  safety ;  and,  by  his  vigilance  and  foresight 

(1)  Spelm.  Cm.  vol.  i.  (2)  Chron.  Sax.  K3)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii 

(4)  Osbeni''.  i  hi  *"?,  (5)  Brompton. 

VOL   f.— C  5 


J8  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PABT  I. 

he  was  enabled  to  indulge  his  natural  inclination  for  peace.  He  maintained 
a  body  of  troops  in  the  North,  to  keep  the  mutinous  Northumbrians  in  awe, 
and  to  repel  the  inroads  of  the  Scots.  Ho  also  built  and  supported  a  power- 
ful navy ;  aid,  in  order  to  habituate  the  seaman  to  the  practice  of  their  pro- 
fession, as  well  as  to  intimidate  his  enemies,  he  stationed  three  squadrons  of 
the  coasts  of  his  kingdom,  and  commanded  them  to  make  by  turns  the  circui 
of  his  dominions.  The  foreign  Danes  durst  not  approach  a  country  whicl 
was  so  strongly  defended :  the  domestic  Danes  saw  destruction  to  be  th( 
inevitable  consequence  of  insurrection ;  and  the  princes  of  Wales,  of  Scotland 
and  even  of  Ireland,  were  happy  to  appease  so  potent  a  monarch  by  submis- 
sions^!) 

But  the  means  by  which  Edgar  more  especially  maintained  his  authority 
at  home,  and  preserved  public  tranquillity,  was  paying  court  to  Dunstan  and 
the  monks,  who  had  violently  placed  him  on  the  throne,  and  whose  claim  to 
superior  sanctity  gave  them  an  ascendant  over  the  people.  He  favoured 
their  scheme  of  reformation,  as  it  was  called,  but  in  reality  of  dispossessing 
the  secular  canons  of  the  monasteries  ;  he  consulted  them  in  the  administra- 
tion of  all  ecclesiastical  and  even  of  many  civil  affairs ;  and  although  the 
vigour  of  his  genius  prevented  him  from  being  entirely  guided  by  them,  he 
took  care  never  to  disoblige  them.  Hence  he  is  represented  by  the  monkish 
writers  not  only  as  a  warrior  and  a  politician,  a  character  which  he  seems  to 
have  merited,  but  also  as  a  saint  and  a  man  of  virtue,  though  he  was  licen- 
tious in  the  highest  degree,  and  violated  every  law  human  and  divine.  His 
very  amours  are  a  compound  of  barbarity  and  brutality.  He  broke  into  a 
convent,  carried  of  a  nun  by  force,  and  even  committed  violence  on  her  per- 
son.^) Struck  also  with  the  charms  of  a  nobleman's  daughter,  in  whose  house 
he  was  entertained,  he  demanded  that  she  should  pass  that  very  night  with 
him,  without  once  consulting  the  young  lady's  inclinations. (3)  But  his  most 
remarkable  amour  was  with  the  beautiful  Elfrida ;  and,  as  it  is  connected 
with  the  history  of  the  following  reign,  I  shall  relate  it  circumstantially.  It 
will  give  you  at  once  an  idea  of  the  manners  of  the  age  and  of  the  character 
of  Edgar. 

Elfrida,  the  only  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  Olgar,  earl  of  Devonshire, 
though  educated  in  the  country,  and  a  stranger  at  court,  had  filled  all  England 
with  the  reputation  of  her  beauty.  Edgar,  who  was  never  indifferent  to  sny 
report  of  this  kind,  sent  Athelwold,  his  favourite,  to  see  if  the  young  lady 
was  indeed  as  fair  as  fame  had  represented  her.  Athelwold  no  sooner  saw 
Elfrida  than  he  was  inflamed  with  love,  and  determined  to  sacrifice  to  it  his 
fidelity  to  his  master :  he  therefore  told  Edgar,  on  his  return,  that  the  fortune 
and  quality  of  Elfrida  alone  had  been  the  cause  of  the  adulation  paid  her, 
and  that  her  charms,  so  far  from  being  extraordinary,  would  have  been  en- 
tirely overlooked  in  a  woman  of  inferior  condition.  "  But,"  added  he,  when 
he  found  he  had  blunted  the  edge  of  the  king's  curiosity,  "  though  she  has 
nothing  to  claim  the  attention  of  a  sovereign,  her  immense  wealth  would, 
to  a  subject,  be  a  sufficient  compensation  for  the  homeliness  of  her  person ; 
and,  although  it  could  never  produce  on  me  the  illusion  of  beauty,  it  might 
make  her  a  convenient  wife  !" 

Edgar,  glad  of  an  opportunity  of  establishing  his  favourite's  fortune,  not 
only  gave  his  approbation  to  the  projected  match,  but  forwarded  its  success 
by  recommending  him  in  the  wannest  manner  to  the  earl  of  Devonshire ;  so 
that  Athelwold  was  soon  made  happy  in  the  possession  of  his  beloved  Elfrida. 
Dreading,  however,  the  eyes  of  the  king,  he  still  found  some  pretence  for  de- 
taining his  wife  in  the  country.  But  all  his  cautions  were  insufficient  to  con- 
ceal his  amorous  treachery.  Royal  favourites  are  never  without  enemies ; 
Edgar  was  soon  informed  of  the  truth ;  but  before  he  would  execute  ven- 


LET.  XVII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  93 

geance  on  Athelwold's  perfidy,  he  resolved  to  sa'tisfy  himself  fully  in  regard 
to  Elfrida's  beauty.  He  therefore  told  his  deceiver,  that  he  intended  to  pay 
him  a  visit  at  his  castle,  and  be  introduced  to  his  wife,  whose  beauty  he  had 
formerly  heard  so  much  praised.  Athelwold  was  thunderstruck  at  the  pro- 
posal ;  but,  as  he  could  not  refuse  such  an  honour,  he  only  begged  leave  to  go 
a  few  hours  before  his  royal  guest,  that  he  might  make  proper  preparations 
for  his  reception.  On  his  arrival  he  fell  at  his  wife's  feet,  discovered  the 
whole  secret,  and  conjured  her,  if  she  valued  either  her  own  honour  or  his 
life,  to  disguise  as  much  as  possible  that  fatal  beauty  which  had  tempted  him 
to  deceive  his  prince  and  friend.  Elfrida  promised  compliance,  though 
nothing  appears  to  have  been  farther  from  her  thoughts.  She  adorned  her 
person  with  the  most  exquisite  art,  and  called  forth  all  her  charms ;  not 
despairing,  it  should  seem,  yet  to  reach  that  exalted  station  of  which  Athel- 
wold's  fondness  had  deprived  her.  The  event  was  answerable  to  her  wishes : 
she  excited  at  once  in  Edgar's  bosom  the  warmest  love,  and  the  keenest 
desire  of  revenge.  The  king,  however,  who  could  dissemble  those  passions, 
as  well  as  feel  them,  beheld  her  with  seeming  indifference;  and  having 
seduced  Athelwold  into  a  wood,  under  pretence  of  hunting,  he  stabbed 
him  with  his  own  hand,  took  Elfrida  to  court,  and  soon  after  publicly  married 
her.(l)  % 

This  reign  is  remarkable  for  the  extirpation  of  wolves  from  England. 
Edgar  took  great  pleasure  in  pursuing  those  ravenous  animals :  and  when  he 
found  they  had  all  taken  shelter  in  the  mountains  and  forests  of  Wales,  he 
changed  the  tribute  of  money  imposed  on  the  Welsh  princes  by  Athelstan 
into  an  annual  tribute  of  three  hundred  head  of  wolves(2) ;  a  policy  which 
occasioned  so  much  diligence  in  hunting  them,  that  the  breed  soon  became 
extinct  in  the  island. 

Edgar  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Edward,  commonly  called  the  Martyr, 
whom  he  had  by  his  first  wife,  the  daughter  of  earl  Ordmer. 

The  succession  of  Edward  did  not  take  place  without  much  opposition. 
Elfrida,  his  step-mother,  had  a  son  named  Ethelred,  only  seven  years  old, 
whom  she  attempted  to  raise  to  the  throne.  But  the  principal  nobility, 
dreading  her  imperious  temper,  opposed  a  measure  which  must  increase  her 
authority,  if  not  put  her  in  possession  of  the  regency ;  and  Dunstan,  to  whom 
it  was  of  great  importance  to  have  a  king  favourable  to  his  cause,  resolutely 
crowned  and  anointed  Edward,  over  whom  he  had  already  gained  an  absolute 
ascendant.  His  short  reign  was  remarkable  for  nothing  but  a  continual 
struggle  between  the  monks  and  the  secular  clergy.  He  was  treacherously 
murdered  at  the  instigation  of  Elfrida,  in  order  to  make  room  for  her  son 
Ethelred. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  Ethelred,  a  prince  without  courage  or  capacity, 
England  was  visited  anew  by  the  Danes.  The  wise  regulations  of  Alfred, 
and  the  valour  of  his  iVnmediate  successors,  had  long  deterred  those  ravagers 
from  approaching  the  British  shores;  and  their  settlement  in  France  had 
required,  for  a  time,  most  of  their  superfluous  hands.  But  a  new  race  of 
men  having  now  sprung  up  in  the  northern  regions,  who  could  no  longer  dis- 
burthen  themselves  on  Normandy,  and  England  being  no  longer  governed  by 
an  Alfred  or  an  Edgar,  they  ventured  to  renew  their  depredations.  Ethelred, 
instead  of  rousing  his  people  to  defend  with  courage  their  prince  and  their 
property,  meanly  compounded  with  the  enemy  for  his  safety,  by  bribing  them 
to  depart  the  kingdom.  (3) 

That  shameful  expedient,  which  invited  assailants  instead  of  repelling 
them,  was  attended  with  the  success  that  might  have  been  expected ;  the 
Danes  again  returned,  and  were  again  bribed  to  depart.  In  the  mean  time 
Ethelred,  from  a  policy  incident  to  weak  princes,  embraced  the  cruel  resolu- 
tion of  massacring  the  Danes  throughout  all  his  dominions.  Secret  orders 
were  accordingly  given  to  commence  the  execution  on  the  same  day,  and  all 

T>  GuUMalmes.  Hoveden,  Brompton,  ubi  sup.  (2)  GuU  Malraes.  lib.  ii.  <3)  Ibid. 

G2 


100  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

the  Danes  were  destroyed  Without  mercy.  Even  Gunilda,  sister  to  the  king 
of  Denmark,  who  had  married  Earl  Paling,  and  embraced  Christianity,  was 
seized  and  put  to  death  by  Ethelred,  after  having  seen  her  husband  and  chil- 
dren butchered  before  her  face.(l) 

This  unhappy  princess  foretold,  in  the  agonies  of  despair,  that  her  murder 
would  soon  be  revenged  by  the  total  ruin  of  the  English  nation.  Never  was 
prophecy  better  fulfilled,  nor  ever  did  barbarous  policy  prove  more  fatal  to  its 
projectors.  Sweyn,  king  of  Denmark,  breathing  vengeance  for  the  slaughter 
of  his  countrymen,  landed  speedily  in  the  West  of  England,  and  desolated 
the  whole  kingdom  with  fire  and  sword.  The  English,  sensible  what  they 
had  to  expect  from  a  barbarous  and  enraged  enemy,  attempted  several  times 
to  make  a  stand ;  but  they  were  successively  betrayed  by  Alferic  and  Edric, 
governors  of  Mercia.  The  base  and  imprudent  expedient  of  money  was 
again  tried,  till  the  nation  was  entirely  drained  of  its  treasure,  but  without 
effect.  The  Danes  continued  their  ravages :  and  Ethelred,  equally  afraid  of 
the  violence  of  the  enemy  and  the  treachery  of  his  own  subjects,  fled  over  to 
his  brother-in-law,  Richard  duke  of  Normandy,  who  received  him  with  a 
generosity  that  does  honour  to  his  memory.  (2) 

Sweyn  died  soon  after  Ethelred  left  England,  and  before  he  had  lime  to 
establish  himself  in  his  newly  acquired  dominions.  Ethelred  was  recalled ; 
but  his  misconduct  was  incurable.  On  resuming  the  government,  he  dis- 
covered the  same  incapacity,  indolence,  cowardice,  and  credulity,  which  had 
so  often  exposed  him  to  the  insults  of  his  enemies ;  and  the  English  found  in 
Canute,  the  son  and  successor  of  Sweyn,  an  enemy  no  less  terrible  than  his 
father.  An  army  was  assembled  against  him  under  the  command  of  Edric 
and  prince  Edmond.  Edric,  whom  the  infatuated  king  still  trusted,  continued 
his  perfidious  machinations.  After  endeavouring  in  vain  to  get  the  prince 
into  his  pow,er,  he  found  means  to  dissipate  the  army,  and  then  openly  revolted 
to  Canute  with  forty  vessels. (3) 

Notwithstanding  this  misfortune,  Edmond,  whose  intrepidity  never  failed 
him,  collected  the  remaining  force  of  the  kingdom,  and  was  soon  in  a  condi- 
tion to  give  the  enemy  battle.  But  the  king  had  so  often  experienced  the 
perfidy  of  his  subjects,  that  he  had  lost  all  confidence  in  them :  he  therefore 
refused  to  take  the  field ;  so  that  the  prince's  vigorous  measures  were  rendered 
altogether  ineffectual,  the  army  being  discouraged  by  the  timidity  of  their 
sovereign.  As  the  north  had  already  submitted  to  Canute's  power,  Edmond 
retired  to  London,  determined  there  to  maintain  the  small  remains  of  English 
liberty.  In  the  mean  time  his  father  died,  after  an  inglorious  reign  of  thirty 
five  years. 

Ethelred  left  two  sons  by  his  first  marriage :  Edmond,  who  succeeded  him, 
and  Edwy,  whom  Canute  afterward  murdered.  His  two  sons  by  the  second 
marriage,  Alfred  and  Edward,  were  conveyed  into  Normandy  by  Queen 
Emma,  immediately  after  the  death  of  their  father.  * 

Edmond,  who  received  the  name  of  Ironside  from  his  hardy  valour,  possessed 
courage  and  abilities  sufficient  to  have  saved  his  country,  not  only  from 
sinking  under  its  present  calamities,  but  even  to  have  raised  it  from  that  abyss 
of  misery  into  which  it  was  already  fallen,  had  the  English,  among  their 
:>ther  misfortunes,  not  been  infected  with  treachery  and  disloyalty.  But 
these  rendered  his  best  concerted  schemes  abortive,  and  his  noblest  efforts 
fruitless.  The  traitor  Edric  pretended  to  return  to  his  duty;  and,  as  Edmond 
had  no  general  in  whom  he  could  repose  more  confidence,  he  gave  him  a  con- 
siderable command  in  the  army.  A  battle  was  soon  after  fought  at  Assington 
m  Essex.  Edric  deserted  to  the  enemy,  in  the  beginning  of  the  day,  and 

(1)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii.  lien.  Hunting,  lib.  vi.  Contrary  to  the  testimony  of  most  of  our  old  English 
historians,  who  represent  the  massacre  of  the  Danes  as  universal,  Wallingford  (page  548)  says  it  affected 
anly  a  military  body  in  the  pay  of  the  king,  dispersed  over  the  country ;  become  insolent  in  an  uncommor, 
.  and  in  some  measure  masters  of  the  kingdom ;  which,  instead  of  protecting,  they  often  ravaged, 
in  conjunction  with  the  foreign  Danes.  After  so  great  a  lapse  of  time,  it  is  impossible  to  decide  upon  the 
n.. -iltcr  with  certainty;  but  as  the  kingdoms  of  Northumberland  and  East  Anglia  were  chiefly  peopled 
.1  i'li  Dares,  Wallingford's  account  seems  most  probable. 

•!.  H«n.  Hunting,  lib  vi.  (3)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii. 


LET.  XVIII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  101 

occasioned  the  total  defeat  of  the  English  army,  with  a  great  slaughter  of 
the  nobility. 

The  indefatigable  Edmond,  however,  had  still  resources.  He  assembled 
a  new  army  at  Gloucester,  and  was  again  in  a  condition  to  dispute  the  field ; 
when  the  Danish  and  English  nobility,  equally  tired  of  the  struggle,  obliged 
their  kings  to  come  to  terms.  The  kingdom  was  divided  between  them  by 
treaty.  Canute  reserved  to  himself  the  northern  division;  Mercia,  East- 
Anglia,  and  Northumberland,  which  he  had  entirely  subdued :  the  southern 
parts  were  left  to  Edmond,  who  survived  the  treaty  only  a  month.  He  was 
murdered  at  Oxford  by  two  of  his  chamberlains,  accomplices  of  Edric,  whose 
treachery  made  way  for  the  accession  of  Canute  the  Dane  to  the  throne  of 
England  ;(1)  Edwin  and  Edward,  the  sons  of  Edraond,  being  yet  in  their 
infancy. 


LETTER  XVIII. 

France  from  the  Accession  of  Hugh  Capet,  to  the  Invasion  of  England  by 
William,  Duke  of  Normandy. 

WHILE  England  changed  its  line  of  sovereigns,  and  Germany  its  form  ol 
government,  France  also  had  changed  its  reigning  family,  and  was  become, 
like  Germany,  a  government  entirely  feudal.  Each  province  had  its  heredi- 
tary counts  or  dukes.  He  who  could  only  seize  upon  two  or  three  small 
villages,  paid  homage  to  the  usurper  of  a  province ;  and  he  who  had  only  a 
castle  held  it  of  the  possessor  of  a  town.  The  kingdom  was  a  monstrous 
assemblage  of  members,  without  any  compact  body. 

Of  the  princes,  or  nobles,  who  held  immediately  of  the  crown,  Hugh  Capet 
was  not  the  least  powerful.  He  possessed  the  dukedom  of  France,  which 
extended  as  far  as  Touraine :  he  was  also  count  of  Paris ;  and  the  vast 
domains  which  he  held  in  Picardy  and  Champagne  gave  him  great  authority 
in  those  provinces.  He  therefore  seized  the  crown  on  the  death  of  Lewis  V. 
and  brought  more  strength  to  it  than  he  derived  from  it ;  for  the  royal  domain 
was  now  reduced  to  the  cities  of  Laon  and  Soissons,  with  a  few  other  disputed 
territories. (2) 

The  right  of  succession  belonged  to  Charles,  duke  of  Lorraine,  uncle  to 
Lewis  V.  but  the  condition  of  vassal  of  the  empire  appeared  to  the  French 
nobility  a  sufficient  reason  for  excluding  him,  and  Hugh  Capet  secured  the 
favour  of  the  clergy  by  resigning  to  them  the  abbeys  which  had  been  heredi- 
tary in  his  family.  An  extreme  devotion,  real  or  assumed,  recommended  him 
to  the  people ;  and  particularly  his  veneration  for  relicks.  Force  and  address 
seconded  his  ambition,  and  the  national  aversion  against  his  rival  completed 
its  success.  He  was  acknowledged  in  an  assembly  of  the  nobles ;  he  was 
anointed  at  Rheims ;  and  he  farther  established  his  throne,  by  associating  his 
son  Robert  in  the  government  of  the  kingdom,  and  vesting  him  with  those 
ensigns  of  royalty  which  he  prudently  denied  himself,  as  what  might  give 
umbrage  to  men  who  were  lately  his  equals. (3) 

In  the  mean  time  the  duke  of  Lorrain  entered  France,  made  himself  master 
of  Laon  by  assault,  and  of  Rheims  by  the  treachery  of  archbishop  Arnold, 
his  relation.  But  this  unhappy  prince  was  afterward  himself  betrayed  by  the 
bishop  of  Laon,  and  made  prisoner  for  life.  (4) 

A  council  was  assembled  for  the  trial  of  Arnold.  He  was  degraded ;  and 
Gerbert,  a  man  of  learning  and  genius,  who  had  been  tutor  to  the  emperor 
Otho  III.  and  to  the  king's  son,  Robert,  was  elected  archbishop  of  Rheims. 
But  the  court  of  Rome  not  being  consulted  in  this  transaction,  the  election 
was  declared  void,  Arnold  was  re-established,  and  Gerbert  deposed.  The 

(1)  Gul.  Malmes.     Hen  Hunting,  ubi  sup.  (2)  Glab.  Hist,  sui  Temp. 

(3)  Id.  ibid.  (4)  Sigeberti,  Chrcn.      ' 


102  THE    HISTORY  OF  [PART  1 

first,  however,  remained  in  prison  till  the  death  of  Hugh  Capet,  who  was 
more  afraid  of  Arnold's  intrigues  than  of  the  thunder  of  the  Vatican  ;(l) 
while  the  second,  having  found  an  asylum  in  the  court  of  his  pupil  Otho, 
became  archbishop  of  Ravenna,  and  afterward  pope,  under  the  name  of 
Silvester  II. 

Nothing  else  memorable  happened  during-  the  reign  of  Hugh  Capet,  who 
conducted  all  his  affairs  with  great  prudence  and  moderation ;  and  had  the 
singular  honour  of  establishing  a  new  family,  and  in  some  measure  a  new 
form  of  government,  with  few  circumstances  of  violence,  and  without  shed- 
ding blood.  He  died  in  the  fifty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  the  eighth  .of 
his  reign,  and  was  quietly  succeeded  by  his  son  Robert ;  a  prince  of  a  less 
vigorous  genius,  though  not  of  a  less  amiable  disposition. 

The  most  remarkable  circumstance,  in  the  reign  of  Robert,  and  the  most 
worthy  of  our  attention,  is  his  excommunication  by  the  pope.  This  prince 
had  espoused  Bertha,  his  cousin  in  the  fourth  degree ;  a  marriage  not  only 
lawful  according  to  our  present  ideas  of  things,  and  justified  by  the  practice 
of  all  nations,  ancient  and  modern,  but  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  state, 
she  being  the  sister  of  Rodolph,  king  of  Burgundy.  But  the  clergy,  among 
their  other  usurpations,  had  about  this  time  made  a  sacrament  of  marriage, 
and  laid  the  most  essential  of  civil  engagements  under  spiritual  prohibitions, 
which  extended  even  to  the  seventh  degree  of  consanguinity.  The  popes, 
politically  arrogated  to  themselves  a  special  jurisdiction  over  this  first  object 
of  society,  and  that  on  which  all  the  rest  hang.  Gregory  V.  therefore  under- 
took to  dissolve  the  marriage  between  Robert  and  Bertha,  though  it  had  been 
authorized  by  several  bishops;  and  in  a  council  held  at  Rome,  without 
examining  the  cause,  and  without  hearing  the  parties,  he  published,  with  the 
most  despotic  authority,  an  imperious  decree,  which  ordered  the  king  and 
queen  to  be  separated,  under  peril  of  excommunication.  And  all  the  bishops 
who  had  countenanced  the  pretended  crime  were  suspended  from  their  func- 
tions, until  such  time  as  they  should  make  satisfaction  to  the  Holy  See. (2) 

Robert,  however,  persisted  in  keeping  his  wife,  and  thereby  incurred  the 
sentence  of  excommunication ;  which,  according  to  cardinal  Peter  Damien, 
an  historian  of  those  times,  had  such  an  effect  on  the  minds  of  men,  that  the 
king  was  abandoned  by  all  his  courtiers,  and  even  by  his  own  domestics,  two 
servants  excepted.  And  these  threw  to  the  dogs  all  the  victuals  which  their 
master  left  at  meals,  and  purified,  by  fire,  the  vessels  in  which  he  had  been 
served :  so  fearful  were  they  of  what  had  been  touched  by  an  excommunicated 
person  !(3)  The  same  credulous  author  adds,  that  the  queen  was  brought  to 
bed  of  a  monster,  which  had  a  neck  and  head  like  a  goose — a  certain  proof 
and  punishment  of  incest !  But  as  Voltaire  very  justly  observes,  there  was 
nothing  monstrous  in  all  this  affair,  but  the  insolence  of  the  pope,  and  the 
weakness  of  the  king ;  who,  giving  way  to  superstitious  terrors,  or  afraid  of 
civil  commotions,  at  last  repudiated  his  wife  Bertha,  and  married  Constance, 
daughter  to  the  count  of  Aries,  in  whom  he  found  an  imperious  termagant, 
instead  of  an  amiable  consort.  Gregory  also  obliged  him  to  restore  the 
traitor  Arnold  to  the  see  of  Rheims.(4) 

In  the  mean  lime  Robert  had  it  in  his  power  to  have  been  master  of  the 
popes,  if  he  had  possessed  the  ambition  and  the  vigour  necessary  for  such  an 
enterprise.  After  the  death  of  Henry  II.  the  last  emperor  of  the  house  of 
Saxony,  the  Italians,  sick  of  the  German  dominion,  offered  their  crown  and 
the  imperial  dignity  to  the  king  of  France.  Robert,  however,  had  the  reso- 
lution to  refuse  it :  and  not  only  his  own  subjects,  but  Europe  in  general  was 

(1)  Sigeberti,  Chron.  (2)  Glab.  Hist,  sui  Temp. 

(3)  Let  ua  not,  however,  with  certain  sarcastical  historians,  represent  this  mode  of  inspiring  religions 
terrors  as  an  invention  of  the  Christian  priesthood.  For  Cesar  tells  us  that,  among  the  ancient  Gauls,  if 
any  one,  whether  magistrate  or  private  person,  refused  to  submit  to  the  sentence  of  the  Druids,  lie  wag 
ixterdictcd  the  sacrifices  ;  and  that,  while  under  such  prohibition,  all  men  shunned  him,  lest  they  should 
infer  by  the  contagion  of  his  impiety.  (Cipsar,  Bell.  Gal.  lib.  vi.)  The  power  of  EXCOMMUNICATION, 
or  the  authority  of  excluding  the  vicious  and  refractory  from  religious  privileges,  is  necessary  indeed 
to  every  body  of  priests.  But  ii  ought  to  extend  no  farttier,  to  affect  no  legal  right,  nor  sny  civil 
privilege.  \  Aimon.  Hint  |jb.  v. 


LET.  XVIII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  103 

soon  convinced  that  he  had  acted  wisely :  for  those  who  made  the  proposal 
afterward  deserted  the  person  who  accepted  it.(l) 

The  latter  years  of  Robert's  reign  were  rendered  very  unhappy  by  the  dis- 
orders of  his  family.  Unfortunate  in  the  death  of  his  eldest  son  Hugh,  whom 
ne  had  associated  in  the  sovereignty,  his  queen  Constance,  whose  haughtiness 
was  altogether  insupportable,  attempted  to  regulate  the  succession.  Having 
an  aversion  against  her  son  Henry,  she  wanted  to  place  her  younger  son  Robert 
on  the  throne.  But  the  king,  by  the  advice  of  his  parliament,  confirmed  the 
succession  to  Henry,  his  eldest  surviving  son.  Provoked  at  this  measure, 
the  queen  wanted  to  embroil  the  brothers  ;(2)  but  they,  being  united  by  a 
sincere  friendship,  withstood  all  her  irritations.  At  length,  become  equally 
the  objects  of  her  hatred,  they  retired  from  court,  and  took  arms  in  order  to 
obtain  a  separate  establishment.  In  the  mean  time  the  king  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Henry. 

There  is  not  any  monarch  in  the  French  history  more  generally  or  more 
highly  commended  than  Robert,  notwithstanding  his  weakness  of  temper,  01 
on  whose  death  the  lamentations  of  all  ranks  of  people  were  louder  or  more 
sincere.  The  monks  spoke  the  sense  of  the  whole  nation,  when  they  deplored 
him  in  these  words :  "  We  have  lost  a  father,  who  governed  us  in  peace.  We 
lived  under  him  in  security ;  for  he  did  not  oppress,  or  suffer  oppression :  we 
loved  him,  and  there  was  nobody  whom  he  feared."(3) 

Henry  I.  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age  at  his  accession  to  the  throne, 
and,  with  all  the  spirit  of  a  young  man,  he  had  the  sagacity  and  prudence  of 
one  more  advanced  in  years ;  without  which,  the  crown  would  have  been 
shaken  from  his  head  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  placed  there.  His  mother 
Constance,  who  hated  him,  as  has  been  observed,  and  who  was  ambitious  stili 
to  govern,  had  drawn  over  to  her  party  a  number  of  lords  and  bishops,  under 
pretence  of  supporting  the  cause  of  her  younger  son  Robert.  Henry,  there- 
fore, after  some  ineffectual  struggles,  was  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Nor- 
mandy, where  he  was  received  with  all  possible  respect  by  duke  Robert,  who 
assured  him  that  the  treasures  and  forces  of  the  dutchy  were  at  his  disposal. 
Nor  were  these  mere  expressions  of  civility ;  an  army  of  Normans  entered 
France  on  one  side,  while  the  king  and  royal  party  invaded  it  on  the  other. 
The  queen  dowager  and  her  faction  were  humbled,  and  Henry  recovered  all 
that  he  had  lost.  But  although  this  contest  ended  gloriously  for  the  king, 
it  proved  hurtful  to  the  monarchy;  for  as  the  success  of  the  war  was  prin- 
cipally owing  to  the  Duke  of  Normandy,  Henry  added  to  his  ducthy  Gisors, 
Chaumont,  Pontoise,  and  that  part  of  the  Vexin  which  yet  remained  to  the 
crown. (4) 

The  next  affair  of  importance  that  occupied  the  king's  attention  was  the 
succession  to  the  dutchy  of  Normandy.  Duke  Robert  had  thought  fit,  in 
compliance  with  the  fashionable  devotion  of  those  times,  to  make  a  pilgrim- 
age to  Jerusalem.  But  before  his  departure,  as  he  was  a  prudent  prince, 
thougli  now  old  and  superstitious,  he  assembled  his  nobles ;  and,  informing 
them  of  his  pious  purpose,  the  length  of  the  journey,  and  the  dangers  to 
which  he  must  be  exposed,  he  engaged  them  to  swear  allegiance  to  his  natu- 
ral son  William,  whom  he  tenderly  loved,  and  intended  for  his  successor,  as 
he  had  no  legitimate  issue.  He  also  recommended  the  guardianship  of  this 
son,  who  was  only  nine  years  of  age,  to  two  persons  in  whom  he  placed  the 
greatest  confidence — Henry  I.  king  of  France,  and  Alain  duke  of  Bretagne.(5) 
But  these  precautions  did  not  prevent  many  disorders,  which  a  mind  not 
hoodwinked  by  superstition  must  have  foreseen ;  arising  from  the  habitual 
turbulency  of  the  great,  the  illegitimacy  of  William,  and  the  claims  from 
other  branches  of  the  ducal  family. 

Robert  died,  as  he  had  apprehended,  in  his  pilgrimage ;  and  left  his  son 
rather  the  heir  of  his  wishes  than  of  his  dominions.  The  licentious  nobles, 
"reed  from  the  awe  of  sovereign  authority,  broke  out  into  personal  quarrels, 

(1)  Aimon.  Hist.  lib.  v.  (2)  Glab.  Hist,  sui  Temp.  (3)  Helgaldus.    Glab.  ubi  sup. 

<4)  Gul.  Gemet  lib.  vi  (5)  Id.  ibid. 


104  THE    HISTORY    OP 

and  made  the  whole  dutchy  a  scene  of  war  and  devastation.  Alain,  duke  of 
Bretagne,  came  to  appease  their  animosities ;  but  being  very  roughly  treated, 
he  returned  home,  and  was  soon  after  carried  off  by  slow  poison,  supposed 
to  have  been  given  him  in  Normandy.  Various  pretenders  arose  to  the  suc- 
cession ;  and  the  king  of  France,  forgetting  what  he  owed  to  Robert,  seemed 
willing  to  deprive  his  infant  son  of  his  inheritance,  by  taking  advantage  of 
these  troubles.  He  accordingly  invaded  the  Norman  frontier,  and  reduced 
several  places  ;  but  not  finding  the  conquest  so  easy  as  he  expected,  or  influ- 
enced by  the  returning  sentiments  of  friendship  and  generosity,  he  united  his 
forces  with  those  of  the  young  duke,  and  the  malecontents  were  totally 
routed  in  the  battle  of  Val  de  Dunes,  which  gave  William  quiet  possession  oi 
his  dominions. (1) 

Henry  I.  died  in  1060,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Philip,  whom  he  had 
by  his  second  wife,  and  the  first  with  whom  he  cohabited,  the  daughter  of 
Joradislaus,  duke  of  Russia — a  circumstance  truly  remarkable,  in  an  age 
when  the  intercourse  between  nations  was  so  little  familiar.  But  the  pro- 
hibitions of  marriage  were  so  multiplied,  and  the  example  of  his  father  so 
alarming,  that  Henry  is  supposed  to  have  sought  a  wife  in  this  remote  coun- 
try, in  order  to  avoid  the  crime  of  incest,  and  the  danger  of  excommunica- 
tion. What  must  the  disorders  of  society  have  been,  when  even  a  king  did 
not  know  whom  he  might  lawfully  marry. 

Philip  I.  was  only  eight  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  accession:  and, 
what  is  very  singular,  instead  of  being  put  under  the  guardianship  of  his 
mother  or  his  uncle,  one  of  whom  it  might  naturally  be  supposed  would  have 
been  called  to  the  regency,  he  was  committed  by  his  father  to  the  care  of 
Baldwin  V.  surnamed  the  pious,  earl  of  Flanders — a  man  of  strict  honour, 
and  brother-in-law  to  Henry.  Baldwin  gave  his  pupil  an  education  suitable 
to  his  rank;  he  kept  the  nobility  in  awe,  without  giving  them  just  cause  of 
offence ;  and  he  maintained  peace,  by  being  always  prepared  for  war.  His- 
tory, in  a  word,  scarce  furnishes  us  with  an  instance  of  a  minority  more  quiet, 
and  of  none  more  happy — an  example  the  more  remarkable,  as  the  times  and 
circumstances  of  it  were  both  delicate. 

The  only  colour  that  Baldwin  gave  for  censure,  was  in  his  conduct  towards 
William  duke  of  Normandy,  who  was  preparing  to  invade  England,  and 
whom  he  permitted  to  raise  forces  in  France  and  Flanders — a  liberty  which, 
from  the  event,  was  judged  impolitic.  But  the  duke  being  his  son-in-law, 
he  could  not  refuse  him  with  a  good  grace :  and  there  was  yet  a  farther 
motive  for  compliance.  The  fortunate  and  enterprising  William  might  have 
entered  France  with  that  army  which  he  had  assembled  against  England, 
where  he  succeeded  more  speedily,  and  with  more  ease  than  could  possibly 
have  been  expected.  But  the  particulars  of  that  invasion  and  its  conse- 
quences belong  to  the  history  of  our  own  country.  I  shall  therefore  only 
here  observe,  that  to  balance  in  some  measure  the  increase  of  William's 
power,  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  was  concluded  between  the  crowns 
of  France  and  Scotland.  Soon  after  that  negotiation  Baldwin  died,  and  left 
his  pupil  Philip  I.  in  peaceable  possession  of  his  kingdom,  when  he  had 
attained  his  fifteenth  year. (2) 


LETTER  XIX. 

England  from  the  Danish  to  the  Norman  Conquest 

You  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  Edmond  Ironside  inhumanly  mur- 
dered, and  England  exposed  to  the  ambition  of  Canute  the  Dane — a  prince 
both  active  and  brave,  and  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  ready  to  take 
advantage  of  the  minority  of  Edwin  and  Edward,  the  sons  of  Edmond  The 

(1)  Gul.  Gemet.  ubi  gup.  (2)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib  li 


LET.  XIX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  105 

English  could  therefore  expect  nothing  but  total  subjection  from  Canute 
But  the  Danish  monarch,  commonly  so  little  scrupulous,  showed,  on  this 
occasion,  an  anxiety  to  conceal  his  injustice  under  plausible  pretences.  Be- 
fore he  seized  the  inheritance  of  the  two  young  princes,  he  summoned  a  gene- 
ral assembly  of  the  states  of  England,  in  order  to  fix  the  succession ;  and 
having  suborned  some  noblemen  to  depose  that,  in  the  treaty  of  Gloucester, 
it  was  agreed,  "  That  Canute  in  case  of  Edmond's  decease,  should  succeed 
to  the  whole  kingdom,"  the  states  convinced  by  this  evidence,  or  overawed 
by  his  victorious  arms,  immediately  put  the  Dane  in  full  possession  of  the 
government.  (1) 

But  although  Canute  had  now  attained  the  great  object  of  his  ambition  in 
the  undivided  sovereignty  of  England,  he  was  at  first  obliged  to  make  many 
sacrifices  to  it ;  and  to  gratify  the  chief  nobility,  by  bestowing  on  them  ex- 
tensive governments  and  jurisdictions.  He  also  thought  himself  obliged, 
from  political  motives,  to  exercise  some  severities.  In  order  to  reward  his 
Danish  followers,  he  loaded  the  people  with  oppressive  taxes;  and  jealous  of 
the  two  young  princes,  but  sensible  that  he  should  render  himself  detested 
if  he  ordered  them  to  be  murdered  in  England,  he  sent  them  to  his  ally  the 
king  of  Sweden,  whom  he  desired  to  get  them  privately  despatched,  as  soon 
as  they  arrived  at  his  court.  But  the  Swedish  monarch  was  too  generous  to 
comply  with  such  a  barbarous  request.  Afraid,  however,  to  draw  on  himself 
the  displeasure  of  Canute,  by  protecting  the  English  princes,  he  sent  them 
to  be  educated  in  the  court  of  Solomon,  king  of  Hungary — a  strange  place 
surely  to  seek  for  a  preceptor.  But  the  defenceless  seek  only  a  protector; 
and  the  sons  of  Edmond  found  one  in  Solomon.  Edwin,  the  eldest,  was 
married  to  that  monarch's  sister ;  but  he  dying  without  issue,  Solomon  gave 
his  sister-in-law,  Agatha,  daughter  of  the  emperor  Henry  II.  in  marriage  to 
Edward,  the  younger  brother ;  and  she  bore  him  Edgar  Atheling,  whom  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  mention ;  Margaret,  afterward  queen  of  Scotland ;  and 
Christina,  who  retired  into  a  convent.(2) 

The  removal  of  Edmond's  children  into  so  distant  a  country  as  Hungary 
was  regarded  by  Canute,  next  to  their  death,  as  the  greatest  security  of  his 
government.  But  he  was  still  under  alarm  on  account  of  Alfred  and  Edward, 
the  sons  of  Ethelred,  who  were  protected  and  supported  by  their  uncle, 
Richard  duke  of  Normandy.  Richard  had  even  fitted  out  a  fleet  on  purpose 
to  restore  the  English  princes  to  the  throne  of  their  ancestors.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  break  the  storm,  and  to  secure  himself  on  that  side,  Canute 
paid  his  addresses  to  queen  Emma,  the  duke's  sister,  and  the  mother  of  those 
princes  who  disputed  his  sway.  He  was  listened  to :  Richard  sent  over  Emma 
to  England,  where  she  was  soon  after  married  to  Canute,  the  enemy  of  her 
former  husband's  family,  and  the  conqueror  of  that  country  which  her  chil- 
dren had  a  right  to  rule.  But  Canute  promised  that  her  children  should  still 
rule  it,  though  not  the  children  of  Etheldred ;  and,  although  the  English  dis- 
approved of  the  match,  they  were  pleased  to  find  at  court  a  sovereign  to 
whom  they  were  accustomed :  so  that  the  conqueror,  by  this  marriage, 
not  only  secured  the  alliance  of  Normandy,  but  acquired  the  confidence  of 
his  new  subjects.  Having  thus  freed  himself  from  the  danger  of  a  revolu- 
tion, Canute  determined,  like  a  truly  wise  prince,  by  the  equity  of  his  admi- 
nistration, to  reconcile  the  English  yet  farther  to  the  Danish  yoke.  He 
sent  back  to  their  own  country  as  many  of  his  followers  as  could  safely  be 
spared ;  he  restored  the  Saxon  customs  :  he  made  no  distinction  between  the 
i  Janes  and  English  in  the  distribution  of  justice ;  and  he  took  care,  by  a  strict 
execution  of  law,  to  protect  the  lives  and  properties  of  all  his  subjects. (3) 
The  Danes  were  gradually  incorporated  with  the  native  English ;  and  both 
were  glad  to  breathe  a  little  from  those  multiplied  calamities  which  the  con- 
querors no  less  than  the  conauered  had  experienced  in  their  struggle  foi 
dominion. 

(1)  Gul.  Malmes  lib.  ii.  R.  Hoveden,  Annal.  pars  prior.  (2)  Id.  ibid. 

'3)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  it. 


106  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

The  first  use  that  Canute  made  of  this  tranquillity  was  to  visit  Denmark, 
where  he  obtained  a  victory  over  the  Swedes,  by  the  valour  of  the  English 
under  the  command  of  earl  Godwin,  on  whom  he  bestowed  his  daughter  in 
marriage.  In  a  second  voyage  to  Denmark  he  made  himself  master  of 
Norway,  and  expelled  the  good  Olaus  from  his  kingdom.  Canute  seems  to 
have  attained  the  height  of  his  ambition ;  for,  from  this  period,  he  appears  not 
only  to  have  laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  future  conquests,  but  to  have  held  in 
contempt  all  the  glories  and  pleasures  of  the  world — a  necessary  consequence, 
my  dear  Philip,  of  assigning  to  human  enjoyments  a  satisfaction  which  they 
cannot  yield,  and  more  especially  of  pursuing  them  (another  effect  of  the 
same  cause)  at  the  expense  of  justice  and  humanity. 

During  this  change  of  mind  it  must  have  been  that  Canute,  the  greatest  and 
most  powerful  prince  of  his  time,  being  sovereign  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and 
England,  put  to  the  blush  his  flattering  courtiers,  who  exclaimed,  in  admiration 
of  his  grandeur,  that  every  thing  was  possible  for  him.  He  ordered  a  chair 
to  be  brought,  and  seated  himself  on  the  sea-shore  while  the  tide  was  rising; 
and  as  the  waves  approached,  he  said,  in  an  imperious  tone,  "  Thou,  sea !  art 
under  my  dominion,  and  the  land  which  I  sit  upon  is  mine :  I  charge  thee, 
approach  no  farther !  nor  dare  to  wet  the  feet  of  thy  sovereign."  He  even  sat 
some  time  in  seeming  expectation  of  submission :  but  as  the  sea  still  advanced 
towards  him,  and  at  last  began  to  wash  him  with  its  billows,  he  turned  to  his 
courtiers,  and  observed,  that  every  creature  in  the  universe  is  feeble  and 
impotent ;  and  that  power  resides  only  with  ONE  Being,  in  whose  hands  are 
the  elements  of  nature,  and  who  can  say  to  the  ocean,  "  Thus  far  shall  thou 
go,  and  no  farther !"(!) 

But  although  Canute,  sick  of  worldly  greatness,  began  to  turn  his  eyes 
toward  a  future  state  of  existence,  the  spirit  which  prevailed  in  that  age 
unfortunately  gave  a  wrong  direction  to  his  piety.  Instead  of  making 
reparation  to  the  persons  whom  he  had  injured  by  former  acts  of  violence,  he 
built  churches,  endowed  monasteries,  and  appointed  prayers  to  be  said  for  the 
souls  of  those  who  had  fallen  in  battle  against  him ;  nay,  more  meritorious 
than  all  the  rest !  he  undertook  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome. 

After  his  return  from  Rome,  Canute  performed  nothing  memorable,  except 
an  expedition  against  Malcolm  king  of  Scotland,  whom  he  humbled.  He  died 
in  1035,  and  left  the  crown  of  England  to  his  son  Harold  Harefoot,  by  his 
first  wife,  Alfwen,  daughter  to  the  earl  of  Hampshire,  in  prejudice  of  Hardi- 
canute,  his  son  by  queen  Emma,  to  whom  he  had  promised  the  succession. (2) 

Harold  reigned  only  four  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Har- 
dicanute,  whose  reign  was  yet  shorter.  Neither  of  these  princes  had  any 
qualities  that  merit  your  attention,  nor  did  any  thing  memorable  happen 
during  their  reigns.  It  will  therefore  be  sufficient  to  observe,  that  on  the 
death  of  Hardicanute,  who  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  brutal  intemperance,  the 
English  shook  off  the  Danish  yoke,  and  recalled,  from  Normandy,  Edward, 
son  of  Ethelred  and  Emma,  surnamed  the  Confessor,  to  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors. 

This  revolution  was  effected  without  bloodshed ;  and  the  mild  and  equi- 
table government  of  Edward  soon  reconciled  the  Danes,  no  less  than  the 
English,  to  his  sway.  The  distinction  between  the  two  nations  vanished. 
But  the  English  in  vain  flattered  themselves  that  they  were  for  ever  delivered 
from  foreign  masters.  A  little  time  convinced  them  that  the  evil  was  rather 
suspended  than  removed. 

Edward  had  been  educated  in  Normandy ;  and,  having  contracted  many 
intimacies  with  the  natives  of  that  country,  as  well  as  an  affection  for  their 
manners,  the  court  of  England  was  soon  filled  with  Normans,  who  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  royal  favour,  and  had  great  influence  in  the  national  coun- 
cils. He  had  also,  it  appears,  though  married  to  a  beautiful  woman,  made 
an  indiscreet  vow  of  virginity,  which  rendered  his  bed  sterile,  but  obtained 
'o  him  from  the  monks,  the  title  of  Saint  and  Confessor :  and  he  had  given 

(I)  jSnglia  Sacra,  vol  i.  (21  C/iron.  Sax.  H.  Hunting.    R.  Hoveden. 


LET.  XIX.!  MODERN    EUROPE.  10V 

his  kinsman,  William  duke  of  Normandy,  hopes  of  succeeding  to  the  English 
crown.  What  use  that  enterprising  prince  made  of  this  promise,  real  or 
pretended,  we  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  see. 

In  the  mean  time  the  English,  and  particularly  earl  Godwin,  the  most 
powerful  nobleman  in  the  kingdom,  and  who  had  hopes  of  exalting  his  own 
son  to  the  throne,  became  jealous  of  the  preference  shown  to  foreigners,  and 
openly  revolted.  The  rebels  were  reduced :  the  estates  of  Godwin  and  his 
son  were  confiscated ;  and  they  were  obliged  to  flee  the  realm.  But  they 
soon  after  returned,  and  reduced  the  king  to  conditions ;  the  most  considera- 
ble of  which  was,  that  all  foreigners  should  be  banished  the  kingdom.(l) 

Godwin's  death,  which  happened  shortly  after  this  treaty,  prevented  him 
from  establishing  that  authority  which  he  had  acquired  at  the  expense  of  the 
crown.  But  his  son  Harold,  who  succeeded  him  in  his  estates  and  offices, 
and  who,  with  an  ambition  equal  to  his  father's,  was  superior  to  him  in  address 
and  insinuation,  proved  no  less  dangerous  to  the  unsuspecting  and  unwarlike 
Edward,  whose  confidence  he  had  obtained.  And  the  death  of  Siward,  duke 
of  Northumberland,  while  it  enfeebled  the  royal  authority,  gave  still  more 
consequence  to  the  ambitious  Harold.  Si\vard,  besides  his  loyalty  and  exploits 
in  behalf  of  the  crown,  had  acquired  honour  to  England,  by  his  successful 
conduct  in  the  only  foreign  enterprise  undertaken  during  this  reign :  and  as 
it  is  connected  with  a  memorable  circumstance  in  the  history  of  a  neighbour- 
ing kingdom,  as  well  as  with  the  intrigues  of  Harold,  it  doubly  deserves  our 
attention.  * 

Duncan,  king  of  Scotland,  a  prince  of  a  gentle  disposition,  and  some 
talents,  but  not  possessed  of  sufficient  vigour  to  govern  a  turbulent  nation, 
distracted  by  the  animosities  of  the  great,  had  laid  himself  open  to  the 
designs  of  Macbeth,  a  powerful  nobleman,  nearly  allied  to  the  crown ;  and 
who,  not  contented  with  curbing  the  king's  authority,  carried  yet  farther  his 
traitorous  ambition.  He  murdered  his  sovereign ;  usurped  the  crown ;  and 
chased  Malcolm  Kenmure,  the  prince  and  heir,  into  England.  Siward,  whose 
daughter  was  married  to  Duncan,  undertook,  by  Edward's  orders,  the  pro- 
tection of  this  unhappy  family.  He  marched  an  army  into  Scotland,  defeated 
and  killed  Macbeth  in  battle,  and  restored  Malcolm  to  the  throne  of  his  an- 
cestors.  This  service,  added  to  his  former  connexions  with  the  royal  family 
of  Scotland,  brought  great  accession  to  the  authority  of  Siward  in  the  north, 
and  enabled  him  to  be  highly  useful  to  Edward,  in  restraining  the  ambition 
of  Godwin  and  his  powerful  family ;  but  as  he  had  lost  his  eldest  son  Osbern, 
in  the  action  with  Macbeth,  it  proved  eventually  fatal  to  his  house,  and 
hurtful  to  the  crown.  The  duke's  second  son  Woltheof,  appeared  too  young, 
on  his  father's  death,  to  be  intrusted  with  the  government  of  Northumber- 
land: and  Harold's  influence  obtained  that  dukedom  for  Tosti,  his  own 
brother.(2) 

There  are  two  anecdotes  related  of  Siward,  which  strongly  mark  his  cha 
racter,  and  are  eminently  expressive  of  that  enthusiasm  of  valour,  long  so 
predominant  in  the  house  of  Northumberland.  When  informed  of  his  son 
Osbern's  death,  he  was  at  first  inconsolable.  But  inquiring  how  he  fell,  and 
being  told  that  he  behaved  with  great  gallantry,  and  that  his  wound  was  in 
the  breast,  the  feelings  of  the  father  seemed  lost  in  those  of  the  soldier  :  his 
grief  was  transformed  into  joy.  "  Would  to  God,"  exclaimed  he,  "  that  I 
had  as  many  sons  as  1  have  hairs,  that  I  might  lose  them  thus  !"  And  when 
he  found  his  own  death  approaching,  he  ordered  himself  to  be  clothed  in  a 
suit  of  complete  armour ;  and  sitting  erect  on  a  couch,  with  a  spear  in  his 
hand,  "  In  this  posture,"  said  he,  "  the  only  one  worthy  of  a  warrior,  I  will 
meet  the  tyrant :  if  I  cannot  conquer,  I  shall  at  least  face  the  combat." (3) 

Tosti  behaved  so  tyrannically  in  his  government  of  Northumberland,  that 
the  people  rose  against  him,  and  expelled  him  by  force  of  arms — a  circum- 
stance which  contributed  much  to  his  brother's  aggrandisement.  Harold 
\vas  appointed  by  the  king  to  punish  the  Northumbrians,  and  advanced  with 

(1)  R.  Hoveden.    Sim  Dunelm.  (3)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii.    Buchanan,  lib.  vii. 

(3)  H.  Hunting,  lib.  vi 


108  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART! 

an  army  for  that  purpose ;  but  being  met  by  a  deputation  from  Morcar, 
who  had  been  elected  duke,  and  finding  that  Tosti  had  acted  in  a  manner 
unworthy  of  his  station,  he  returned  to  the  king,  and  generously  persuaded 
him  not  only  to  pardon  the  rebels,  but  even  to  confirm  Morcar  in  the  duke- 
dom. He  afterward  married  the  sister  of  that  nobleman,  and  got  her 
younger  brother,  Edwin,  elected  into  the  government  of  Mercia.  He  also 
undertook  an  expedition  against  the  Welsh,  whom  he  obliged  to  receive 
English  governors. (1) 

By  these  political  and  fortunate  steps,  Harold  soon  found  himself  in  a  con- 
dition openly  to  aspire  at  the  succession  to  the  crown.  He  had  gained  the 
affections  of  his  countrymen  by  his  lenity  to  the  Northumbrians ;  he  had 
raised  their  admiration  of  his  valour  by  his  conquest  of  Wales ;  and  so  great 
was  his  influence,  that  he  laid  almost  all  England  under  the  command  of 
himself  or  his  friends.  His  competitors  for  the  succession  were  Edgar 
Atheling,  the  sole  surviving  heir  to  the  crown,  who  had  been  recalled  from 
Hungary,  and  William  duke  of  Normandy,  the  king's  cousin.  But  the  first 
was  a  youth  whose  imbecility  was  thought  sufficient  to  set  aside  his  claim, 
and  the  second  a  foreigner.  Edward's  prepossessions  hindered  him  from 
supporting  the  pretensions  of  Harold ;  and  his  irresolution,  from  securing  the 
crown  to  the  duke  of  Normandy,  whom  he  secretly  favoured  :  he  therefore 
died  without  appointing  a  successor,  being  worn  out  with  age  and  infirmities, 
and  more  anxious  about  obtaining  a  heavenly,  than  settling  his  earthly 
inheritance. 

Edward  the  Confessor  was  the  first  who  touched  for  the  scrofula,  hence 
denominated  the  King's  Evil.  The  opinion  of  his  sanctity  procured  belief, 
among  the  superstitious  vulgar,  to  this  mode  of  cure :  and  his  successors 
regarded  it  as  a  part  of  their  royalty,  to  support  the  same  idea.  The  practice 
was  first  dropped  by  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Brunswick,  who  wisely  con- 
sidered, that  such  a  pretension  must  be  attended  with  ridicule  in  the  eyes 
of  all  men  of  cultivated  minds,  and  even  become  the  scorn  of  an  enlightened 
populace.  Posterity  are  more  indebted  to  this  prince  for  the  body  of  laws 
which  he  compiled,  and  which,  on  account  of  their  mildness,  were  long  dear 
to  our  ancestors. 

Though  Edward  left  the  succession  undecided,  it  did  not  long  continue  so. 
Harold  immediately  stepped  into  the  vacant  throne ;  and  so  well  had  he 
taken  his  measures,  that  his  accession  was  attended  with  as  little  opposition 
or  disturbance,  as  if  he  had  succeeded  by  the  most  indisputable  hereditary- 
title.  The  right  of  Edgar  Atheling  was  scarce  ever  mentioned,  and  still  less 
the  claim  of  the  duke  of  Normandy :  the  whole  nation  seemed  joyfully  to 
swear  allegiance  to  the  new  king. (2) 

The  first  danger  that  Harold  experienced  was  from  abroad,  and  from  his 
own  brother.  Tosti,  when  expelled  the  government  of  Northumberland,  had 
submitted  to  a  voluntary  banishment  in  Flanders :  but  no  sooner  was  he 
informed  of  the  accession  of  Harold,  to  whose  fortunate  ambition  he  con- 
sidered himself  to  have  fallen  a  sacrifice,  than  he  entered  into  a  league  with 
Halfagar,  king  of  Norway,  who  invaded  England  with  a  fleet  of  three  hun- 
dred sail.  Tosti  himself  had  collected  about  sixty  vessels  in  the  ports  of 
Flanders,  with  which  he  put  to  sea ;  and  after  committing  some  depredations 
on  the  south  and  east  coasts  of  England,  he  sailed  to  Northumberland,  where 
lie  was  joined  by  Halfagar  and  his  powerful  armament.  The  combined 
fleets  disembarked  their  troops  at  the  mouth  of  the  Humber ;  and  the  earls 
of  Northumberland  and  Mercia  were  defeated  in  attempting  to  oppose  the 
invaders. 

Harold  was  no  sooner  informed  of  this  disaster,  than  he  hastened  to  the 
North,  anxious  for  the  safety  of  his  people,  and  ambitious  to  show  himself 
worthy  of  that  crown  which  had  been  conferred  upon  him  by  his  countrymen 
The  English  flocked  from  all  quarters  to  his  standard :  so  that  he  found  him. 
self  in  a  condition  to  give  battle  to  his  enemies,  as  soon  as  he  reached  them 

(1)  Orderic.  Vital.  (2)  Gul.  Pict.    Order.  Vital. 


LET.  XIX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  109 

The  two  armies  engaged  at  Standford.  The  action,  which  was  long  and 
bloody,  ultimately  terminated  in  the  total  rout  of  the  Danes,  and  in  the  death 
of  Tosti  and  Halfagar.  Harold,  however,  had  scarce  time  to  rejoice  on 
account  of  this  victory,  before  he  received  intelligence  that  the  duke  of 
Normandy,  having  landed  with  a  formidable  force  in  the  south  of  England, 
determined  to  dispute  with  him  the  crown. 

The  Norman  prince  (whom  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  mention,  both 
in  he  history  of  France  and  of  England)  founded  his  claim  to  the  English 
crown  on  a  pretended  will  of  Edward  the  Confessor  in  his  favour.  This 
claim  he  fortified  with  an  oath  'extorted  from  Harold  when  shipwrecked  on 
the  coast  of  France,  that  he  would  never  aspire  to  the  succession,  and  by 
which  he  bound  himself  to  support  the  pretensions  of  William.  The  will 
Harold  knew  to  be  void  of  foundation,  and  the  oath  he  entirely  disregarded, 
as  it  had  not  only  been  drawn  from  him  by  the  fear  of  violence,  but  was  in 
itself  unlawful ;  unless  William  had  not  only  been  appointed  successor  by 
the  king,  but  chosen  by  the  people,  the  English  crown  not  being  at  the 
disposal  of  the  sovereign.  He  therefore  replied  to  the  Norman  ambassadors, 
who  summoned  him  to  resign  the  kingdom,  that  he  was  determined  strenu- 
ously to  maintain  those  national  liberties  with  which  he  had  been  intrusted, 
and  that  the  same  moment  should  put  a  period  to  his  life  and  his  sway.(l) 

This  answer  Avas  no  other  than  what  William  expected.  He  knew  the 
valour  of  Harold,  and  the  power  of  the  English  nation ;  but  he  consulted  only 
his  ambition,  and  his  courage.  The  boldness  of  the  enterprise  he  thought 
would  astonish  the  enemy,  and  inspire  his  soldiers  with  resolution  from 
despair,  as  well  as  from  a  desire  of  supporting  the  reputation  of  their  country- 
men, who  had  about  this  time  revived  their  ancient  fame,  as  we  shall 
afterward  have  occasion  to  see,  by  the  most  hazardous  exploits  and  the  most 
wonderful  successes  in  the  other  extremity  of  Europe. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  foundation  of  William's  hopes.  A.  military  spirit 
had  universally  diffused  itself  over  Europe ;  and  the  feudal  nobles,  whose 
minds  were  elated  by  their  princely  situation,  greedily  embraced  the  most 
hazardous  enterprises,  how  little  soever  they  might  be  interested  in  the 
failure  or  success.  Hence  their  passion  for  chivalry,  and  their  ambition  to  out- 
shine each  other  in  exertions  of  strength  or  prowess.  William  had  long  been 
distinguished  among  those  haughty  chieftains  by  his  power,  his  courage,  and 
his  address  in  all  military  exercises ;  and  every  one  ambitious  of  acquiring 
renown  in  arms,  repaired  to  the  court  of  Normandy,  where  they  were  enter- 
tained with  that  hospitality  and  courtesy  which  distinguished  the  age.  The 
fame  of  the  intended  invasion  of  England  had  been  every  where  diffused : 
the  more  perilous  the  attempt  appeared,  the  more  it  suited  the  genius  of  the 
times :  multitudes  of  adventurers  therefore  crowded  to  tender  their  service 
to  William,  impatient  to  acquire  fame  under  so  renowned  a  leader,  or  to  sup- 
port, by  new  acts  of  valour,  that  reputation  which  they  had  already  earned  ;(2) 
so  that  the  duke's  army  consisted  of  the  flower  of  all  the  warriors  of  the 
continent,  determined  to  die  or  to  conquer. 

The  continental  monarchs  could  surely  have  obstructed  those  supplies. 
But  Philip  I.  of  France,  whose  interest  most  it  was,  being  a  minor,  Baldwin 
earl  of  Flanders,  William's  father-in-law,  who  then  held  the  reins  of  govern 
ment,  favoured  the  duke's  levies  (as  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe)  both  in 
France  and  Flanders ;  and  the  emperor  Henry  IV.  besides  giving  all  his  vas 
sals  leave  to  embark  in  this  expedition,  which  so  much  engaged  the  atten 
tion  of  Europe,  promised  his  protection  to  the  dutchy  of  Normandy  during  the 
absence  of  the  duke,  and  thereby  enabled  him  to  draw  his  whole  strength  to 
the  attack  of  England. 

But  William's  most  important  ally  was  pope  Alexander  II.  who  had  a 
tnighto  influence  over  the  warriors  of  that  age ;  and  who,  besides  being  flat- 
tered by  an  appeal  which  William  had  made  to  the  court  of  Rome  in  favour 
:>f  his  undertaking,  at  a  time  when  this  pontiff  wanted  to  be  the  arbiter  of 

a)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  iii.    Higden.  Matili.  West.  (2)  Gul.  Pictav. 


110  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  1. 

princes,  foresaw  that  if  the  French  and  Norman  barons  were  successful  in 
their  enterprise,  they  would  import  into  England,  which  still  maintained 
some  degree  of  independence  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  a  more  devoted 
reverence  to  the  Holy  See.  He  therefore  declared  immediately  in  favour  of 
William's  claim;  pronounced  Harold  a  perjured  usurper;  denounced  excom- 
munication against  him  and  his  adherents  ;  and  in  order  more  particularly  to 
encourage  the  duke,  he  sent  him  a  consecrated  banner,  and  a  ring  with  one 
of  St.  Peter's  hairs  in  it.(l)  Thus,  as  the  sagacious  Hume  remarks,  all  the 
ambition  and  violence  of  this  invasion  were  covered  safely  over  with  the 
broad  mantle  of  religion. 

The  Norman  fleet,  which  consisted  of  three  hundred  vessels,  great  and 
small,  and  carried  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men,  selected  by  William  from 
those  numerous  supplies  that  courted  his  service,  had  been  assembled  early 
in  the  summer,  and  put  to  sea  soon  after ;  but,  being  long  detained  by  con- 
trary winds,  the  troops  began  to  imagine  that  Heaven  had  declared  against 
them,  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  pope's  benediction,  they  were  destined 
to  destruction.  The  wind,  however,  fortunately  changed  on  the  eve  of  the 
feast  of  St.  Michael,  the  tutelar  saint  of  Normandy;  and  the  soldiers  and 
their  bold  leaders,  who  had  an  equal  contempt  of  real  and  a  dread  of  imaginary 
dangers,  fancying  they  saw  the  hand  of  Providence  in  the  cause  of  their 
former  terrors,  set  out  with  the  greatest  alacrity,  and  safely  arrived  at  Pe- 
vensey  in  Sussex,  where  the  troops  quietly  disembarked.  The  duke  himself 
had  the  misfortune  to  fall,  as  he  leaped  ashore — a  circumstance  which,  con- 
sidering the  superstition  of  the  times,  might  have  been  construed  to  his  dis- 
advantage, but  which  he  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  turn  in  his  favour,  by 
calling  aloud,  "  I  have  taken  possession  of  England !"  and  a  soldier,  running 
to  a  neighbouring  cottage,  plucked  some  thatch,  which  he  presented  to  his 
general,  as  giving  him  seizin  of  the  kingdom.  (2)  The  confidence  of  William 
and  his  followers  was  now  so  great,  that  when  they  heard  even  of  Harold's 
victory  over  the  Danes,  instead  of  being  discouraged  they  seemed  only  to 
'ong  with  more  impatience  for  the  arrival  of  the  English  army. 

They  had  not  long  occasion  to  wait.  Harold  was  at  York  when  he  received 
intelligence  of  the  Norman  invasion,  and  hastened  by  quick  marches  to 
meet  his  competitor.  But  on  reviewing  his  forces  he  found  them  much 
diminished,  though  he  had  been  reinforced  with  fresh  troops  from  London 
and  other  places.  His  victory  proved  his  ruin.  Many  of  his  bravest  officers 
and  veteran  soldiers  fell  in  the  action ;  some  retired  from  fatigue,  and  others 
jecretly  withdrew  from  discontent,  because  he  had  refused  to  distribute  the 
Danish  spoils  among  them — a  conduct  little  suited  to  his  usual  generosity  of 
temper,  and  which  can  only  be  accounted  for  from  a  desire  of  easing  his 
people  in  the  war  that  hung  over  them  from  Normandy,  and  which  he  foresaw 
must  be  attended  with  great  expense. 

From  these  and  other  circumstances,  Gurth,  the  king's  brother,  a  man  of 
bravery  and  conduct,  began  to  entertain  apprehensions  of  the  event ;  and 
represented  to  the  king,  that  it  would  be  better  policy  to  prolong  the  war 
than  to  risk  a  general  action,  as  the  winter  was  approaching,  when  the  enemy 
would  suffer  many  hardships,  while  the  English,  better  sheltered,  and  be- 
coming every  day  more  incensed  against  their  invaders,  would  hasten  from 
all  quarters  to  his  assistance,  and  render  his  army  invincible ;  or,  if  he  thought 
it  necessary  to  hazard  a  battle,  he  ought  at  least  not  to  expose  his  person, 
that  some  resource  might  still  be  left  for  the  liberty  and  independency  of  the 
kingdom.  But  Harold,  deaf  to  all  these  arguments,  rejected  his  brother's 
advice  with  disdain ;  and,  elated  with  past  prosperity,  as  well  as  stimulated 
by  his  native  courage,  replied,  that  he  would  give  battle  in  person,  and  con- 
vince his  subjects  that  he  was  worthy  of  the  crown  which  they  had  set  upon 
his  head.(3) 

With  this  resolution  he  drew  near  to  the  Normans,  who  had  removed  their 
camp  to  Hastings.  He  was  even  so  confident  of  success,  that  he  sent  a  mes- 

'!)  Baker,  Citron.  (2)  Order.  Vital.  «)  Order.  Vital.    Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  iii. 


LET.  XIX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  Ill 

sage  to  the  duke  of  Normandy,  offering  him  a  sum  of  money,  if  he  would 
depart  the  kingdom  without  effusion  of  blood  ;  and  William,  not  to  be  behind 
him  in  vaunting,  commanded  him  to  resign  the  crown  of  England,  to  submit 
their  cause  to  the  arbitration  of  the  pope,  or  to  fight  him  in  single  combat. 
Harold  replied,  that  the  God  of  battles  would  soon  be  the  arbiter  of  all  their 
differences.(l) 

Both  armies  now  impatiently  expected  the  awful  decision;  but  night 
drawing  on,  it  was  deferred  till  morning.  During  this  interval  of  darkness 
and  suspense,  the  scene  was  very  different  in  the  two  camps :  the  English 
spent  the  night  in  riot  and  feasting:  the  Normans,  in  prayer  and  preparations 
for  battle.  As  soon  as  day  began  to  appear,  the  duke  assembled  his  principal 
officers,  and  made  them  a  speech  suitable  to  the  occasion.  He  next  divided 
his  army  into  three  lines.  The  first  consisted  of  archers  and  light  armed 
infantry;  the  second  was  composed  of  his  bravest  battalions,  heavy  armed, 
and  ranged  in  close  order.  The  cavalry,  at  the  head  of  which  William  placed 
himself,  formed  the  third  line,  and  were  so  disposed,  that  they  stretched  be- 
yond  the  infantry,  and  flanked  each  wing  of  the  army.  He  commanded  the 
signal  to  be  given ;  and  the  whole  army,  moving  at  once,  and  singing  the 
celebrated  song  of  Rowland,  the  fabulous  nephew,  but  renowned  captain  of 
Charlemagne,  advanced  in  order  of  battle. (2) 

Harold,  whose  army  was  inferior  to  William's  in  number  as  well  as  in  dis- 
cipline, had  seized  the  advantage  of  a  rising  ground ;  and  having  drawn  some 
trenches  to  secure  his  flanks,  seemed  inclined  to  act  upon  the  defensive,  and 
to  avoid  all  encounter  with  the  Norman  cavalry,  to  which  his  strength  in  horse 
was  very  unequal.  The  Kentish  men  were  placed  in  the  front,  a  post  which 
they  had  always  claimed  as  their  due :  the  Londoners  guarded  the  standard ; 
and  the  king,  dismounting,  placed  himself  in  the  centre,  at  the  head  of  his 
infantry,  expressing  his  resolution  to  conquer  or  die.  The  first  attack  of  the 
Norman  foot  was  terrible  :  their  archers  sorely  galled  their  adversaries ;  and, 
as  the  English  ranks  were  close,  the  arrows  did  great  execution.  But 
Harold's  army  received  the  shock  of  the  enemy  undismayed ;  and  after  a 
furious  struggle,  which  long  remained  undecided,  the  Normans  began  to  give 
ground.  Confusion  was  spreading  from  rank  to  rank ;  when  William,  who 
found  himself  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  hastened  with  a  select  band  to  the  relief 
of  his  broken  forces.  His  presence  restored  the  battle.  The  English  were 
obliged  to  retire  in  their  turn ;  but  the  duke  finding  they  still  made  a  vigor- 
ous resistance,  aided  by  the  advantage  of  ground,  and  animated  by  the  example 
of  their  valiant  prince,  ordered  his  troops  to  make  a  hasty  retreat,  and  allure 
their  antagonists  from  their  station  by  the  appearance  of  flight.  The  artifice 
succeeded.  Impelled  by  the  enthusiasm  of  valour  and  the  heat  of  action,  the 
troops  of  Harold  precipitately  followed  the  Normans  into  the  plain ;  while 
William  instructed  his  infantry  at  once  to  face  about  on  their  pursuers,  and 
the  cavalry  to  make  an  assault  upon  their  wings.  The  English  were  thrown 
into  disorder,  and  driven  back  with  loss  to  the  hill ;  where,  being  rallied  with 
the  generalship  of  Harold,  they  were  again  able  to  maintain  the  combat. 
William  tried  the  same  stratagem  a  second  time,  and  with  equal  success. 
Yet  he  still  found  a  large  body  of  English  forces  that  remained  firm  around 
their  prince,  and  seemed  determined  to  dispute  the  field  to  the  last  man ; 
when  fortune  decided  a  victory  which  valour  had  left  doubtful.  Harold,  who 
had  fought  with  unspeakable  courage  and  personal  prowess  from  dawn  until 
eve,  was  shot  into  the  brains  with  an  arrow,  while  bravely  defending  the 
royal  standard  at  the  head  of  his  guards.  His  two  gallant  brothers,  Gurth 
and  Leofwin,  also  were  slain;  and  the  English  army,  dispirited  by  the  loss 
of  its  leaders,  gave  way  on  all  sides,  and  was  pursued  with  great  slaughter 
by  the  victorious  Normans."(3) 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  was  gained  by  William  the  Norman,  aftenvard  sur- 
named  the  Conqueror,  the  famous  battle  of  Hastings,  which  terminated  the 

•1)  Higden.  (2)  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  iii.    Du  Gang,  in  Gloss.  Verb.  Gait.  Roland. 

•  3i  Gul.  Malmes.  ubi.  sup.    Gul.  Pict.  H.  Hunting.  R.  Hoveden.  M.  Paris.  Order  Vital 


112  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART 

.  Anglo-Saxon  monarchy  in  England  ;  and  which,  by  the  heroic  feats  of  valour 
displayed  on  both  sides,  by  both  armies  and  both  commanders,  seemed  worthy 
to  decide  the  fate  of  a  mighty  kingdom.  Fifteen  thousand  of  the  Normans 
fell,  and  a  much  greater  number  of  the  English  forces. (1) — But  we  must  take 
d  view  of  the  other  nations  of  Europe,  and  also  throw  a  glance  on  those  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  before  I  consider  the  consequences  of  this  victory,  and 
the  influence  of  the  revolution  by  which  it  was  followed,  upon  the  laws, 
government,  and  manners  of  England.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  it  will 
not  be  improper  to  take  a  slight  survey  of  the  state  of  England  at  the  Norman 
conquest. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

No  territory  of  so  small  an  extent  has  ever  so  much  engaged  the  attention 
of  mankind,  for  so  long  a  series  of  ages,  as  the  island  of  Britain.  From  the 
most  remote  antiquity  it  was  visited  by  the  Phoenicians  and  Carthaginians, 
on  account  of  its  tin  and  other  valuable  productions.  The  Romans,  in  the 
height  of  their  power,  made  themselves  masters  of  the  southern  part  of  it,  at 
a  vast  expense  of  blood  and  treasure :  and  they  thought  the  acquisition  of 
sufficient  importance,  to  preserve  their  footing  in  this  distant  and  transmarine 
province  for  three  hundred  years,  by  maintaining  in  it  a  great  naval  and 
military  force.  The  ancient  Britons  lost  their  courage  and  their  independent 
spirit  under  the  Roman  dominion,  but  received  from  their  enlightened 
governors  some  knowledge  of  arts  and  letters. (2)  The  Saxons,  in  achieving 
their  sanguinary  conquest,  destroyed  every  trace  of  ingenuity  which  the 
Romans  had  introduced  into  the  island,  without  bringing  along  with  them 
one  peaceful  art,  with  which  the  Britons  were  not  better  acquainted ;  and  the 
inveterate  wars  between  the  princes  of  the  Heptarchy  afterward  obstructed, 
among  their  people,  the  usual  progress  of  civilization.  But  no  sooner 
was  England  united  into  one  kingdom,  under  Egbert,  than  commerce  and 
manufactures  began  to  be  cultivated  in  a  country  so  highly  favoured  by 
nature;  abounding  in  the  materials  of  industry,  and  surrounded  on  three 
sides  by  the  sea,  which  forms  on  its  coasts  many  commodious  bays  and  safe 
harbours.  (3) 

The  commerce  and  navigation  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  however,  was  cruelly 
injured  by  the  piracy  and  predatory  invasions  of  the  Danes ;  yet  did  England, 
under  their  government,  contain  many  large  trading  towns,  and  a  greater 
number  of  inhabitants,  both  in  the  towns  and  in  the  country,  than  could  have 
been  expected  in  such  a  turbulent  and  hostile  period.  London,  York, 
Bristol,(4)  Exeter,  and  Norwich,  were  great  and  populous  cities  ;  and  as  the 
labours  of  husbandry  were  chiefly  performed  by  slaves  or  villains,  who  were 
excluded  from  military  service,  the  number  of  freemen  in  England,  habituated 
to  the  use  of  arms,  if  not  greater,  must  have  been  as  great  at  the  Norman 
invasion  as  in  any  former  or  subsequent  period.  (5)  But  let  us  not  hence 

(1)  Gul.  Gemat.  cliap.  xxxvi. 

(2)  If  the  Britons  had  any  knowledge  of  letters  before  the  arrival  of  the  Romans,  that  knowledge  was 
confined  chiefly,  if  not  solely,  to  their  priests,  the  mysterious  Druids. 

(3)  The  principal  English  exports,  during  the  Anglo-Saxon  times,  were  tin,  lead,  wool,  hides,  horses,  and 
slaves!    These  slaves  consisted  not  solely  of  such  unhappy  persons  as  the  laws  of  war  or  other  causes 
had  reduced  to  the  condition  of  perpetual  servitude.    The  Anglo-Saxons  are  accused,  by  contemporary 
writers,  of  making  merchandise  even  of  their  nearest  relations ;  "  a  custom,"  adds  a  respectable  historian, 
who  lived  after  the  Norman  conquest,  "  which  prevails  in  Northumberland  even  in  our  own  days."    Gul. 
Mahnes.  lib.  i. 

(4)  The  Bristol  traders  were  distinguished,  even  in  those  early  ages,  by  their  mercantile  sagacity. 
•'  The  people  of  this  town,"  says  an  author  of  undoubted  veracity,  "  were  cured  of  a  most  odious  and 
inveterate  custom,  by  Wulfstan,  (bishop  of  Winchester  at  the  Norman  conquest)  of  buying  men  ana 
teamen  in  all  parts  of  England,  and  exporting  them  for  the  sake  of  fain.     The  young  women  they  com 
manly  pot  with  child,  and  carried  them  to  the  market  in  their  pregnancy,  that  they  might  bring  a  better 
price."    Anglia  Sacra,  torn.  ii. 

(5)  To  that  exemption  from  rustic  labour,  which  was  friendly  to  the  use  of  arms,  may  also  perhaps  be 
ascribed  tlie  dissolute  manners  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.     Unless  when  employed  in  war  or  hunting,  their 
whole  time  was  gpent  in  drinking  and  feasting.    This  licentious  life  seems  to  have  much  impaired  the 
native  courage  of  the  Enclisli  nation,  before  the  Danish  conquest.    The  wars  which  introduced  and  ac- 
companied that  conquest  revived  their  martial  spirit :  and  under  the  Danish  princes,  the  Anglo-Saxons 


LET.  XX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  113 

conclude,  that  sixty  thousand  men,  under  an  experienced  leader,  have  at  al] 
»imes  been  sufficient  to  overturn  the  constitution  of  this  vigorous  kingdom. 
William  was  ultimately  indebted  for  his  good  fortune,  less  to  the  rashness  of 
»he  English  monarch,  his  own  conduct,  or  the  valour  of  his  troops,  than  to 
the  unsettled  state  of  the  succession  to  the  crown.  Harold  had  owed  his 
exaltation  to  the  throne  as  much  to  fear  as  affection ;  and,  on  his  death,  the 
English  nobility,  who  had  borne  with  impatience  the  sway  of  an  equal, 
naturally  looked  up  to  his  conqueror  and  competitor,  the  kinsman  of  their 
ancient  princes,  as  their  sovereign,  their  head,  and  centre  of  union.  The 
duke  of  Normandy,  at  Hastings,  had  triumphed  over  their  elected  king,  but 
not  over  their  liberties.  These  they  imprudently  put  into  his  hands  (as  we 
shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  see)  in  hopes  that  he  would  not  abuse  their 
generosity,  when  resistance,  and  even  vengeance,  was  in  their  power. 


LETTER  XX. 

Spain,  the  Arabs,  and  the  Empire  of  Constantinople,  during  the  ninth,  tenth,  ana 
Part  of  the  eleventh  Century. 

SPAIN. 

THE  death  of  Abdurrahman,  the  Moorish  king,  whom  we  have  seen  reigu 
with  so  much  lustre  at  Cordova,  was  followed  by  dissensions  among  his  chil- 
dren, which  procured  some  relief  to  the  Spanish  Christians.  The  little  king- 
dom of  the  Asturias,  or  of  Leon  and  Oviedo,  as  it  was  afterward  called, 
founded  by  Pelagius,  increased  under  Alphonso  III.  surnamed  the  Great,  on 
account  of  his  wisdom  and  valour.  Garcias  Ximenes,  descended,  from  the 
ancient  Spaniards,  had  also  founded,  in  758,  the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  which 
became  one  of  the  most  considerable  Christian  principalities  in  Spain. 

The  Moors,  however,  still  possessed  Portugal,  Murcia,  Andalusia,  Valentia, 
Granada,  Tortosa,  and  the  interior  part  of  the  country  as  far  as  the  moun- 
tains of  Castile  and  Saragossa — more  than  three-fourths  of  Spain,  and  the 
most  fertile  provinces.  Among  them,  as  in  the  other  nations  of  Europe,  a 
crowd  of  too  powerful  nobles  affected  independency,  and  the  sovereign  was 
obliged  to  contend  with  his  subjects  for  dominion.  This  was  the  time  to 
have  crushed  the  Mahometan  power:  but  the  Spanish  Christians  were  not 
more  united  than  their  enemies.  Though  continually  at  war  with  the  Moors, 
they  were  always  destroying  each  other.  The  reign  of  Alphonso  the  Great 
was  full  of  conspiracies  and  revolts :  his  own  wife  and  his  two  sons  were 
among  the  number  of  the  rebels.  He  resigned  his  crown  to  Garcias  the 
eldest;  he  even  generously  fought  under  his  command;  and  died  in  912, 
with  the  glory  of  a  hero,  and  the  piety  of  a  saint.(l) 

Ramiro  II.  king  of  Leon  and  Oviedo,  another  Spanish  hero,  gained  in  938 
the  celebrated  victory  of  Simancas,  where  the  Moors  are  said  to  have  lost 
fourscore  thousand  men.  He  had  promised  to  St.  James,  in  a  pilgrimage  to 
Compostella,  that,  if  he  was  victorious,  all  his  subjects  should  offer  annually 

appeared  to  have  emulated  their  conquerors  to  all  acts  of  prowess  and  valour.  But  both  were  alike  given 
to  long  and  excessive  drinking,  in  large  societies  or  clubs:  and  the  Danes  added  to  this  convivial  in  temper 
ence  an  inordinate  passion  for  women ;  in  which  they  seem  to  have  gloried,  and  often  gratified  in  a 
manner  shocking  to  humanity.  Violence  in  love  was  with  them  as  common  as  in  war.  Yet  they  some- 
times made  use  of  other  means  to  accomplish  their  purpose — they  affected  gallantry ;  and,  by  their  atten- 
tion to  dress  and  cleanliness,  are  said  to  have  seduced  many  English  wives.  That  cleanliness,  however, 
by  which  they  were  distinguished,  consisted  only  in  combing  the  hair  once  a  day,  and  washing  themselves 
once  a  week.  Wallingford,  ad.  Gale,  torn.  i.  Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  ii.  Jlnglia.  Sacra,  torn.  ii. 

The  manners  of  the  Welsh  in  this  dark  period  must  have  been  even  less  delicate  than  those  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  ;  for  they  thought  it  necessary,  we  find,  to  make  a  law,  That  none  of  the  courtiers  should  give  the 
queen  a  blow,  or  snatch  any  thing  violently  out  of  her  hands,  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  Her  Majesty's 
protection.  (Leg.  Wallicse,  p.  11.)  And  if  any  woman  brought  an  action  for  a  rape  which  was  denied  by 
the  man,  she  was  ordered  to  take  hold  of  the  culprit  by  the  offending  part,  with  her  left  hand,  and  to  lay  the 
right  on  the  holy  reliques ;  and,  in  that  position ,  to  make  oath  of  the  violation  of  her  person— quod  is  per 
se  isto  membra  vitia  verit.  Ibid.  p.  80.  u  (1)  Ferreras.  Mariana. 

11 


114  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART!. 

a  certain  measure  of  wheat  to  the  church  of  that  saint.  The  church  was 
enriched,  and  the  name  of  St.  James  became  the  alarm  to  battle  among  the 
Spaniards. 

Men  are  chiefly  indebted  for  all  their  heroic  achievements  to  their  pas- 
sions :  hence  nothing  is  so  irresistible  as  the  valour  inspired  by  enthusiasm, 
while  it  lasts.  The  name  of  St.  James  was  long  terrible  to  the  Moors,  ana 
long  the  companion  of  victory.  Mahomet  Almanzor,  however,  the  celebrated 
general  and  prime  minister  of  Hissem  king  of  Cordova,  found  means,  by 
another  artifice,  to  turn  the  tide  of  success.  Seeing  his  troops  begin  to  fly, 
in  a  battle  fought  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Ezla,  he  dismounted  from  his 
horse,  sat  down  in  the  field,  threw  his  turban  on  the  ground,  and,  laying  his 
arms  across  his  breast,  declared  he  would  in  that  posture  meet  his  fate,  since 
he  was  abandoned  by  his  army.  This  stratagem  had  the  desired  effect ;  hi' 
troops  returned  to  the  charge,  and  obtained  a  complete  victory.  The  Moors 
became  sensible  that  they  could  conquer  in  spite  of  St.  James :  and  the 
Christians  in  their  turn  trembled  at  the  name  of  Almanzor. 

That  great  man,  who  was  no  less  a  politician  than  a  warrior,  is  said  to 
have  vanquished  the  Christian  princes  in  fifty  engagements.  He  took  the 
city  of  Leon  by  assault;  sacked  Compostella;  pillaged  the  church  of  St. 
James,  and  carried  the  gates  in  triumph,  on  the  shoulders  of  his  army,  to 
Cordova.  This  triumph  proved  his  ruin.  A  flux  breaking  out  among  his 
troops,  the  Christians  considered  that  distemper  as  a  punishment  inflicted  by 
St.  James  :  the  flame  of  enthusiasm  rekindled,  and  Almanzor  was  defeated. 
But  what  was  infinitely  more  advantageous  to  the  Christians,  as  well  as  more 
fatal  to  himself,  he  was  so  much  ashamed  of  his  misfortune,  that  he  would 
neither  eat  nor  drink,  and  obstinately  perished  of  hunger.(l) 

About  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  race  of  Abdurrahman 
being  extinct,  the  kingdom  of  Cordova  was  dismembered,  by  the  ambition  of 
a  number  -of  noblemen,  who  all  usurped  the  title  of  king.  Toledo,  Valentia, 
Seville,  Saragossa,  and  almost  all  the  great  cities,  had  their  independent 
sovereigns.  The  provinces  were  changed  into  kingdoms,  which  multiplied 
in  the  same  manner  among  the  Christians,  who  had  a  king  of  Leon,  of  Na- 
varre, of  Castile,  of  Arragon;  and  Sancho,  surnamed  the  Great,  king  of 
Navarre,  was  so  imprudent  as  to  subdivide  his  dominions  among  his  four 
sons.  Perpetual  jealousies,  with  all  the  crimes  that  accompany  them,  were 
the  consequence  of  these  divisions  of  territory — treachery,  poisonings,  as- 
sassinations !  the  common  weapons  of  petty  neighbouring  and  rival  princes, 
who  have  much  ambition  and  small  means  of  gratifying  it.  Hence  the  his- 
tory of  Spain  becomes  always  less  important,  in  proportion  to  the  increase 
of  the  kingdoms.  One  circumstance,  however,  merits  our  attention,  both 
on  account  of  its  nature  and  its  singularity. 

In  this  dark  and  oppressive  period,  when  the  commonalty  all  over  Europe 
were  either  degraded  to  a  state  of  actual  slavery,  or  in  a  condition  little  more 
to  be  envied,  the  people  of  Arragon  shared  the  government  with  their  sove- 
reign. The  representatives  of  cities  and  towns  had  a  place  in  their  Cortes, 
or  national  assembly.  But  the  Arragonians,  not  satisfied  with  this  check  on 
the  royal  prerogative,  nor  willing  to  trust  the  preservation  of  their  liberties 
solely  to  their  representatives,  elected  a  justiza,  or  grand  judge,  who  was 
the  supreme  interpreter  of  the  laws,  and  whose  particular  business  it  was  to 
restrain  the  encroachments  of  the  crown,  and  protect  the  rights  of  the  sub- 
ject. He  was  chosen  from  among  the  cavelleros,  or  second  order  in  the 
state,  answering  to  our  gentlemen  commoners,  that  he  might  be  equally  inte- 
rested in  curbing  the  oppressive  spirit  of  the  nobles,  and  setting  bounds  to 
the  ambition  of  the  prince.  His  person  was  sacred,  and  his  jurisdiction 
almost  unbounded :  his  power  was  exerted  in  superintending  the  administra- 
tion of  government,  no  less  than  in  regulating  the  course  of  justice.  He  had 
a  right  to  review  all  the  royal  proclamations  and  patents,  and  to  declare 
whether  they  were  agreeable  to  law,  and  ought  to  be  carried  into  execution : — • 

(I)  Rod.  Tolet,  de  Reb.  Hisi>.  Anna1..  Cvmpostcl. 


LBT.  XX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  115 

and  he  could,  by  his  sole  authority,  exclude  any  of  the  king's  ministers  from 
the  management  of  affairs,  and  call  them  to  answer  for  their  conduct  while 
In  office.  He  himself  was  answerable  to  the  Cortes  alone. 

The  justiza  had  also  the  singular  privilege  of  receiving  the  coronation 
oath,  in  the  name  of  the  people ;  when,  holding  a  naked  sword  opposite  to 
the  king's  heart,  he  repeated  these  remarkable  words :  "  We,  who  are  your 
equals,  make  you  our  sovereign,  and  promise  obedience  to  your  government, 
on  condition  that  you  maintain  our  rights  and  liberties ;  if  not — not !"  And 
it  was  accordingly  an  established  maxim  in  the  constitution  of  Arragon, 
that  if  the  king  should  violate  his  engagements,  it  was  lawful  for  the  people 
to  depose  him,  and  to  elect  another  in  his  stead.(l) 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  THE  ARABS, 

FROM  the  Arabs  in  Spain  we  pass  naturally  to  those  of  Asia  and  the  neigh- 
bouring continent  of  Africa.  The  great  empire  of  the  Arabs,  as  well  as  its 
tiranches,  had  experienced  those  revolutions  which  war  and  discord  naturally 
produce,  and  which  sooner  or  later  overturn  the  best  founded  governments. 
The  glory  of  the  caliphat  was  obscured  toward  the  end  of  the  ninth  century. 
Under  weak  or  wicked  princes,  the  African  governors  shook  off  their  alle- 
giance. Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli,  formed  particular  states.  Religious 
quarrels  augmented  those  of  ambition.  The  Fattimides,  a  Mahometan  sect, 
flamed  with  all  the  fury  of  fanaticism.  They  founded  an  empire  in  Egypt, 
from  which  they  expelled  the  race  of  Abbas ;  and  Cairo,  the  capital  of  that 
empire,  became  the  seat  of  a  new  caliph,  and  a  nourishing  city  of  commerce. 

Another  fanatical  sect,  persuaded  that  the  abuses  introduced  into  the 
teligion  of  Mahomet  required  reformation,  delivered  themselves  up  to  the 
transports  of  enthusiasm,  and  acquired  strength  by  being  persecuted.  They 
revolted,  obtained  several  victories,  and  seized  the  provinces  on  the  western 
coast  of  Africa,  which  form  the  present  kingdom  of  Morocco;  where  their 
chief,  like  the  other  caliphs,  uniting  the  royalty  with  the  priesthood,  governed 
his  new  empire  under  the  name  of  Miramoulin,  or  Commander  of  the  Faith- 
ful, a  title  implying  his  claim  to  the  caliphat. 

Other  circumstances  conspired  to  dismember  the  empire  of  the  Arabs. 
The  caliphs  of  Bagdat  had  received  into  their  armies  a  body  of  Turks,  or  Tur- 
comans, a  Tartar  tribe.  These  auxiliaries,  on  account  of  their  valour,  were 
soon  employed  as  the  royal  guard,  and  subjected  those  whom  they  were  hired 
to  protect.  They  took  advantage  of  the  civil  wars  raised  against  the  caliphat 
to  make  themselves  lords  of  Asia :  they  stripped  the  caliphs,  by  degrees,  of  the 
sovereignty,  but  permitted  them  to  retain  the  pontificate,  which  they  revered ; 
prudently  submitting  themselves  to  the  religion  of  the  country,  and  kneeling 
to  the  priest  while  they  despoiled  the  king.(2) 

A  variety  of  sovereigns  sprung  up  under  the  name  of  Sultans,  who  were 
invested  with  their  dominions  by  the  caliphs,  but  took  care  to  leave  them  very 
little  authority;  so  that  the  successors  of  Mahomet  found  themselves,  to- 
wards the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  in  much  the  same  situation  with 
those  of  St.  Peter  under  the  first  German  emperors,  or  with  the  kings  of 
Europe  about  the  same  time,  whose  power  declined  in  proportion  to  the  in- 
crease of  their  vassals. 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

WHILE  the  empire  of  the  Arabs  was  thus  overturned,  and  that  of  Charle- 
magne falling  to  pieces,  the  empire  of  Constantinople,  to  borrow  a  simile 
from  Voltaire,  still  stood  like  a  large  tree,  vigorous  though  old,  stripped  of 

(1)  Zurit.  Jlnnal.  de  Arrag.    Hier.  Blanca,  Comment,  de  Rer.  Jlrrag. 
'2)  Leunclav.  Jinnal.  Turcici.    Georg.  Elmacin.     Histor.  Saracenica 
H2 


116  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART! 

its  branches,  some  of  its  roots,  and  buffeted  on  every  side  by  storms  and 
tempests.  Though  much  circumscribed  on  the  eastern  frontier,  it  yet  ex- 
tended over  all  Greece,  Macedonia,  Epirus,  Thessaly,  Thrace,  Illyricum :  it 
was  contracted  indeed,  but  not  dismembered ;  often  changing  its  emperors, 
but  always  united  under  the  person  who  swayed  the  sceptre.  How  unworthy, 
in  general,  of  the  imperial  dignity!  and  what  a  people  had  they  to  govern  ! 

Nicephorus,  whom  we  have  seen  dethrone  Irene,  was  an  execrable  tyrant. 
The  Saracens  robbed  him  of  the  Isle  of  Cyprus ;  and  the  Bulgarians,  the 
scourge  of  Thrace,  took  him  prisoner,  after  having  cut  off  his  army,  beheaded 
him,  and  threw  his  body  to  the  beasts  of  the  field,  while  they  made  a  drinking- 
cup  of  his  skull.  (1) 

Stauracus,  the  son  of  Nicephorus,  rendered  himself  so  odious  in  the  be- 
ginning of  his  reign,  that  he  was  abandoned"  by  his  people,  and  obliged  to 
become  a  monk. 

Michael  Rangabus  refused  to  make  peace  with  the  Bulgarians,  because  a 
monk  declared,  that  he  could  not,  in  conscience,  deliver  up  the  deserters. 
In  consequence  of  this  refusal,  the  Greeks  were  defeated  by  the  Bulgarians  : 
the  emperor  betook  himself  to  flight ;  and  the  officers,  incensed  at  his  beha- 
viour, proclaimed  Leo  the  Armenian. 

Leo  attempted  to  assassinate  the  king  of  the  Bulgarians,  who,  in  revengf, 
pillaged  the  suburbs  of  Constantinople.  The  emperor  could  conceive  notliiny 
more  effectual  to  save  the  state  than  the  extirpation  of  idolatry ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  abolition  of  images.  He  accordingly  commanded  a  new  persecu- 
tion ;  and  eight  hundred  and  twenty  persons  were  massacred  in  one  church. 
Michael  the  Stammerer,  the  successor  of  Leo,  at  first  tolerated  the  worship 
of  images.  But  he  afterward  changed  his  system:  he  persecuted  those 
whom  he  had  formerly  protected,  and  would  even  have  had  the  sabbath  ob- 
served, and  the  passover  celebrated  in  the  manner  of  the  Jews.  The  Saru- 
cens  took  advantage  of  his  weakness  to  make  themselves  masters  of  the  Isle 
of  Crete,  now  Candia :  they  also  conquered  almost  all  Sicily,  and  ravaged 
Apulia  and  Calabria.(2) 

During  the  reign  of  Theophilus,  though  more  worthy  of  the  imperial  throne, 
the  persecution  was  redoubled,  and  the  Saracens  extended  their  conquests. 
But  after  his  death,  the  empress  Theodora,  governing  during  the  minority  of 
Michael  III.  re-established  the  worship  of  images,  as  Irene  had  formerly 
done.  Afterward,  desirous  to  convert  the  Manicheans  by  terror,  she  caused 
them  to  be  destroyed  in  thousands.  Those  who  escaped  went  over  to  the 
Bulgarians,  and  the  empire  was  obliged  to  contend  with  its  own  subjects. 
Michael  confined  Theodora  in  a  convent ;  and  delivering  himself  up  to  all 
manner  of  crimes,  carried  his  impiety  so  far,  as  to  sport  with  the  ecclesiastical 
ceremonies.  He  was  assassinated  by  Basil,  whom  he  had  associated  in  the 
empire,  and  imprudently  would  have  deposed. 

Basil,  originally  a  beggar,  now  found  himself  emperor.  He  is  celebrated 
for  his  justice  and  humanity;  but  he  was  a  dupe  to  the  patriarch,  Photius, 
whom  he  favoured  with  his  confidence,  even  after  he  had  exiled  him.  His 
reign  is  the  era  of  the  grand  schism,  which  for  ever  divided  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches. 

This  schism,  which  took  its  rise  from  a  jealousy  between  the  primates  of 
the  East  and  West,  was  brought  to  a  crisis  by  the  conversion  of  the  Bulga- 
rians. As  Bulgaria  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  eastern  empire,  it  was  dis- 
puted, whether  the  new  Christians  ought  to  be  subject  to  the  pope,  or  to  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople.  A  variety  of  other  reasons  were  assigned  for 
the  squabble  that  followed ;  but  this  is  the  true  one,  and  the  only  one  which 
it  is  necessary  for  you  to  know.  The  council  of  Constantinople  gave  judg- 
ment in  favour  of  the  patriarch;  but  the  pope's  legates  protested  against  the 
decision.  New  circumstances  widened  the  breach.  The  two  primates  ex- 
communicated each  other ;  and  although  the  quarrel  was  sometimes  mode. 

(1)  Tlieophan.  (2)  Cerden. 


LET.  XX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  117 

rated  by  the  mediation  of  the  emperors,  it  was  never  made  up.     The  schism 
continued. 

The  Saracens  took  Syracuse,  while  Basil  was  employed  in  founding-  a 
church ;  and  his  son  Leo  composed  sermons,  while  the  empire  was  ravaged 
on  all  sides.  Leo,  however,  is  styled  the  Philosopher ;  because  he  loved 
learning-,  and  favoured  learned  men,  not  from  being  an  Alfred  or  a  Marcus 
Aurelius. 

Constantine  Porphyrogenitus,  the  son  and  successor  of  Leo,  merits  the 
eulogies  bestowed  on  him,  as  a  protector  of  the  sciences,  which  he  himself 
cultivated  with  success.  Men  of  the  first  rank  taught  philosophy,  geometry, 
and  rhetoric,  at  Constantinople,  during  his  reign,  which  commenced  in  912, 
and  ended  in  959.  But  the  affairs  of  the  empire  were  not  conducted  better 
than  formerly. 

They  were  still  worse  conducted  under  Romanus,  the  son  of  Constantine, 
who  poisoned  his  father,  and  was  the  tyrant  of  his  people. 

Nicephorus  Phocas  had  the  honour  of  vanquishing  the  Saracens,  and  of 
recovering  from  them  Crete,  Antioch,  and  other  places.  His  avarice  and 
tyranny,  however,  made  him  detested :  his  own  wife  joined  in  a  conspiracy 
against  him ;  and  he  was  murdered  in  bed. 

John  Zimisces,  one  of  the  assassins,  seized  the  empire,  and  delivered  it 
from  the  Rossi,  or  Russians,  whom  he  defeated  in  several  engagements. 
This  brave  prince  was  poisoned  by  the  eunuch  Basil,  his  chamberlain,  who, 
notwithstanding,  preserved  his  credit  under  Basil  II.  grandson  of  Constantine 
Porphyrogenitus . 

Basil  was  a  warrior,  but  a  barbarous  one.  Having  vanquished  the  Bulga- 
rians, he  caused  the  eyes  of  five  thousand  prisoners  to  be  put  out.  His  sub- 
jects, loaded  with  taxes,  could  not  enjoy  his  triumphs.  He  fought  for  him- 
self, not  for  them.  His  death  was  followed  by  a  train  of  the  blackest  crimes 
of  which  we  have  any  example  in  history. 

The  princess  Zoe,  daughter  of  Constantine,  the  brother  and  colleague  of 
Basil,  had  espoused  Romanus  Argyropulus,  who  was  proclaimed  emperor. 
Zoe  afterward  became  enamoured  of  Michael  Paphlagonotus,  a  man  of  low 
birth.  She  poisoned  her  husband,  in  order  to  give  the  throne  to  her  lover , 
but  the  poison  not  operating  quick  enough,  she  caused  Argyropulus  to  be 
drowned  in  a  bath.  The  patriarch  of  Constantinople  at  first  scrupled  to 
marry  the  empress  to  Michael.  But  a  sum  of  money  quieted  his  conscience, 
and  the  imperial  crown  followed  the  sanction  of  the  church. 

The  emperor  Paphlagonotus,  a  prey  to  diseases  and  remorse,  died  in  the 
habit  of  a  monk ;  and  Zoe  gave  the  empire  and  her  hand  to  Michael  Cala- 
phates,  the  son  of  a  calker,  or  cobbler  of  ships,  by  a  sister  of  the  other 
Michael,  hoping  that  he  would  be  the  slave  of  her  will.  But  the  new  emperor, 
jealous  of  his  power,  put  her  in  confinement.  The  people  revolted :  they 
released  the  empress  and  her  sister  Theodora,  and  put  out  the  eyes  of  Ca- 
laphates. 

The  two  sisters  reigned  together  a  year,  and  employed  themselves  only 
about  trifles.  The  people  would  have  a  prince ;  and  Zoe,  at  last,  married 
Constantine  Monomachus,  one  of  her  ancient  lovers,  who  was  crowned.  This 
upstart  emperor  neglected  his  wife  for  a  young  mistress.  The  Greeks, 
incensed  at  his  conduct,  seized  him  in  a  procession,  and  declared  they  would 
only  obey  two  empresses.  He  would  have  been  cut  to  pieces,  if  the  princesses 
had  not  interposed. 

Monomachus  augmented  the  miseries  of  the  empire  by  his  rapacity.  The 
frontier  provinces  had  been  exempted  from  taxes,  on  condition  that  they 
should  defend  themselves  against  the  barbarians.  The  emperor  pretended 
that  he  would  defend  them,  and  made  them  pay  like  the  rest  of  the  empire  ;(l) 
but  they  were  poorly  defended,  notwithstanding  the  taxes. 

These  particulars  will  be  sufficient  to  enable  you  to  judge  of  the  state  of 
Constantinople.  If  at  any  time  we  find  an  able  and  warlike  prince  there,  we 

(0  Cerden.    See  also  Curpolatus  and  Leo  Gramraattcoa. 


118  THE   HISTORY    OF 

always  find  the  same  reigning  spirit  of  superstition  and  rebellion.  Isaac 
Comnenus,  one  of  the  best  Greek  emperors,  proclaimed  in  1057,  made  him- 
self hated  by  the  monks,  because  he  applied  to  the  public  exigencies  the  super- 
flux  of  their  wealth.  Lamed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse,  he  gave  himself  up  to 
devotion,  resigned  his  crown  in  favour  of  Constantino  Ducas,  and  took  the 
habit  of  a  monk. 

Ducas,  too  much  a  friend  to  peace,  abandoned  the  provinces  to  the  ravages 
of  the  Turks.  He  made  his  three  sons  emperors,  and  left  the  regency  to 
their  mother  Eudoxia,  exacting  from  her  a  promise,  that  she  would  never 
marry :  and  this  promise  he  obliged  her  to  confirm  in  writing.  Eudoxia, 
nowever,  soon  resolved  to  marry  Romanus  Diogenes,  whom  she  had  con- 
demned to  die,  but  whose  fine  person  subdued  her  heart.  Her  promise, 
deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  patriarch,  now  gave  her  much  uneasiness.  In 
order  to  recover  it,  she  artfully  pretended  to  have  fixed  her  choice  on  the 
patriarch's  kinsman.  This  amorous  deceit  had  the  desired  effect.  The 
writing  was  restored ;  and  the  empress,  absolved  from  her  promise  of  widow- 
hood, did  not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  her  release.  She  immediately  married 
Romanus,  and  procured  him  the  empire. (1) 

Could  ignorant  savages  have  acted  more  absurdly  1  or  ruffians  amenable 
to  public  justice  more  atrociously1?  Yet  the  Greeks  were  still  the  most 
learned  and  polished  people  in  Europe ;  and  Constantinople,  notwithstanding 
all  its  misfortunes,  its  revolutions,  and  crimes,  having  never  felt  the  destruc- 
tive rage  of  the  Barbarians,  continued  to  be  the  largest  and  most  beautiful 
European  city,  after  the  fall  of  Rome,  and  the  only  one  where  any  image  of 
ancient  manners  or  ingenuity  remained. 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  we  rapidly  traverse  the  wilds  of  history ;  where  the 
objects  are  often  confused,  rude,  and  uninteresting.  But  it  is  necessary  to 
travel  these  first  stages,  in  order  to  arrive  at  more  cultivated  fields.  We 
shall  soon  meet  with  a  new  set  of  objects,  equally  interesting  and  important ; 
and  then  more  leisure  and  attention  will  be  required.  In  the  mean  time,  we 
must  take  a  review  of  past  ages. 


LETTER  XXI. 

Progress  of  Society  in  Europe,  from  the  Settlement  of  the  Modern  Nations,  to  the 
Middle  of  the  Eleventh  Century. 

I  HAVE  already  given  you,  in  a  particular  letter,  an  account  of  the  system 
of  policy  and  legislation  established  by  the  Barbarians,  or  northern  invaders, 
on  their  first  settlement  in  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire  :(2)  and  I  have 
endeavoured,  in  the  course  of  my  general  narration,  to  mark  the  progress  of 
society,  as  it  regards  religion,  laws,  government,  manners,  and  literature. 
But  as  the  history  of  the  human  mind  is  of  infinitely  more  importance  than 
the  detail  of  events,  this  letter,  my  dear  Philip,  shall  be  entirely  devoted  to 
such  circumstances  as  tend  more  particularly  to  throw  light  upon  that  subject. 
I  shall  also  pursue  the  same  method,  at  different  intervals,  during  the  subse- 
quent part  of  your  historical  studies. 

Though  the  northern  invaders  wanted  taste  to  value  the  Roman  arts,  laws, 
or  literature,  they  generally  embraced  the  religion  of  the  conquered  people. 
And  the  mild  and  benevolent  spirit  of  Christianity  would  doubtless  have  soft- 
ened their  savage  manners,  had  not  their  minds  been  already  infected  by  a 
barbarous  superstition ;  which,  mingling  itself  with  the  Christian  principles 
and  ceremonies,  produced  that  absurd  mixture  of  violence,  devotion,  and  folly, 
which  has  so  long  disgraced  the  Romish  church,  and  which  formed  the  cha- 
racter of  the  middle  ages.  The  clergy  were  gainers,  but  Christianity  was  a 
loser,  by  the  conversion  of  the  Barbarians.  They  rather  changed  the  object 
than  the  spirit  of  their  religion. 

il)  Anna Cumnena     N'icetai.  (2)  Irf-itei  II. 


LET.  XXI.]  MODEnN    EUROPE.  119 

The  druids  among  the  Gauls  and  Britons,  the  priests  among  the  ancient 
Germans,  and  among  all  the  nations  of  Scandinavia,  possessed  an  absolute 
dominion  over  the  minds  of  men.  These  people,  after  embracing  Christianity, 
retained  their  veneration  for  the  priesthood.  And  unhappily,  the  clergy  of 
those  times  had  neither  virtue  enough  to  preserve  them  from  abusing,  nor 
knowledge  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  make  a  proper  use  of  their  power. 
They  blindly  favoured  the  superstitious  homage :  and  such  of  the  Barbarians 
as  entered  into  holy  orders,  carried  their  ignorance  and  their  original  preju- 
dices along  with  them. 

The  Christian  emperors  of  Rome  and  Constantinople  had  enriched  the 
church :  they  had  lavished  on  it  privileges  and  immunities ;  and  these  seducing 
advantages  had  but  too  much  contributed  to  a  relaxation  of  discipline,  and 
the  introduction  of  disorders,  more  or  less  hurtful,  which  had  altered  the 
spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Under  the  dominion  of  the  Barbarians  the  degeneracy 
increased,  till  the  pure  principles  of  Christianity  were  lost  in  a  gross  super- 
stition ;  which,  instead  of  aspiring  to  virtuous  sanctity,  the  only  sacrifice  that 
can  render  a  rational  being  acceptable  to  the  great  Author  of  order  and  excel- 
lence, endeavoured  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  God  by  the  same  means  that 
satisfied  the  justice  of  men,  or  by  those  employed  to  appease  their  fabulous 
deities. (1) 

As  the  punishments  due  for  civil  crimes,  among  the  northern  conquerors, 
might  be  bought  off  by  money,  they  attempted,  in  like  manner,  to  bribe 
heaven,  by  benefactions  to  the  church,  in  order  to  supersede  all  future 
inquest.  And  the  more  they  gave  themselves  up  to  their  brutal  passions,  to 
rapine,  and  to  violence,  the  more  profuse  they  were  in  this  species  of  good 
works.  They  seem  to  have  believed,  says  the  Abb6  de  Mably,  that  avarice 
was  the  first  attribute  of  the  Divinity,  and  that  the  saints  made  a  traffic  of 
their  influence  and  protection.  Hence  the  bonmot  of  Clovis :  "  St.  Martin 
serves  his  friends  very  well ;  but  he  makes  them  pay  soundly  for  his  trouble !" 

"  Our  treasure  is  poor,"  says  Chilperic,  the  grandson  of  Clovis :  "  our 
riches  are  gone  to  the  church :  the  bishops  are  the  kings  !" — And  indeed  the 
superior  clergy,  who,  by  the  acquisition  of  lands,  added  the  power  of  fortune 
to  the  influence  of  religion,  were  often  the  arbiters  of  kingdoms,  and  disposed 
of  the  crown  while  they  regulated  the  affairs  of  the  state.  There  was  .a 
necessity  of  consulting  them,  because  they  possessed  all  the  knowledge  that 
then  remained  in  Europe.  The  acts  of  their  counsels  were  considered  as 
infallible  decrees,  and  they  spoke  usually  in  the  name  of  God ;  but,  alas !  they 
were  only  men. 

As  the  interest  of  the  clergy  clashed  with  that  of  the  laity,  opposition  and 
jealousy  produced  new  disorders.  The  priests  made  use  of  artifice  against 
their  powerful  adversaries :  they  invented  fables  to  awe  them  into  submis- 
sion: they  employed  the  spiritual  arms  in  defence  of  their  temporal  goods; 
they  changed  the  mild  language  of  charity  into  frightful  anathemas :  the  reli- 
gion of  Jesus  breathed  nothing  but  terror.  To  the  thunder  of  the  church, 
the  instrument  of  so  many  wars  and  revolutions,  they  joined  the  assistance 
of  the  sword.  Warlike  prelates,  clad  in  armour,  combated  for  their  posses- 
sions, or  to  usurp  those  of  others ;  and,  like  the  heathen  priests,  whose  perni- 
cious influence  was  founded  on  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  the  Christian 
clergy  sought  to  extend  their  authority  by  confining  all  knowledge  to  their 
own  order.  They  made  a  mystery  of  the  most  necessary  sciences  :  truth 
was  not  permitted  to  see  the  light,  and  reason  was  fettered  in  the  cell  of 
superstition.  Many  of  the  clergy  themselves  could  scarce  read,  and  writing 
was  chiefly  confined  to  the  cloisters,(2)  where  a  blind  and  interested  devotion, 
equally  willing  to  deceive  and  to  believe,  held  the  quill,  and  where  lying 
chronicles  and  fabulous  legends  were  composed,  which  contaminated  history, 
religion,  and  the  principles  and  the  laws  of  society. 

Without  arts,  sciences,  commerce,  policy,  principles,  the  European  nations 

1)  Mosheim,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  1.  H. 

(2)  Persons  who  could  not  write  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  place  of  their  name,  in  confirmation  of 
any  legal  deed.  (Du  Cangs  Gloss  voc  Cruz)  Hence  the  phrase  signing,  instead  of  subscribing  a  raper 


120  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  I. 

were  all  as  barbarous  and  wretched  as  they  could  possibly  be,  unless  a  mira- 
cle had  been  wrought  for  the  disgrace  of  humanity.  Charlemagne  indeed  in 
France,  and  Alfred  the  Great  in  England,  as  you  have  had  occasion  to  see, 
endeavoured  to  dispel  this  darkness,  and  tame  their  subjects  to  the  restraints 
of  law  :  and  they  were  so  fortunate  as  to  succeed.  Light  and  order  distin- 
guished their  reigns.  But  the  ignorance  and  barbarism  of  the  age  were  too 
powerful  for  their  liberal  institutions :  the  darkness  returned,  after  their  time, 
more  thick  and  heavy  than  formerly,  and  settled  over  Europe,  and  socict\ 
again  tumbled  into  chaos. 

The  ignorance  of  the  West  was  so  profound,  during  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries,  that  the  clergy,  who  alone  possessed  the  important  secrets  of 
reading  and  writing,  became  necessarily  the  arbiters  and  the  judges  of  almost 
ail  secular  affairs.  They  comprehended  within  their  jurisdiction,  marriages, 
contracts,  wills,  which  they  took  care  to  involve  in  mystery,  and  by  which 
ilit'y  opened  to  themselves  new  sources  of  wealth  and  power.(l)  Every 
iiiing  wore  the  colour  of  religion;  temporal  and  spiritual  concerns  were  con- 
founded; and  from  this  unnatural  mixture  sprung  a  thousand  abuses.  The 
!ii story  of  those  ages  forms  a  satire  on  the  human  soul;  and  on  religion,  if 
v,  e  should  impute  to  it  the  faults  of  its  ministers. 

"  Redeem  your  souls  from  destruction,"  says  St.  Egidius,  bishop  of  Noyon, 
while  you  have  the  means  in  your  power :  offer  presents  and  tithes  to  church- 
men :  come  more  frequently  to  church :  humbly  implore  the  patronage  of  the 
saints ;  for  if  you  observe  these  things  you  may  come  with  security  in  the 
day  of  the  tribunal  of  the  Eternal  Judge,  and  say,  Give  us,  O  Lord,  for  we 
have  given  unto  thee  !"(2) 

In  several  churches  of  France  a  festival  was  celebrated  in  commemoration 
'.  {  the  Virgin  Mary's  flight  into  Egypt.  It  was  called  the  Feast  of  the  Ass. 
A  young  girl  richly  dressed,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  was  set  upon  an  ass 
superbly  caparisoned.  The  ass  was  led  to  the  altar  in  solemn  procession. 
High  mass  was  said  with  great  pomp.  The  ass  was  taught  to  kneel  at  proper 
places ;  a  hymn,  no  less  childish  than  impious,  was  sung  in  his  praise  :  and 
when  the  ceremony  was  ended,  the  priest,  instead  of  the  usual  words  witli 
which  he  dismissed  the  people,  brayed  three  times  like  an  ass ;  and  the  peo- 
ple, instead  of  the  usual  response,  brayed  three  times  in  return.(3) 

Letters  began  to  revive  in  the  eleventh  century,  but  made  small  progress 
till  toward  its  close.  A  scientifical  jargon,  a  false  logic,  employed  about 
words,  without  conveying  any  idea  of  things,  composed  the  learning  of  those 
times.  It  confounded  all  things,  in  endeavouring  to  analyze  every  thing.  As 
the  new  scholars  were  mostly  clergymen,  theological  matters  chiefly  engaged 
their  attention ;  and  as  they  neither  knew  history,  philosophy,  nor  criticism, 
their  labours  were  as  futile  as  their  inquiries,  which  were  equally  disgraceful 
to  reason  and  religion.  The  conception  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  and  digestion 
of  the  eucharist,  were  two  of  the  principal  objects  of  their  speculation :  and 
out  of  the  last  a  third  arose,  which  was,  to  know  whether  it  was  voided 
again  1(4) 

The  disorders  of  government  and  manners  kept  pace,  as  they  always  will, 
with  those  of  religion  and  learning.  These  disorders  seem  to  have  attained 
their  utmost  height  about  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century.  Then  the  feudal 
policy,  the  defects  of  which  I  have  pointed  out,(5)  was  become  universal. 
The  dukes  or  governors  of  provinces,  the  marquises  employed  to  guard  the 
marshes,  and  even  the  counts  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  justice,  all 
originally  officers  of  the  crown,  had  made  themselves  masters  of  their 
dutchies,  marquisates,  and  counties.  The  king  indeed,  as  superior  lord,  still 
received  homage  from  them  for  those  lands  which  they  held  of  the  crown ; 
and  which,  in  default  of  heirs,  returned  to  the  royal  domain.  He  had  a  right 
of  calling  them  out  to  war,  of  judging  them  in  his  court  by  their  assembled 
peers,  and  of  confiscating  their  estates  in  case  of  rebellion ;  but  in  all  othei 

(1)  Du  Canee,  voc.  Curia  Christian.    Flcurv.  Hist.  E-cles  torn.  xix.  Disc.  Prelim. 

(2)  D.  Specileg.  Vet.  Script,  vol.  ii. 

'3l  Du  Cange,  voc.  Fcstum.  (4)  Hist.  Liltcrairt  de  France.  '51  Letter  I) 


LET.  XXI.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  121 

respects,  they  themselves  enjoyed  their  rights  of  royalty.  They  had  their 
sub-vassals,  or  subjects ;  they  made  laws,  held  courts,  coined  money  in  their 
own  name,  and  levied  war  against  their  private  enemies.(l) 

The  most  frightful  disorders  arose  from  this  state  of  feudal  anarchy.  Force 
decided  all  things.  Europe  was  one  great  field  of  battle,  where  the  weak 
struggled  for  freedom,  and  the  strong  for  dominion.  The  king  was  without 
power,  and  the  nobles  without  principle;  they  were  tyrants  at  home,  and 
robbers  abroad.  Nothing  remained  to  be  a  check  upon  ferocity  and  violence. 
The  Scythians  in  their  deserts  could  not  be  less  indebted  to  the  laws  of  society 
than  the  Europeans  during  the  period  under  revieAV.  The  people,  the  most 
numerous  as  well  as  the  most  useful  class  in  the  community,  were  either 
actual  slaves,  or  exposed  to  so  many  miseries,  arising  from  pillage  and  op- 
pression, to  one  or  other  of  which  they  were  a  continual  prey,  and  often  to 
both,  that  many  of  them  made  a  voluntary  surrender  of  their  liberty  for  bread 
and  prot.ection.(2)  What  must  have  been  the  state  of  that  government  where 
slavery  was  an  eligible  condition ! 

But,  conformable  to  the  observation  of  the  philosophic  Hume,  there  is  a 
point  of  depression  as  well  as  of  exaltation,  beyond  which  human  affairs 
seldom  pass,  and  from  which  they  naturally  return  in  a  contrary  progress. 
This  utmost  point  of  decline,  society  seems  to  have  attained  in  Europe,  as  I 
have  already  said,  about  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century ;  when  the  disorders 
of  the  feudal  government,  together  with  the  corruption  of  taste  and  manners 
consequent  upon  these,  svere  arrived  at  their  greatest  excess.  Accordingly 
from  that  era  we  can  trace  a  succession  of  causes  and  events,  which,  with 
different  degrees  of  influence,  contributed  to  abolish  anarchy  and  barbarism, 
and  introduce  order  and  politeness. 

Among  the  first  of  these  causes  we  must  rank  chivalry;  which,  as  the 
elegant  and  inquisitive  Dr.  Robertson  remarks,  though  commonly  considered 
as  a  wild  institution,  the  result  of  caprice  and  the  source  of  extravagance, 
arose  naturally  from  the  state  of  society  in  those  times,  and  had  a  very  seri- 
ous effect  in  refining  the  manners  of  the  European  nations. 

The  feudal  state,  as  has  been  observed,  was  a  state  of  perpetual  war, 
rapine,  and  anarchy.  The  weak  and  unarmed  were  exposed  every  moment 
to  insults  or  injuries.  The  power  of  the  sovereign  was  too  limited  to  prevent 
these  wrongs,  and  the  legislative  authority  too  feeble  to  redress  them.  There 
was  scarce  any  shelter  from  violence  and  oppression,  except  what  the  valour 
and  generosity  of  private  persons  afforded ;  and  the  arm  of  the  brave  was  the 
only  tribunal  to  which  the  helpless  could  appeal  for  justice.  The  trader 
could  no  longer  travel  in  safety,  or  bring  unmolested  his  commodities  to 
market.  Every  possessor  of  a  castle  pillaged  them,  or  laid  them  under  con- 
tribution ;  and  many  not  only  plundered  the  merchants,  but  carried  off  all 
the  women  that  fell  in  their  way.  Slight  inconveniences  may  be  overlooked 
or  endured,  but  when  abuses  grow  to  a  certain  height  the  society  must  reform 
or  go  to  ruin.  It  becomes  the  business  of  all  to  discover  and  to  apply  such 
remedies  as  will  most  effectually  remove  the  prevailing  disorders.  Humanity 
sprung  from  the  bosom  of  violence,  and  relief  from  the  hand  of  rapacity. 
Those  licentious  and  tyrannic  nobles,  who  had  been  guilty  of  every  species 
of  outrage  and  every  mode  of  oppression;  who,  equally  unjust,  unfeeling, 
and  superstitious,  had  made  pilgrimages,  and  had  pillaged !  who  had  massa- 
cred, and  had  done  penance  !  touched  at  last  with  a  sense  of  natural  equity, 
and  swayed  by  the  conviction  of  a  common  interest,  formed  associations  for 
the  redress  of  private  wrongs,  and  the  preservation  of  public  safety.(S) 
So  honourable  was  the  origin  of  an  institution  generally  represented  as 
whimsical. 

The  young  warrior  among  the  ancient  Germans,  as  well  as  among  the 
modern  knights,  was  armed,  for  the  first  time,  with  certain  ceremonies  proper 
to  inspire  martial  ardour:  but  chivalry,  considered  as  a  civil  and  military 
institution,  is  as  late  as  the  eleventh  century.  The  previous  discipline  and 

(1)  l)u  Cange,  voc.  Feudum.  (2)  Marculsus,  lib.  ii.  cap.  8. 

<3l  Mem.sur  I'Jlncienne  Chevalerie,  par.  M.  dela  Curne  de  St.  Palaye. 
6 


122  THE    HIS  TORY    OF  [.PART  [. 

solemnities  of  initiation  were  many  and  singular.  The  novice  in  chivalry 
was  educated  in  the  house  of  some  knight,  commonly  a  person  of  high  rank, 
whom  he  served  first  in  the  character  of  page,  and  afterward  of  squire . 
nor  was  he  admitted  to  the  supreme  honour  of  knighthood,  until  he  had 
given  many  striking  proofs  of  his  valour  and  address.  The  ceremony  ol 
initiation  was  very  solemn.  Severe  fastings,  and  nights  spent  in  a  church  or 
ohapel  in  prayer ;  confession  of  sins,  and  the  receiving  of  the  sacraments 
with  devotion;  bathing,  and  putting  on  white  robes,  as  emblems  of  that 
purity  of  manners  required  by  the  laws  of  chivalry,  were  necessary  prepara- 
tions for  this  ceremony. 

When  the  candidate  for  knighthood  had  gone  through  all  these,  and  other 
introductory  formalities,  he  fell  at  the  feet  of  the  person  from  whom  he  ex 
pected  that  honour,  and  on  his  knees  delivered  to  him  his  sword.  After  an- 
swering suitable  questions,  the  usual  oath  was  administered  to  him ;  namely, 
to  serve  his  prince,  defend  the  faith,  protect  the  persons  and  reputations  of 
virtuous  ladies,  and  to  rescue,  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  widows,  orphans,  and 
all  unhappy  persons  groaning  under  injustice  or  oppression.  Then  the 
knights  and  ladies,  who  assisted  at  the  ceremony,  adorned  the  candidate  with 
the  armour  and  ensigns  of  chivalry ;  beginning  with  putting  on  the  spurs, 
and  ending  with  girding  him  with  the  sword.  Seeing  him  thus  accoutred, 
the  king  or  nobleman,  who  was  to  confer  the  honour  of  knighthood*  gave 
him  the  accolade,  or  dubbing,  by  three  gentle  strokes  with  the  flat  part  of 
the  sword  on  the  shoulder,  or  with  the  palm  of  his  hand  on  the  neck,  saying, 
"In  the  name  of  God,  St.  Michael,  and  St.  George,  I  make  thee  a  knight! 
be  thou  loyal,  brave,  and  hardy."(l) 

Valour,  humanity,  courtesy,  justice,  honour,  were  the  characteristics  of 
chivalry :  and  to  these  were  added  religion,  which,  by  infusing  a  large  portion 
of  enthusiastic  zeal,  carried  them  all  to  a  romantic  excess,  wonderfully  suited 
to  the  genius  of  the  age,  and  productive  of  the  greatest  and  most  permanent 
effects  both  upon  policy  and  manners.  War  was  carried  on  with  less  ferocity, 
when  humanity,  no  less  than  courage,  came  to  be  deemed  the  ornament  of 
knighthood,  and  knighthood  a  distinction  superior  to  royalty,  and  an  honour 
which  princes  were  proud  to  receive  from  the  hands  of  private  gentlemen ; 
more  gentle  and  polished  manners  were  introduced,  when  courtesy  was 
recommended  as  the  most  amiable  of  knightly  virtues,  and  every  knight 
devoted  himself  to  the  service  of  some  lady;  and  violence  and  oppression 
decreased,  when  it  was  accounted  meritorious  to  check  and  to  punish  them. 
A  scrupulous  adherence  to  truth,  with  the  most  religious  attention  to  fulfil 
every  engagement,  but  particularly  those  between  the  sexes,  as  more  easily 
violated,  became  the  distinguishing  character  of  a  gentleman;  because  chi- 
valry was  regarded  as  the  school  of  honour  and  inculcated  the  most  delicate 
sensibility  with  respect  to  that  point.(2)  And  valour,  seconded  by  so  many 
motives  of  love,  religion,  and  virtue,  became  altogether  irresistible. 

That  the  spirit  of  chivalry  often  rose  to  an  extravagant  height,  and  had 
sometimes  a  pernicious  tendency,  must  however  be  allowed.  In  Spain,  under 
the  influence  of  a  romantic  gallantry,  it  gave  birth  to  a  series  of  wild  adven- 
tures, which  have  been  deservedly  ridiculed  ;  in  the  train  of  Norman  ambi- 
tion, it  extinguished  the  liberties  of  England,  and  deluged  Italy  in  blood ; 
and  we  shall  soon  see  it,  at  the  call  of  superstition,  and  as  the  engine  of  papal 
power,  desolate  Asia  under  the  banner  of  the  cross.  But  these  violences, 
resulting  from  accidental  circumstances,  ought  not  to  be  considered  as  argu- 
ments against  an  institution  laudable  in  itself,  and  necessary  at  the  time  of 

(1)  Mem.  sur  VJlncienne  C&evalerie,  par.  M.  de  la  Curne  de  St.  Palaye. 

(2)  This  sentiment  became  reciprocal.    Even  a  princess,  says  Tirant  le  Blanc,  declares  that  she  sub- 
mits to  lose  ail  right  to  the  benefits  of  chivalry,  and  consents  that  never  any  knight  shall  take  ai  ins  in  In  i 
defence,  if  she  keeps  not  the  promise  of  marriage,  which  she  has  given  to  the^  knight  who  adored  her. 
And  a  young  gentlewoman,  whose  defence  was  undertaken  by  Gerard  de  Nevers,  beholding  the  ardour 
with  which  he  engaged  in  it,  took  off  her  glove,  we  are  told,  and  delivered  it  to  him,  saying,  "  Sir,  un- 
person, my  life,  my  lands,  and  my  honour,  I  deposite  in  the  care  of  God  and  you  ;  praying  for  such  assist- 
ance and  grace,  that  I  may  be  delivered  out  of  this  peril."     (M.  de  la  Curne  de  St.  Palaye,  ubi  sup.) 
Many  similar  examples  might  be  produced  of  this  mutual  confidence,  the  basis  of  that  elegant  intercounft 
between  Uie  sexes,  which  so  remarkably  distinguishes  modern  from  ancient  manners. 


LET.  XXI.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  1-23 

As  establishment.  And  they  who  pretend  to  despise  it,  the  advocates  of  an- 
cient barbarism  and  ancient  rusticity,  ought  to  remember,  that  chivalry  not 
only  first  taught  mankind  to  carry  the  civilities  of  peace  into  the  operations 
of  war,  and  to  mingle  politeness  with  the  use  of  the  sword,  but  roused  the 
human  soul  from  its  lethargy ;  invigorating  the  human  character,  even 
while  it  softened  it,  and  produced  exploits  which  antiquity  cannot  parallel. 
Nor  ought  they  to  forget,  that  it  gave  variety  and  elegance,  and  communi- 
cated an  increase  of  pleasure,  to  the  intercourse  of  life,  by  making  woman 
a  more  essential  part  of  society ;  and  is  therefore  entitled  to  our  gratitude, 
though  the  point  of  honour,  and  the  refinements  in  gallantry,  its  more  doubt- 
ful effects,  should  be  excluded  from  the  improvements  in  modern  manners. 

But  the  beneficial  effects  of  chivalry  were  strongly  counteracted  by  othet 
institutions  of  a  less  social  kind.  Some  persons  of  both  sexes,  of  most  reli- 
gions and  most  countries,  have  in  all  ages  secluded  themselves  from  the 
world,  in  order  to  acquire  a  reputation  for  superior  sanctity,  or  to  indulge  a 
melancholy  turn  of  mind,  affecting  to  hold  converse  only  with  the  Divinity. 
The  number  of  these  solitary  devotees,  however,  in  ancient  times,  was  few  ; 
and  the  spirit  of  religious  seclusion,  among  the  heathens,  was  confined  chiefly 
to  high  southern  latitudes,  where  the  heat  of  the  climate  favours  the  indo'- 
lence  of  the  cloister.  But  the  case  has  been  very  different  in  more  modem 
ages  :  for  although  the  monastic  life  had  its  origin  among  the  Christians  in 
Egypt,  Syria,  and  Palestine,  it  rapidly  spread  not  only  over  all  Asia  and 
Africa,  but  also  over  Europe,  and  penetrated  to  the  most  remote  corners  of 
the  North  and  West,  almost  at  the  same  time  that  it  reached  the  extremities 
of  the  East  and  South ;  to  the  great  hurt  of  population  and  industry,  and  the 
obstruction  of  the  natural  progress  of  society.(l) 

Nor  were  these  the  only  consequences  of  the  passion  for  pious  solitude. 
As  all  who  put  on  the  religious  habit,  after  the  monastic  system  was  com- 
pletely formed,  took  a  vow  of  perpetual  chastity,  the  commerce  of  the  sexes 
was  represented  by  those  holy  visionaries  as  inconsistent  with  Christian 
purity;  and  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy,  in  order  to  preserve  their  influence 
with  the  people,  found  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  professing  a  life  of 
celibacy.  This  condescension,  which  was  justly  considered  as  a  triumph  by 
the  monks,  increased  their  importance,  and  augmented  the  number  of  their 
fraternities.  Nothing  was  esteemed  so  meritorious,  during  the  period  under 
review,  as  the  building  and  endowing  of  monasteries.  And  multitudes  of  men 
and  women  of  all  conditions,  but  especially  of  the  higher  ranks,  considering 
the  pleasures  of  society  as  seducers  to  the  pit  of  destruction,  and  turning 
with  horror  from  sensual  delight,  retired  to  mountains  and  deserts,  or  crowded 
into  cloisters,  where,  under  the  notion  of  mortifying  the  body,  and  shutting 
all  the.  avenues  of  the  soul  against  the  allurements  of  external  objects,  they 
affected  an  austerity  that  gained  them  universal  veneration,  and  threw  a  cloud 
over  the  manners  of  the  Christian  world.  (2) 

The  extravagance  to  which  both  sexes  are  said  to  have  carried  that  aus- 
terity, during  the  first  fervours  of  monastic  zeal,  seems  altogether  incredible 
to  cool  reason,  unenlightened  by  philosophy.  In  attempting  to  strip  human 
nature  of  every  amiable  and  ornamental  quality,  in  order  to  humble  pride, 
and  repress  the  approaches  of  loose  desire,  or,  in  their  own  phrase,  "to  deliver 
the  celestial  spirit  from  the  bondage  of  flesh  and  blood,"  they  in  a  manner 
divested  themselves  of  the  human  character.  They  not  only  lived  among 
wild  beasts,  but,  after  the  m  uner  of  those  savage  animals,  they  ran  naked 
through  the  lonely  deserts  "ith  a  furious  aspect,  and  lodged  in  gloomy 
caverns ;  or  grazed  in  the  fields  like  the  common  herd,  and  like  cattle  took 
their  abode  in  the  open  air.  (3)  And  some  monks  and  holy  virgins,  oy  the 
habit  of  going  naked,  became  so  completely  covered  with  hair,  as  to  require 
no  other  veil  to  modesty.  Many  chose  their  rugged  dwelling  in  the  hollow 
side  or  narrow  cleft  of  some  rock,  which  obliged  them  to  sit  or  stand  in  the 

(1)  Mosheim,  Hist.  Ecclts.  vol.  i.  ii.  et  Auct.  cit.  in  loc.  (2)  Id.  ibid. 

(3s  Ibid.  vol.  ii-    Tillcmont.  Mem.  Ecclea.  torn  v'" 


124  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PAUT  1. 

most  painful  and  emaciating  posture,  during  the  remainder  of  their  wretched 
lives ;  while  others,  with  no  small  exultation,  usurped  the  den  of  some  fero- 
cious brother  brute,  whom  they  affected  to  resemble  ;  and  not  a  few,  under 
the  name  of  Stylites  or  Pillar-saints,  ascended  the  top  of  some  lofty  column, 
where  they  remained  for  years,  night  and  day,  without  any  shelter  from  heat 
or  cold.(l) 

Even  after  religious  houses  were  provided  for  the  devout  solitaries  of  both 
sexes,  and  endowed  with  ample  revenues  by  the  profuse  superstition  of  the 
newly  converted  Barbarians,  they  attempted,  in  their  several  cells,  to  extin- 
guish every  spark  of  sensuality,  by  meagre  fastings,  bloody  flagellations, 
and  other  cruel  austerities  of  discipline,  too  shocking  to  bear  a  recital.  But 
no  sooner  did  the  monastic  fury  subside,  than  nature  began  to  assert  her  em 
pire  in  the  hearts  of  the  deluded  fanatics ;  to  tell  them  they  had  wants  incon- 
sistent with  their  engagements,  and  that,  in  abandoning  society,  they  had 
relinquished  the  most  essential  requisites  of  human  happiness.  The  holy 
sisters  and  brothers,  convinced  of  their  pious  folly,  endeavoured  by  tender 
familiarities  to  console  each  other ;  but  without  violating,  as  they  affirmed, 
their  vow  of  chastity. (2)  And  although  this  delectable  commerce  was  pro- 
hibited,^) as  alike  scandalous  and  dangerous,  by  resembling  too  nearly  the 
ways  of  the  world,  and  provoking  sensibilities  too  strong  for  the  curb  of 
restraining  grace,  other  solacing  practices  took  place  in  the  convents,  not 
more  for  the  honour  of  the  monastic  life. (4)  Whenever  any  set  of  people, 
by  laying  a  constraint  upon  the  natural  appetites,  seek  to  arrive  at  a  degree 
of  purity  inconsistent  with  the  welfare  of  society,  they  never  fail  to  be  guilty 
of  crimes  which  society  disclaims,  and  nature  abhors,  unless  they  relax  the 
rigour  of  their  institutions,  or  slide  back,  by  a  blameless  corruption,  into  the 
more  smooth  but  slippery  paths  of  erring  humanity. 

The  ignorance  of  the  times,  however,  favoured  by  certain  circumstances, 
continued  the  veneration  for  religious  solitude,  notwithstanding  the  licen- 
tiousness of  the  monks.  Many  new  monastic  orders  were  instituted  in  the 
eleventh  century,  under  various  rules  of  discipline ;  but  all  with  a  view  to 
greater  regularity  of  manners.  And  monks  were  called  from  the  lonely  cell 
to  the  most  arduous  and  exalted  stations ;  to  fill  the  papal  chair,  and  support 
the  triple  crown ;  or  to  discharge  the  office  of  prime  minister  in  some  mighty 
kingdom,  and  regulate  the  interests  of  nations.  Though  utterly  ignorant  01 
public  transactions,  their  reputation  for  superior  sanctity,  which  was  easily 
acquired,  by  real  or  affected  austerity,  in  ages  of  rapine  and  superstition, 
made  them  be  thought  fit  to  direct  all  things.  This  ghostly  reputation  even 
enabled  them  to  trample  upon  the  authority,  and  insult  the  persons,  of  the 
princes  whose  government  they  administered ;  especially  if  the  lives  of  such 
princes,  as  was  very  commonly  the  case,  happened  to  be  stained  with  any 
atrocious  acts  of  lust,  violence,  or  oppression.  In  order  to  stay  the  uplifted 
arm  of  divine  justice,  and  render  the  Governor  of  the  world  propitious,  the 
king  knelt  at  the  feet  of  the  monk  and  the  minister — happy  to  commit  to  the 
favourite  of  Heaven  the  sole  guidance  of  his  spiritual  and  temporal  con- 
cerns.^) And  if  chivalry,  by  awakening  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  had  not 
roused  the  human  powers  to  deeds  of  valour,  and  revived  the  passion  for  the 
softer  sex,  by  connecting  it  with  arms,  and  separating  it  from  gross  desire, 
Europe  might  have  sunk  under  the  tyranny  of  a  set  of  men,  who  pretend  to 
renounce  the  world  and  its  affairs,  and  Christendom  have  become  but  one 
great  cloister. 

(1)  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  viii.  (2)  Mosheim,  ubi.  sup. 

(3)  The  sixth  general  council  (canon)  xvii.  forbids  worn  n  to  pass  the  night  in  a  male,  or  men  in  a 
female,  monastery.    And  Hie  seventh  general  council  (canon  M.)  forbids  the  erecting  of  double  or  pro- 
miscuous monasteries  of  both  sexes.    (Beveridge,  torn.  1.)    On  the  irregular  pleasures  of  the  monks  and 
nuns,  see  Thnmassin,  torn,  lit 

(4)  Mosheim,  vol.  ii. 

(5)  Besides  the  wealth  and  influence  acquired  by  the  monks  in  consr-quence  of  the  superstitious  ignorance 
of  the  great,  who  often  shared  not  only  their  power,  but  the  fruits  of  their  rapine  with  their  pious  directors, 
a  popular  opinion  which  prevailed  towards  the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  contributed  greatly  to  augment 
ill  "ir  opulence.    The  thousand  years,  from  the  birth  or  death  of  Christ,  mentioned  by  St.  John  in  the  book 
uf  Revelations,  were  supposed  to  be  nearly  accomplished,  and  the  day  of  judgment  at  hand     Multitudes 


LIT.  XXIL1  MODERN   EUROPE.  F25 


LETTER  XXII. 

The  Germin  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Italian  State*,  under 
Conrad  II,  and  his  Descendants  of  the  House  of  Franconia. 

WE  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  the  great  line  of  history,  which  I  shall 
endeavour  to  trace  as  exactly  as  possible,  that  you  may  be  able  to  keep  in 
view  the  train  of  events,  without  which  you  will  neither  he  able  to  reason 
distinctly  on  them  yourself,  nor  to  understand  clearly  the  reasonings  of 
others.  I  shall  therefore  bring  down  the  history  of  the  German  empire  to 
the  death  of  Henry  V.  when  the  quarrel  between  the  popes  and  the  emperors 
came  to  a  stand,  before  I  speak  of  the  affairs  of  France  and  England,  which, 
from  the  Norman  conquest,  became  inseparably  interwoven,  but  had  little 
influence  for  some  centuries  on  the  rest  of  Europe. 

Great  disputes  ensued  on  the  death  of  Henry  II.  about  the  nomination  oi 
a  successor  to  the  empire ;  that  prince,  as  you  have  bad  occasion  to  see, 
dying  without  issue.  The  princes  and  states  assembled  in  the  open  fields, 
between  Mentz  and  Worms,  no  hall  being  sufficient  to  hold  them ;  and,  after 
six  weeks'  encampment  and  deliberation,  they  elected  Conrad,  duke  of 
Franconia,  surnamed  the  Salic,  because  he  was  born  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Sala.(l) 

The  Lombards  revolting,  as  usual,  soon  after  the  election  of  the  new 
emperor,  Conrad  marched  into  Italy  ;  and  having  reduced  the  rebels  by  force 
of  arms,  he  went  to  Rome,  where  he  was  consecrated  and  crowned  by  Pop~ 
John  XX.,  in  presence  of  Canute  the  great,  king  of  England,  Denmark,  and 
Norway,  and  Rodglph  III.,  king  of  Transjurane  Burgundy.  But  his  stay  at 
Rome  was  short.  Scarce  was  the  coronation  over,  when  he  was  obliged  to 
return  to  Germany,  on  account  of  some  insurrections  raised  in  his  absence. 
He  took  the  precaution,  however,  be  fore  he  attempted  to  humble  the  insurgents, 
to  get  his  son  Henry,  then  above  twelve  years  of  age,  declared  his  successor, 
and  solemnly  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  rebellion  was  soon  after 
suppressed  by  the  valour  of  Conrad.  He  defeated  the  authors  of  it  in  several 
engagements ;  in  one  of  which,  Ernest,  duke  of  Suabia,  who  had  been  put  to 
the  ban  of  the  empire,  was  slain.(2) 

The  word  ban  originally  signified  banner,  afterward  edict,  and  lastly,  a 
declaration  of  outlawry,  which  was  intimated  thus  :  "  We  declare  thy  wife  a 
widow,  thy  children  orphans,  and  send  thee,  in  the  name  of  the  devil,  to  the 
four  corners  of  the  earth."  This  is  one  of  the  first  examples  of  that  pro- 
scription. 

The  emperor  next  turned  his  arms  against  the  Poles,  and  afterward  against 
the  Huns,  and  obliged  both  to  subscribe  to  his  own  conditions.  In  the  mean 
time  Rodolph,  king  of  Transjurane  Burgundy,  dying  without  issue,  left  his 
dominions  to  Conrad.  They  were  of  small  extent,  but  included  the  seigniorial 
superiority  over  the  Swiss,  the  Grisons,  Provence,  Franche-Compte,  Savoy, 
Geneva,  and  Dauphine.  Hence  the  lands  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine  ar- 
still  called  the  Lands  of  the  Empire ;  and  all  the  noblemen  of  those  can- 
tons, who  formerly  held  of  Rodolph  and  his  predecessors,  now  hold  of  the 
emperor.  (3) 

While  Conrad  II.  was  employed  in  taking  possession  of  his  new  inheritance, 
the  Poles  revolted :  and  this  rebellion  was  no  sooner  quelled  than  he  had 
occasion  to  compose  another  in  Italy,  headed  by  Hubert,  bishop  of  Milan, 
whom  he  had  loaded  with  favours.  Conrad  made  so  much  haste  that  Milan 
was  taken  by  surprise.  The  bishop  was  condemned  to  perpetual  banishment ; 

of  Christians,  therefore,  anxious  only  for  their  eternal  salvation,  delivered  over  to  the  monastic  orders  all 
their  lands,  treasures,  and  other  valuable  effects,  and  repaired  with  precipitation  to  Palestine,  where  they 
expected  the  appearance  of  Christ  on  Mount  Zinn.    Mosheim,  vol.  ii. 
'!)  Jinr.al.  de  I'Emp.  torn.  i.  (2)  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  (3)  Jlnnal.  de  VEmp.  torn.  i. 


126  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I 

and  the  emperor  died  soon  after  his  return  to  Germany,  leaving  behind  him 
the  reputation  of  a  just,  generous,  and  magnanimous  prince. (1) 

Henry  III.  surnamed  the  Black,  son  of  Conrad  and  Gisella  of  Suabia,  was 
elected  in  consequence  of  his  father's  recommendation,  and  crowned  a  second 
time  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

The  first  years  of  Henry's  reign  was  signalized  by  successful  wars  against 
Bohemia,  Poland,  and  Hungary ;  which,  however,  produced  no  memorable 
event.  Rome  and  Italy,  as  usual,  were  involved  in  confusion,  and  distracted 
by  factions,  particularly  those  of  the  Pandolphi  and  the  Ptolemei.  The 
Pandolphi  had  thrust  Benedict  IX.  a  boy  of  twelve  years  of  age,  into  the 
papacy.  He  was  deposed  by  Ptolemei  and  the  people,  who  substituted  in  his 
place  Sylvester  III.  This  new  pope  was  deposed,  in  his  turn,  by  the 
Pandolphi,  and  his  rival  re-established.  Benedict,  however,  finding  himself 
universally  despised,  voluntarily  resigned  in  favour  of  John,  archpriest  of  the 
Roman  church ;  but  afterward  repenting  of  his  resignation,  he  wanted  to 
resume  his  dignity. 

These  three  popes,  supported  by  their  several  partizans,  and  living  peace- 
ably with  each  other,  maintained  themselves  each  upon  a  different  branch 
of  the  revenues  of  the  Holy  See.  One  resided  at  St.  Peter's,  another  at 
Santa  Maria  Major,  and  the  third  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  all  leading  the 
most  profligate  and  scandalous  lives.  A  priest,  called  Gratian,  at  last  put  an 
end  to  this  singular  triumvirate.  Partly  by  artifice,  partly  by  presents,  he 
prevailed  upon  all  three  to  renounce  their  pretensions  to  the  papacy ;  and  the 
people  of  Rome,  out  of  gratitude  for  so  signal  a  service  to  the  church,  chose 
him  pope,  under  the  name  of  Gregory  VI. 

Henry  III.  took  umbrage  at  this  election,  in  which  he  had  not  been  con- 
sulted, and  marched  with  an  army  into  Italy.  No  emperor  ever  exercised 
more  absolute  authority  in  that  country.  He  deposed  Gregory,  as  having 
been  guilty  of  simony,  and  filled  the  papal  ch'air  with  tys  own  chancellor, 
Suidger  or  Heidiger,  Bishop  of  Bamberg,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Clement 
II.  and  afterward  consecrated,  at  Rome,  Henry  and  the  empress  Agnes. (2) 

This  ceremony  being  over,  and  the  Romans  having  sworn  never  to  elect  a 
pope  without  the  approbation  of  the  reigning  emperor,  Henry  proceeded  to 
Capua,  where  he  was  visited  by  Drago,  Rainulphus,  and  other  Normal) 
adventurers,  who  having  left  their  country,  namely  the  dutchy  of  Normandy, 
at  different  times,  had  made  themselves  masters  of  great  part  of  Apulia  and 
Calabria,  at  the  expense  of  the  Greeks  and  Saracens.  Henry  entered  into  a 
treaty  with  them ;  and  not  only  solemnly  invested  them  with  those  territories 
which  they  had  acquired  by  conquest,  but  prevailed  on  the  pope  to  excommu- 
nicate the  Beneventines,  who  had  refused  to  open  their  gates  to  him,  and 
bestowed  that  city  and  its  dependencies,  as  fiefs  of  the  empire,  upon  the 
Norman  princes,  provided  they  took  possession  by  force  of  arms. (3)  What 
use  they  made  of  the  imperial  favour  we  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to 
see.  At  present  the  papacy  claims  all  our  attention. 

The  emperor  was  scarce  returned  to  Germany,  when  he  received  intelli- 
gence of  the  death  of  Clement  II.  Clement  was  succeeded  in  the  apostolic 
see  by  Damasus  II.  who  also  dying  soon  after  his  elevation,  Henry  nominated 
Bruno,  bishop  of  Toul,  to  the  vacant  chair.  This  Bruno,  who  was  the 
emperor's  relation,  immediately  assumed  the  pontificals  ;  but  being  a  modest 
and  pious  prelate,  he  threw  them  off  on  his  journey,  by  the  persuasion  of 
Hildebrand,  a  monk  of  Cluny,  and  went  to  Rome  as  a  private  man.  "  The 
emperor  alone,"  said  Hildebrand,  "has  no  right  to  create  a  pope."  He 
accompanied  Bruno  to  Rome,  and  secretly  retarded  his  election,  that  he 
might  arrogate  to  himself  the  merit  of  obtaining  it.(4)  The  scheme  suc- 
ceeded to  his  wish.  Bruno,  who  took  the  name  of  Leo  IX.  believing  himself 
indebted  to  Hildebrand  for  the  pontificate,  favoured  him  with  his  particular 
friendship  and  confidence ;  and  hen  e  originated  the  power  of  this  enterprising 

(I)  Hehs,  lib.  il.  (2)  Muratori,  Jtnnal.  eTItal.    Mosheim,  Hist.Eccles.  yol.  ii 

<P  His'  Conq.  de  JVurm.  >    Leo  Ostiensis,  lib.  ii.    Dithmar.     Vit.  Oreg.  VII 


LET.  XXII.]  MODERNEUROPE.  127 

monk,  of  obscure  birth,  but  boundless  ambition,  who  so  long  governed  Rome, 
and  whose  zeal  for  the  exaltation  of  the  church  occasioned  so  many  troubles 
to  Europe. 

Leo,  soon  after  his  elevation,  waited  on  the  emperor  at  Worms,  to  crave 
assistance  against  the  Norman  princes,  who  were  become  the  terror  of  Italy, 
and  treated  their  subjects  with  great  severity.  Henry  furnished  the  pope 
with  an  army;  at  the  head  of  which  his  holiness  marched  against  the 
Normans,  after  having  excommunicated  them,  accompanied  by  a  great 
number  of  bishops  and  other  ecclesiastics,  who  were  all  either  killed  or 
taken  prisoners,  the  Germans  and  Italians  being  totally  routed.  Leo  himself 
was  led  captive  to  Benevento,  of  which  the  Normans  were  now  masters,  and 
which  Henry  had  granted  to  the  pope  in  exchange  for  the  fief  of  Bamberg  in 
Germany;  and  the  apostolic  see  is  to  this  day  in  possession  of  Benevento, 
by  virtue  of  Henry's  donation.  The  Norman  chiefs,  however,  who  had  a 
right  to  that  city  by  a  prior  grant,  restored  it,  in  the  mean  time,  to  the 
princes  of  Lombardy :  and  the  holy  father  was  treated  with  so  much  respect 
by  the  conquerors,  that  he  revoked  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  and 
joined  his  sanction  to  the  imperial  investiture  for  the  lands  which  they  held  in 
Apulia  and  Calabria.  (1) 

Leo  died  soon  after  his  release ;  and  the  emperor,  about  the  same  time, 
caused  his  infant  son,  afterward  the  famous  Henry  IV.  to  be  declared  King 
of  the  Romans,  a  title  still  in  use  for  the  acknowledged  heir  of  the  empire. 
Gebhard,  a  German  bishop,  was  elected  pope,  under  the  name  of  Victor  II. 
and  confirmed  by  the  address  of  Hildebrand,  who  waited  on  the  emperor  in 
person  for  that  purpose,  though  he  disdained  to  consult  him  be  forehand.  (2) 
Perhaps  Hildebrand  would  not  have  found  this  task  so  easy,  had  not  Henry 
been  involved  in  a  war  with  the  Hungarians,  who  pressed  him  hard,  but  whom 
he  obliged  at  last  to  pay  a  large  tribute,  and  furnish  him  annually  with  a 
certain  number  of  fighting  men. 

As  soon  as  the  emperor  had  finished  this  war,  and  others  to  which  it  gave 
rise,  he  marched  into  Italy  to  inspect  the  conduct  of  his  sister  Beatrice,  widow 
of  Boniface,  marquis  of  Mantua,  and  made  her  prisoner.  She  had  married 
Gozelo,  duke  of  Lorrain,  without  the  emperor's  consent ;  and  contracted  her 
daughter,  Matilda,  by  the  marquis  of  Mantua,  to  Godfrey,  duke  of  Spoleto 
and  Tuscany,  Gozelo's  son  by  a  former  marriage.  This  formidable  alliance 
justly  alarmed  Henry;  he  therefore  attempted  to  dissolve  it  by  carrying  his 
sister  into  Germany,  where  he  died  soon  after  his  return,  in  the  thirty-ninth 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  sixteenth  of  his  reign. 

This  emperor,  in  his  last  journey  to  Italy,  concluded  an  alliance  with  Cou- 
tarini,  doge  of  Venice.  That  republic  was  already  rich  and  powerful,  though 
it  had  only  been  enfranchised  in  the  year  998  from  the  tribute  of  a  mantle  of 
cloth  of  gold,  which  it  formerly  paid,  as  a  mark  of  subjection,  to  the  emperors 
of  Constantinople.  Genoa  was  the  rival  of  Venice  in  power  and  in  commerce, 
and  was  already  in  possession  of  the  island  of  Corsica,  which  the  Genoese 
had  taken  from  the  Saracens. (3)  These  two  cities,  which  I  shall  afterward 
have  occasion  frequently  to  mention,  engrossed  at  this  time  almost  all  the 
trade  of  Europe.  There  was  no  city  in  France  or  Germany  equal,  in  any 
respect,  to  either  of  them. 

Henry  IV.  surnamed  the  Great,  was  only  five  years  old  at  his  father's 
death.  He  was  immediately  acknowledged  emperor  in  a  diet  of  the  princes 
convoked  at  Cologne,  and  the  care  of  his  education  was  committed  to  his 
mother  Agnes,  who  also  governed  the  empire.  She  was  a  woman  of  spirit 
and  address,  and  discharged  both  her  public  and  private  trust  with  diligencr 
and  ability. 

Germany,  during  the  first  years  of  this  reign,  was  harassed  with  civil .wars  \ 
so  that  the  empress  Agnes,  notwithstanding  her  strong  talents,  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  maintain  her  authority.  And  at  length  the  dukes  of  Saxony  and 

(1)  Giannone,  Hist.di  Napol.  (2'  Leo  Ostiensis,  lib.  ii.    Hist.  Litifraire  de  la  France, \f  ID  vii 

'3)  Muratori,  Jinnal.  d'ftal.  torn.  vu. 


128  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART!. 

Bavaria,  uncles  of  the  young  emperoiy  carried  him  off  from  her  by  stratagem, 
accusing  her  of  sacrificing  the  public  welfare  to  the  will  of  the  bishop  of 
Augsburg,  her  minister  and  supposed  gallant.  Thus  divested  of  the  regency, 
she  fled  to  Rome,  and  there  took  the  veil.(l) 

Henry  was  now  put  under  the  tuition  of  the  archbishops  of  Cologne  and 
Bremen,  who  discharged  their  trust  in  a  very  opposite  manner.  The  first 
endeavoured  to  inspire  him  with  a  love  of  learning  and  virtue,  while  the 
second  sought  only  to  acquire  an  ascendancy  over  his  passions,  by  indulging 
him  in  all  the  pleasures  of  youth.  This  indulgence  produced  a  habit  of  licen- 
tiousness which  he  could  never  afterward  restrain. 

Italy,  in  the  mean  time,  was  a  prey,  as  usual,  to  intestine  disorders.  After 
a  variety  of  troubles,  excited  on  account  of  the  pontificate,  Nicholas  II.  tin; 
creature  of  Hildebrand,  passed  a  famous  decree,  which  gave  rise  to  many 
more ;  and  by  which  it  was  ordained,  in  a  council  of  a  hundred  and  thirteen 
bishops,  that  for  the  future  the  cardinals  only  should  elect  the  pope,  and  that 
the  election  should  be  confirmed  by  the  rest  of  the  Roman  clergy  and  the 
people :  "  saving  the  honour,"  adds  he,  "  due  to  our  dear  son  Henry,  now 
king;  and  who,  if  it  please  God,  shall  one  day  be  emperor,  according  to  the 
privilege  which  we  have  already  conferred  upon  him ;  and  saving  the  honour 
of  his  successors  on  whom  the  Apostolic  See  shall  confer  the  same  high 
privilege.  "(2) 

The  same  pope  Nicholas  II.  after  having  in  vain  excommunicated  the 
Norman  princes,  made  protectors  and  vassals  of  them  ;  and  they,  who  were 
feudatories  of  the  empire,  less  afraid  of  the  popes  than  the  emperors,  readily 
did  homage  for  their  lands  to  Nicholas,  in  1059,  and  agreed  to  hold  them  of 
the  church.(S) 

This  mode  of  holding  was  very  common  in  those  days  of  rapacity,  both  for 
princes  and  private  persons,  the  only  authority  then  respected  being  that  of 
the  church:  and  the  Normans  wisely  made  use  of  it  as  a  safeguard  against 
the  emperors.  They  gave  their  lands  to  the  church  under  the  name  of  an 
offering,  or  oblata,  and  continued  in  possession  of  them  on  paying  a  slight 
acknowledgment.  Hence  the  pope's  claim  of  superiority  over  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  and  Sicily. 

Robert  Guiscard,  brother  of  Drago,  and  one  of  the  gallant  sons  of  Tancred 
of  Hauteville,  received  from  the  pope  the  ducal  crown  of  Apulia  and  Calabria ; 
and  Richard,  count  of  Aversa,  was  confirmed  prince  of  Capua,  a  title  which 
he  had  already  assumed.  The  pope  also  gave  the  Normans  a  right  to  hold 
Sicily  in  the  same  manner  with  their  other  possessions,  provided  they  could 
expel  the  Saracens  from  it  ;(4)  and  Robert  Guiscard  and  his  brother  Roger 
made  themselves  fully  masters  of  that  island  in  1061. 

Henry  IV.  assumed  the  reins  of  government  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  and 
began  his  administration  with  restraining  the  thefts,  robberies,  and  extortions, 
which  his  subjects  of  the  dutchy  of  Saxony  exercised  upon  strangers,  as  well 
as  upon  each  other.  But  the  Saxon  princes  and  nobles,  who  were  gainers  by 
these  abuses,  particularly  by  the  infamous  practice  of  imprisoning  travellers, 
and  making  them  pay  for  their  ransom,  opposed  the  intended  reformation, 
and  entered  into  an  association  against  the  emperor,  under  pretence  that  their 
liberties  were  in  danger.  In  this  rebellious  disposition  they  were  encouraged 
by  the  arrogance  of  pope  Alexander  II.  who,  at  the  instigation  of  Hildebrand, 
his  confidant  and  oracle,  summoned  Henry  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  ot 
the  Holy  See,  on  account  of  his  loose  life,  and  to  answer  to  the  charge  of 
having  exposed  the  investiture  of  bishops  to  sale.  (5) 

Henry  treated  the  pope's  mandate  with  the  contempt  it  deserved ;  and  at 
the  same  time  carried  on  war  with  vigour  against  the  Saxons,  and  their 

(1)  Jtnnal.  dePKntp. 

(2)  C/ironicon  Farsense  i 


I  ET.  XXII.J  MO  BERN  EUROPE.  129 

rebellious  associates,  whom  he  totally  routed  in  a  bloody  engagement,  and 
made  himself  master  of  all  Saxony.  The  heads  of  the  rebellion  asked  pardon 
of  the  emperor  in  public,  and  begged  to  be  restored  to  his  favour :  he  gene* 
rously  accepted  their  submission,  and  peace  was  restored  to  Germany. (1) 

But  Henry  was  not  suffered  long  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  valour.  A  new 
storm  threatened  him  from  Italy,  which  afterward  fell  with  violence  on  his 
head,  and  shook  all  the  thrones  in  Christendom.  On  the  death  of  Alexander 
II.  in  1073,  Hildebrand  had  been  elected  pope,  under  the  name  of  Gregory 
VII.  and  atyhough  he  had  not  asked  the  emperor's  voice,  he  prudently  waited 
for  his  confirmation  before  he  assumed  the  tiara.  He  obtained  it  by  this 
mark  of  submission :  Henry  confirmed  his  election ;  and  Gregory,  having 
nothing  farther  to  fear,  pulled  off  the  mask.  He  began  his  pontificate  with 
excommunicating  every  ecclesiastic  who  should  receive  a  benefice  from  a 
layman,  and  every  layman  by  whom  such  benefice  should  be  conferred.  This 
was  engaging  the  church  in  an  open  war  with  the  sovereigns  of  all  nations. 
But  the  thunder  of  the  Holy  See  was  more  particularly  directed  against  the 
emperor ;  and  Henry,  sensible  of  his  danger,  and  willing  to  avert  it,  wrote 
a  submissive  letter  to  Gregory,  who  pretended  to  take  him  into  favour,  after 
having  severely  reprimanded  him  for  the  crimes  of  simony  and  debauchery, 
laid  against  him  by  the  late  pope,  and  of  which  he  now  confessed  himself 
guilty.  (2) 

Gregory,  at  the  same  time,  proposed  a  crusade,  in  order  to  deliver  the  holy 
sepulchre  from  the  hands  of  the  infidels ;  offering  to  head  the  Christians  in 
person,  and  desiring  Henry  to  serve  as  a  volunteer  under  his  command  !(3!| 
a  project  so  wild  and  extravagant,  that  nothing  but  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the 
times,  the  double  enthusiasm  of  religion  and  valour,  can  save  the  memory  of 
its  author  from  the  imputation  of  insanity. 

Gregory's  project  of  making  himself  lord  of  Christendom,  by  not  only  dis- 
solving the  jurisdiction  which  kings  and  emperors  had  hitherto  exercised  over 
the  various  orders  of  the  clergy,  but  also  by  subjecting  to  the  papal  authority 
all  temporal  princes,  and  rendering  their  dominions  tributary  to  the  See  of 
Rome,  seems  no  less  romantic ;  yet  this  he  undertook,  and  not  altogether 
without  success.  Solomon,  king  of  Hungary,  dethroned  by  his  brother  Geysa, 
had  fled  to  Henry  for  protection,  and  renewed  the  homage  of  Hungary  to  the 
empire.  Gregory,  who  favoured  Geysa,  exclaimed  against  this  act  of  sub- 
mission ;  and  said  in  a  letter  to  Solomon,  "  You  ought  to  know,  that  the  king- 
dom of  Hungary  belongs  to  the  Roman  church ;  and  learn,  that  you  will  incur 
the  indignation  of  the  Holy  See,  if  you  do  not  acknowledge  that  you  hold 
your  dominions  of  the  pope,  and  not  of  the  emperor  '."(4) 

This  presumptuous  declaration,  and  the  neglect  it  met  with,  brought  the 
quarrel  between  the  empire  and  the  church  to  a  crisis.  It  was  directed  to 
Solomon,  but  intended  for  Henry.  And  if  Gregory  could  not  succeed  in  one 
way,  he  was  resolved  that  he  should  in  another :  he  therefore  resumed  the 
claim  of  investitures,  for  which  he  had  a  more  plausible  pretence ;  and  as  that 
dispute  and  its  consequences  merit  particular  attention,  I  shall  be  more  cir- 
cumstantial than  usual. 

The  predecessors  of  Henry  IV.  had  always  enjoyed  the  right  of  nominating 
bishops  and  abbots,  and  of  giving  them  investiture  by  the  ring  and  crosier. 
This  right  they  had  in  common  with  almost  all  princes.  The  predecessors 
of  Gregory  VII.  had  been  accustomed,  on  their  part,  to  send  legates  to  the 
emperors,  in  order  to  entreat  their  assistance ;  to  obtain  their  confirmation, 
or  desire  them  to  come  and  receive  the  papal  sanction,  but  for  no  other  pur- 
pose. Gregory,  however,  sent  two  legates  to  summon  Henry  to  appear  be- 
fore him  as  a  delinquent,  because  he  still  continued  to  bestow  investitures, 
notwithstanding  the  apostolic  decree  to  the  contrary;  adding,  that  if  he  should 
fail  to  yield  obedience  to  the  church,  he  must  expect  to  be  excommunicated 
and  dethroned. 

Incensed  at  that  arrogant  message  from  one  whom  he  considered  as  his 

(1)  Heiss,  Hist.de  I'Emp.  lib.  ii.  (2)  -Jlnnal.  de  VEmp.  torn.  i.   Dithmar.  Vit.  Greg.  VII. 

(3)  Ibid.  (4}  Goldast.    Apologia  pro  Hen.  IV  Thomas.  Conten.  inter  Imp.  et  Sacerdot 


130  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

vassal.  Henry  dismissed  the  legates  with  very  little  ceremony,  and  convoked 
an  assembly  of  all  the  German  princes  and  dignified  ecclesiastics  at  Worms ; 
where,  after  mature  deliberation,  they  concluded,  that  Gregory  having  usurped 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter  by  indirect  means,  infected  the  church  of  God  with 
many  novelties  and  abuses,  and  deviated  from  his  duty  to  his  sovereign  in 
several  scandalous  attempts,  the  emperor,  by  that  supreme  authority  derived 
from  his  predecessors,  ought  to  divest  him  of  his  dignity,  and  appoint  another 
in  his  place.  (1) 

In  consequence  of  this  determination,  Henry  sent  an  ambassador  to  Rome, 
with  a  formal  deprivation  of  Gregory ;  who,  in  his  turn,  convoked  a  councL 
at  which  were  present  a  hundred  and  ten  bishops,  who  unanimously  agreed, 
that  the  pope  had  just  cause  to  depose  Henry,  to  dissolve  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance which  the  princes  and  states  had  taken  in  his  favour,  and  to  prohibit 
them  from  holding  any  correspondence  with  him  on  pain  of  excommunication. 
And  that  sentence  was  immediately  fulminated  against  the  emperor  and  his 
adherents.  "  In  the  name  of  Almighty  God,  and  by  your  authority,"  said 
Gregory,  alluding  to  the  members  of  the  council,  "  I  prohibit  Henry,  the  son 
of  our  emperor  Henry,  from  governing  the  Teutonic  kingdom,  and  Italy ;  I 
release  all  Christians  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  him ;  and  I  strictly 
forbid  all  persons  from  serving  or  attending  him  as  king."(2) 

This  is  the  first  instance  of  a  pope's  pretending  to  deprive  a  sovereign  of 
his  crown,  but  it  was  too  flattering  to  ecclesiastical  pride  to  be  the  last.  No 
prelate,  from  the  foundation  of  the  church,  had  ever  presumed  to  use  so  im- 
perious a  language  as  Gregory :  for  although  Lewis  the  Debonnaire  had  been 
deposed  by  his  bishops,  there  was  at  least  some  colour  for  that  step.  They 
condemned  Lewis,  in  appearance,  only  to  do  public  penance. 

The  circular  letters  written  by  this  pontiff  breathe  the  same  spirit  with  his 
sentence  of  deposition.  In  these  he  repeatedly  asserts,  that  "  bishops  are 
superior  to  kings,  and  made  to  judge  them !" — expressions  alike  artful  and 
presumptuous,  and  calculated,  for  bringing  in  all  the  churchmen  of  the  world 
to  his  standard.  Gregory's  purpose  is  said  to  have  been,  to  engage  in  the 
bonds  of  fidelity  and  allegiance  to  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  as  King  of  Kings  and 
Lord  of  Lords,  all  the  potentates  of  the  earth,  and  to  establish  at  Rome  an 
annual  assembly  of  bishops,  by  whom  the  contests  that  might  arise  between 
kingdoms  and  sovereign  states  were  to  be  decided;  the  rights  and  preten- 
sions of  princes  to  be  examined,  and  the  fate  of  nations  and  empires  to  be ' 
determined.  (3) 

The  haughty  pontiff  knew  well  what  consequences  would  follow  the  thun- 
der of  the  church.  The  German  bishops  came  immediately  over  to  his  party, 
and  drew  along  with  them  many  of  the  nobles ;  the  brand  of  civil  war  still 
lay  smouldering,  and  a  bull  properly  directed  was  sufficient  to  set  it  in  a 
blaze.  The  Saxons,  Henry's  old  enemies,  made  use  of  the  papal  displeasure 
as  a  pretence  for  rebelling  against  him.  Even  his  favourite  Guelf,  a  noble- 
man to  whom  he  had  given  the  dutchy  of  Bavaria,  supported  the  malecontents 
with  that  power  which  he  owed  to  his  sovereign's  bounty :  nay,  those  very 
princes  and  prelates  who  had  assisted  in  deposing  Gregory,  gave  up  their 
monarch  to  be  tried  by  the  pope;  and  his  holiness  was  solicited  to  come  to 
Augsburg  for  that  purpose.(4) 

Willing  to  prevent  this  odious  trial  at  Augsburg,  Henry  took  the  unac 
countable  resolution  of  suddenly  passing  the  Alps  at  Tirol,  accompanied  only 
by  a  few  domestics,  in  order  to  ask  absolution  of  Gregory,  his  tyrannical 
oppressor,  who  was  then  in  Canosa,  on  the  Apennines ;  a  fortress  belonging 
to  the  countess  or  dutchess  Matilda,  whom  I  have  already  had  occasion  to 
mention.  At  the  gates  of  this  place  the  emperor  presented  himself  as  an 
humbie  penitent.  He  alone  was  admitted  within  the  outer  court,  where, 
being  stripped  of  his  robes,  and  wrapped  in  sackcloth,  he  was  obliged  to  remain 
three  days,  in  the  month  of  January,  barefooted  and  fasting,  before  he  was 

(1)  Schiller.  De  Libertat.  Ecclcs.  German,  lib.  iv.          (2)  Ditlimar.  Hist.  Bell,  inter  Imp.  e»  Snt**li>t 

(3)  Mosheim.    Hist.  Etclcs.  vol.  ii.  par.  ii.  cent  .xi.  et  Auct.  cit.  in  loc. 

(4)  Ditimiar.  ubi  sup.    rfnnal.  German,  an  Struv 


LET.  XXII. J  MODERN    EUROPE.  131 

permitted  to  kiss  the  feet  of  his  holiness,  who  all  that  time  was  shut  up  with 
the  devout  Matilda,  whose  spiritual  director  he  had  long  been ;  and,  as  some 
say,  her  gallant.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  her  attachment  to  Gregory,  and  her 
hatred  against  the  Germans,  was  so  great,  that  she  made  over  all  her  estates 
to  the  Apostolic  See :  and  this  donation  is  the  true  cause  of  all  the  wars, 
which  since  that  period  have  raged  between  the  emperors  and  the  popes. 
She  possessed  in  her  own  right,  great  part  of  Tuscany ;  Mantua,  Parma, 
Reggio,  Placentia,  Ferrara,  Modena,  Verona,  and  almost  the  whole  of  what  is 
now  called  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  from  Viterbo  to  Orvieto :  together 
with  part  of  Umbria,  Spoleto,  and  the  Marche  of  Ancona.(l) 

The  emperor  was  at  length  permitted  to  throw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the 
haughty  pontiff,  who  condescended  to  grant  him  absolution,  after  he  had 
sworn  obedience  to  his  holiness  in  all  things,  and  promised  to  submit  to  his 
solemn  decision  at  Augsburg — so  that  Henry  got  nothing  but  disgrace  by  his 
journey,  while  Gregory,  elated  with  his  triumph,  and  now  looking  upon  him- 
self, not  altogether  without  reason,  as  the  lord  and  master  of  all  the  crowned 
heads  in  Christendom,  said  in  several  of  his  letters,  that  it  was  his  duty  "  to 
pull  down  the  pride  of  kings." 

This  extraordinary  accommodation  gave  much  disgust  to  the  princes  of 
Italy.  They  never  could  forgive  the  insolence  of  the  pope  nor  the  abject 
humility  of  the  emperor.  Happily  however  for  Henry,  their  indignation  at 
Gregory's  arrogance  overbalanced  their  detestation  of  his  meanness.  He  took 
advantage  of  this  temper ;  and  by  a  change  of  fortune  hitherto  unknown  to 
the  German  emperors,  he  found  a  strong  party  in  Italy,  when  abandoned  in 
Germany.  All  Lombardy  took  up  arms  against  the  pope,  while  he  was 
raising  all  Germany  against  the  emperor. 

Gregory,  on  the  one  hand,  made  use  of  every  art  to  get  another  emperor 
elected  in  Germany  ;  and  Henry,  on  his  part;  left  nothing  undone  to  persuade 
the  Italians  to  elect  another  pope.  The  Germans  chose  Rodolph,  duke  of 
Suabia,  who  was  solemnly  crowned  at  Mentz ;  and  Gregory,  hesitating  on 
this  occasion,  behaved  truly  like  the  supreme  judge  of  kings.  He  had 
deposed  Henry,  but  still  it  was  in  his  power  to  pardon  that  prince :  he 
therefore  affected  to  be  displeased  that  Rodolph  was  consecrated  without 
his  order;  and  declared,  he  would  acknowledge  as  emperor  and  king  of 
Germany  him  of  the  two  competitors  who  should  be  most  submissive  to  the 
Holy  See.  (2) 

Henry,  however,  trusting  more  to  the  valour  of  his  troops  than  to  the 
generosity  of  the  pope,  set  out  immediately  for  Germany,  where  he  defeated 
his  enemies  in  several  engagements  :  and  Gregory,  seeing  no  hopes  of  sub- 
mission, thundered  out  a  second  sentence  of  excommunication  against  him, 
confirming  at  the  same  time  the  election  of  Rodolph,  to  whom  he  sent  -a 
golden  crown,  on  which  the  following  well  known  verse,  equally  haughty 
and  puerile,  was  engraved : 

Petra  dedit  Petro,  petrus  diadema  Rodolpho. 

This  donation  Avas  also  accompanied  with  a  prophetic  anathema  against 
Henry,  so  wild  and  extravagant,  as  to  make  one  doubt  whether  it  was 
dictated  by  enthusiasm  or  priestcraft.  After  depriving  him  of  strength  in 
combat,  and  condemning  him  never  to  be  victorious,  it  concludes  with  the  fol- 
lowing remarkable  apostrophe  to  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul:  "Make  all  men 
sensible,  that,  as  you  can  bind  and  loose  every  thing  in  heaven,  you  can  also 
upon  earth  take  from,  or  give  to,  every  one  according  to  his  deserts,  empires, 
kingdoms,  principalities — let  the  kings  and  princes  of  the  age  then  instantly 
feel  your  power,  that  they  may  not  dare  to  despise  the  orders  of  your  church ; 
let  your  justice  be  so  speedily  executed  upon  Henry,  that  nobody  may  doubt 
but  that  he  falls  by  your  means,  and  not  by  chance."(3) 

(1)  Fran.  Mar.  Florent    Mem.  della  Contessa  Matilda.  (2)  Dithmar.  Hist.  Bell,  inter  Imp 

tt  Sacerdot.    Muratori,  Annal.  d'ltal.  (3)  Hardouin,  Concil.    Floury,  Hist.  Eccles 


132  THE   HISTORY  OF 

In  order  to  avoid  the  effects  of  the  second  excommunication,  Henry  took 
a  step  worthy  of  himself.  He  assembled  at  Brixen,  in  the  county  of  Tirol, 
about  twenty  German  bishops,  who,  acting  also  for  the  bishops  of  Lombardy, 
unanimously  resolved,  That  the  pope,  instead  of  having  power  over  the 
emperor,  owed  him  obedience  and  allegiance;  that  Gregory  VII.  having 
rendered  himself  unworthy  of  the  papal  chair,  by  his  misconduct  and  rebel- 
lion, ought  to  be  deposed  from  a  dignity  he  so  little  deserved.  They  ac- 
cordingly degraded  Hildebrand,  and  elected  in  his  room  Guibert,  archbishop 
of  Ravenna,  a  person  of  undoubted  merit,  who  took  the  name  of  Clement  III. 

Henry  promised  to  put  the  new  pope  in  possession  of  Rome.  But  he  was 
obliged,  in  the  mean  time,  to  shift  the  scene  of  action,  and  to  employ  all  his 
forces  against  his  rival  Rodolph,  who  had  reassembled  a  large  body  of  troops 
in  Saxony.  The  two  armies  met  near  Mersburg,  and  both  fought  with  great 
fary.  Victory  remained  long  doubtful :  but  the  fortune  of  the  day  seemed 
inclining  to  Rodolph,  when  his  hand  was  cut  off  by  the  famous  Godfrey  of 
Bouillon,  then  in  the  service  of  Henry,  and  afterward  renowned  by  the  con- 
quest of  Jerusalem.  Discouraged  by  the  misfortune  of  ftieir  chief,  the 
rebels  immediately  gave  way ;  and  Rodolph  perceiving  his  end  approaching, 
ordered  the  hand  that  was  cut  off  to  be  brought  him,  and  made  a  speech  to 
his  officers  on  the  occasion,  which  could  not  fail  to  have  a  favourable 
influence  on  the  emperor's  affairs.  "  Behold,"  said  he,  "  the  hand  with 
which  I  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Henry — an  oath,  which,  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Rome,  I  have  violated,  in  perfidiously  aspiring  to  an  honour  that  was 
not  my  due."(l) 

The  emperor,  thus  delivered  from  his  formidable  antagonist,  soon  dispersed 
the  rest  of  his  enemies  in  Germany,  and  set  out  for  Italy,  in  order  to  settle 
Clement  III.  in  the  papal  chair.  But  the  gates  of  Rome  being  shut  against 
him,  he  was  obliged  to  attack  it  in  form.  The  siege  continued  upwards  of 
two  years ;  Henry,  during  that  time,  being  obliged  to  quell  some  insurrec- 
tions in  Germany.  The  city  was  at  length  carried  by  assault,  and  with 
difficulty  saved  from  being  pillaged ;  but  Gregory  was  not  taken :  he  retired 
into  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  thence  defied  and  excommunicated  the 
conqueror. 

The  new  pope  was,  however,  consecrated  with  the  usual  ceremonies,  and 
expressed  his  gratitude  by  crowning  Henry,  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
Roman  senate  and  people.  Meanwhile  the  siege  of  St.  Angelo  was  going  on  ; 
but  the  emperor  being  called  about  some  affairs  into  Lombardy,  Robert 
Guiscard  took  advantage  of  his  absence  to  release  Gregory,  who  died  soon 
after  at  Salerno.  His  last  words,  borrowed  from  the  scripture,  were  worthy 
of  the  greatest  saint :  "  I  have  loved  justice,  and  hated  iniquity ;  therefore  I 
die  in  exile  !"(2) 

Henry  did  not  long  enjoy  the  success  of  his  Italian  expedition,  or  that 
tranquillity  which  might  have  been  expected  from  the  death  of  Gregory. 
Germany  was  involved  in  new  troubles  :  thither  he  hastened  with  all  expe- 

«on.  The  Saxons,  his  old  enemies,  had  elected  a  king  of  the  Romans, 
om  he  defeated  in  several  engagements,  and  whose  blood  atoned  for  his 
presumption.  Another  pretender  shared  the  same  fate.  Every  thing  yielded 
to  the  emperor's  valour. 

But  while  Henry  was  thus  victorious  in  Germany,  his  enemies  were  busy 
in  embroiling  his  affairs  in  Italy,  into  which  he  found  it  necessary  again  to 
march.  Not  satisfied  with  Clement  III.  the  emperor's  pope,  they  had  elected 
the  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino,  under  the  name  of  Victor  III.  and  he  dying  in  a 
short  time,  they  chose  in  his  room  Urban  II.  who,  in  conjunction  with  the 
countess  Matilda,  seduced  the  emperor's  son,  Conrad,  into  a  rebellion  against 
his  father. — It  was  this  Urban  who  held  the  famous  council  of  Clermont,  of 
which  I  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  speak,  and  where  the  first  crusade 
H'as  resolved  upon. 

Conrad  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Italy,  and  was  actually  crowned  bv 

'-"  do-on.  Magdeb.  (2)  Vii.  Greg.  VII.    Murat.  ubi  sup. 


LET.  XXII.]  MODERNEUROPE.  133 

Anselmo,  archbishop  of  Milan.  Soon  after  this  ceremony,  he  married  the 
daughter  of  Roger,  king  of  Sicily ;  and  succeeded  so  well  in  his  usurpation, 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  Italian  cities  and  nobles  acknowledged  him  as 
their  sovereign.  The  emperor,  therefore,  despairing  of  being  able  to  reduce 
his  son  to  obedience, returned  to  Germany;  where  he  assembled  the  princes, 
who  put  Conrad  to  the  ban  of  the  empire,  and  declared  his  brother  Henry 
king  of  the  Romans. (1)  An  accommodation  was  made  with  the  Saxons  and 
Bavarians,  and  the  emperor  hoped  to  spend  the  latter  part  of  his  life  in 
peace. 

In  the  mean  time  Conrad  died ;  and  Pascal  II.  another  Hildebrand,  suc- 
ceeded Urban  in  the  see  of  Rome.  This  pope  no  sooner  found  himself  safely 
seated  in  the  papal  chair,  than  he  called  a  council,  to  which  he  summoned  the 
emperor ;  and  as  Henry  did  not  obey  the  citation,  he  excommunicated  him 
anew  for  the  schisms  which  he  had  introduced 'into  the  church.  But  that 
vengeance,  though  sufficiently  severe,  was  gentle,  in  comparison  of  what 
Pascal  meditated  and  accomplished.  He  excited  young  Henry  to  rebel 
against  his  father,  under  pretence  of  defending  the  cause  of  the  orthodox ; 
alleging,  that  he  was  bound  to  take  upon  himself  the  reins  of  government, 
as  he  could  neither  acknowledge  a  king  nor  a  father  that  was  excommuni- 
cated. (2) 

In  vain  did  the  emperor  use  every  paternal  remonstrance  to  dissuade  his 
son  from  proceeding  to  extremities :  the  breach  became  wider  and  wider,  and 
both  prepared  for  the  decision  of  the  sword.  But  the  son  dreading  his 
father's  military  superiority,  and  confiding  in  his  tenderness,  made  use  of  a 
stratagem  equally  base  and  effectual.  He  threw  himself  unexpectedly  at  the 
emperor's  feet,  and  begged  pardon  for  his  undutiful  behaviour,  which  he  im- 
puted to  the  advice  of  evil  counsellors.  In  consequence  of  this  submission, 
he  was  immediately  taken  into  favour,  and  the  emperor  dismissed  his  army. 
The  ungrateful  youth  now  bared  his  perfidious  heart :  he  ordered  his  father 
to  be  confined ;  while  he  assembled  a  diet  of  his  own  confederates,  at  which 
the  pope's  legate  presided,  and  repeated  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  the  emperor  Henry  IV.  who  was  instantly  deposed,  and  the  parrici- 
dious  usurper  Henry  V.  proclaimed.  (3) 

The  archbishops  of  Mentz  and  Cologne  were  sent  as  deputies  to  the  old 
emperor,  to  intimate  his  deposition,  and  demand  the  crown,  and  other  regalia. 
Henry  received  this  deputation  with  equal  surprise  and  concern ;  and  finding 
the  chief  accusation  against  him  was,  "  the  scandalous  manner  in  which  he 
had  set  bishoprics  to  sale,"  he  thus  addressed  the  audacious  ecclesiastics : 
"  If  we  have  prostituted  the  benefices  of  the  church  for  hire,  you  yourselves 
are  the  most  proper  persons  to  convict  us  of  that  simony.  Say  then,  I  con- 
jure you,  in  the  name  of  the  eternal  God !  what  have  we  exacted,  or  what 
have  we  received,  for  having  promoted  you  to  the  dignities  which  you  now 
enjoy  ?"  They  acknowledged  he  was  innocent  as  far  as  regarded  their  pre- 
ferment : — "  and  yet,"  continued  he, "  the  archbishoprics  of  Mentz  and  Cologne 
being  two  of  the  best  in  our  gift,  we  might  have  filled  our  coffers  by  exposj^ 
them  to  sale.  We  bestowed  them,  however,  on  you,  out  of  free  grace  ^E 
favour ;  and  a  worthy  return  you  make  to  our  benevolence ! — Do  not,  we 
beseech  you,  become  abettors  of  those  who  have  lifted  up  their  hand  against 
their  lord  and  master,  in  defiance  of  faith,  gratitude,  and  allegiance." 

The  two  archbishops,  unmoved  by  that  pathetic  address,  insisted  on  his 
compliance  with  the  purport  of  their  errand.  On  this  he  retired,  and  put  on 
his  royal  ornaments  ;  then  returning  to  the  apartment  he  had  left,  and  seating 
himself  on  a  chair  of  state,  he  renewed  his  remonstrance  in  these  words: 
"  Here  are  the  marks  of  that  royalty  with  which  we  were  invested  by  God 
and  the  princes  of  the  empire  :  if  you  disregard  the  wrath  of  Heaven,  and 
the  eternal  reproach  of  mankind,  so  much  as  to  lay  violent  hands  on  your 
sovereign,  you  may  strip  us  of  them.  We  are  not  in  a  condition  to  defend 
ourselves." 

Cn  Chron.  Magdeb.  12)  Dilhmar.  Hist.  Bell,  inter  Imp.  et  Saeerdot.  (3)  Ibid. 


134  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

This  speech  had  no  more  effect  than  the  former  upon  the  unfeeling  pre- 
lates, who  instantly  snatched  the  crown  from  his  head ;  and,  dragging  him 
from  his  chair,  pulled  off  his  royal  robes  by  force.  While  they  were  thus 
employed,  Henry  exclaimed,  "  Great  God !" — the  tears  trickling  down  his 
venerable  cheeks — "  thou  art  the  God  of  vengeance,  and  wilt  repay  this  out- 
rage. I  have  sinned,  I  own,  and  merited  such  shame  by  the  follies  of  my 
youth :  but  thou  wilt  not  fail  to  punish  those  traitors,  for  their  perjury,  inso- 
lence, and  ingratitude."(l) 

To  such  a  degree  of  wretchedness  was  this  unhappy  prince  reduced  by  the 
barbarity,  of  his  son,  that,  destitute  of  the  common  necessaries  of  life,  he  en- 
treated Gertrad,  bishop  of  Spire,  whom  he  had  created,  to  grant  him  a  cano- 
nicate  for  his  subsistence ;  representing  that  he  was  capable  of  performing 
the  office  of  "  chanter  or  reader !"  Being  denied  that  humble  request,  he 
shed  a  flood  of  tears,  and  -turning  to  those  who  were  present,  said,  with  a 
deep  sigh,  "  My  dear  friends,  at  least  have  pity  on  my  condition,  for  I  am 
touched  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord  '."(2) — The  hand  of  man,  at  least,  was  heavy 
upon  him ;  for  he  was  not  only  in  want,  but  under  confinement. 

In  the  midst  of  these  distresses,  when  every  one  thought  his  courage  was 
utterly  extinguished,  and  his  soul  overwhelmed  by  despondence,  Henry 
found  means  to  escape  from  his  keepers,  and  reached  Cologne,  where  he  was 
recognised  as  lawful  emperor.  He  next  repaired  to  the  Low  Countries, 
where  he  found  friends,  who  raised  a  considerable  body  of  troops  to  facilitate 
his  restoration  ;  and  he  sent  circular  letters  to  all  the  princes  in  Christendom, 
in  order  to  interest  them  in  his  cause.  He  even  wrote  to  the  pope,  giving 
him  to  understand,  that  he  was  inclined  to  an  accommodation,  provided  it 
could  be  settled  without  prejudice  to  his  crown.  But  before  anything  ma- 
terial could  be  executed  in  Henry's  favour,  he  died  at  Liege,  in  the  fifty-sixth 
ye  ar  of  his  age,  and  the  forty-ninth  of  his  reign.  He  was  a  prince  of  great 
courage,  and  excellent  endowments  both  of  body  and  mind.  There  was  an 
air  of  dignity  in  his  appearance  that  spoke  the  greatness  of  his  soul.  He 
possessed  a  natural  fund  of  eloquence  and  vivacity ;  was  of  a  mild  and  mer- 
ciful temper;  extremely  charitable ;  and  an  admirable  pattern  of  fortitude 
and  resignation. (3) 

Henry  V.  put  the  finishing  stroke  to  his  barbarous,  unnatural,  and  hypo- 
critical conduct,  by  causing  his  father's  body,  as  the  carcass  of  an  excommu- 
nicated wretch,  to  be  dug  out  of  the  grave  where  it  was  buried,  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  Liege,  and  be  carried  to  a  cave  at  Spire. (4)  But,  notwithstanding  his 
obligations  and  seeming  attachment  to  the  church,  this  parricidious  zealot  no 
sooner  found  himself  established  upon  the  imperial  throne,  than  he  main- 
tained that  right  of  investiture  in  opposition  to  which  he  had  taken  arms 
against  his  father,  and  the  exercise  of  which  was  thought  to  merit  anathemas 
so  frightful  as  to  disturb  the  sacred  mansions  of  the  dead. 

In  order  to  terminate  that  old  dispute,  Henry  invited  the  pope  into  Ger- 
many. But  Pascal,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  emperor's  haughty 
aud  implacable  disposition,  thought  proper  to  take  a  different  route,  and  put 
Itself  under  the  protection  of  Philip  I.  king  of  France,  who  undertook  to 
mediate  an  accommodation  between  the  empire  and  the  Holy  See.  A  confe- 
rence was  accordingly  held  at  Chalons,  in  Champagne,  but  without  effect. 

After  this  unsuccessful  meeting,  the  pope  held  a  council  at  Troyes,  and 
Henry  convoked  a  diet  at  Mentz :  the  first  supported  Pascal's  pretensions, 
and  the  last  declared  for  the  emperor's  right  of  investiture.  But  more 
weighty  affairs  demanding  Henry's  attention,  the  dispute  was  laid  aside  for  a 
time.  He  was  engaged  for  several  years  in  wars  with  Hungary  and  Poland, 
which  ended  in  the  weariness  of  all  parties,  and  left  things  nearly  as  at  the 
beginning. 

When  tired  of  fighting,  Henry  thought  of  disputing :  he  was  desirous  01 
settling  his  contest  with  the  pope ;  and,  lest  force  should  be  necessary,  he 

(1)  DIthmar.  iibi  sup.    Heiss.  lib.  li.  cap.  1\.  (2)  Id.  ibid. 

(3)  Gob  Pars  Leo  Ostirns.  Chron.  Magdel  '4\  Annul,  de  VEmp.  torn.  I 


LET.  XXII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  135 

entered  Italy  with  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  men.  Pascal  received  him 
with  the  greatest  appearance  of  cordiality,  but  would  not  renounce  the  claim 
of  investitures ;  and  Henry,  rinding  himself  deceived  in  his  expectations, 
ordered  the  pope  to  be  seized.  The  consul  put  the  citizens  in  arms,  and  a 
battle  was  fought  within  the  walls  of  Rome.  The  Romans  were  defeated ; 
and  the  carnage  was  so  great,  that  the  waters  of  the  Tiber  were  stained  with 
blood.  Pascal  was  taken  prisoner,  and  became  less  inflexible.  He  crowned 
Henry,  and  confirmed  him  in  the  right  of  investiture  ;  dividing  the  host  with 
him,  at  the  same  time,  in  token  of  perfect  reconciliation,  and  pronouncing  the 
following  anathema  :  "  As  this  part  of  the  vivifying  body,"  breaking  it,  "  is 
separated  from  the  other,  let  him  of  us  two,  who  shall  infringe  the  treaty,  be 
separated  from  the  kingdom  of  Christ."(l) 

But  Henry  had  no  sooner  left  Italy  than  it  appeared  that  the  court  of 
Rome  was  by  no  means  sincere  in  the  concessions  it  had  made ;  for,  although 
Pascal  himself  still  preserved  the  exteriors  of  friendship  and  good  faith,  a 
council  of  the  Lateran,  called  by  him,  set  aside  the  bull  touching  the  inves- 
titure of  benefices,  and  ordered  the  emperor  to  be  excommunicated.  The 
clergy  every  where  attempted  to  fill  the  vacant  sees,  and  the  whole  empire 
was  again  involved  in  trouble  and  dissension. 

A  rebellion  broke  out  in  Saxony,  which  Henry  was  enabled  to  quell  by  the 
valour  of  his  nephew,  Frederick,  duke  of  Suabia  and  Alsace,  whom  he  pro- 
moted to  the  supreme  command  of  his  army.  In  the  mean  time  the  countess 
Matilda  dying,  the  emperor,  as  her  nearest  relation,  claimed  the  succession, 
notwithstanding  the  steps  she  had  taken  in  favour  of  the  Holy  See,  alleging 
that  it  was  not  in  her  power  to  alienate  her  estates,  which  depended  imme- 
diately upon  the  empire.  He  therefore  set  out  for  Lombardy,  and  sent  am- 
bassadors to  Rome,  beseeching  the  pope  to  revoke  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication which  had  been  fulminated  against  him,  expressly  contrary  to 
their  last  agreement. 

Pascal  Avould  not  so  much  as  favour  the  ambassadors  with  an  audience ; 
but  convoked  a  council,  in  which  his  treaty  with  the  emperor  was  a  second 
time  condemned.  Incensed  at  such  arrogance,  Henry  advanced  towards 
Rome,  determined  to  make  his  authority  respected ;  and  the  pope,  well  ac- 
quainted with  his  inflexible  disposition,  took  shelter  among  the  Norman 
princes  in  Apulia,  the  new  vassals  and  protectors  of  the  church. 

The  emperor  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  and  was  crowned  a  second  time 
by  Bardinus,  archbishop  of  Prague,  who  attended  him  in  this  expedition. 
But  Henry's  presence  being  necessary  in  Tuscany,  Pascal  privately  returned 
to  Rome,  where  he  died  in  a  few  days ;  and  on  the  third  day  after  his  decease 
cardinal  Cajetan  was  elected  his  successor,  without  the  privity  of  the  empe- 
ror, under  the  name  of  Gelasius  II. 

Enraged  at  this  presumption,  Henry  declared  the  election  of  Gelasius  void, 
and  appointed  in  his  place  Bardinus,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Gregory  VIII. 
revoked  the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  the  emperor,  and  confirmed 
his  right  of  investiture.  Gelasius,  though  supported  by  the  Norman  princes, 
was  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  France,  where  he  died;  and  the  archbishop  of 
Vienne  was  elected  in  his  room,  by  the  cardinals  then  present,  under  the 
name  of  Calixtus  II. 

Calixtus  attempted  an  accommodation  with  Henry,  which  not  succeeding, 
he  called  a  council,  and  again  excommunicated  the  emperor,  the  antipope, 
and  their  adherents.  He  next  set  out  for  Rome,  where  he  was  honourably 
received,  and  Gregory  VIII.  retired  to  Sutri,  a  strong  town  garrisoned  by  the 
emperor's  troops.  They  were  not,  however,  able  to  protect  him  from  the 
fury  of  his  rival.  Calixtus,  assisted  by  the  Norman  princes,  besieged  Sutri ; 
and  the  inhabitants,  afraid  of  the  consequences,  delivered  up  Gregory,  who 
was  mounted,  by  his  competitor,  upon  a  camel,  with  his  face  towards  the  tail, 
and  conducted  through  the  streets  of  Rome,  amid  the  scoffs  and  insults  of 
the  populace,  as  a  prelude  to  his  confinement  for  life. (2) 

(1)  Chron.  Abb.  St.  Petri  de  Burgo.    Padre  Paolo  Benef.  Eccles. 

(2)  Dithinar.  Hist.  Bell,  inter  Imp.  ct  Sacerdot. 


136  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

In  the  mean  time  the  states  of  the  empire,  quite  tired  with  this  long  quarrel 
between  the  popes  and  the  emperors,  unanimously  supplicated  Henry  for 
peace.  He  referred  himself  entirely  to  their  decision :  and  a  diet  being  as- 
sembled at  Worms,  it  was  decreed,  that  an  embassy  should  immediately  be 
sent  to  the  pope,  desiring  that  he  would  convoke  a  general  council  at  Rome, 
by  which  all  disputes  might  be  determined.  Calixtus  accordingly  called  the 
famous  council,  which  was  opened  during  Lent,  and  at  which  were  present 
three  hundred  bishops  and  about  seven  hundred  abbots. 

The  imperial  ambassadors  being  heard  before  this  grand  assembly,  the 
affair  of  investitures  was  at  length  settled,  with  their  consent,  on  the  following 
conditions : — "  That,  for  the  future,  the  bishops  and  abbots  shall  be  chosen 
by  the  monks  and  canons ;  but  that  this  election  shall  be  made  in  presence 
of  the  emperor,  or  of  an  ambassador  appointed  by  him  for  that  purpose  :  that, 
in  case  a  dispute  arise  among  the  electors,  the  decision  of  it  shall  be  left  to 
the  emperor,  who  is  to  consult  with  the  bishops  on  that  subject ;  that  the 
bishop  or  abbot  elect  shall  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  emperor,  receive 
from  his  hand  the  regalia,  and  do  homage  for  them ;  that  the  emperor  shall 
no  longer  confer  the  regalia  by  the  ceremony  of  the  ring  and  crosier,  which 
are  the  ensigns  of  a  ghostly  dignity,  but  by  that  of  the  sceptre,  as  more  proper 
to  invest  the  person  elected -in  the  possession  of  rights  and  privileges  merely 
temporal."(I] 

Thus,  in  substituting  the  sceptre  for  the  ring  and  crosier,  ended  one  of  the 
most  bloody  quarrels  that  ever  desolated  Christendom.  But  as  no  mention 
had  been  made,  in  this  accommodation,  of  the  emperor's  right  to  create  popes, 
or  to  intermeddle  in  their  election,  Calixtus  was  no  sooner  dead,  than  the 
cardinals,  clergy,  and  people  of  Rome,  without  the  participation  of  Henry, 
proceeded  to  a  new  election,  which  was  carried  on  with  so*  much  disorder, 
that  two  persons  were  elected  at  the  same  time ;  Theobald,  called  Celestin, 
and  Lambert,  bishop  of  Ostia,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Honorius  II.  Ho- 
norius  was  confirmed  in  the  papacy,  on  the  voluntary  resignation  of  his  com- 
petitor. 

Henry  died  at  Utrecht  a  few  years  after  his  accommodation  with  Rome. 
He  was  a  wise,  politic,  and  resolute  prince ;  and,  exclusive  of  his  unnatural 
behaviour  to  his  father,  was  worthy  of  the  imperial  throne.  He  married 
Maud,  or  Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry  I.  king  of  England,  by  whom  he  had 
no  children ;  so  that  the  empire  was  left  without  a  head. — But  a  variety  ol 
objects  demand  your  attention,  before  I  carry  farther  the  affairs  of  Germany. 


LETTER  XXIII. 

England  from  the  Battle  of  Hastings  to  the  Death  of  Henry  L 

You  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  William,  duke  of  Normandy,  vic- 
torious at  Hastings.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  astonishment  of  the  English 
nation,  when  made  acquainted  with  the  issue  of  that  unfortunate  battle — 
with  the  death  of  their  king,  and  the  slaughter  of  their  principal  nobility. 
And  WTilliam,  in  order  to  terminate  an  enterprise  which  he  knew  celerity  and 
vigour  only  could  render  finally  successful,  instantly  put  his  army  in  motion, 
and  advanced  by  forced  marches  to  London.  His  approach  increased  the 
general  alarm,  and  the  divisions  already  prevalent  in  the  English  councils. 
The  superior  clergy,  who  even  then  were  mostly  French  or  Normans,  began 
to  declare  in  his  favour ;  and  the  pope's  bull,  by  which  his  undertaking  was 
avowed  and  consecrated,  was  now  offered  as  a  reason  for  general  submission. 

Other  causes  rendered  it  difficult  for  the  English  nation,  destitute  as  it  was 
of  a  head,  to  defend  their  liberties  in  this  critical  emergency.  The  body  of 

the  people  had,  in  a  great  measure,  lost  their  ancient  pride  and  independent 

N 

'11  Pndre  Paolo,  iitii  sup.     Schiller  de  J^ibertat.  Eccles.  German,  lib.  iv. 


LET.  XXIII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  137 

spirit,  by  their  recent  and  long  subjection  to  the  Danes ;  and  as  Canute  had, 
in  the  course  of  his  administration,  much  abated  the  rigours  of  conquest,  and 
governed  them  equitably  by  their  own  laws,  they  regarded  with  less  terror  a 
foreign  sovereign ;  and  deemed  the  inconveniences  of  admitting  the  preten- 
sions of  William  less  dreadful  than  those  of  bloodshed,  war,  and  resistance. 
A  repulse,  which  a  party  of  Londoners  received  from  five  hundred  Norman 
horse,  renewed  the  terror  of  the  great  defeat  at  Hastings :  the  easy  submission 
of  all  the  inhabitants  of  Kent  was  an  additional  discouragement  to  them; 
and  the  burning  of  Southwark  before  their  eyes,  made  the  citizens  of  London 
dread  a  like  fate  for  their  capital.  Few  men  longer  entertained  any  thoughts 
but  of  immediate  safety  and  self-preservation. 

Stigand,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  met  the  conqueror  at  Berkhamstead, 
and  made  submissions  to  him :  and  before  he  reached  London,  alL  the  chief 
nobility,  with  the  weak  Edgar  Atheling,  their  lawful  but  deservedly  neglected 
prince,  came  into  William's  camp,  and  declared  their  intention  of  yielding 
to  his  authority.  They  requested  him  to  accept  the  crown,  which  they  now 
considered  as  vacant ;  and  orders  were  immediately  issued  to  prepare  every 
thing  for  the  ceremony  of  his  coronation.  It  was  accordingly  performed  in 
Westminster  abbey,  in  presence  of  the  most  considerable  nobility  and  gentry, 
both  English  and  Norman,  with  seeming  satisfaction.(l)  This  appearance  of 
satisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  former,  if  it  contained  any  sincerity,  must  have 
been  the  effect  of  the  conciliating  manner  in  which  the  coronation  ceremony 
was  conducted.  The  duke  of  Normandy  took  the  usual  oath  administered 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings  at  their  inauguration ;  namely, "  to  preserve  inviolate 
the  constitution,  and  govern  according  to  the  laws,"  before  the  crown  was 
placed  upon  his  head,  and  after  the  consent  of  all  present  had  been  asked  and 
obtained.  (2) 

William,  thus  possessed  of  the  throne,  by  a  pretended  "will  of  king  Edward, 
and  an  irregular  election  of  the  people,  abetted  by  force  of  arms,  retired  to 
Barking  in  Essex ;  where  he  received  the  submissions  of  all  the  nobility  who 
had  not  attended  his  coronation,  and  whom  he  generally  confirmed  in  the 
possession  of  their  lands  and  dignities,  forfeiting  only  the  estates  of  Harold, 
and  those  of  his  most  active  adherents.  Every  thing  wore  the  appearance  of 
peace  and  tranquillity.  The  new  sovereign  seemed  solicitous  to  unite  in  an 
amicable  manner  the  English  and  Normans,  by  intermarriages  and  alliances ; 
and  all  his  subjects  who  approached  his  person  were  received  with  affability 
and  respect.  No  signs  of  suspicion  appeared  even  in  regard  to  Edgar 
Atheling,  the  natural  heir  to  the  crown.  On  the  contrary,  the  king  confirmed 
him  in  the  honours  of  earl  of  Oxford,  conferred  on  him  by  Harold,  and 
affected  on  all  occasions  to  treat  him  with  the  greatest  kindness,  as  nephew 
to  the  Confessor,  his  friend  and  benefactor.  He  also  confirmed  the  liberties 
and  immunities  of  London,  and  all  the  other  cities  of  England ;  and  seemed, 
in  a  word,  desirous  of  resting  every  thing  on  ancient  foundations.  In  his 
whole  administration  he  bore  the  semblance  of  the  lawful  prince,  not  of  the 
conqueror ;  so  that  the  English  began  to  flatter  themselves  they  had  only 
changed  the  succession  of  their  sovereigns,  a  matter  which  gave  them  .ittle 
concern,  without  injury  to  the  form  of  their  government. 

But  William,  notwithstanding  this  seeming  confidence  and  friendship 
which  he  expressed  for  his  English  subjects,  took  care  to  place  all  real  power 
in  the  hands  of  the  Normans,  and  still  to  keep  possession  of  that  sword  to 
which  he  eventually  owed  his  crown.  He  every  where  disarmed  the  inha- 
bitants; he  built  fortresses  in  all  the  principal  cities,  where  he  quartered 
Norman  soldiers ;  he  bestowed  the  forfeited  estates  on  the  most  powerful  of 

(1)  GuLPictav.    Orderic.  Vital. 

(2)  Ibid.    Aware  that  such  an  oath  would  be  demanded,  and  conscious  that  he  must  either  violate  it  or 
relinquish  the  right  of  conquest,  William  is  said  to  have  hesitated,  whether  he  should  accept  the  offer  of 
the  English  crown  from  the  nobility  and  clergy,  or  owe  it  solely  to  the  sword.    But  his  most  experienced 
captains  advised  him  to  moderate  his  ambition ;  sensible  that  the  people  of  England,  when  they  saw  they 
had  to  contend  for  their  free  constitution,  and  not  merely  for  the  person  who  should  administer  their 
government,  would  fight  with  double  fury  (Gul.  Pictav.)  when  they  found  that  their  dearest  inttrests. their 
liberty,  and  property,  were  at  stake. 


138  THE    HISTORY  OF  [PART  L 

his  captains,  and  he  established  funds  for  the  payment  of  his  troops.  While 
his  civil  administration  wore  the  face  of  the  legal  magistrate,  his  military 
institutions  wore  those  of  a  master  and  a  tyrant.  And  by  this  mixture  ol 
rigour  and  lenity,  he  so  R.. beted  and  composed  the  minds  of  the  people  of 
England,  that  he  ventured  to  visit  his  native  country  within  six  months  after 
hehad  leftit.(l) 

Various  reasons  have  been  assigned  by  historians  for  this  extraordinary 
journey;  for  extraordinary  it  certainly  was  in  William,  as  Normandy  remained 
in  perfect  tranquillity,  to  absent  himself  so  soon  after  the  submission  of  a 
great,  warlike,  and  turbulent  nation.  Some  have  ascribed  it  to  ostentatious 
vanity,  which  made  him  impatient  to  display  his  pomp  and  magnificence  ajnong 
his  ancient  courtiers ;  while  others,  supposing  him  incapable  of  such  weak- 
ness, affirm,  that  in  this  step,  apparently  so  extravagant,  he  was  guided  by  a 
concealed  policy;  that  finding  he  could  neither  satisfy  his  rapacious  captains, 
nor  secure  his  unstable  government,  without  seizing  the  possessions  of  the 
English  nobility  and  gentry,  he  left  them  to  the  mercy  of  an  insolent  and 
licentious  army  in  order  to  try  their  spirit,  to  provoke  them  to  rebellion,  and 
to  give  a  colour  to  his  intended  usurpations.  For  my  own  part,  I  can  see  no 
reason  why  William,  solid  as  his  genius  was,  may  not  have  been  influenced 
by  both  these  motives  in  undertaking  his  journey  to  Normandy.  But,  what- 
ever was  the  cause,  the  effect  is  certain ;  the  English  nobility  and  gentry 
revolted  in  consequence  of  the  king's  absence;  and  he  thenceforth  either 
embraced,  or  was  more  fully  confirmed  in,  the  resolution  of  seizing  their  lands, 
and  of  reducing  them  to  the  most  abject  condition. 

But  although  the  natural  violence  and  austerity  of  William's  temper  made 
him  incapable  of  feeling  any  scruples  in  the  execution  of  this  tyrannical  pur- 
pose, he  had  art  enough  to  conceal  his  intention,  and  still  to  preserve  some 
appearance  of  justice  in  his  oppressions.  He*was  prevailed  on  to  pardon  the 
rebels  who  submitted  themselves  to  his  mercy,  and  he  ordered  all  his  Eng 
lish  subjects  who  had  been  arbitrarily  expelled  by  the  Normans  during  his 
absence  to  be  restored  to  their  possessions.  The  public  discontents,  how- 
ever, daily  increased ;  and  the  injuries  committed  and  suffered  on  both  sides 
rendered  the  quarrel  between  the  victors  and  vanquished  mortal.  The  inso- 
lence of  imperious  masters,  dispersed  throughout  the  kingdom,  seemed  into- 
lerable to  the  natives,  who  took  every  opportunity  to  gratify  their  vengeance 
by  the  private  slaughter  of  their  enemies.  Meanwhile  an  insurrection  in  the 
northern  counties  drew  general  attention,  and  seemed  big  with  the  most  im- 
portant events. 

Edwin  and  Morcar,  the  potent  earls  of  Mercia  and  Northumberland,  were 
the  conductors  of  this  attempt  to  shake  off  the  Norman  yoke.  And  these 
warlike  noblemen,  before  they  took  arms,  had  stipulated  for  aid  from  Blethin, 
prince  of  North  Wales,  Malcolm,  king  of  Scotland,  and  Sweyn,  king  of  Den 
mark.  Aware  of  the  importance  of  celerity  in  crushing  a  rebellion  supported 
by  such  powerful  leaders,  and  in  a  cause  so  agreeable  to  the  wishes  of  the 
people,  William,  who  had  always  his  troops  in  readiness,  marched  northward 
with  speed ;  and  reached  York  before  the  hostile  chieftains  were  prepared  for 
action,  or  had  received  any  succours,  except  a  small  reinforcement  from 
Wales.  Edwin  and  Morcar,  therefore,  found  it  necessary  to  have  recourse  to 
the  clemency  of  the  king :  and  their  adherents,  thus  deserted,  were  unable 
to  make  any  resistance.  But  the  treatment  of  the  chieftains  and  their  fol- 
lowers, after  submission,  was  very  different.  William  observed  religiously 
the  terms  granted  to  the  former,  and  allowed  them  for  the  present  to  keep 
possession  of  their  estates ;  but  he  extended  the  rigour  of  his  confiscations 
over  the  latter,  and  gave  away  their  lands  to  his  foreign  adventurers,  whom 
he  planted  throughout  the  whole  country.  (2) 

The  English  were  now  convinced  their  final  subjection  was  intended ;  and 
that,  instead  of  a  legal  sovereign,  whom  they  had  at  first  hoped  to  gain  by 
their  prompt  submission,  they  had  unwisely  surrendered  themselves  to  a 

(1;  Gul.  Pictav     Orderic.  Vital.  (2)  Orderic.  Vital.    Sim.  Dunelm. 


LET.  XXI] L]  MODERN    EUROPE.  139 

master  and  a  tyrant.  The  early  confiscation  of  the  estates  of  Harold's 
followers  seemed  iniquitous,  as  the  proprietors  had  never  sworn  fealty  to 
the  duke  of  Normandy,  and  fought  only  in  defence  of  the  government  which 
they  themselves  had  established  in  their  own  country.  Yet  that  rigour, 
how  contrary  soever  to  the  spirit  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  laws,  was  excused  on 
account  of  the  urgent  necessities  of  the  victor;  and  they  who  were  not 
involved  in  those  forfeitures  hoped  to  enjoy  unmolested  their  possessions  and 
their  dignities.  But  the  subsequent  confiscation  of  so  many  estates  convinced 
them,  that  the  Norman  prince  intended  to  rely  solely,  for  the  maintenance  of 
his  authority,  on  the  support  and  affection  of  foreigners.  And  they  foresaw 
new  forfeitures  and  attainders  to  be  the  necessary  consequences  of  this  de- 
structive plan  of  policy. 

Impressed  with  a  sense  of  their  dismal  situation,  many  Englishmen  fled 
into  foreign  countries,  with  an  intention  of  passing  their  lives  abroad,  free 
from  oppression,  or  of  returning  on  a  favourable  opportunity  to  assist  their 
friends  in  recovering  their  native  liberties.  Edgar  Atheling  himself,  dread- 
ing the  insidious  caresses  of  William,  made  his  escape  into  Scotland,  and 
carried  thither  his  two  sisters  Margaret  and  Christina.  They  were  well 
received  by  Malcolm  III.  then  king  of  that  country,  who  soon  after  espoused 
Margaret,  the  elder  sister:  and  partly  with  a  view  of  strengthening  his  king- 
dom by  the  accession  of  so  many  strangers,  partly  in  hopes  of  employing 
them  against  the  growing  power  of  William,  he  gave  great  countenance  to  all 
the  English  exiles. (1)  Many  of  them  settled  in  Scotland,  and  there  laid  the 
foundations  of  families  which  afterward  made  a  figure  in  that  kingdom. 

WThile  the  people  of  England  laboured  under  those  oppressions,  new 
attempts  were  made  for  the  recovery  of  their  liberties.  Godwin,  Edmond, 
and  Magnus,  three  sons  of  Harold,  had  sought  a  retreat  in  Ireland,  after  the 
defeat  at  Hastings ;  and  having  met  with  a  kind  reception  from  Dermot,  and 
other  princes  of  that  island,  they  projected  an  invasion  of  England,  and  hoped 
that  all  the  exiles  from  Denmark,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  assisted  by  forces 
from  these  several  countries,  would  at  once  commence  hostilities,  and  rouse 
the  resentment  of  the  English  nation  against  their  haughty  conquerors. 
They  landed  in  Devonshire,  but  found  a  body  of  Normans  ready  to  oppose 
them ;  and  being  defeated  in  several  rencounters,  they  were  obliged  to  seek 
shelter  in  their  ships,  and  return  with  great  loss  into  Ireland. 

The  struggle,  however,  was  not  yet  over:  all  the  north  of  England  was  soon 
m  arms.  The  Northumbrians,  impatient  of  servitude,  had  attacked  Robert  de 
Comyn,  governor  of  Durham,  and  put  him  and  seven  hundred  of  his  adherents 
to  death.  This  example  animated  the  inhabitants  of  York,  who  slew  Robert 
Fitz-Richard  their  governor,  and  besieged  in  the  castle  William  Mallet,  on 
whom  the  chief  command  had  devolved.  About  the  same  time  the  Danish 
succours  were  landed  from  three  hundred  vessels,  under  the  command  of 
Osberne,  brother  to  king  Sweyn,  accompanied  by  Harold  and  Canute,  two 
sons  of  that  northern  monarch.  Edgar  Atheling  also  appeared  from  Scotland, 
and  brought  along  with  him  a  number  of  English  noblemen,  who  had  shared 
his  exile,  and  who  easily  excited  the  warlike  and  discontented  Northumbrians 
to  a  general  insurrection. 

In  order  more  effectually  to  provide  for  the  defence  of  the  citadel  of  York, 
Mallet  set  fire  to  some  neighbouring  houses.  But  that  expedient  proved  fatal 
to  himself,  and  to  every  man  under  his  command.  The  flames  spreading  into 
the  adjacent  streets  reduced  the  whole  city  to  ashes;  and  the  enraged  inha- 
bitants, aided  by  the  Danes,  took  advantage  of  the  confusion  to  attack  the 
fortress,  which  they  carried  by  assault,  and  put  the  garrison,  amounting  tc 
three  thousand  men,  to  the  sword.  This  success  served  as  a  signal  of  revolt 
to  many  other  parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  English,  every  where  repenting  of 
their  former  too  easy  submission,  seemed  determined  to  make  one  great  effort 
for  the  recovery  of  their  liberty  and  the  expulsion  of  their  oppressors.  (2) 

Undismayed  amid  that  scene  of  confusion,  William  assembled  his  forces. 

(I)  M.  Paris.    R.  Hoveden  (S)  Ord.  Vital.    Gul.  Gemet.    Sim.  Dunetm. 


140  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

and,  animating  them  by  the  prospect  of  new  confiscations  and  forfeitures, 
marched  against  the  insurgents  in  the  North,  whom  he  considered  as  most 
formidable.  Not  choosing,  however,  to  trust  entirely  to  force,  he  endeavoured 
to  weaken  the  rebels  by  detaching  the  Danes  from  them.  And  he  accordingly 
prevailed  upon  Osberne,  by  large  presents,  and  the  liberty  of  plundering  the 
sea-coast,  to  desert  his  engagements.  Many  English  noblemen,  in  despair, 
followed  the  unworthy  example,  made  submissions  to  the  conqueror,  and 
were  taken  into  favour.  Malcolm,  the  Scottish  king,  coming  too  late  to  sup- 
port his  confederates,  was  obliged  to  retire ;  so  that  the  Normans  found  them- 
selves once  more  undisputed  masters  of  the  kingdom.  Edgar  Atheling  and 
his  followers  again  sought  an  asylum  in  Scotland;  but  despairing  of  success, 
and  weary  of  a  fugitive  life,  that  prince  afterward  submitted  to  his  enemy,  and 
was  permitted  to  live  unmolested  in  England.(l) 

William's  seeming  clemency,  however,  proceeded  only  from  political  con- 
siderations, or  from  his  esteem  of  individuals :  his  heart  was  hardened  against 
all  compassion  toward  the  English  as  a  people;  and  he  scrupled  no  measure, 
how  violent  soever,  which  seemed  requisite  to  support  his  plan  of  tyrannical 
administration.  Acquainted  with  the  restless  disposition  of  the  Northum- 
brians, who  had  begun  the  revolt,  and  determined  to  incapacitate  them  from 
ever  more  molesting  him,  he  issued  orders  for  laying  waste  that  fertile  coun- 
try, which,  to  the  extent  of  sixty  miles,  lies  between  the  Humber  and  the 
Tees. (2)  The  houses  were  reduced  to  ashes  by  the  unfeeling  Normans;  the 
cattle  were  seized  and  driven  away;  the  instruments  of  husbandry  were 
destroyed;  and  the  inhabitants  were  compelled  either  to  seek  a  subsistence  in 
the  southern  parts  of  Scotland,  or  to  perish  miserably  in  the  woods  from  cold 
and  hunger,  which  many  of  them  chose  rather  to  do  than  to  abandon  their 
native  soil.  The  lives  of  a  hundred  thousand  persons  are  computed  to  have 
been  sacrificed  to  this  stroke  of  barbarous  policy  ;(3)  which,  by  seeking  a 
remedy  for  a  temporary  evil,  inflicted  a  lasting  wound  on  the  power  and  popu- 
lousness  of  the  nation. 

But  William  was  now  determined  to  proceed  to  extremities  against  all  the 
natives  of  England,  and  to  reduce  them  to  a  condition  in  which  they  should 
be  no  longer  formidable  to  his  government.  The  insurrections  and  conspi- 
racies, in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  had  involved  the  bulk  of  the  land- 
holders, more  or  less,  in  the  guilt  of  treason;  and  the  king  took  advantage  ol 
executing  against  them,  with  the  utmost  rigour,  the  laws  of  forfeiture  and 
attainder.  Their  lives  were  commonly  spared,  but  their  estates  were  con- 
fiscated, and  either  annexed  to  the  royal  domain,  or  conferred  with  the  most 
profuse  bounty  on  the  Normans  and  other  foreigners.  Against  a  people  thus 
devoted  to  destruction,  any  suspicion  served'as  the  most  undoubted  proofs  of 
guilt.  It  was  crime  sufficient  in  an  Englishman  to  be  opulent,  noble,  or 
powerful :  and  the  policy  of  the  king  concurring  with  the  rapacity  of  needy 
adventurers,  produced  an  almost  total  revolution  in  the  landed  property  of  the 
kingdom.  Ancient  and  honourable  families  were  reduced  to  beggary.  The 
nobles  were  every  where  treated  with  ignominy  and  contempt ;  they  had  the 
mortification  to  see  their  castles  and  manors  possessed  by  Normans  of  the 
meanest  condition,  and  to  find  themselves  excluded  from  every  road  that  led 
either  to  riches  o-  preferment.  (4) 

Power  naturally  follows  property.  This  change  of  landholders  alone, 
therefore,  gave  great  security  to  the  Norman  government.  But  William  also 
took  care,  by  the  new  institutions  that  he  established,  to  retain  for  ever  the 
military  authority  in  those  hands  which  had  enabled  him  to  acquire  the  king- 
dom. He  introduced  into  England  the  feudal  polity,  which  he  found  estab- 
lished in  France  and  Normandy ;  and  which,  during  that  age,  was  the  foun- 
dation both  of  the  stability  and  of  the  disorders  in  most  of  the  monaichical 
governments  of  Europe.  He  divided  all  the  lands  of  -England,  with  few 
exceptions,  besides  the  royal  domain,  into  baronies ;  and  he  conferred  these, 

(1)  Gul.  Gemet.    E.  Hovedon.  (2)  C/iron.  Sax.    W.  Maltnes.    R.  Hoveden.    M.  Paris.    Sim 

I  u.-ielni.  (3)  Older.  \  itaL  -1)  M.  West.    Order.  Vital. 


LET.  XXIIL]  MODERN   EUROPE.  141 

with  the  reservation  of  stated  services  and  payments,  on  the  most  consider- 
able of  his  followers.  The  barons,  who  held  immediately  of  the  crown, 
shared  out  part  of  their  lands  to  other  foreigners,  who  were  denominated 
knights  or  vassals,  and  who  paid  their  lord  the  same  duty  and  submission,  in 
peace  and  war,  which  he  owed  to  his  sovereign.  None  of  the  native  English 
were  admitted  into  the  first  rank:  the  few  who  retained  any  landed  property 
were  therefore  glad  to  be  received  into  the  second,  and,  under  the  protection 
of  some  powerful  Norman,  to  load  themselves  and  their  posterity  with  a 
grievous  servitude  for  estates  which  had  been  transmitted  free  to  them  from 
their  ancestors.  (1) 

William's  next  regulations  regarded  the  church.  He  deposed  Stigand,  the 
primate,  and  several  other  English  bishops,  by  the  assistance  of  Ermonfroy, 
the  pope's  legate ;  and  as  it  was  a  fixed  maxim  in  this  reign,  as  well  as  in 
some  of  the  subsequent,  that  no  native  of  the  island  should  ever  be  advanced 
to  any  dignity,  ecclesiastical,  civil,  or  military,  the  king  promoted  Lanfranc, 
a  Milanese  monk,  to  the  see  of  Canterbury.  That  prelate  professed  the  most 
devoted  attachment  to  Rome,  which  thenceforth  daily  increased  in  England, 
and  became  very  dangerous  to  some  of  William's  successors;  but  the" arbi- 
trary power  of  the  Conqueror  over  the  English,  and  his  extensive  authority 
over  the  Normans,  kept  him  from  feeling  any  inconveniences  from  it.  He 
retained  the  clergy  in  great  subjection,  as  well  as  his  lay  subjects,  and  would 
allow  no  person  of  any  condition  or  character  to  dispute  his  absolute  will  and 
pleasure.  None  of  his  ministers  or  barons,  whatever  might  be  their  offences, 
could  be  subjected  to  spiritual  censures,  until  his  consent  was  obtained.  He 
prohibited  his  people  to  acknowledge  any  one  for  pope,  whom  he  himself  had 
not  received  ;  and  he  ordered  that  all  ecclesiastical  canons,  voted  in  anj* 
synod,  should  be  submitted  to  him,  and  ratified  by  his  authority,  before  they 
could  be  valid.  Even  bulls  or  letters  from  Rome,  before  they  were  produced, 
must  receive  the  same  sanction.  And  when  the  imperious  Gregory  VII. 
whom  we  have  seen  tyrannizing  over  kings  and  emperors,  wrote  to  this 
monarch,  requiring  him  to  fulfil  his  promise  of  doing  homage  for  the  king- 
dom of  England  to  the  See  of  Rome,  and  to  send  him  over  that  tribute  which 
his  predecessors  had 'been  accustomed  to  pay  to  the  vicar  of  Christ,  (meaning 
Peter's  Pence,  a  charitable  donation  of  the  Saxon  princes,  which  the  court  of 
Rome,  as  usual,  was  inclined  to  construe  into  a  badge  of  subjection  acknow- 
ledged by  the  kingdom,)  William  coolly  replied,  that  the  money  should  be 
remitted  as  formerly,  but  that  he  neither  had  promised  to  do  homage  to  Rome, 
nor  entertained  any  thoughts  of  imposing  that  servitude  on  his  kingdom. 
Nay,  he  went  so  far  as  to  refuse  the  English  bishops  liberty  to  attend  a  gene- 
ral council,  which  Gregory  had  summoned  against  his  enemies.  (2) 

The  following  anecdote  shows,  in  a  still  stronger  light,  the  contempt  of 
this  prince  for  ecclesiastical  dominion.  Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  the  king's 
maternal  brother,  whom  he  had  created  earl  of  Kent,  and  intrusted  with  a 
great  share  of  power,  had  ^amassed  immense  riches ;  and,  agreeable  to  the 
usual  progress  of  human  wishes,  he  began  to  regard  his  present  eminence  as 
only  a  step  to  future  grandeur.  He  aspired  at  nothing  less  than  the  papacy, 
and  had  resolved  to  transmit  all  his  wealth  to  Italy,  and  go  thither  in  person, 
accompanied  by  several  noblemen,  whom  he  had  persuaded  to  follow  his 
example,  in  hopes  of  establishments  under  the  future  pope.  William,  from 
whom  this  object  had  been  carefully  concealed,  was  no  sooner  informed  ot 
it  than  he  accused  Odo  of  treason,  and  ordered  him  to  be  arrested;  but 
nobody  would  lay  hands  on  the  bishop.  The  king  himself  was  therefore 
obliged  to  seize  him;  and  when  Odo  insisted,  that,  as  a  prelate,  he  was  ex- 
empted'from  all  temporal  jurisdiction,  William  boldly  replied,  '•'  I  arrest  not 

(1)  M.  West.  M.  Paris.  Bracton,  lib.  i.  cap.  11.  Fieta,  lib.  i.  cap.  8.  The  proprietors  of  land,  undei 
the  Anglo-Saxon  princes,  were  only  subjected  to  three  obligations ;  namely,  to  attend  the  king  with  then 
followers  in  military  expeditions,  to  assist  in  building  or  defending  the  royal  castles,  and  to  keep  the  high- 
ways and  bridges  in  a  proper  state  of  repair :  (Hickesi,  Dissertat.  Spelman.  Reliquiae,)  emphatically 
called  the  three  necessities,  as  they  certainly  were  in  a  government  without  regular  troops,  and  almost 
without  revenue. 

'2)  Aug.  Sacra.    Eadmer.    Ingulph.    Order.  Vital. 


142  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  i. 

the  bishop,  I  arrest  the  earl !"  and  accordingly  sent  him  prisoner  into' Nor- 
mandy, where  he  was  detained  in  custody,  during  this  whole  reign,  notwith- 
standing the  remonstrances  and  menaces  of  Gregory.(l) 

But  the  English  had  the  cruel  mortification  to  find,  that  their  king's  au- 
thority, how  worthy  soever  of  a  sovereign,  all  tended  to  their  oppression,  or 
to  perpetuate  their  subjection.  William  had  even  entertained  the  difficult 
project  of  totally  abolishing  their  language.  He  ordered  the  English  youth 
to  be  instructed  in  the  French  tongue,  in  all  the  schools  throughout  the  king- 
dom. The  pleadings  in  the  supreme  courts  of  judicature  were  in  French; 
the  deeds  were  often  drawn  in  the  same  language :  the  laws  were  composed 
in  that  idiom.  No  other  tongue  was  used  at  court :  it  became  the  language 
of  all  fashionable  societies ;  and  the  natives  themselves  affected  to  excel  in 
it.(2)  To  this  attempt  of  the  Conqueror,  and  to  the  foreign  dominions  so 
long  annexed  to  the  crown  of  England,  we  owe  that  predominating  mixture 
of  French  at  present  to  be  found  in  our  language. 

While  William  was  thus  wantonly  exercising  his  tyranny  over  England, 
his  foreign  affairs  fell  into  disorder :  and  the  English  had  an  opportunity  of 
at  once  recovering  their  military  character,  and  of  taking  vengeance  on  the 
part  of  their  foreign  oppressors.  Fulk,  count  of  Anjou,  had  seized  on  the 
province  of  Maine,  which  had  fallen  under  the  dominion  of  the  duke  of  Nor- 
mandy, by  the  will  of  Herbert,  the  last  count.  But  William,  by  the  assist- 
ance of  his  new  subjects,  soon  obliged  the  inhabitants,  who  had  revolted,  to 
return  to  their  duty,  and  the  count  of  Anjou  to  renounce  his  pretensions.(S) 

The  king  now  passed  some  years  in  Normandy,  where  his  presence  was 
become  necessary  on  account  of  the  turbulent  disposition  of  his  son  Robert, 
who  openly  aspired  at  independency,  and  claimed  the  dutchies  of  Normandy 
and  Maine,  during  his  father's  lifetime.  William  gave  him  a  positive  refusal, 
repeating  that  homely  saying,  that  he  never  intended  to  throw  off  his  clothes 
till  he  went  to.bed.  He  accordingly  called  over  an  army  of  Englishmen,  under 
his  ancient  captains,  who  bravely  expelled  Robert  and  his  adherents.  The 
prince  took  shelter,  in  the  castle  of  Gerberoy  in  the  Beauvoison,  which  the 
king  of  France,  who  secretly  favoured  his  pretensions,  had  provided  for  him. 
In  this  fortress  he  was  closely  besieged  by  his  father,  against  whom  he  made 
a  gallant  defence :  under  the  walls  of  that  place  many  rencounters  passed, 
which  resembled  more  the  single  combats  of  chivalry  than  the  military  ope- 
rations of  armies.  One  of  these  was  too  remarkable,  by  its  circumstances 
and  its  event,  to  be  omitted.  Robert  happened  to  encounter  the  king,  who 
being  concealed  by  his  helmet,  a  fierce  combat  ensued.  But  at  last  the  prince 
wounded  his  father  in  the  arm,  and  threw  him  from  his  horse,  when,  calling 
for  assistance,  his  voice  discovered  him  to  his  son,  who,  struck  with  a  sense 
of  remorse,  duty,  and  the  dread  of  greater  guilt,  instantly  flung  himself  at 
the  feet  of  his  king  and  father,  craved  pardon  for  his  offences,  and  offered  to 
purchase  forgiveness  by  any  atonement.  A  return  of  kindness,  however,  did 
not  immediately  ensue.  William's  military  pride  was  wounded,  and  his 
resentment  was  too  obstinate  at  once  to  yield ;  but  a  reconciliation  was  soon 
brought  about  by  the  interposition  of  the  queen  and  other  common  friends. (4) 

The  peaceable  state  of  William's  affairs  now  gave  him  leisure  to  finish  an 
undertaking,  which  proves  his  great  and  extensive  genius,  and  does  honour 
to  his  memory.  It  was  a  general  survey  of  all  the  lands  of  England ;  their 
extent  in  each  district,  their  proprietors,  tenures,  value;  the  quantity  of 
meadow,  pasture,  wood,  and  arable  land,  which  they  contained ;  and,  in  some 
counties,  the  number  of  tenants,  cottagers,  and  slaves  of  all  denominations, 
who  lived  upon  them.  This  valuable  piece  of  antiquity,  called  the  Dooms 
day  book,  is  still  preserved  in  the  exchequer,  and  helps  to  illustrate  to  us  the 
ancient  state  of  England. 

William,  like  all  the  Normans,  was  much  attached  to  the  manly  amuse- 

(1)  Jlng.  Sacra.    Eadmer.    Inaulph.    Order.  Vital. 

(2)  Ckron.  Rothum.     Iiisulpli.  Hist.  p.  71.     Hume,  Hist.  Eng.  vol.  i.     Warton,  Hist.  F.ng.  Poetry,  vo<  } 

(3)  CAron.  Sax.  Order.  Vital.  (4)  R.  Hoveden.    M.  Paris.    Order.  Vital. 


LKT.  XXIIL]  MODERN    EUROPE  143 

ment  of  hunting :  and  his  passion  for  this  amusement  he  cruelly  indulged  at 
the  expense  of  his  unhappy  subjects.  Not  contented  with  those  large  forests 
which  the  Saxon  kings  possessed  in  all  parts  of  England,  he  resolved  to  make 
a  new  forest  near  Winchester,  the  usual  place  of  his  residence.  Accordingly, 
for  that  purpose,  he  laid  waste  the  country  for  an  extent  of  thirty  miles  in 
Hampshire,  expelling  the  inhabitants  from  their  houses,  seizing  their  pro- 
perty, and  demolishing  churches  and  convents,  without  making  the  sufferers 
any  compensation  for  the  injury.(l)  He  also  increased  the  rigour  of  the 
game  laws,  now  become  so  grievous. 

This  monarch's  death  was  occasioned  by  a  quarrel  not  altogether  worthy 
of  his  life.  A  witticism  gave  rise  to  war.  William,  who  was  become  cor- 
pulent, had  been  detained  in  bed  some  time  by  sickness,  while  in  Normandy 
— a  circumstance  which  gave  Philip  I.  of  France  occasion  to  say,  with  that 
vivacity  natural  to  his  country,  that  he  was  surprised  his  brother  of  England 
should  be  so  long  in  being  delivered  of  his  big  belly.  William,  enraged  at 
this  levity,  swore  "  by  the  brightness  and  resurrection  of  God !"  his  usual 
oath,  that,  as  soon  as  he  was  up,  he  would  present  so  many  lights  at  Notre 
Dame,  as  would  give  little  pleasure  to  the  king  of  France ; — alluding  to  the 
usual  practice,  at  that  time,  of  women  carrying  a  torch  to  church  after  child- 
birth. Accordingly,  on  his  recovery,  he  led  an  army  into  the  Isle  of  France 
and  laid  every  thing  waste  with  fire  and  sword.  But  the  progress  of  these 
hostilities  was  stopped,  by  an  accident  which  put  an  end  to  the  English  mo- 
narch's life.  His  horse  suddenly  starting  aside,  he  bruised  his  belly  on  the 
pummel  of  his  saddle :  and  this  bruise,  joined  to  his  former  bad  habit  of  body, 
brought  on  a  mortification,  of  which  he  died,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his 
age. (2)  He  left  Normandy  and  Maine  to  his  eldest  son,  Robert:  he  vvrote 
to  Lanfranc,  desiring  him  to  crown  William  king  of  England :  and  he  be- 
queathed to  Henry,  the  youngest  of  the  three,  the  possessions  of  his  mother 
Matilda. 

The  characters  of  princes  are  best  seen  in  their  actions :  I  shall,  however, 
give  you  a  concise  character  of  the  Conqueror ;  for  such  he  ultimately  proved, 
though  little  more  than  a  conditional  sovereign  when  he  first  received  the 
submissions  of  the  English  nation. (3)  The  spirit  of  William  I.  says  a  phi- 
losophic historian,  was  bold  and  enterprising,  yet  guided  by  prudence ;  and 
his  exorbitant  ambition,  which  lay  little  under  the  restraints  of  justice,  and 
still  less  under  those  of  humanity,  ever  submitted  to  the  dictates  of  reason 
and  sound  policy.  Though  not  insensible  to  generosity,  he  was  hardened 
against  compassion ;  and  he  seemed  equally  ostentatious  and  ambitious  of 
eclat,  in  his  clemency  and  in  his  vengeance. 

William  II.  surnamed  Rufus,  or  the  Red,  from  the  colour  of  his  hair,  was 
instantly  crowned  king  of  England,  in  consequence  of  his  father's  recom- 
mendatory letters  to  Lanfranc,  the  primate ;  and  Robert,  at  the  same  time, 
took  peaceable  possession  of  Normandy. 

But  this  partition  of  the  conqueror's  dominions,  though  apparently  made 
without  any  violence  or  opposition,  occasioned  in  England  many  discontents 
which  seemed  to  promise  a  sudden  revolution.  The  Norman  barons,  who 
generally  possessed  large  estates  both  in  England  and  their  own  country, 
were  uneasy  at  the  separation  of  those  territories,  and  foresaw  that,  as  it 
would  be  impossible  for  them  to  preserve  long  their  allegiance  to  two  mas- 
ters, they  must  necessarily  resign  their  ancient  property  or  their  new  acqui- 
sitions. Robert's  title  to  Normandy  they  esteemed  incontestable :  his  claim 
to  England  they  thought  plausible ;  and  they  all  desired  that  this  prince,  who 
alone  had  any  pretensions  to  unite  the  dutchy  and  kingdom,  might  be  put  in 
possession  of  both. (4) 

(1;  Gul.  Malmes.    II.  Hunting.  Anglia  Sacra,  vol.  i.  (2)  M.  Paris.    M.  Westminst.    Order.  Vital. 

(3^  William  acted  so  uniformly  like  a  conqueror,  that,  before  the  end  of  his  reign,  there  was  not  left  one 
English,  who  was  either  earl,  baron,  bishop,  or  abbot.  (Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  iv.  H.  Hunt.  lib.  vii.)  No  revo- 
lution, ancient  or  modern,  was  ever  perhaps  attended  with  so  complete  and  sudden  a  change  of  power 
and  property,  as  that  accomplished  by  the  duke  of  Normandy.  Nor  was  the  administration  of  any  prince 
ever  more  absolute  than  that  of  William  I.  though  the  government  which  he  establishad  was  by  no  means 
a  despotism,  but  a  feudal  monarchy,  as  has  been  already  shown.  (4)  Orderic.  Vital. 


44  THE    HISTORY    01  [PART  I. 

A  comparison  between  the  personal  qualities  of  the  two  princes  also  led 
the  malecontents  to  prefer  the  elder.  Robert  was  brave,  open,  sincere,  gene- 
rous ;  whereas  William,  though  not  less  brave  than  his  brother,  was  violent, 
haughty,  tyrannical,  and  seemed  disposed  to  govern  more  by  fear  than  the 
love  of  his  people.  Odo,  bishop  of  Baieux,  who  had  been  released  from 
prison  on  the  death  of  the  Conqueror,  enforced  all  these  motives  with  the 
dissatisfied  barons,  and  engaged  many  of  them  in  a  formal  conspiracy  to 
dethrone  the  king. 

Expecting  immediate  support  from  Normandy,  the  conspirators  hastened 
to  put  themselves  in  a  military  posture :  and  William,  sensible  of  his  perilous 
situation,  endeavoured  to  provide  against  the  threatened  danger  by  gaining 
the  affections  of  the  native  English,  who  zealously  embraced  his  cause,  upon 
receiving  some  general  promises  of  good  treatment,  and  leave  to  hunt  in  the 
royal  forests,  having  now  lost  all  hopes  of  recovering  their  ancient  liberties. 
By  their  assistance  the  king  was  enabled  to  subdue  the  rebels ;  but  the  Nor- 
man barons,  who  had  remained  faithful  to  him,  only  were  the  gainers.  He 
paid  no  regard  to  the  promises  made  to  his  English  subjects,  who  still  found 
themselves  exposed  to  the  same  oppressions  which  they  had  experienced 
during  the  reign  of  the  Conqueror,  and  which  were  augmented  by  the  tyran- 
nical temper  of  the  present  monarch.  (1)  Even  the  privileges  of  the  church, 
which  were  held  so  sacred  in  those  days,  formed  but  a  feeble  rampart  against 
the  usurpations  of  William ;  yet  the  terror  of  his  authority,  confirmed  by  the 
suppression  of  the  late  insurrections,  kept  every  one  in  subjection,  notwith- 
standing the  murmurs  of  the  clergy,  and  preserved  general  tranquillity  in 
England. 

William  even  thought  himself  sufficiently  powerful  to  disturb  his  brother 
in  the  possession  of  Normandy,  and  bribed  several  Norman  barons  to  favour 
his  unjust  claim.  The  duke  had  also  reason  to  apprehend  danger  from  the 
intrigues  of  his  brother  Henry,  who  inherited  more  of  his  father's  money 
than  his  possessions,  and  had  furnished  Robert,  during  his  preparations 
against  England,  with  the  sum  of  three  thousand  marks ;  in  return  for  which 
slender  supply  he  had  been  put  in  possession  of  the  Cotentin,  almost  one- 
third  of  the  duke's  dominions.  But  these  two  brothers,  notwithstanding 
their  mutual  jealousies,  now  united,  in  order  to  defend  their  territories 
against  the  ambition  of  the  king  of  England,  who  appeared  in  Normandy  at 
the  head  of  a  numerous  army :  and  affairs  seemed  to  be  hastening  to  extre- 
mity, when  an  accommodation  was  brought  about  by  the  interposition  of  the 
nobility. 

Prince  Henry,  however,  disgusted  at  the  terms  of  that  agreement,  in  which 
he  thought  himself  treated  with  neglect,  retired  to  St.  Michael's  Mount,  a 
strong  fortress  on  the  coast  of  Normandy,  and  infested  the  neighbouring 
country  with  his  incursions.  Robert  and  William,  his  two  brothers,  besieged 
him  in  this  place,  and  had  nearly  obliged  him  to  surrender  by  reason  of  the 
scarcity  of  water;  when  the  elder,  hearing  of  his  brother's  distress,  granted 
him  permission  to  obtain  a  supply,  and  also  sent  him  some  pipes  of  wine  for 
his  own  table — a  conduct  which  could  only  have  been  dictated  by  the  gene- 
rous but  romantic  spirit  of  chivalry  that  prevailed  in  those  times,  and  with 
which  the  duke  was  strongly  infected.  Being  reproved  by  William  for  this 
imprudent  generosity,  Robert  replied — "  What  I  shall  I  suffer  my  brother  to 
die  of  thirst  1 — where  shall  we  find  another  brother,  when  he  is  gone  ?" 

William,  during  this  siege,  also  performed  an  act  of  generosity  less  suited 
to  his  character.  Riding  out  alone  to  survey  the  fortress,  he  was  attacked 
by  two  soldiers,  and  dismounted.  One  of  the  soldiers  drew  his  sword,  in 
order  to  despatch  the  king.  "  Hold,  knave !"  cried  William,  "  I  am  the  king 
of  England."  The  soldier  suspended  his  blow,  and  raised  the  king  from  the 
ground ;  who,  charmed  with  the  fellow's  behaviour,  rewarded  him  handsomely, 
and  took  him  into  his  service. (2)  • 

(1)  Chron.  Sax.  Gul.  Malmes.  lib  iv.    The  application  of  William,  however,  and  the  service  they  had 
rendered  him,  made  the  natives  sensible  of  their  importance  by  reason  of  their  numbers :  and  they  gra- 
dually recovered  their  consequence  in  the  course  of  the  struggles  between  the  king  and  the  nobles. 

(2)  Gul.  Malmes.  ubi  sup.    M.  Paris.    R.  Hoveden. 


LET.  XXIII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  145 

Prince  Henry  was  at  last  obliged  to  capitulate ;  and,  being  despoiled  of  all 
his  dominions,  wandered  about  for  some  time  with  very  few  attendants,  and 
often  in  great  poverty. 

In  the  mean  time  William  was  engaged  in  humbling  the  Scots  and  Welsh, 
who  had  infested  England  with  their  incursions  during  his  Norman  expedi- 
tion. He  had  also  occasion  to  quell  a  conspiracy  of  his  own  barons,  who 
meant  to  exalt  to  the  throne  Stephen,  count  of  Aumale,  nephew  to  the  Con- 
queror. But  the  noise  of  these  petty  wars  and  commotions  was  quite  sunk 
in  the  tumult  of  tho  Crusades,  which  then  engaged  the  attention  of  all 
Europe,  and  have  since  attracted  the  curiosity  of  mankind,  as  the  most  singu- 
lar examples  of  human  folly  that  were  ever  exhibited  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 
The  cause  and  consequences  of  these  pious  enterprises  I  shall  afterward 
have  occasion  to  consider :  at  present  I  shall  only  speak  of  them  as  they 
affect  the  history  of  England. 

Robert,  duke  of  Normandy,  impelled  by  the  bravery  and  mistaken  genero- 
sity of  his  spirit,  had  early  enlisted  himself  in  the  first  crusade ;  but  being 
always  unprovided  with  money,  he  found  it  would  be  impossible  for  him, 
without  some  supply,  to  appear  in  a  manner  suitable  to  his  rank  at  the  head 
of  his  numerous  vassals,  who,  transported  with  the  general  fury,  were  desi- 
rous of  following  him  into  Asia.  He  therefore  resolved  to  mortgage,  or  to 
sell  his  dominions,  which  he  had  not  prudence  to  govern;  and  he  offered 
them  to  his  brother  William,  who  kept  aloof  from  all  those  fanatical  and 
romantic  warriors,  for  so  small  a  sum  as  ten  thousand  marks. (l)  The 
bargain  was  concluded,  and  William  was  put  in  possession  of  Normandy  and 
Maine ;  while  Robert,  providing  himself  with  a  magnificent  train,  set  out  for 
the  Holy  Land  in  pursuit  of  glory,  and  in  full  hopes  of  securing  his  eternal 
salvation. 

In  the  mean  time  William,  who  regarded  only  the  things  of  this  world,  was 
engaged  in  a  quarrel  with  Anselm,  commonly  called  St.  Anselm,  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  a  Piedmontese  monk,  whom  he  had  called  over  in  a  fit  of 
remorse,  and  whom  he  wanted  to  deprive  of  his  see  for  refractory  behaviour. 
Anselm  appealed  to  Rome  against  the  king's  injustice,  and  affairs  came  to 
such  extremities,  that  the  primate,  finding  it  dangerous  to  remain  in  the 
kingdom,  desired  permission  to  retire  beyond  sea.  It  was  granted  him,  but 
all  his  temporalities  were  confiscated.  He  was  nevertheless  received  with 
great  respect  by  Urban  II.  who  considered  him  as  a  martyr  in  the  cause  of 
religion,  and  even  threatened  the  king  with  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
on  account  of  his  proceedings  against  the  primate.  (2) 

Anselm  afterward  distinguished  himself  in  the  council  of  Bari,  where  the 
famous  dispute  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  relative  to  the  pro- 
cession of  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity,  was  agitated ;  namely,  whether 
the  Holy  Ghost  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  Son,  or  from  the  Father  only? 
He  also  assisted  in  a  council  at  Rome,  where  spiritual  censures  Avere  de- 
nounced against  all  ecclesiastics  who  did  homage  to  laymen  for  their  benefices, 
and  on  all  laymen  who  exacted  such  homage.  The  arguments  made  use  of 
on  that  occasion,  in  favour  of  the  clergy,  are  worthy  of  the  ignorance  of  the 
age,  and  strongly  mark  the  gross  superstition  into  which  the  human  mind 
was  sunk. 

The  ceremony  of  homage,  by  the  feudal  customs,  as  I  have  had  occasion 
to  observe,  was,. that  the  vassal  should  throw  himself  on  his  knees,  put  his 
hands  between  those  of  his  superior,  and  in  that  posture  swear  fealty  to  him. 
Churchmen  had  been  accustomed  thus  to  do  homage  for  their  benefices.  But 
this  council  declared  such  homage  inconsistent  with  the  dignity  of  the  sacer- 
dotal character,  as  well  as  with  the  independency  of  the  church :  "  For," 
said  Urban.  "  it  is  execrable,  that  holy  hands,  appointed  to  perform  what  was 
never  granted  to  any  angel,  to  create  God  the  Creator,  and  offer  him  to  God 
his  Father,  for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  should  be  reduced  to  the  humiliating 

(1)  Our  old  historians  are  not  agreed  in  regard  to  the  particulars  of  this  transaction ;  but  the  ten  thousand 
marks  seem  to  have  been  paid  for  a  mortgage,  or  uninterrupted  possession,  of  five  years.  Vide  Eadmer 
M.  Paris.  Order.  Vital.  (2)  Endmnr.  M.  Paris.  Order.  Vital. 

VOL.  I.— K  ~ 


146  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  L 

baseness  of  slavishly  mingling  with  profane  hands,  which,  besides  being 
soiled  with  rapine  and  bloodshed,  are  day  and  night  employed  in  impure 
offices,  and  obscene  contacts !"(!) 

The  fanaticism  of  the  times  afforded  the  King  of  England  a  second  oppor- 
tunity of  increasing  his  dominions.  Poictiers  and  Guienne  Avere  offered  to 
be  mortgaged  to  him,  for  the  same  pious  purpose  that  had  induced  his  brother 
Robert  to  put  him  in  possession  of  Normandy  and  Maine.  The  bargain  was 
concluded,  and  William  had  prepared  a  fleet  and  army  to  escort  the  money 
stipulated  as  the  price  of  his  new  territory,  and  to  secure  the  possession  of 
it,  when  an  accident  put  an  end  to  his  life,  and  to  all  his  ambitious  projects. 
He  was  engaged  in  hunting,  the  sole  amusement,  and,  except  war,  the  chief 
occupation  of  princes  in  those  rude  times,  when  this  accident  happened. 
Walter  Tyrrel,  a  French  gentleman,  remarkable  for  his  address  in  archery, 
attended  him  in  that  recreation,  of  which  the  New  Forest  was  the  scene ;  and 
as  William  had  dismounted  after  the  chase,  Tyrrel,  impatient  to  show  his 
dexterity,  let  fly  an  arrow  at  a  stag  which  suddenly  started  before  him.  The 
arrow  glancing  against  a  tree,  struck  the  king  to  the  heart,  and  instantly 
killed  him ;  while  Tyrrel,  without  informing  any  one  of  the  accident,  put 
spurs  to  his  horse,  hastened  to  the  sea-shore,  embarked  for  France,  and  joined 
the  crusade  in  an  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land(2) — a  penance  which  he 
imposed  on  himself  for  this  involuntary  crime,  and  which  was  deemed  suffi- 
cient to  expiate  crimes  of  the  blackest  dye. 

William  II.  though  a  man  of  sound  understanding,  appears  to  have  been  a 
violent  and  tyrannical  prince;  a  perfidious,  encroaching,  and  dangerous 
neighbour,  and  an  unkind  and  ungenerous  relation.  His  vices,  however,  have 
probably  been  much  exaggerated  by  the  monkish  writers,  the  only  historians 
Of  those  times,  as  he  was  utterly  void  of  superstition,  and  seemingly  wanting 
in  a  decent  respect  for  religion.  Of  this  many  examples  might  be  produced, 
but  one  will  be  sufficient.  When  the  body  of  the  clergy  presented  a  petition, 
that  he  would  give  them  leave  to  send  a  form  of  prayer  to  be  used  in  all  the 
churches  of  England,  "  That  God  would  move  the  heart  of  the  king  to  appoint 
an  archbishop !"  he  having  kept  the  revenues  or  temporalities  of  the  see  of 
Canterbury  in  his  own  hands  almost  five  years,  he  carelessly  replied,  "  You 
may  pray  as  you  please,  and  I  will  act  as  I  please."(3)  Had  he  lived  a  few 
years  longer,  he  would  greatly  have  enlarged  his  dominions,  and  as  he  was 
the  most  powerful  and  politic  prince  in  Europe,  he  might  perhaps  have  become 
its  arbiter.  He  built  the  Tower,  Westminster  hall,  and  London  bridge,  monu- 
ments of  his  greatness,  which  still  remain.  His  most  liberal  measure  was 
the  sending  of  an  army  into  Scotland,  in  order  to  restore  prince  Edgar,  the 
true  heir  of  that  crown,  the  son  of  Malcolm  III.  surnamed  Canmore,  bv 
Margaret,  sister  of  Edgar  Atheling.  The  enterprise  succeeded. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  this  reign,  Magnus,  king  of  Norway,  made  a 
descent  on  the  Isle  of  Anglesea,  but  was  beat  off  by  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury. 
Since  that  repulse  the  northern  nations  have  made  no  attempt  against 
England. 

As  William  Rufus  was  never  married,  and  consequently  could  leave  no 
lawful  issue,  the  kingdom  of  England  now  belonged  to  his  brother  Robert 
both  by  the  right  of  birth  and  of  solemn  compact,  ratified  by  the  nobility, 
But  as  prince  Henry  was  hunting  in  the  New  Forest  when  the  king  was  slain, 
he  immediately  galloped  to  Winchester,  secured  the  royal  treasure,  was 
saluted  king,  and  proceeded  to  the  exercise  of  the  sovereign  authority  Sen- 
sible, however,  that  a  crown  usurped  against  all  the  rules  of  justice  would 
sit  very  unsteady  on  his  head,  Henry  resolved,  by  fair  professions  at  least,  to 
gain  the  affections  of  all  his  subjects.  Besides  taking  the  usual  coronation 
oath,  to  maintain  the  constitution,  and  to  execute  justice,  he  passed  a  charter 
which  was  calculated  to  remedy  many  of  the  grievous  oppressions  complained 

(1)  Fleury,  Hist.  Eccles.  Jlnglia  Sacra,  vol.  i.  Eadmer.  Bromptan.  Sim.  Dimelin.  Eaimerlus 
who  was  present  at  that  council,  tells  us,  that,  on  the  close  of  this  impious  speech  of  his  holiness,  all  tl» 
venerable  fathers  cried  "  Jlmen!  Jlmrn  /" 

"i)  Cfiron.  Sax.    R.  Hoveden.    H.  Hunt.  (3)  Gul.  Malmcs.  p.124,  col.  i. 


LET.  XXIIL]  MODERNEUROPE.  147 

of  during  the  reign  of  his  father  and  his  brother ;  and  he  promised  a  general 
confirmation  and  observance  of  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor.(l) 

In  order  farther  to  establish  himself  on  the  throne,  the  king  recalled  arch- 
bishop Anselm,  and  reinstated  him  in  the  see  of  Canterbury.  He  also  mar- 
ried Matilda,  daughter  of  Malcolm  III.  king  of  Scotland,  and  niece  to  Edgar 
Atheling.  And  this  marriage,  more  than  any  other  measure  of  his  reign, 
tended  to  endear  Henry  to  his  English  subjects,  who  had  felt  so  severely  the 
tyranny  of  the  Normans,  that  they  reflected  with  infinite  regret  on  their 
former  liberty,  and  hoped  for  a  more  equal  and  mild  administration,  when 
the  blood  of  their  native  princes  should  be  united  with  that  of  the  new  sove 
reigns. (2)  But  the  policy  and  prudence  of  Henry  I.  ran  great  hazard  of 
being  frustrated  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  his  brother  Robert,  who  returned 
from  the  Holy  Land  about  a  month  after  the  death  of  William  II.  took 
possession  of  Normandy  without  resistance,  and  made  preparations  for 
asserting  his  title  to  the  crown  of  England. 

The  great  reputation  which  Robert  had  acquired  in  the  East  favoured  his 
pretensions  ;  and  the  Norman  barons,  still  impressed  with  apprehensions  of 
the  consequences  of  the  separation  of  the  dutchy  and  kingdom,  discovered 
the  same  discontent  which  had  appeared  on  the  accession  of  Rufus.  Henry 
was,  therefore,  in  danger  of  being  deserted  by  all  his  subjects :  and  it  was  only 
through  the  exhortations  of  archbishop  Anselm  that  they  were  engaged  to 
oppose  Robert,  who  had  landed  at  Portsmouth.  The  two  armies  continued 
some  days  in  sight  of  each  other  without  coming  to  action ;  and  by  the 
interposition  of  the  same  prelate,  an  accommodation  was  happily  brought 
about  between  the  brothers. 

In  this  treaty  it  was  agreed,  that  Robert  should  resign  his  pretensions  to 
England,  and  receive  an  annual  pension  of  three  thousand  marks ;  that  if 
either  of  the  princes  died  without  issue,  the  other  should  succeed  to  his  domi- 
nions: that  the  adherents  of  each  should  be  pardoned,  and  restored  to  all 
their  possessions,  and  that  neither  the  king  nor  the  duke  should  thenceforth 
countenance  the  enemies  of  each  other.  (3)  But  these  conditions,  though  so 
favourable  to  Henry,  were  soon  violated  by  his  rapacity  and  ambition.  He 
restored  indeed  the  estates  of  Robert's  adherents,  but  took  care  that  they 
should  not  remain  long  in  the  undisturbed  possession  of  them.  Various  pre- 
tences were  formed  for  despoiling  and  humbling  all  who,  in  his  opinion,  had 
either  inclination  or  abilities  to  disturb  his  government. 

Enraged  at  the  fate  of  his  friends,  Robert  imprudently  ventured  into  Eng- 
land, but  met  with  such  a  bad  reception,  that  he  became  alarmed  for  his  own 
safety,  and  was  glad  to  purchase  his  escape  with  the  loss  of  his  pension.  One 
indiscretion  followed  another.  The  affairs  of  Normandy  fell  into  confusion : 
Henry  went  over,  by  invitation,  to  regulate  them  ;  but,  instead  of  supporting 
his  brother's  authority,  he  increased  the  discontents  bjj  every  art  of  bribery, 
intrigue,  and  insinuation,  and  at  length  made  himself  master  of  the  dutchy. 
The  unfortunate  Robert,  who  seemed  born  only  to  be  the  sport  of  fortune, 
was  carried  prisoner  into  England,  where  he  remained  in  custody  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  which  was  no  less  than  twenty-eight  years,  and  died  a 
captive  in  the  castle  of  Cardiff,  in  Glamorganshire. (4) 

The  acquisition  of  Normandy  was  a  great  point  of  Henry's  ambition,  being 
the  ancient  patrimonial  inheritance  of  his  family,  and  the  only  territory 
which  gave  him  any  weight  or  consideration  on  the  continent.  But  the 
injustice  of  the  usurpation  was  the  source  of  much  inquietude,  and  the  jea- 
lousy of  the  French  monarch  gave  rise  to  those  wars  which  were  to  prove  so 
fatal  to  posterity.  Lewis  VI.  in  concert  with  the  counts  of  Anjou  and  Flan- 
ders, supported  the  claim  of  William,  son  of  Robert,  to  the  dutchy  of  Nor- 
mandy :  he  even  craved  the  assistance  of  the  church  for  reinstating  the  true 
heir  in  his  dominions,  and  represented  the  enormity  of  detaining  in  prison  so 
brave  a  prince  as  Robert,  one  of  the  most  eminent  champions  of  the  cross. 
But  Henry  knew  how  to  defend  the  rights  of  his  crown  with  vigour,  and  yet 

(1)  M.Paris.    R.  Hagulstail.  (2)  M.  Paris.    R.  Hoveden.  (3)  Chron.  Sax.    Orler.  ViU» 

<4)  Annul.  Wavcrl.    Gul.  Malmes.  lib.  v. 


148  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART! 

with  dexterity.  He  detached  the  count  of  Anjou  from  the  alliance,  by  con- 
tracting his  eldest  son,  William,  to  that  prince's  daughter,  while  he  gained 
the  pope  and  his  favourites  by  liberal  presents  and  promises.  Calixtus  II. 
vrho  was  then  in  France,  declared,  after  a  conference  with  Henry,  that  of  all 
men,  whom  he  had  ever  seen,  the  king  of  England  was  beyond  comparison 
the  most  eloquent  and  persuasive. (l)  The  complaints  of  the  Norman  prince 
were  thenceforth  disregarded. 

The  military  operations  of  Lewis  proved  as  unsuccessful  as  his  intrigues. 
The  French  and  English  armies  engaged  near  Andeley,  in  Normandy ;  where 
a  sharp  action  ensued,  in  which  William,  the  son  of  Robert,  behaved  with 
great  bravery.  Henry  himself  was  in  imminent  danger.  He  was  wounded 
in  the  head  by  a  gallant  Norman,  named  Crispin,  who  had  followed  the  for- 
tunes of  William;  but  rather  roused  than  intimidated  by  the  blow,  the  king 
collected  all  his  might,  and  beat  his  antagonist  to  the  ground.  (2)  The 
p]nglish,  animated  by  the  example  of  their  sovereign,  put  the  French  to  total 
rout;  and  an  accommodation  soon  after  took  place  between  the  two  mo- 
narchs,  in  which  the  interests  of  young  William  were  entirely  neglected. 

But  Henry's  public  prosperity  was  much  overbalanced  by  a  domestic  mis- 
fortune. His  son  William,  who  had  attained  his  eighteenth  year,  had  accom- 
panied him  into  Normandy,  but  perished  in  his  return,  with  all  his  retinue. 
The  royal  youth  was  anxious  to  get  first  to  land:  and  the  captain  of  his 
vessel,  being  intoxicated  with  liquor,  heedlessly  ran  her  on  a  rock,  where  she 
was  immediately  dashed  to  pieces.  Beside  the  prince,  ahove  one  hundred 
and  forty  young  noblemen,  of  the  principal  families  of  England  and  Nor- 
mandy, were  lost  on  this  occasion.  The  king  was  so  much  affected  by  the 
news,  that  he  is  said  never  to  have  smiled  more. (3) 

As  prince  William  left  no  children,  Henry  had  now  no  legitimate  issue,  ex- 
cept his  daughter  Matilda,  whom  he  had  betrothed  when  a  child  to  the  emperor 
Henry  V.  who  also  dying  without  children,  the  king  bestowed  his  daughter 
on  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  the  eldest  son  of  the  count  of  Anjou,  and  endea- 
voured to  secure  her  succession,  by  having  her  recognised  heiress  of  all  his 
dominions :  and  he  obliged  the  barons,  both  of  Normandy  and  England,  to 
swear  fealty  to  her.  After  six  years  she  was  delivered  of  a  son,  who  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Henry ;  and  the  king,  farther  to  ensure  the  succession, 
made  all  the  nobility  renew  the  oath  of  fealty  which  they  had  already  sworn 
to  her,  and  also  to  swear  fftalty  to  her  infant  son.  (4) 

The  joy  of  this  event,  and  the  pleasure  of  his  daughter's  company,  made 
Henry  take  up  his  residence  in  Normandy,  where  he  died,  in  the  sixty-seventh 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  thirty-fifth  of  his  reign,  leaving  his  daughter 
Matilda,  heiress  of  all  his  dominions.  He  was  one  of  the  most  able  and 
accomplished  princes  that  ever  filled  the  English  throne,  possessing  all  the 
qualities,  both  mental  and  personal,  that  could  adorn  the  high  station  to 
which  he  attained,  or  fit  him  for  the  government  of  an  extensive  territory. 
His  learning,  which  procured  him  the  name  of  Beauclcrc,  or  the^rae  scholar, 
would  have  distinguished  him  in  private  life,  and  his  talents  would  have 
given  him  an  ascendant  in  any  condition. 

The  affairs  of  France,  my  dear  Philip,  and  the  crusades,  which  took  their 
rise  in  that  kingdom,  claim  your  attention,  before  I  speak  of  the  disputed 
succession  of  Matilda,  and  of  her  son  Henry  II.  commonly  known  by  the 
name  of  Plantagenet,  whose  reign  affords  some  of  the  most  interesting  spec- 
tacles in  the  history  of  England.  In  the  mean  time,  it  will  be  proper  to  take 
a  slight  review  of  the  change  produced  in  our  ancient  constitution,  and  in 
the  condition  of  our  Saxon  ancestors,  by  the  Norman  conquest  or  revolution. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

THE  original  government  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  kind 
of  military  democracy,  under  a  king  or  chief,  whose  authority  was  very 
limited,  and  whose  office  was  not  strictly  hereditary,  but  depended  on  the  will 

(1    M.  Paris.  H.  Hunting.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  R.  llovcden.  (4)  Ypod.  Nenst.  R.  de  Dicetn 


LET.  XXIII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  149 

of  the  people.  This  government  they  brought  into  Britain  with  them. 
Matters  of  small  consequence  were  settled  by  the  king  in  council ;  but  all 
affairs  of  general  concern,  or  national  importance,  the  making  of  laws,  the 
imposing  of  taxes,  the  declaring  of  war,  were  laid  before  the  Wittenagemot 
or  parliament,  and  determined  by  the  majority  of  voices,  or  at  least  by  the 
preponde ration  of  public  opinion.(l) 

From  that  assembly  no  freeman  could  be  said  to  be  excluded ;  for  although 
a  certain  portion  of  land  was  necessary  as  a  qualification,  a  husbandman  or 
tradesman  no  sooner  acquired  that  portion,  which  was  different,  at  different 
times  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  government,(2)  than  he  had  a  right  to  be  present, 
not  only  as  a  spectator,  a  privilege  that  was  common  to  every  one,  but  as  a 
constituent  member  of  the  Wittenagemot.  And  all  merchants,  who  had 
made  two  voyages  to  foreign  countries,  on  their  own  account,  became  pos- 
sessed of  the  same  right,  by  a  law  passed  in  the  reign  of  king  Athelstan  ;(3) 
so  that  our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors  might  make  with  truth,  the  glorious  boast 
of  modern  Englishmen,  that  every  member  of  the  community  shared  with 
his  sovereign,  the  power  and  authority  by  which  he  was  governed.  Little 
wonder,  therefore,  that  the  great  lines  of  this  ennobling  system  of  freedom, 
long  after  it  was  destroyed,  seemed  to  be  engraved  in  their  hearts,  by  the" 
keen  sorrow  with  which  it  was  regretted1. 

If  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  a  nation,  had  reason  to  think  themselves  happy 
in  their  deliberative  and  legislative,  they  were  no  less  so  in  their  juridical 
capacity.  Justice  was  universally  the  care  of  the  great  body  of  the  people: 
and  a  regular  chain  of  appeal  was  established  from  the  tything  or  decennary, 
consisting  of  ten  families,  up  to  the  Wittenagemot,  which  was  a  suj^reme 
court  of  law,  as  well  as  a  national  council  or  assembly.  But  the  grand 
security  of  justice,  and  even  of  liberty  and  property,  was  the  court  called  the 
thiremote,  held  twice  a  year  in  every  county,  at  a  stated  time  and  place, 
where,  along  with  the  alderman  or  earl  of  the  shire,  and  the  bishop  of  the 
diocess,  all  the  clergy  and  landholders  of  the  county  were  obliged  to  be 
present,  and  determined,  by  the  majority  of  voices,  all  causes  brought  before 
them,  in  whatever  stage  of  their  progress ;  beginning  with  the  causes  of  the 
church,  taking  next  under  cognizance  the  pleas  of  the  crown,  and  lastly,  the 
disputes  of  private  persons. (4) 

As  the  duke  of  Normandy,  by  taking  the  usual  oath  administered  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  kings  at  their  coronation,  had  solemnly  engaged  to  maintain 
the  constitution,  and  to  administer  justice  according  to  the  laws,  the  English 
nation  had  reason  to  believe  they  had  merely  changed  their  native  sovereign 
for  one  of  foreign  extraction — a  matter  to  them  of  small  concern,  as  I  have 
had  occasion  to  observe,  especially  as  the  line  of  succession  had  been  already 
broken  by  the  usurpation  or  election  of  Harold.  But  although  William 
affected  moderation  for  a  while,  and  even  adopted  some  of  the  laws  oi 
Edward  the  Confessor,  in  order  to  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  his  new 
subjects,  to  these  laws  he  paid  little  regard ;  and  no  sooner  did  he  find 
himself  firmly  established  on  the  throne,  than  he  utterly  subverted  the  form 
of  government,  and  the  manner  of  administering  justice  throughout  the 
whole  kingdom.  The  government  which  he  substituted  was  a  rigid  feudal 
monarchy,  or  military  aristocracy,  in  which  a  regular  chain  of  subordination 
and  service  was  established,  from  the  sovereign  or  commander-in-chief,  to 
the  serf  or  villain;  and  which,  like  all  feudal  governments,  was  attended 
with  a  grievous  depression  of  the  body  of  the  people,  who  were  daily 
exposed  to  the  insults,  violences,  and  exactions  of  the  nobles,  whose  vassals 
they  all  were,  and  from  whose  oppressive  jurisdiction  it  was  difficult  and 
dangerous  for  them  to  appeal. 

This  depression,  as  might  be  expected,  was  more  complete  and  humiliating 
in  England,  under  the  first  Anglo-Norman  princes,  than  in  any  other  feudal 

(1)  Spelman.  Gloss,  in  voc.  Wittenagemot. 

(2)  It  was  originally  only  five  hides,  but  was  raised  by  degrees  as  high  as  forty. 

(3)  Wilkius,  Leges  Saxon.    Seldon,  Tit.  Hon. 

(4)  Spelman,  Reliquiae.    Hickcsi,  DissertaL  Epist. 


150  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  t. 

government.  William  I.  by  his  artful  and  tyrannical  policy,  by  attainders 
and  confiscations,  had  become,  in  the  course  of  his  reign,  proprietor  of  almost 
all  the  lands  in  the  kingdom.  These  lands,  however,  he  could  not  retain, 
had  he  been  even  willing,  in  his  own  hands :  he  was  under  the  necessity  ol 
bestowing  the  greater  part  of  them  on  his  Norman  captains,  or  nobles,  the 
companions  of  his  conquest,  and  the  instruments  of  his  tyranny,  who  had  led 
their  own  vassals  to  battle.(l)  But  those  grants  he  clogged  with  heavy 
feudal  services,  and  payments  or  prestations,  which  no  one  dared  to  refuse. 
He  was  the  general  of  a  victorious  army,  which  was  still  obliged  to  continue 
in  a  military  posture,  in  order  to  secure  the  possessions  it  had  seized.  And 
the  Anglo-Norman  Barons  and  tenants  in  capite,  by  knights-service,  who  only 
held  immediately  of  the  crown,  and  with  the  dignified  clergy,  formed  the 
national  assembly,  imposed  obligations  yet  more  severe  on  their  vassals,  the 
inferior  landholders,  consisting  chiefly  of  unhappy  English  gentlemen,  as 
well  as  on  the  body  of  the  people,  for  whom  they  seemed  to  have  no  bowels 
of  compassion.  (2) 

But  the  rigour  of  the  Anglo-Norman  government,  and  the  tyrannical  and 
licentious  spirit  of  the  nobles,  proved  ultimately  favourable  to  general  liberty. 
The  oppressed  people  looked  up  to  the  king  for  protection :  and  circumstances 
enabled  them  to  obtain  it.  The  defect  in  the  title  of  William  II.  and  of 
Henry  I.  induced  them  to  listen  to  the  complaints  of  their  English  subjects, 
and  to  redress  many  of  their  grievances.  The  people,  in  some  measure 
satisfied  with  the  relief  afforded  them,  became  sensible  of  their  consequence, 
and  of  their  obligations  to  the  crown ;  while  the  barons,  finding  themselves 
in  quiet  possession  of  their  English  estates,  and  apprehending  no  future 
disturbance  from  the  natives,  bore  with  impatience  the  burdens  imposed 
upon  them  by  William  I.  and  to  which  they  had  readily  submitted  in  the 
hour  of  conquest  and  of  danger.  They  saw  the  necessity  of  being  more 
indulgent  to  their  vassals,  in  order  to  obtain  sufficient  force  to  enable  them 
to  retrench  the  prerogatives  of  the  sovereign,  and  of  connecting  their  cause 
with  that  of  the  people.  And  the  people,  always  formidable  by  their  numbers, 
courted  by  both  parties,  and  sometimes  siding  with  one,  sometimes  with  the 
other,  in  the  bloody  contest  between  the  king  and  the  barons,  recovered  by 
various  progressive  steps,  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  trace  in  the  course 

(1)  Nothing  can  more  strongly  indicate  that  necessity  than  the  following  anecdote.     Earl  Warren, 
when  questioned,  in  a  subsequent  reign,  concerning  his  right  to  the  lands  he  possessed,  boldly  drew  liis 
sword.     "This,"  said  he,  "is  my  title! — William  the  Bastard  did  not  conquer  England  himself:  the 
Norman  barons,  and  my  ancestors,  among  the  rest,  were  joint  adventurers  in  the  enterprise."    Dugdale, 
Baronage,  vol.  i. 

(2)  The  state  of  England,  at  the  death  of  William  the  Conqueror,  is  thus  described  by  one  of  our 
ancient  historians,  who  was  almost  cotemporary  with  that  princo.     "  The  Normans,"  says  he,  "  had 
now  fully  executed  the  wrath  of  heaven  upon  the  English.    There  was  hardly  one  of  that  nation  who 
poaseeeed  any  power;  they  were  all  involved  in  servitude  and  sorrow;  insomuch,  that  to  be  called  an 
Englishman,  was  considered  as  a  reproach.     In  those  miserable  times,  many  oppressive  taxes  and 
tyrannical  customs  were  introduced.     The  king  himself,  when  he  had  let  his  lands  at  their  full  value,  if 
another  tenant  came  and  oftered  more,  and  afterward  a  third,  and  offered  still  more,  violated  alt  his 
former  pactions,  and  gave  them  to  him  who  oflered  most:  and  the  great  men  were  inflamed  with  such  a 
rage  for  money,  that  they  cared  not  by  what  means  it  was  acquired.    The  more  they  talked  of  justice,  the 
more  injuriously  they  arted.    Those  who-were  called  justiciaries,"  alluding  most  likely  to  the  barons  in 
their  courts,  "  were  the  fountains  of  all  iniquity.    Sheriffs  and  judges,  whose  peculiar  duty  it  was  to  pro- 
nounce righteous  judgments,  were  the  most  cruel  of  all  tyrants,  and  greater  plunderers  than  common 
thieves  and  robbers."    (Hen.  Hunting,  lib.  viii.)    And  the  author  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  in  speaking  of 
the  miseries  of  a  subsequent  reign,  says,  that  the  great  barons  "  grievously  oppressed  the  poor  people  \v  itb 
building  castles  ;  and  when  they  were  built,  they  filled  them  with  wicked  men,  or  rather  devils,  who 
seized  both  men  and  women,  supposed  to  be  possessed  of  any  money,  threw  (hem  into  prison,  and  put  them 
to  more  cruel  tortures  than  the  martyrs  ever  endured."     (Chron.  Sax.  p.  238.)     The  truth  of  this  melan- 
choly description  is  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  William  of  Malmsbury.     Hist.  lib.  ii. 

The  great  power  and  success  of  the  Normans  made  them  licentious  as  well  as  tyrannical.  This  licen- 
tiousness was  so  great,  that  the  princess  Matilda,  daughter  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  king  of  Scotland,  wh<. 
had  received  her  education  in  England,  and  was  afterward  married  to  Henry  I.  thought  it  nrci's.-ary  to 
wear  the  religious  habit,  in  order  to  preserve  her  person  from  violation.  Before  a  great  council  of  the 
Anglo-Norman  clergy,  she  herself  declared,  that  she  had  been  induced  by  no  other  motive  to  put  on  the 
»eil.  And  the  council  admitted  her  plea,  in  the  following  memorable  words: — "When  the  great  king 
William  conquered  this  land,  many  of  his  followers,  elated  with  their  extraordinary  success,  and  thinking 
that  all  things  ought  to  be  subservient  to  their  will  and  pleasure,  not  only  seized  the  possessions  of  the 
vanquished,  but  invaded  the  honour  of  their  matrons  and  virgins.  Hence  many  young  ladies,  wh< 
dreaded  such  violences,  were  indiirnl  to  sffk  shelter  ia  convents,  and  even  to  take  the  veil  as  a  fartke* 
tecuritf  to  their  virtue."  Eadnur  Hit:  III)  'ii. 


LET.  XXIV.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  151 

of  my  narration,  their  ancient  and  natural  right  to  a  place  in  the  parliament 
or  national  assembly. 

Thus  restored  to  a  share  in  the  legislature,  the  English  commonalty  felt 
more  fully  their  own  importance;  and,  by  a  long  and  vigorous  struggle, 
maintained  with  unexampled  perseverance,  they  wrested  from  both  the  king 
and  the  nobles,  all  the  other  rights  of  a  free  people,  of  which  theif  Anglo- 
Saxon  ancestors  had  been  robbed,  by  the  violent  invasion  and  cruel  policy  of 
William  the  Norman.  To  those  rights  they  were  entitled  as  men,  by  the 
great  law  of  nature  and  reason,  which  declares  the  welfare  of  the  whole  com- 
munity to  be  the  end  of  all  civil  government ;  and,  as  Englishmen  by  inhe- 
ritance. In  whatever  light,  therefore,  we  view  the  privileges  of  the  commons, 
they  are  resumptions,  not  usurpations. 

In  order  to  establish  this  important  political  truth,  some  of  our  popular 
writers  have  endeavoured  to  prove,  that  the  people  of  England  were  by  no 
means  robbed  of  their  liberty  or  property  by  William  L,  and  that  the  commons 
had  a  share  in  the  legislature  under  all  the  Anglo-Norman  princes.  But  as 
this  position  cannot  be  maintained  without  violating  historical  testimony,  the 
advocates  for  prerogatives  have  had  greatly  the  advantage  in  that  contentious 
dispute. (1)  I  have  therefore  made  the  usurpations  of  William,  in  violation 
of  his  coronation  oath,  the  basis  of  my  argument.  Usurpation  can  create  no 
right,  nor  the  exercise  of  illegal  authority  any  prerogative. 


LETTER  XXIV. 

France,  under  Philip  L  and  Lewis  VI.  with  some  account  of  the  first 
Crusade. 

PHILIP  I.  as  I  have  already  observed,(2)  had  been  perfectly  well  educated. 
Nor  was  he  by  any  means  deficient  in  point  of  capacity;  but  his  mind  had 
acquired  a  wrong  bias,  which  discovered  itself  in  all  his  actions,  and  swayed 
him  upon  all  occasions  to  prefer  his  interest,  or  his  inclinations,  to  his  honour. 
His  reign  is  not  so  remarkable  for  any  thing  as  his  marrying  Bertrand  de 
Montford,  dutchess  of  Anjou,  while  her  husband  and  his  queen  were  both  alive. 
For  this  irregularity  he  was  excommunicated  by  Urban  II.  in  the  famous 
council  of  Clermont,  where  the  first  crusade  was  preached  for  the  recovery 
of  the  Holy  Land(3) — a  circumstance  which  naturally  leads  me  to  speak  of 
that  extravagant  expedition,  its  causes,  and  its  consequences. 

Gregory  VII.  among  his  other  vast  ideas,  had  formed,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  project  of  uniting  the  western  Christians  against  the  Mahometans,  and 
of  recovering  Palestine  from  the  hands  of  those  infidels  ;(4)  and  his  quarrels 
with  the  emperor  Henry  IV.  by  which  he  declared  himself  an  enemy  to  the 
civil  power  of  princes,  only  could  have  obstructed  the  progress  of  this  under- 
taking, conducted  by  so  able  a  politician,  at  a  time  when  the  minds  of  men 
were  fully  prepared  for  such  an  enterprise.  The  work,  however,  was  reserved 
for  a  meaner  instrument;  for  a  man  whose  condition  could  excite  no  jealousy, 
and  whose  head  was  as  weak  as  his  imagination  was  warm.  But  before  I 
mention  this  man,  I  must  say  a  few  words  of  the  state  of  the  east  at  that 
time,  and  of  the  passion  for  pilgrimages  which  then  prevailed  in  Europe. 

We  naturally  view  with  veneration  and  delight  those  places  which  have 
been  the  residence  of  any  illustrious  personage,  or  the  scene  of  any  great 
transaction.  Hence  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  literati  still  visit  the 

(1)  Mr.  Hume,  in  particular,  has  triumphed  over  every  adversary.    His  collected  arguments,  supported 
by  facts,  to  prove  "that  the  commons  originally  formed  no  part  of  the  Anglo-Norman  parliament,"  are 
strong  and  satisfactory.    But  the  following  clause  in  the  great  charter,  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  determine 
Ihe  dispute.    "  We  will  cause  to  be  summoned,"  says  the  king,  "  as  a  common  council  of  the  kingdom, 
!he  archbishops,  bishops,  earls,  and  great  barons,  personally,  by  our  letters ;  and  besides,  we  will  cause  to 
•e  summoned  in  general,  by  our  sheriffs  and  bailiffs,  all  others  who  hold  of  us  in  chief."    (Mag.  Chart,  c. 
civ.)    This  indubitable  testimony,  so  full  and  conclusive,  when  duly  weighed,  must  preclude  all  future 
controversy  on  the  subject. 

(2)  Letter  XVIII.  <3\  Harduin     Condi,  torn.  xi.  C4)  See  Letter  XXII. 


152  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

ruins  of  Athens  and  Rome ;  and  hence  flowed  the  superstitious  devotion  with 
which  Christians,  from  the  earliest  ages  of  the  church,  were  accustomed  to 
visit  that  country  where  the  religion  had  taken  its  rise,  and  that  city  in  which 
the  Messiah  had  died  for  the  redemption  of  those  who  believe  in  his  name. 
Pilgrimages  to  the  shrines  of  saints  and  martyrs  were  also  common ;  but  as 
this  distant  pilgrimage  could  not  be  performed  without  considerable  expense, 
fatigue,  and  danger,  it  appeared  more  meritorious  than  all  others,  and  came 
to  be  considered  as  an  expiation  for  almost  every  crime.  And  an  opinion 
which  prevailed  over  Europe  toward  the  close  of  the  tenth  and  the  beginning 
of  the  eleventh  century,  increased  the  number  and  the  ardour  of  the  credu 
lous  devotees  that  undertook  this  tedious  journejr.  The  thousand  years 
mentioned  by  St.  John,  in  his  book  of  Revelations,  were  supposed  to  be 
accomplished,  and  the  end  of  the  world  at  hand.  A  general  consternation, 
as  I  have  had  occasion  to  notice,  seized  the  minds  of  Christians.  Many 
relinquished  their  possessions,  abandoned  their  friends  and  families,  and 
hurried  with  precipitation  to  the  Holy  Land,  where  they  imagined  Christ 
would  suddenly  appear  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.(l) 

But  the  Christians,  though  ultimately  undeceived  in  regard  to  the  day  of 
judgment,  had  the  mortification,  in  these  pious  journeys,  to  see  the  holy 
sepulchre,  and  the  other  places  made  sacred  by  the  presence  of  the  Saviour, 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  infidels.  The  followers  and.  the  countrymen  of  Ma- 
homet, had  early  made  themselves  masters  of  Palestine,  which  the  Greek 
empire,  far  in  its  decline,  was  unable  to  protect  against  so  warlike  an  enemy. 
They  gave  little  disturbance,  however,  to  those  zealous  pilgrims  who  daily 
flocked  to  Jerusalem ;  nay,  they  allowed  every  one,  after  paying  a  moderate 
tribute,  to  visit  the  holy  sepulchre,  to  perform  his  religious  duties,  and  return 
in  peace.  But  the  Turks,  a  Tartar  tribe  who  had  also  embraced  Mahomet- 
anism,  having  wrested  Syria  from  the  Saracens,  as  you  have  seen,  about  the 
middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  Jerusalem, 
pilgrims  were  thenceforth  exposed  to  outrages  of  every  kind  from  these  fierce 
Barbarians.  And  this  change,  coinciding  with  the  panic  of  the  consummation 
of  all  things,  and  the  supposed  appearance  of  Christ  on  Mount  Sion,  filled 
Europe  with  alarm  and  indignation.  Every  pilgrim  who  returned  from 
Palestine,  related  the  dangers  he  had  encountered  in  visiting  the  holy  city, 
and  described,  with  exaggeration,  the  cruelty  and  vexations  of  the  Turks, 
who,  to  use  the  language  of  those  zealots,  not  only  profaned  the  sepulchre  01 
the  Lord  by  their  presence,  but  derided  the  sacred  mysteries  in  the  very  place 
of  their  completion,  and  where  the  Son  of  God  was  speedily  expected  to  hold 
his  great  tribunal.  (2) 

While  the  minds  of  men  were  thus  roused,  a  fanatical  monk,  commonly 
known  by  the  name  of  Peter  the  hermit,  a  native  of  Amiens  in  Picardy, 
revived  the  project  of  Gregory  VII.  of  leading  all  the  forces  of  Christendom 
against  the  infidels,  and  of  driving  them  out  of  the  Holy  Land.  He  had  made 
the  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  and  was  so  deeply  affected  with  the  danger  to 
which  that  act  of  piety  now  exposed  Christians,  that  he  ran  from  province  to 
province  on  his  return,  with  a  crucifix  in  his  hand,  exciting  princes  and  peo- 
ple to  this  holy  war ;  and  wherever  he  came,  he  kindled  the  same  enthusiastic 
ardour  for  it  with  which  he  himself  was  animated. 

Urban  II.  who  had  at  first  been  doubtful  of  the  success  of  such  a  project, 
at  length  entered  into  Peter's  views,  and  summoned  at  Placentia  a  council, 
which  was  obliged  to  be  held  in  the  open  fields,  no  hall  being  sufficient  to 
contain  the  multitude :  it  consisted  of  four  thousand  ecclesiastics,  and  thirty 
thousand  laymen,  who  all  declared  for  the  war  against  the  infidels,  but  none 
of  them  heartily  engaged  in  the  enterprise.  Urban,  therefore,  found  it 
necessary  to  call  another  council  the  same  year  at  Clermont,  in  Auvergne, 
where  the  greatest  prelates,  nobles,  and  princes,  attended ;  and  when  the 
pope  and  the  hermit  had  concluded  their  pathetic  exhortations,  the  whole 
assembly,  as  if  impelled  by  an  immediate  inspiration,  exclaimed  with  one 

(1)  Chron.     Will.  Godelli  ap.  Bouquet.     Reeueil  des  Hist,  de  France,  torn.  X 

(2)  Eccard.     Corp.  Script.  Vedii  JKci.  vol.  i. 


LET.  XXIV.]         •          MODERN    EUROPE.  153 

voice  ;  "  It  is  the  will  of  God ! — It  is  the  will  of  God !" — words  which  were 
deemed  so  memorable,  and  believed  to  be  so  much  the  result  of  a  divine  influ- 
ence, that  they  were  employed  as  the  motto  on  the  sacred  standard,  and  as 
the  signal  of  rendezvous  and  battle  in  all  the  future  exploits  of  the  champions 
of  the  Cross ;  the  symbol  chosen  by  the  devoted  combatants,  in  allusion  to  the 
death  of  Christ,  as  the  badge  of  union,  and  affixed  to  their  right  shoulder, 
whence  their  expedition  got  the  name  of  a  crusade.(l) 

Persons  of  all  ranks  flew  to  arms  with  the  utmost  ardour.  Not  only  the 
gallant  nobles  of  that  age,  with  their  martial  followers,  whom  the  boldness 
of  a  romantic  enterprise  might  have  been  apt  to  allure,  but  men  in  the  more 
humble  and  pacific  stations  of  life ;  ecclesiastics  of  every  order,  and  even 
women,  concealing  their  sex  beneath  the  disguise  of  armour,  engaged  with 
emulation  in  an  undertaking  which  was  deemed  so  sacred  and  meritorious. 
The  greatest  criminals  were  forward  in  a  service,  which  they  regarded  as  a 
propitiation  for  all  their  crimes.  If  they  succeeded,  they  hoped  to  make 
their  fortune  in  this  world ;  and  if  they  died,  they  were  promised  a  crown  of 
«lory  in  the  world  to  come.  Devotion,  passion,  prejudice,  and  habit,  all  con- 
tributed to  the  same  end ;  and  the  combination  of  so  many  causes  produced 
that  wonderful  emigration  which  made  the  princess  Anna  Comnena  say,  that 
Europe,  loosened  from  its  foundations,  and  impelled  by  its  moving  principle, 
seemed  in  one  united  body  to  precipitate  itself  upon  Asia.  (2) 

The  number  of  adventurers  soon  became  so  great,  that  their  more  expe 
rienced  leaders,  Hugh,  count  of  Vermandois,  brother  to  the  French  king, 
Robert,  duke  of  Normandy,  Raymond,  count  of  Thoulouse,  Godfrey  of 
Bouillon,  prince  of  Brabant,  and  Stephen,  count  of  Blois,  grew  apprehensive 
that  the  greatness  of  the  armament  would  defeat  its  purpose.  They  therefore 
permitted  an  undisciplined  multitude,  computed  at  three  hundred  thousand 
men,  to  go  before  them,  under  the  command  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  Walter  the 
Moneyless,  and  other  wild  fanatics. 

Peter  and  his  army,  before  which  he  walked  with  sandals  on  his  feet,  a 
rope  about  his  waist,  and  every  other  mark  of  monkish  austerity,  took  the 
road  to  Constantinople,  through  Hungary  and  Bulgaria.  Godescald,  a  Ger- 
man priest,  and  his  banditti,  took  the  same  route ;  and  trusting  that  Heaven 
by  supernatural  means,  would  supply  all  their  necessities,  they  made  no  pro- 
vision for  subsistence  on  their  march.  But  they  soon  found  themselves  obliged 
to  obtain  by  plunder  what  they  had  vainly  expected  from  miracles.  Want  is 
ingenious  in  suggesting  pretences  for  its  supply.  Their  fury  first  discharged 
itself  upon  the  Jews.  As  the  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  thought  them- 
selves authorized  to  takfi  revenge  upon  his  murderers :  they  accordingly  fell 
upon  those  unhappy  people,  and  put  to  the  sword  without  mercy  such  as 
would  not  submit  to  baptism,  seizing  their  effects  as  lawful  prize.  In  Bavaria 
alone  twelve  thousand  Jews  were  massacred,  and  many  thousands  in  the 
other  provinces  of  Germany.  But  Jews  not  being  every  where  to  be  found, 
these  pious  robbers,  who  had  tasted  the  sweets  of  plunder,  and  were  under 
no  military  regulations,  pillaged  without  distinction,  until  the  inhabitants  of 
the  countries  through  which  they  passed  rose  and  cut  them  almost  all  off. 
The  Hermit,  however,  and  the  remnant  of  his  army,  consisting  of  twenty 
thousand  starving  wretches,  at  length  reached  Constantinople,  where  he 
received  a  fresh  supply  of  German  and  Italian  vagabonds,  who  were  guilty  of 
the  greatest  disorders,  pillaging  even  the  churches.(3) 

Alexis  Comnenus,  the  Greek  emperor,  who  had  applied  to  the  Latins  for 
succour  against  the  Turks,  entertained  a  hope,  and  but  a  feeble  one,  of  ob- 
taining such  an  aid  as  might  enable  him  to  repulse  the  enemy.  He  was, 
therefore,  astonished  to  see  his  dominions  overwhelmed  by  an  inundation  of 
licentious  Barbarians,  strangers  alike  to  order  and  discipline,  and  to  hear  of 
the  multitudes  that  were  following,  under  different  leaders.  He  contented 
himself,  however,  Avith  getting  rid,  as  soon  as  possible,  of  such  troublesome 

(1)  Theod.  Ruinart.  in  Vit.  Urlicmi  II.  Baron.  Annal.  Eccles.  torn.  xi.  (2)  Alexias,  lib.  x. 

(31  Maimbourg,  Hist,  des  Croisadet,  torn.  i. 


154  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

guests,  by  furnishing  them  with  vessels  to  transport  themselves  to  the  other 
side  of  the  Bosphorus ;  and  general  Peter  soon  saw  himself  in  the  plains  of 
Asia,  at  the  head  of  a  Christian  army,  ready  to  give  battle  to  the  Infidels. 
Soliman,  sultan  of  Nice,  fell  upon  the  disorderly  crowd,  and  slaughtered  them 
almost  without  resistance.  Walter  the  Moneyless  and  many  other  leaders  of 
equal  distinction  were  slain ;  but  Peter  the  Hermit  found  his  way  back  to 
Constantinople,  where  he  was  considered  as  a  maniac,  who  had  enlisted  a 
multitude  of  madmen  to  follow  him.(l) 

In  the  mean  time  the  more  disciplined  armies  arrived  at  the  imperial  city, 
and  were  there  joined  by  Bohemond,  son  of  Robert  Guiscard,  from  motives 
of  policy  rather  than  piety.  Having  no  other  inheritance  but  the  small  prin- 
cipality of  Tarentum,  and  his  own  valour,  he  took  advantage  of  the  epide- 
mical enthusiasm  of  the  times  to  assemble  under  his  banner  ten  thousand 
horsemen,  well  armed,  and  some  infantry,  with  which  he  hoped  to  conquer  a 
few  provinces  either  from  the  Christians  or  Mahometans.  His  presence  gave 
much  alarm  to  the  emperor  Alexis  Comnenus,  with  whom  he  had  been  for- 
merly at  war.  But  the  refined  policy  of  that  prince,  who  caressed  those 
rapacious  allies  whom  he  wished  to  ruin,  and  secretly  regarded  as  more  dan- 
gerous than  the  enemies  they  came  to  combat,  diverted  all  apprehensions  of 
harm  either  from  Bohemond  or  the  other  leaders  of  the  crusade.  He  furnished 
them  with  provisions,  and  transported  them  safely  into  Asia ;  after  having 
conciliated  their  affections  by  presents  and  promises,  and  engaged  them  to  do 
him  homage  for  the  lands  they  should  conquer  from  the  Turks. (2) 

Asia,  like  Europe,  was  then  divided  into  a  number  of  little  states,  compre- 
hended under  the  great  ones.  The  Turkish  princes  paid  an  empty  homage 
to  the  caliphs,  but  were  in  reality  their  masters ;  and  the  sultans  or  soldans, 
who  were  very  numerous,  weakened  still  farther  the  empire  of  Mahomet 
by  continual  wars  with  each  other,  the  necessary  consequence  of  divided 
sway.  The  soldiers  of  the  cross,  therefore,  who  amounted,  when  mustered 
on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus,  to  the  incredible  number  of  one  hundred 
thousand  horsemen,  and  six  hundred  thousand  foot,  were  sufficient  to  have 
conquered  all  Asia,  had  they  been  united  under  one  head,  or  commanded  by 
leaders  that  observed  any  concert  in  their  operations.  But  they  were  unhap- 
pily conducted  by  men  of  the  most  independent,  intractable  spirit,  unac- 
quainted with  discipline,  and  enemies  to  civil  or  military  subordination.  Their 
zeal,  however,  their  bravery,  and  their  irresistible  force,  still  carried  them 
forward,  and  advanced  them  to  the  great  end  of  their  enterprise,  in  spite  of 
every  obstacle — the  scarcity  of  provisions,  the  excesses  of  fatigue,  and  the 
influence  of  unknown  climes.  After  an  obstinate  siege,  they  took  Nice,  the 
seat  of  old  Soliman,  sultan  of  Syria,  whose  army  they  had  twice  defeated : 
they  made  themselves  masters  of  Antioch,  the  seat  of  another  sultan,  and  en- 
tirely broke  the  strength  of  the  Turks,  who  had  so  long  tyrannized  over  the 
\rabs.  (3) 

The  caliph  of  Egypt,  whose  alliance  the  Christians  had  hitherto  courted, 
recovered,  on  the  fall  of  the  Turkish  power,  the  authority  of  the  caliphs  in 
Jerusalem.  On  this  he  sent  ambassadors  to  the  leaders  of  the  Crusade, 
informing  them,  that  they  might  now  perform  their  religious  vows,  if  they 
came  disarmed  to  that  city;  and  that  all  Christian  pilgrims,  who  should 
thenceforth  visit  the  holy  sepulchre,  might  expect  the  same  good  treatment 
which  they  had  ever  received  from  his  predecessors.  His  offers  were,  how- 
ever, rejected.  He  was  required  to  yield  up  the  city  to  the  Christians ;  and, 
on  his  refusal,  the  champions  of  the  Cross  advanced  to  the  siege  of  Jerusalem, 
the  great  object  of  their  armament,  and  the  acquisition  of  which  they  consi- 
dered as  the  consummation  of  their  labours. 

These  pious  adventurers  were  now  much  diminished,  by  the  detachments 
they  had  made,  and  the  disasters  they  had  suffered :  and  what  seems  almost 
.ncredible,  they  did  not  exceed,  according  to  the  testimony  of  most  historians 

(1)  Anna  Comnena,  ubi  sup.  (2)  Maimbouig,  abl  sup. 

(3)  Dach.    Specileg.  vol.  iv.    Maimbourg,  torn.  i. 


LET.  XXIV.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  15£ 

twenty  thousand  foot,  and  fifteen  hundred  horse,  while  the  garrison  of 
Jerusalem  consisted  of  forty  thousand  men.  But,  be  that  as  it  may,  after  a 
siege  of  five  weeks,  they  took  the  city  by  assault,  and  put  the  garrison  and 
inhabitants  to  the  sword  without  distinction.  Arms  protected  not  the  brave, 
or  submission  the  timid:  no  age  or  sex  were  spared:  infants  perished  by 
the  same  sword  that  pierced  their  mothers,  while  imploring  mercy.  .The 
streets  of  Jerusalem  were  covered  with  heaps  of  slain ;  and  the  shrieks  ol 
agony  or  despair  still  resounded  from  every  house,  when  these  triumphant 
warriors,  glutted  with  slaughter,  threw  aside  their  arms,  yet  streaming  will 
blood,  and  advanced  with  naked  feet  and  bended  knees  to  the  sepulchre  01 
the  Prince  of  Peace !  sung  anthems  to  that  Redeemer,  who  had  purchased 
their  salvation  by  his  death ;  and,  while  dead  to  the  calamities  of  their  fel- 
low-creatures, dissolved  in  tears  for  the  sufferings  of  the  Messiah  !(1) — So 
inconsistent  is  human  nature  with  itself;  and  so  easily,  as  the  philosophic 
Hume  remarks,  does  the  most  effeminate  superstition  associate  both  with 
the  most  heroic  courage  and  with  the  fiercest  barbarity. 

About  the  same  time  that  this  great  event  happened  in  Asia,  where  God- 
frey of  Bouillon  was  chosen  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  Bohemond,  and  some 
other  Christian  princes,  settled  in  their  new  conquests,  Urban  II.  the  author 
of  the  Crusade,  and  the  queen  of  France,  died  in  Europe.  In  consequence 
of  these  deaths,  Philip  I.  who  still  continued  to  live  with  the  countess  of 
Anjou,  was  absolved,  by  the  new  pope,  from  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
denounced  in  the  council  of  Clerrnont.  But  although  this  absolution  quieted 
in  some  measure  his  domestic  troubles,  his  authority,  which  the  thunder  of 
the  church,  together  with  his  indolent  and  licentious  course  of  life,  had 
ruined,  was  far  from  being  restored.  The  nobility  more  and  more  affected 
independency :  they  insulted  him  every  hour ;  plundered  his  subjects,  and 
entirely  cut  off  the  communication  between  Paris  and  Orleans.(2) 

In  order  to  remedy  these  evils,  Philip  associated  his  son  Lewis  in  the  go- 
vernment, or,  at  least,  declared  him,  with  the  consent  of  the  nobility,  his 
successor.  This  young  prince  was,  in  all  respects,  the  reverse  of  his  father , 
active,  Vigorous,  affable,  generous,  and  free  from  the  vices  incident  to  youth. 
He  saw  that  in  a  state  so  corrupted  nothing  could  be  done  but  by  force  :  he 
therefore  kept  continually  in  the  field,  with  a  small  body  of  troops  about  him, 
and  these  he  employed  against  such  nobles  as  would  not  listen  to  the  dictates 
of  justice  and  equity,  but  treated  the  laws  of  their  country  with  derision. 
He  demolished  their  castles  :  he  compelled  them  to  make  restitution  to  such 
as  they  had  pillaged,  and  he  forced  them  to  abandon  the  lands  they  had 
usurped  from  the  clergy :  yet  all  these  rigours  he  executed  in  a  manner  so 
disinterested,  and  with  so  indisputable  a  zeal  for  the  public  welfare,  that  he 
gained  the  affections  of  the  virtuous  part  of  the  nobility,  and  the  reverence 
of  the  people,  while  he  restored  order  to  the  state,  and  preserved  the  monarchy 
from  sub  version.  (3) 

This  prince,  who  is  commonly  called  by  the  old  historians  Lewis  the  Gros?, 
from  his  great  size  in  the  latter  part  of  life,  and  who  was  the  sixth  Lewis 
that  sat  upon  the  throne  of  France,  succeeded  his  father  in  1108,  when  he 
was  thirty  years  of  age.  Soon  after  his  coronation,  he  engaged  in  a  war 
against  Henry  I.  of  England,  a  powerful  vassal,  whom  it  was  his  interest  to 
humble.  The  war  was  carried  on  with  a  variety  of  fortunes  during  the 
greater  part  of  this  reign,  but  without  producing  any  remarkable  event,  ex- 
cept what  I  have  related  in  the  history  of  England,  or  any  alteration  in  the 
state  of  either  kingdom.(4) 

A  peace  was  at  length  concluded  between  the  two  rival  princes ;  after 
which  Lewis  devoted  himself  to  the  regulation  of  the  interior  polity  of  his 
kingdom,  and  either  humbled  or  overawed  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown,  so 
as  to  procure  universal  tranquillity.  This  he  accomplished,  partly  by  esta- 
blishing the  commons  or  third  state,  partly  by  enfranchising  the  villeins  or 
bondmen,  and  partly  by  diminishing  the  exorbitant  authority  of  the  seignioral 

(I)  M.Paris.    Order.  Vital.    Verlot.  Hist,  de  Cftev.  de  Malt.  torn.  i.  (2)  Order.  Vital.    Mezera) 

f3;  Order.  Vital.  Sug.     Vit.Lud.  Grossi.  14)  See  Letter  XX HI 


156  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I 

jurisdictions;  sending- commissaries  into  the  provinces  to  receive  the  com- 
plaints and  redress  the  wrongs  of  such  as  had  been  oppressed  by  the  dukes 
and  counts,  and  every  where  encouraging  appeals  to  the  royal  judges.  But 
the  king  of  France,  in  the  midst  of  his  prosperity,  fell  into  a  languishing  dis- 
order, occasioned  by  his  excessive  corpulency ;  and  when  he  thought  his 
death  at  hand,  he  ordered  his  son  to  be  called  to  him  and  gave  him  the  fol- 
lowing excellent  advice.  "  By  this  sign,"  said  he,  (drawing  the  signet  from 
his  finger,  and  putting  it  on  that  of  the  prince)  "  I  invest  you  with  sovereign 
authority;  but  remember,  that  it  is  nothing  but  a  public  employment,  to 
which  you  are  called  by  Heaven,  and  for  the  exercise  of  which  you  must 
render  an  account  in  the  world  to  come."(l) 

The  king  unexpectedly  recovered ;  but  he  would  never  afterward  use  an} 
of  the  ensigns  of  royalty.  An  accident  contributed  to  the  revival  of  hi* 
strength.  William,  duke  of  Guienne  and  earl  of  Poitou,  resolved  to  make  f* 
pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St.  James  of  Compostella,  bequeathed  his  exten- 
sive territories  to  his  daughter  Eleanor,  on  condition  that  she  married  young 
Lewis,  already  crowned  king  of  France,  at  the  desire  of  his  father;  and  the 
duke  dying  in  that  pilgrimage,  the  marriage  was  celebrated  with  great  pomp 
at  Bordeaux,  where  Lewis  VII.  was  solemnly  inaugurated  as  lord  of  Gui- 
enne and  Poitou.  (2) 

In  the  mean  time  Lewis  VI.  unable  to  support  the  heat  of  the  dog-days 
died  at  Paris  on  the  first  of  August,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age,  and  the 
thirtieth  of  his  reign.  A  better  man,  historians  agree,  never  graced  the 
throne  of  France;  but,  with  the  addition  of  certain  qualities,  his  country- 
men say  he  might  have  made  a  better  king.  Posterity,  however,  may  nol 
perhaps  be  inclined  to  think  worse  of  his  character,  when  they  are  told  that 
the  qualities  he  wanted  were  hypocrisy  and  dissimulation,  and  that  his  vices 
were  honesty  and  sincerity ;  which  led  him  to  despise  flattery,  and  indulge 
himself  in  a  manly  freedom  of  speech. 

We  should  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  the  history  of  England ;  but 
the  second  crusade,  which  was  conducted  by  the  sovereigns  of  France  and 
Germany,  makes  it  necessary  to  carry  farther  the  affairs  of  the  continent. 


LETTER  XXV. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Italian  Slates,  from  the 
Death  of  Henry  V'  to  the  Election  of  Frederic  I.  surnamed  Barbarossa. 

As  Henry  V.  left  no  issue,  it  was  universally  believed  that  ;he  states  would 
confer  the  empire  on  one  of  his  nephews,  Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia,  or 
Frederic,  duke  of  Suabia,  who  were  princes  of  great  merit ;  but  Albert, 
archbishop  of  Mentz,  found  means  to  influence  the  German  chiefs  to  give 
their  suffrages  in  favour  of  Lothario,  duke  of  Saxe-Supplembourg,  who  had 
supported  him  in  all  his  contests  with  the  late  emperor.  Lothario  was  ac- 
cordingly crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  presence  of  the  pope's  nuncio. 
Meanwhile  his  two  competitors  neglected  nothing  in  their  power  to  obtain 
the  throne.  But  after  a  short  opposition,  which  was,  however,  obstinate  and 
bloody,  they  dropped  their  pretensions,  and  were  reconciled  to  Lothario,  who 
afterward  honoured  them  with  his  friendship.  (3) 

The  first  expedition  of  the  new  emperor  was  against  the  Bohemians,  whom 
he  obliged  to  sue  for  peace,  and  do  homage  to  the  empire.  He  next  marched 
into  Italy,  where  ecclesiastical  affairs,  as  usual,  were  in  much  disorder.  In- 
nocent II.  had  succeeded  Honorius  II.  by  virtue  of  a  canonical  election  ; 
notwithstanding  which  cardinal  Leoni,  the  grandson  of  a  wealthy  Jew,  was 
also  proclaimed  pope  by  the  name  of  Anacletus,  and  kept  possession  of  Rome 
by  means  of  his  money,  while  his  rival  was  obliged  to  retire  into  France, 

(1)  Sug.  Vit.  Lud.  Orcssi.     Henault,  Chron.  Hist.  torn.  i.  (2)  Ibid. 

(3j  Annul  dt  CEmp.  torn.  i.    Hois.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xi. 


LET.  XXV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  157 

the  common  asylum  of  distressed  popes.  Lothario  espoused  the  cause  of 
Innocent,  with  whom  he  had  an  interview  at  Liege ;  accompanied  him  to 
Rome  at  the  head  of  an  army,  and  re-established  him  in  the  papal  chair  in 
spite  of  all  the  efforts  and  opposition  of  Anacletus. (1) 

After  being  solemnly  crowned  at  Rome,  the  emperor  returned  to  Ger- 
many ;  where,  by  the  advice  of  Ernerius,  a  learned  professor  of  the  Roman 
law,  he  ordered  that  justice  should  be  administered  in  the  empire  according 
to  the  Digesta,  or  Code  of  Justinian,  a  copy  of  which  was,  about  this  time, 
found  in  Italy.  (2)  In  the  mean  time  Roger,  duke  of  Apulia,  who  had  lately- 
conquered  the  Island  of  Sicily,  raised  an  army  in  favour  of  Anacletus,  and 
made  himself  master  of  almost  all  the  places  belonging  to  the  Holy  See. 
Pope  Innocent  retired  to  Pisa,  which  was  then  one  of  the  most  considerable 
trading  cities  in  Europe,  and  again  implored  the  assistance  of  Lothario.  The 
emperor  did  not  desert  him  in  his  adversity:  he  immediately  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  army ;  and,  by  the  help  of  the  Pisans,  the  imperial 
forces  soon  recovered  all  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter.  Pope  Innocent  was 
reconducted  in  triumph  to  Rome ;  a  circumstance  which  so  much  affected 
Anacletus,  that  he  fell  a  martyr  to  the  success  of  his  competitor,  literally 
dying  of  grief. 

The  emperor  afterward  drove  Roger,  duke  of  Apulia,  from  city  to  city ; 
and,  at  length,  obliged  him  to  take  refuge  in  Sicily,  his  new  kingdom.  He 
then  subdued  the  provinces  of  Apulia  and  Calabria,  and  all  Roger's  Italian 
dominions,  which  he  formed  into  a  principality,  and  bestowed  it,  with  the 
title  of  duke,  upon  Renaud,  a  German  prince,  and  one  of  his  own  relatious.(S) 

On  his  way  to  Germany,  Lothario  was  seized  with  a  dangerous  distemper, 
which  carried  him  off,  near  Trent,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign.  He  was 
distinguished  by  a  passionate  love  of  peace,  and  an  exact  attention  to  the 
administration  of  public  justice. 

Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia,  nephew  to  Henry  V.  was  unanimously  elected 
emperor,  on  the  death  of  Lothario.  But  the  imperial  throne  was  disputed 
by  Henry  the  Haughty,  duke  of  Bavaria,  the  name  of  whose  family  was 
Guelph ;  hence  those  who  espoused  his  party  were  called  Guelphs,  an  appel- 
lation afterward  usually  bestowed  on  the  enemies  of  the  emperors. 

Henry  the  Haughty  died  during  this  contest,  after  being  divested  of  his 
dominions  by  the  princes  of  the  empire ;  but  the  war  was  still  carried  on 
against  the  emperor  by  Guelph,  the  duke's  brother,  and  Roger  king  of  Sicily. 
The  imperial  army  was  commanded  by  Frederic,  duke  of  Suabia,  the  em- 
peror's brother,  who  being  born  at  the  village  of  Hieghibelin,  gave  to  his 
soldiers  the  name  of  Ghibelins ;  an  epithet  by  which  the  imperial  party  was 
distinguished  in  Italy,  while  the  pope's  adherents  grew  famous  under  that  of 
Guelphs.  (4) 

Guelph  and  his  principal  followers  were  besieged  in  the  castle  of  Weins- 
berg ;  and  having  sustained  great  loss  in  a  sally,  they  were  obliged  to  sur- 
render at  discretion.  The  emperor,  however,  instead  of  using  his  good  for- 
tune with  rigour,  granted  the  duke  and  his  chief  officers  permission  to  re- 
tire unmolested.  But  the  dutchess,  suspecting  the  generosity  of  Conrad,  with 
whose  enmity  against  her  husband  she  was  well  acquainted,  begged  that  she, 
and  the  other  women  in  the  castle,  might  be  allowed  to  come  out  with  as 
much  as  each  of  them  could  carry,  and  be  conducted  to  a  place  of  safety 
Her  request  was  granted,  and  the  evacuation  was  immediately  performed , 
when  the  emperor  and  his  army,  who  expected  to  see  every  lady  loaded  with 
jewels,  gold,  and  silver,  beheld,  to  their  astonishment,  the  dutchess  and  her 
fair  companions  staggering  beneath  the  weight  of  their  husbands.  The  tears 
ran  down  Conrad's  cheeks :  he  applauded  their  conjugal  tenderness,  and  an 
accommodation  with  Guelph  and  his  adherents  was  the  consequence  of  this 
act  of  female  heroism.(S) 

(1)  Jean  de  Launes,  Jfist.  du.  Pontifical  dv.  Pope  Innocent  If. 

(2)  On  this  subject,  which  is  involved  in  controversy,  see  Hen.  Brenchmann,  Hist.  Pandeet.    Murat 
•intiq.  Hal.  torn.  ii.  (3)  Jlnnal.  de  I'Emp.  torn.  i. 

(4)  Murat.  Disserlat.  de  Guelph.  tt  Guitel.  Sigon.  lib.  xi.  Krant.  Saz.  lib.  viii. 
'5)  Heis.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xii 


158  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Germany,  new  disorders  broke  out 
in  Italy.  The  people  of  Rome  formed  a  design  of  re-establishing  the  com- 
monwealth ;  of  retrieving  the  sovereignty  of  their  city,  and  abolishing  the 
temporal  dominion  of  the  popes.  Lucius  II.  marched  against  the  rebels,  and 
was  killed  at  the  foot  of  the  Capitol ;  but  Eugenius  III.  his  successor,  found 
means  to  reduce  them  to  reason,  and  preserve  the  authority  of  the  Apostolic 
See.(l) 

This  pope  afterward  countenanced  the  second  crusade  against  the  Sara- 
cens, preached  by  St.  Bernard,  in  which  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  France 
engaged,  as  I  snail  soon  have  occasion  to  relate.  Another  crusade  was 
preached  against  the  Moors  in  Spain,  in  which  a  great  number  of  Germans, 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Rhine  and  Weser,  engaged;  and  the  Saxons, 
about  the  same  time,  undertook  a  crusade  against  the  Pagans  of  the  North, 
whom  they  cut  off  in  thousands,  without  making  one  convert.(2) 

Nothing  remarkable  happened  in  the  empire,  after  the  return  of  Conrad 
III.  from  the  East,  except  the  death  of  prince  Henry,  his  eldest  son,  who 
had  been  elected  king  of  the  Romans.  This  event  greatly  affected  the  em- 
peror, who  died  soon  after ;  and  his  nephew  Frederic,  surnamed  Barbarossa, 
duke  of  Suabia,  was  raised  to  the  imperial  throne  by  the  unanimous  voice  of 
the  princes  and  nobles  both  of  Italy  and  Germany. 


LETTER  XXVI. 

France  under  Lewis  VII.  till  the  Divorce  of  Queen  Eleanor,  with  some  Account 
of  the  second  Crusade. 

LEWIS  VII.  surnamed  the  young,  was  no  sooner  seated  on  the  throne  of 
France,  than  he  found  himself  engaged  in  one  of  those  civil  wars  which  the 
feudal  government  rendered  unavoidable ;  and  having,  in  an  expedition  into 
Champagne,  made  himself  master  of  the  town  of  Vitri,  he  ordered  it  to  bo 
set  on  fire.  In  consequence  of  the  conflagration  that  followed,  thirteen 
hundred  persons,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  church,  perished  in  the 
flames.(3)  This  cruel  action  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  king's  mind, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  a  second  crusade,  which  now  demands  our  attention. 

The  Christians  of  the  East  grew  weaker  every  day  in  those  countries 
which  they  had  conquered.  The  little  kingdom  of  Edessa  had  already  been 
taken  by  the  Turks,  and  Jerusalem  itself  was  threatened.  Europe  was  so- 
licited for  a  new  armament ;  and  as  the  French  had  begun  the  first  inunda- 
tion, they  were  again  applied  to,  in  hopes  of  a  second. 

Pope  Eugenius  III.  to  whom  the  deputies  from  the  East  had  been  sent, 
very  wisely  pitched  upon  Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  as  the  instrument  of 
this  pious  warfare.  Bernard  was  learned  for  those  times,  naturally  eloquent, 
austere  in  his  life,  irreproachable  in  his  morals,  enthusiastically  zealous,  and 
inflexible  in  his  purpose.  He  had  long  held  the  reputation  of  a  saint,  was 
heard  as  an  oracle,  and  revered  as  a  prophet ;  little  wonder,  therefore,  he 
found  means  to  persuade  the  king  of  France,  that  there  was  no  other  method 
of  expiating  his  guilt  but  by  an  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land. 

At  Vezelai,  in  Burgundy,  a  scaffold  was  erected  in  the  market-place,  on 
which  St.  Bernard  appeared  by  the  side  of  Lewis  VII.  The  saint  spoke  first, 
the  king  seconded  him,  after  taking  the  cross,  and  the  example  of  the  royal 
pair  was  followed  by  all  present,  among  whom  were  many  of  the  chief  no- 
bility. (4) 

Suger,  abbot  of  St.  Dennis,  then  prime  minister,  a  man  very  different  from 
Bernard,  endeavoured  in  vain  to  dissuade  the  king  from  abandoning  hia 
iominions,  by  telling  him  that  he  might  make  a  much  more  suitable  atonement 

1 ,  Flenry,  Hint.  Ecclet.  vol.  jiv.    Mosheim,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  IU.         (2)  Ibid. 

:.    U'i    'fyr.Oest.Ludovic.yiI.  (4)  Epist.  Ludovic.ad  Suger 


LET.  XXVI.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  159 

for  his  guilt  by  staying  at  home,  and  governing  his  kingdom  in  a  wise  and 
prudent  manner.  The  eloquence  of  St.  Bernard,  and  the  madness  of  the 
times,  prevailed  over  reason  and  sound  policy.  Suger,  however,  retained  his 
opinion ;  and  made  no  scruple  of  foretelling  the  inconveniences  that  would 
attend  an  expedition  into  Palestine,  while  Bernard  made  himself  answerable 
for  its  success,  and  extolled  it  with  an  enthusiasm  that  passed  for  inspiration. 

From  France  this  fanatical  orator  went  to  preach  the  crusade  in  Germany ; 
where,  by  the  force  of  his  irresistible  eloquence,  he  prevailed  on  the  emperor, 
Conrad  III,  Frederic  Barbarossa,  afterward  emperor,  and  an  infinite  number 
of  persons  of  all  ranks  to  take  the  Cross !  promising  them,  in  the  name  of 
God,  victory  over  the  Infidels.  He  ran  from  city  to  city,  every  where  com- 
municating his  enthusiasm ;  and,  if  we  may  believe  the  historians  of  those 
times,  working  miracles.  It  is  not  indeed  pretended  that  he  restored  the 
dead  to  life :  but  the  blind  received  sight,  the  lame  walked,  the  sick  were 
healed.  And  to  these  bold  assertions  we  may  add  a  fact  no  less  incredible, 
mat  while  St.  Bernard's  eloquence  operated  so  powerfully  on  the  minds  of 
the  Germans,  he  always  preached  to  them  in  French,  a  language  which  they 
did  not  understand !  or  in  Latin,  equally  unintelligible  to  the  body  of  the 
people.(l) 

The  hopes  of  certain  victory  drew  after  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  France 
the  greater  part  of  the  knights  in  their  dominions ;  and  it  is  said  that  in  each 
army  there  were  reckoned  seventy  thousand  men  in  complete  armour,  with  a 
prodigious  number  of  light  horse,  besides  infantry ;  so  that  we  cannot  well 
reduce  this  second  emigration  to  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  persons. 
And  these,  joined  to  one  million  three  hundred  thousand  sent  before,  make,  in 
the  whole,  sixteen  hundred  thousand  transplanted  inhabitants. 

The  Germans  took  the  field  first,  the  French  followed  them ;  and  the  same 
excesses  that  had  been  committed  by  the  soldiers  of  the  first  crusade  were 
acted  over  again  by  those  of  the  second.  Hence  Manuel  Comnenus,  who 
now  filled  the  throne  of  Constantinople,  was  disquieted  with  the  same  appre 
hensions  which  the  former  enterprise  had  raised  in  the  mind  of  his  grand 
father  Alexis.  If  the  Greek  emperor  behaved  ungenerously  to  them,  it  must 
therefore  be  ascribed  to  the  irregularity  of  their  own  conduct,  which  made 
craft  necessary  where  force  was  unequal ;  especially  as  Manuel  is  represented, 
on  all  other  occasions,  as  a  prince  of  great  generosity  and  magnanimity.  But 
the  mortality  which  prevailed  in  the  German  army,  near  the  plains  of  Con- 
stantinople, may  be  fully  accounted  for  from  intemperance  and  the  change  of 
climate,  without  supposing  the  wells  to  be  poisoned  or  the  meal  to  be  mingled 
with  lime. 

After  Conrad  had  passed  the  Bosphorus,  he  acted  with  that  imprudence 
which  seems  inseparable  from  such  romantic  expeditions.  As  the  principality 
of  Antioch  was  "yet  in  being,  he  might  have  joined  those  Christians  who 
remained  in  Syria,  and  there  have  waited  for  the  king  of  France.  Their 
numbers  united  would  have  ensured  them  success.  But,  instead  of  such  a 
rational  measure,  the  emperor,  jealous  both  of  the  prince  of  Antioch  and  the 
king  of  France,  marched  immediately  into  the  middle  of  Asia  Minor ;  where 
the  Sultan  of  Iconium,  a  more  experienced  general,  drew  his  heavy  German 
cavalry  among  the  rocks,  and  cut  his  army  in  pieces.  Conrad  fled  to  Antioch ; 
went  to  Jerusalem  as  a  pilgrim,  instead  of  appearing  there  as  the  leader  of 
an  army,  and  returned  to  Europe  with  a  handful  of  men.(2) 

The  king  of  France  was  not  more  successful  in  his  enterprise.  He  fell 
into  the  same  snare  that  had  deceived  the  emperor;  and,  being  surprised 
among  the  rocks  near  Laodicea,  was  worsted,  as  Conrad  had  been.  But 
Lewis  met  with  a  domestic  misfortune  which  gave  him  more  uneasiness  than 
the  loss  of  his  army.  Queen  Eleanor  was  suspected  of  an  amour  with  the 
prince  of  Antioch,  at  whose  court  her  husband  had  taken  refuge.  She  is 
even  said  to  have  forgotten  her  fatigues  in  the  arms  of  a  young  Turk:  and  the 
Conclusion  of  the  whole  expedition  was,  that  Lewis,  like  Conrad,  returned  to 

(1)  Henault,  Chron.  Hist.  torn.  i.  Jiririitl.de'r  flap  ro:;i.  i 
.'»>  Otho  de  Frising.    Gul.Tyr.  Climn.   '<!  ir'ni'u-. 


IGO  THE   HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

Europe  with  the  wreck  of  a  great  army,  after  visiting  the  holy  sepulchre, 
and  being  dishonoured  by  his  pious  consort,  whose  affection  and  zeal  led  her 
to  embrace  the  cross,  and  accompany  him  into  Asia'.(l)  A  thousand  ruined 
families  in  vain  exclaimed  against  St.  Bernard  for  his  deluding  prophecies: 
he  excused  himself  by  the  example  of  Moses ;  who,  like  him,  he  said,  had 
promised  the  Israelites  to  conduct  them  into  a  happy  country,  and  yet  saw 
the  first  generation  perish  in  the  desert. 

Lewis,  more  delicate  than  politic,  annulled,  soon  after  his  return,  his  mar- 
riage with  queen  Eleanor,  who  immediately  espoused  his  formidable  vassal, 
Henry  Plantagenet,  duke  of  Normandy,  count  of  Anjou  and  Maine,  and  pre- 
sumptive heir  to  the  crown  of  England ;  an  inheritance  which  the  accession 
of  power  arising  from  this  alliance  enabled  him  to  obtain,  while  France  lost 
the  fine  provinces  of  Guienne  and  Poitou,  the  hereditary  possessions  of  the 
queen.  But  before  I  treat  of  that  subject,  we  must  take  a  view  of  England 
during  the  introductory  reign. 


LETTER  XXVII. 

•     England,  from  the  Death  of  Henry  1.  to  the  Accession  of  Henry  II. 

HENRY  I.  my  dear  Philip,  as  you  have  had  occasion  to  see,  left  his  domi- 
nions by  will  to  his  daughter  Matilda ;  and  as  the  nobility,  both  of  England 
and  Normandy,  had  sworn  fealty  to  her,  she  had  reason  to  expect  the  inherit- 
ance of  both  states.  But  the  aversion  of  the  feudal  barons  against  female 
succession  prevailed  over  their  good  faith,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the 
usurpation  of  Stephen,  count  of  Boulogne,  son  of  the  count  of  Blois,  and 
grandson-  of  the  conqueror,  by  his  daughter  Adela. 

Stephen  was  a  prince  of  vigour  and  ability;  but  the  manner  in  which  he 
had  obtained  the  crown  of  England,  obliged  him  to  grant  exorbitant  privileges 
to  the  nobility  and  clergy,  who  might  be  said  to  command  the  kingdom. 
The  barons  built  and  fortified  castles ;  garrisoned  them  with  their  own  troops  ; 
and,  when  offended,  bid  their  monarch  defiance,  while  wars  between  them- 
selves were  carried  on  with  the  utmost  fury  in  every  quarter.  They  even 
assumed  the  right  of  coining-  money,  and  of  exercising,  without  appeal,  ever}' 
act  of  jurisdiction ;  and  the  inferior  gentry,  and  the  people,  finding  no  guar- 
dianship from  the  laws,  during  this  total  dissolution  of  sovereign  authority, 
were  obliged  to  pay  court  to  some  neighbouring  chieftain,  and  to  purchase 
his  protection,  not  only  by  yielding  to  his  exactions,  but  by  assisting  him  in 
his  rapine  upon  others.  (2) 

While  things  continued  in  this  distracted  situation,  David  king  of  Scot- 
land appeared  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  army,  in  defence  of  his  niece 
Matilda's  title ;  and,  penetrating  into  Yorkshire,  laid  the  whole  country 
waste.  These  barbarous  outrages  enraged  the  northern  nobility,  who  might 
otherwise  have  been  inclined  to  join  him,  and  proved  the  ruin  of  Matilda's 
cause.  The  earl  of  Albemarle,  and  other  powerful  nobles,  assembled  an 
army  at  North  Allerton,  where  a  great  battle  was  fought,  called  the  Battle 
of  the  Standard,  from  a  high  crucifix  erected  by  the  English  on  a  wagon, 
and  carried  along  with  the  army  as  a  military  ensign.  The  Scots  were  routed 
with  great  slaughter,  and  the  king  narrowly  escaped  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  English  army.  (3) 

This  success  overawed  the  malecontents  in  England,  and  might  have  given 
stability  to  Stephen's  throne,  had  he  not  been  so  elated  by  prosperity  as  to 
engage  in  a  contest  with  the  clergy,  who  were  at  that  time  an  over-match 
for  any  monarch.  They  acted  entirely  as  barons ;  fortified  castles,  employed 
military  power  against  their  sovereign  or  their  neighbours,  and  thereby  in- 

(1)  Gul.  Tyr.  Ocst.  Ludovic  VII.    Henault,  Chron.  Hist.  torn.  i. 

(2)  Gul.  Malmes.  Hiit.  JVocel.  lib.  i.  (31  B.  Hagulst  Ailred.  de  flcll.  >  tandard 


LET.  XXVII.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  161 

creased  those  disorders  which  it  was  their  duty  to  prevent,  while  they  claimed 
an  exemption  from  all  civil  jurisdiction,  and  attracted  popularity  by  the 
sacredness  of  their  character.  The  bishop  of  Salisbury,  whose  castle  had 
been  seized  by  order  of  the  king-,  appealed  to  the  pope ;  and  had  not  Stephen 
and  his  partisans  employed  menaces,  and  even  shown  a  disposition  of  exe 
cuting  vengeance  by  the  hands  of  the  soldiery,  affairs  had  instantly  come  to 
extremity  between  the  crown  and  the  mitre. 

In  the  mean  time  Matilda,  encouraged  by  these  discontents,  and  invited 
by  the  rebellious  clergy,  landed  in  England,  accompanied  by  Robert  earl  of 
Gloucester,  natural  son  of  the  late  king,  and  a  retinue  of  a  hundred  and  forty 
knights.  She  fixed  her  residence  at  Arundel  castle,  whose  gates  were  opened 
to  her  by  Adelais,  the  queen-dowager,  now  married  to  William  de  Albini, 
earl  of  Sussex.  Her  party  daily  increased ;  she  was  soon  joined  by  several 
barons :  war  raged  in  every  quarter  of  the  kingdom ;  and  was  carried  on 
with  so  much  fury,  that  the  land  was  left  untilled,  and  the  instruments  of 
husbandry  destroyed  or  abandoned.  A  grievous  famine,  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  such  disorders,  affected  equally  both  parties,  and  reduced  the 
spoilers,  as  well  as  the  defenceless  people,  to  the  most  extreme  want.(l) 

Things  were  in  this  deplorable  situation,  when  an  unexpected  event  seemed 
to  promise  some  mitigation  of  the  public  calamities.  The  royal  army  was 
defeated  near  the  castle  of  Lincoln ;  and  Stephen  himself,  surrounded  by  the 
enemy,  and  borne  down  by  numbers,  was  made  captive,  after  displaying  un- 
common efforts  of  valour.  He  was  conducted  to  Gloucester,  thrown  into 
prison,  and  ignominiously  loaded  with  irons.  But  he  was  soon  after  released 
in  exchange  for  earl  Robert,  Matilda's  brother,  who  was  no  less  the  soul  of 
one  party  than  Stephen  was  of  the  other,  and  the  civil  war  was  again  kindled 
with  greater  fury  than  ever.(2) 

The  weakness  of  both  parties,  however,  at  last  produced  a  tacit  cessation 
of  arms,  and  the  empress  Matilda  retired  into  Normandy.  But  an  event 
soon  after  happened,  which  threatened  a  revival  of  hostilities  in  England. 
Prince  Henry,  son  of  Matilda  and  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  had  reached  his 
sixteenth  year/ and  was  desirous  of  receiving  the  honour  of  knighthood  from 
his  grand-uncle,  David  king  of  Scotland.  For  this  purpose  he  passed  through 
England  with  a  great  retinue,  and  was  visited  by  the  most  considerable  of 
his  partisans,  Avhose  hopes  he  roused  by  his  dexterity  and  vigour  in  all  manly 
exei'cises,  and  his  prudence  in  every  occurrence.  He  staid  some  time  in 
Scotland,  where  he  increased  in  reputation ;  and  on  his  return  to  Normandy 
he  was  invested  in  that  dutchy,  with  the  consent  of  his  mother  Matilda.  His 
father  died  the  following  year;  when  Henry  took  possession  of  Anjou  and 
Maine,  and  espoused  the  heiress  of  Guienne  and  Poitou,  who  had  been  mar- 
ried sixteen  years  to  Lewis  VII.  king  of  France,  but  whom  he  had  divorced, 
as  I  have  already  observed,  on  account  of  her  gallantries.  This  marriage, 
which  brought  Henry  a  great  accession  of  power,  rendered  him  extremely 
formidable  to  his  rival ;  and  the  prospect  of  his  rising  fortune  had  such  an 
effect  in  England,  that  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  refused  to  anoint  Eus- 
tace, Stephen's  son,  as  his  successor,  and  made  his  escape  beyond  sea,  to 
avoid  the  fury  of  the  enraged  monarch.(3) 

As  soon  as  Henry  was  informed  of  these  dispositions  in  the  people,  he  in- 
vaded England.  Stephen  advanced  with  a  superior  army  to  meet  him :  and 
a  decisive  action  was  every  day  expected,  when  the  great  men  on  both  sides, 
terrified  with  the  prospect  of  farther  bloodshed  and  confusion,  interposed 
with  their  good  offices,  and  set  on  foot  a  negotiation  between  the  contending- 
princes.  The  death  of  Eustace,  which  happened  during  the  course  of  the 
treaty,  facilitated  its  conclusion ;  and  an  accommodation  was  at  last  settled, 
by  which  it  was  agreed,  that  Stephen  should  possess  the  crown  during  his 
life* ime ;  that  justice  should  be  administered  in  his  name,  even  in  the  pro- 
vinces which  had  submitted  to  his  rival ;  and  that  Henry,  on  Stephen's  death, 

(1)  Oiron.  Sax.  Oest.  Reg.  Stephani.    H.  Hunting,  lib.  viii. 

(2)  Gul.  Malmes.  Hist.  JVoo.  lib.  ii.    Hen.  Hunt.  lib.  viii  (3)  Id,  ibid 

VOL.  I.— L 


162  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

should  succeed  to  the  kingdom  of  England,  and  William,  Stephen's  son,  to 
Boulogne  and  his  patrimonial  estate. (1) 

The  barons  all  swore  to  the  observance  of  this  treaty,  and  did  homage  to 
Henry  as  heir  of  the  crown.  He  immediately  after  evacuated  the  kingdom ; 
and  Stephen's  death,  which  happened  next  year,  prevented  those  jealousies 
and  feuds  which  were  likely  to  have  ensued  in  so  delicate  a  situation.  The 
character  of  Stephen  is  differently  represented  by  historians ;  but  all  allow 
that  he  possessed  industry,  activity,  and  courage,  to  a  great  degree;  and 
had  he  succeeded  by  a  just  title,  he  seems  to  have  been  well  qualified  to  pro- 
mote the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  his  subjects,  notwithstanding  the  mise- 
ries that  England  suffered  under  his  reign.(2) 


LETTER  XXVIII. 

England,  during  the  Reign  of  Henry  II.  with  an  Account  of  the  Affairs  of  France. 

I  HAVE  already  observed,  my  dear  Philip,  that  before  the  conquest  of  Eng- 
land by  the  duke  of  Normandy,  this  island  was  as  distinct  from  the  rest  of 
the  world  in  politics  as  situation.  The  English  had  then  neither  enemies 
nor  allies  on  the  continent.  But  the  foreign  dominions  of  William  and  his 
successors  connected  them  with  the  kings  and  great  vassals  of  France :  and 
while  the  opposite  pretensions  of  the  popes  and  the  emperors  in  Italy  pro- 
duced a  continual  intercourse  between  Germany  and  that  country,  the  two 
great  monarchs  of  France  and  England  formed,  in  another  part  of  Europe,  a 
separate  system,  and  carried  on  their  wars  and  negotiations,  without  meeting 
either  with  opposition  or  support  from  their  neighbours ;  the  extensive  con- 
federacies by  which  the  European  potentates  are  now  united,  and  made  the 
guardians  of  each  other,  being  then  totally  unknown.  No  wonder,  therefore, 
that  Lewis  VII.  king  of  France,  observed  with  terror  the  rising  greatness  of 
the  house  of  Anjou  or  Plantagenet,  whose  continental  dominions  composed 
above  a  third  of  the  whole  French  monarchy,  and 'which  gave  a  sovereign  to 
England  in  the  person  of  Henry  II.  The  jealousy  occasioned  by  this  alarm- 
ing circumstance,  however,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  not  only  saved 
France  from  falling  a  prey  to  England,  but  exalted  that  kingdom  to  the  pitch 
of  grandeur  which  it  has  so  long  enjoyed.  The  king  of  England  soon  became 
a  kind  of  foreigner,  in  his  continental  dominions ;  and  the  other  powerful 
vassals  of  the  French  crown,  instead  of  being  roused  at  the  oppression  of  a 
co-vassal,  were  rather  pleased  at  the  expulsion  of  the  Anglo-Normans. 

But  as  these  important  consequences  could  not  be  foreseen  by  human  wis- 
dom, the  king  of  France  had  maintained  a  strict  union  with  Stephen,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  succession  of  Henry.  The  sudden  death  of  the  usurper,  how- 
ever, rendered  abortive  all  the  schemes  of  Lewis.  Henry  was  received  in 
England  with  the  acclamations  of  all  orders  of  men,  who  joyfully  swore  to 
him  the  oath  of  allegiance ;  and  he  began  his  reign  with  re-establishing  justice 
and  good  order,  to  which  the  kingdom  had  been  long  a  stranger.  For  this 
purpose  he  dismissed  all  those  foreign  mercenaries  retained  by  Stephen ;  and 
that  he  might  restore  authority  to  the  laws,  he  caused  all  the  new-erected 
castles,  which  had  proved  so  many  sanctuaries  to  rebels  and  freebooters,  to 
be  demolished.(3)  In  order  yet  farther  to  conciliate  the  affections  of  his 
subjects,  he  voluntarily  confirmed  that  charter  of  liberties  which  had  been 
granted  by.  his  grandfather,  Henry  I.  (4) 

(1)  lien.  Hunt,  ubi  sup.    Jlnnal.  Waverl.    M.  Paris.    J.  Brompton. 

(2)  These  miseries  are  thus  described  by  a  contemporary  historian :  "  All  England  wore  a  face  of  deso- 
lation and  wretchedness.    Multitudes  abandoned  their  beloved  country,  and  went  into  voluntary  exile: 
others,  forsaking  their  own  houses,  built  sorry  huts  in  the  churchyards,  hoping  for  protection  from  the 
sacrednessof  the  place.    Whole  families,  after  sustaining  life  as  long  as  they  could,  by  eating  herbs,  roots 
and  the  flesh  of  dogs  and  horses,  at  last  died  of  hunger ; — and  you  might  see  many  pleasant  villages 
without  a  single  inhabitant  of  either  eex."     Gcst.  Keg.  Steph. 

(3)  Gervas.  Ckron.  Gul.  Neubrig.  lib.  ii.  (4)  Vide  Blackstone's  I,aw  Tracts  vol.  ii 


LET.  XXVIII.;  MODERN   EUROPE.  163 

Tranquillity  was  no  sooner  restored  to  England,  than  Henry  had  occasion 
to  visit  his  foreign  dominions ;  where  all  things  being  likewise  settled,  he 
returned  to  repress  the  incursions  of  the  Welch,  who  at  first  gave  him  much 
trouble,  but  at  length  submitted.  In  the  mean  time  a  quarrel  broke  out 
between  Lewis  and  Henry,  relative  to  the  county  of  Thoulouse,  and  war  was 
openly  carried  on  between  the  two  monarchs.  But  these  hostilities  produced 
no  memorable  event,  were  stopped  by  a  cessation  of  arms,  and  soon  terminated 
in  a  peace,  through  the  mediation  of  the  pope. 

This  war,  so  insignificant  in  itself,  is  remarkable  for  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  conducted.  An  army  formed  of  feudal  vassals,  as  I  have  had  occasion 
frequently  to  observe,  was  commonly  very  intractable  and  undisciplined ; 
both  because  of  the  independent  spirit  of  the  persons  who  composed  it,  and 
because  the  commissions  were  not  bestowed  by  the  choice  of  the  sovereign, 
in  reward  of  the  military  talents  and  services  of  the  officers.  Each  baron 
conducted  his  own  vassals,  and  his  rank  in  the  army  was  greater  or  less,  in 
proportion  to  the  value  of  his  property.  Even  the  chief  command,  under  that 
of  the  prince,  was  often  attached  to  birth ;  and  as  the  military  vassals  were 
obliged  to  serve  only  forty  days,  at  their  own  charge,  the  state  reaped  very 
little  benefit  from  their  attendance.  Henry,  sensible  of  these  inconveniences, 
levied  upon  his  vassals  in  Normandy,  and  other  provinces  remote  from  Thou 
louse,  the  seat  of  war,  a  sum  of  money  in  place  of  their  service :  and  this 
commutation,  by  reason  of  the  greater  distance,  was  still  more  advantageous 
to  his  English  vassals.  He  therefore  imposed  a  scutage  of  three  pounds  upon 
each  knight's  fee ;  a  condition,  though  unusual,  and  the  first  perhaps  to  be 
met  with  in  history,  to  which  the  military  tenants  readily  submitted.  With 
this  money  he  levied  an  army  which  was  more  at  his  disposal,  and  whose 
service  was  more  durable  and  constant:  and,  in  order  to  facilitate  those 
levies,  he  enlarged  the  privileges  of  the  people,  and  rendered  them  less 
dependent  on  the  barons  by  whom  they  had  been  long  held  in  servitude,  or  in 
a  state  of  the  most  grievous  oppression. 

Having  thus  regulated  his  civil  and  military  affairs,  and  accommodated  his 
differences  with  Lewis,  Henry,  soon  after  his  return  to  England,  began  to  cast 
his  eye  upon  the  church,  where  abuses  of  every  kind  prevailed.  The  clergy, 
among  their  other  inventions  to  obtain  money,  had  inculcated  the  necessity  of 
penance  as  an  atonement  for  sin.  They  had  also  introduced  the  practice  of 
paying  large  sums  of  money  as  a  composition  for  such  penances.  By  these 
means  the  sins  of  the  people  were  become  a  revenue  to  the  priest ;  and  the 
king  computed,  that,  by  this  invention  alone,  they  levied  more  money  from 
his  subjects,  than  flowed  into  the  royal  treasury  by  all  the  methods  of  public 
supply.(l)  Feeling  for  his  oppressed  people,  he  therefore  required  that  a  civil 
officer,  appointed  by  the  crown,  should  for  the  future  be  present  in  all  eccle- 
siastical courts,  and  whose  consent  should  be  necessary  to  every  composition 
made  by  sinners  for  their  spiritual  offences. 

But  the  grand  difficulty  was,  how  to  carry  this  order  into  execution?  as  the 
ecclesiastics,  in  that  age,  had* renounced  all  immediate  subordination  to  the 
civil  power.  They  openly  claimed  exemption,  in  cases  of  criminal  accusa- 
tion, from  a  trial  before  courts  of  justice.  Spiritual  penalties  alone  could  be 
inflicted  on  their  offences ;  and,  as  the  clerical  habit  was  thus  become  a  pro- 
tection for  all  enormities,  they  could  not  fail  to  increase.  Accordingly  crimes 
of  the  deepest  dye  were  daily  committed  with  impunity  by  ecclesiastics ; 
and  it  was  found  upon  inquiry,  that  no  less  than  a  hundred  murders  had 
been  perpetrated  since  the  king's  accession,  by  men  in  holy  orders,  who  had 
never  been  called  to  account  for  these  offences  against  the  laws  of  nature  and 
society.  (2) 

In  order  to  bring  such  criminals  to  justice,  as  the  first  step  toward  his  pro- 
jected reformation  of  the  church,  and  by  that  means  to  restore  union  between 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power,  so  necessary  in  every  government  for  the 
maintenance  of  peace  and  harmony,  Henry  exalted  Thomas  a  Becket,  hi* 

(I)  Fitz-Steph  Vit.  St.  Than.  (2)  Gul.  Neubrig.  lib.  ii- 

L2 


164  THE   HISTORY   OF  [Pun  I. 

• 

chancellor,  and  the  first  man  of  English  descent  who  had  occupied  an  eminent 
station  since  the  Norman  conquest,  to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  on  the  death 
of  archbishop  Theobald;  rightly  judging,  that  if  the  present  opportunity 
should  be  neglected,  and  the  usurpations  of  the  clergy  allowed  to  proceed, 
the  crown  must  be  in  danger,  from  the  predominating  superstition  of  the 
people,  of  falling  under  subjection  to  the  mitre. 

Becket,  while  chancellor,  was  pompous  in  his  retinue,  sumptuous  in  his 
furniture,  and  luxurious  in  his  table,  beyond  what  England  had  seen  in  a 
subject.  His  house  was  a  place  of  education  for  the  sons  of  the  chief  nobi- 
lity, and  the  king  himself  frequently  condescended  to  partake  of  his  chan- 
cellor's entertainments.  His  amusements  were  as  gay  as  his  manner  of  life 
was  splendid  and  elegant.  He  employed  himself  at  leisure  hours  in  hunting 
hawking,  gaming,  and  horsemanship.  His  complaisance  and  good  humour 
had  rendered  him  agreeable,  and  his  industry  and  abilities  useful  to  his 
master.  He  was  well  acquainted  with  the  king's  intention  of  retrenching, 
or  rather  confining  within  ancient  bounds,  all  ecclesiastical  privileges ;  and 
hay/ing  always  showed  a  ready  disposition  to  comply  with  every  advance  to 
that  purpose,  Henry  considered  him  as  the  fittest  person  he  could  place  at 
the  head  of  the  English  church.  But  no  prince  of  so  much  penetration,  as 
appeared  in  the  issue,  ever  so  little  understood  the  character  of  his  minister. 

Becket  was  no  sooner  installed  in  the  see  of  Canterbury,  which  rendered 
him  the  second  person  in  the  kingdom,  than  he  secretly  aspired  at  being  the 
first,  in  consequence  at  least,  and  totally  altered  his  manner  of  life.  He 
affected  the  greatest  austerity,  and  the  most  rigid  mortification :  he  wore  sack- 
cloth next  his  skin,  which  he  changed  so  seldom  that  it  was  filled  with  dirt 
and  vermin.  His  usual  diet  was  bread,  his  drink  water :  he  tore  his  back 
with  the  frequent  discipline  which  he  inflicted  upon  it ;  and  he  daily  washed 
on  his  knees,  in  imitation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  feet  of  thirteen  beggars,  whom 
he  afterward  dismissed  with  presents. (1)  Every  one  who  made  profession 
of  sanctity  was  admitted  to  his  conversation,  and  returned  full  of  panegyrics 
on  the  humility  as  well  as  piety  and  mortification  of  the  holy  primate,  whose 
aspect  now  wore  the  appearance  of  intense  seriousness,  mental  reflection, 
and  sacred  devotion.  And  all  men  of  penetration  saw  that  he  was  meditating 
some  great  design,  and  that  the  ambition  and  ostentation  of  his  character  ha? 
taken  a  new  and  more  dangerous  direction. 

This  champion  of  the  church  (for  such  he  now  declared  himself)  did  nol 
even  wait  till  the  king  had  matured  those  projects  which  he  knew  had  been 
formed  against  ecclesiastical  power :  he  himself  began  hostilities,  and 
endeavoured  to  overawe  the  king  by  the  intrepidity  and  boldness  of  his 
measures.  But  although  Henry  found  himself  thus  grievously  mistaken 
in  the  character  of  the  person  whom  he  had  promoted  to  the  primacy,  he 
determined  not  to  desist  from  his  former  intention  of  retrenching  clerical 
usurpations :  and  an  event  soon  occurred  which  gave  him  a  plausible  pretence 
for  putting  his  design  in  execution,  and  brought  matters  to  a  crisis  with  the 
archbishop.  « 

A  parish  clerk  in  Worcestershire  having  debauched  a  gentleman's  daughter, 
had  about  this  time  proceeded  to  murder  the  father.  The  general  indignation 
against  so  enormou^  a  crime,  made  the  king  insist  that  the  clerk  should 
be  delivered  up  to  the  civil  magistrate,  and  receive  condign  punishment ; 
but  Becket  insisted  on  the  privileges  of  the  church,  and  maintained,  that  no 
greater  punishment  could  be  inflicted  upon  him  than'degradation.(2)  Henry 
laid  hold  of  so  favourable  a  cause  to  push  the  clergy  with  respect  to  all  their 
usurpations,  and  to  determine  at  once  those  controversies  which  daily  multi- 
plied between  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  He  summoned  an 
assembly  of  all  the  prelates  of  England,  and  put  them  to  this  concise  and 
decisive  question : — Whether  or  not  they  were  willing  to  submit  to  the  ancient 
laws  and  customs  of  the  kingdom  1  the  bishops  answered  equivocally,  and 
the  king  left  the  assembly  with  marks  of  the  highest  indignation.  They 

(11  Fitz-Sleph.  ubi  sup.  (2)  Ibid. 


LET.  XXVI11.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  165 

were  struck  with  terror,  and  gave  a  general  promise  of  observing  the  ancient 
customs.  (1) 

But  a  declaration  in  general  terms  was  not  sufficient  for  Henry;  he  wanted 
to  define  exactly  the  limits  between  the  rival  powers.  For  this  purpose,  he 
summoned  at  Clarendon  a  general  council  of  the  bishops  and  nobles,  to  whom 
he  submitted  that  great  and  important  question.  The  barons  were  all  gained 
to  the  king's  party,  either  by  the  reasons  he  urged,  or  by  his  superior  authority, 
while  the  bishops  were  overawed  by  the  general  combination  against  them 
And  the  following  laws,  among  others,  commonly  called  the  Constitutions 
of  Clarendon,  were  voted  without  opposition  :  "  That  no  chief  tenant  of  the 
crown  shall  be  excommunicated,  or  have  his  lands  put  under  an  interdict, 
without  the  king's  consent ;  that  no  appeals  in  spiritual  causes  shall  be  car 
ried  before  the  Holy  See,  nor  any  clergyman  be  suffered  to  depart  the  king- 
dom, unless  with  the  king's  permission ;  that  laymen  shall  not  be  accused  in 
spiritual  courts,  except  by  legal  and  reputable  promoters  and  witnesses ;  and 
lastly,"  which  was  the  great  object  aimed  at,  "  that  churchmen,  accused  of 
any  crime,  shall  be  tried  in  the  civil  courts."(2) 

These  articles  were  well  calculated  to  prevent  the  principal  abuses  in 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  put  a  final  stop  to  the  usurpations  in  the  church ; 
and  having  been  passed  in  a  national  and  civil  assembly,  they  fully  esta- 
blished the  superiority  of  the  legislature  over  all  papal  decrees  and  spiritual 
canons.  But  as  Henry  knew  the  bishops  would  take  the  first  opportunity  to 
deny  the  authority  which  had  enacted  these  constitutions,  he  resolved  they 
should  set  their  seal  to  them,  and  give  a  promise  to  observe  them.  With 
this  view  they  were  reduced  to  writing;  and  none  of  the  prelates  dared  to 
oppose  the  king's  will  except  Becket,  who  at  length  consented.  He  set -his 
seal  to  the  Constitutions;  promised  legally,  with  good  faith,  and  without 
fraud  or  reserve,  to  observe  them,  and  even  took  an  oath  to  that  purpose.(3) 

Henry,  thinking  he  had  now  finally  prevailed  in  this  great  contest,  sent  the 
Constitutions  of  Clarendon  to  Alexander  III.  to  be  ratified.  But  the  pope,  who 
plainly  saw  they  were  calculated  to  establish  the  independency  of  England 
from  the  Holy  See,  abrogated,  annulled,  and  rejected  them ;  and  when  Becket 
found  he  might  hope  for  the  papal  support  in  an  opposition  to  regal  authority, 
he  expressed  the  deepest  sorrow  for  his  concessions.  He  redoubled  his  aus- 
terities, as  a  punishment  for  his  criminal  compliance ;  and  he  refused  to  exer- 
cise any  part  of  his  ecclesiastical  function,  until  he  should  receive  absolution 
from  the  pope.  Absolution  was  readily  granted  him ;  after  receiving  which 
he  set  no  bounds  to  his  obstinacy  and  ambition. 

Henry,  however,  who  was  entirely  master  of  his  extensive  dominions,  and 
sure  every  one  would  obey  his  will  except  the  man  wham  he  had  lifted  into 
pokier,  and  to  whose  assistance  he  had  trusted  in  forwarding  his  favourite 
project  against  the  clergy,  was  now  incensed  beyond  all  measure,  and  resolved 
both  to  humble  the  church,  and  make  the  prelate  feel  the  weight  of  his  indig- 
nation. He  accordingly  summoned  Becket  to  give  an  account  of  his  adminis- 
tration while  chancellor,  and  to  pay  the  balance  due  from  the  revenues  of  all 
the  prelacies,  abbeys,  and  baronies,  which  had  been  subject  to  his  management 
during  that  time. 

This  prosecution,  which  seems  to  have  been  more  dictated  by  passion  than 
by  justice,  or  even  by  sound  policy,  threw  Becket  and  all  the  clergy  of  Eng- 
land into  the  utmost  confusion.  Some  bishops  advised  him  to  resign  his  see, 
on  receiving  an  acquittal ;  others  were  of  an  opinion  that  he  ought  to  submit 
himself  entirely  to  the  king's  mercy — for  they  were  fully  sensible  that  ac- 
counts of  so  much  intricacy  could  not  be  produced  of  a  sudden,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  satisfy  a  tribunal  resolved  to  ruin  and  oppress  him.  But  the 
primate,  thus  pushed  to  extremity,  had  too  much  courage  to  yield :  he  deter 
mined  to  brave  all  his  enemies ;  to  trust  to  the  sacredness  of  his  character 
for  protection ;  and  to  defy  the  utmost  efforts  of  royal  indignation,  by  in- 
volving his  cause  with  that  of  God  and  the  church.  He  therefore  strictly 

(1)  R.  Hoveden.  Hist.  quad.  (2)  M.  Paris.  Hist.  Quad.  (3)  Fitz-Sleph.    Gervas. 


166  THE   HISTORY  OF  [Pxnx  1 

prohibited  his  suffragans  to  assist  at  any  such  trial,  or  give  their  sanction  to 
any  sentence  against  him :  he  put  himself  and  his  see  under  the  immediate 
protection  of  the  vicegerent  of  Christ,  and  appealed  to  his  holiness  against 
any  penalty  which  his  iniquitous  judges  might  think  proper  to  inflict  upon 
him.  "  The  indignation  of  a  great  monarch,"  added  he,  "  such  as  Henry, 
with  his  sword,  can  only  kill  the  body;  while  that  of  the  church,  intrusted 
to  the  primate,  can  kill  the  soul,  and  throw  the  disobedient  into  infinite  and 
eternal  perdition.*'(l) 

Appeals  to  Rome,  even  in  spiritual  causes,  had  been  prohibited  by  the 
Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  and  consequently  were  become  criminal  by  law ; 
but  an  appeal  in  a  civil  cause,  such  as  the  king's  demand  upon  Becket,  was 
altogether  new  and  unprecedented,  and  tended  directly  to  the  subversion  of 
the  English  government.  Henry,  therefore,  being  now  furnished  with  so 
much  better  a  pretence  for  his  violence,  would  probably  have  pushed  this 
affair  to  the  utmost  against  the  primate,  had  he  not  retired  beyond  sea,  and 
found  patrons  and  protectors  in  the  pope  and  the  king  of  France. 

The  violent  prosecution  carried  on  against  Becket  at  home,  had  a  natural 
tendency  to  turn  the  public  favour  on  his  side,  and  to  make  men  forget  his 
former  ingratitude  towards  the  king,  and  his  departure  from  all  oaths  and 
engagements,  as  well  as  the  enormity  of  those  ecclesiastical  privileges  of 
which  he  affected  to  be  the  champion :  and  political  considerations  conspired 
with  sympathy  to  procure  him  countenance  and  support  abroad.  Philip,  earl 
of  Flanders,  and  Lewis,  king  of  France,  jealous  of  the  rising  greatness  of 
Henry,  were  glad  of  an  oppportunity  to  give  him  disturbance  in  his  govern- 
ment. They  pretended  to  pity  extremely  the  condition  of  the  persecuted 
archbishop;  and  the  pope,  whose  interests  were  more  immediately  concerned 
in  abetting  his  cause,  honoured  Becket  with  the  highest  marks  of  distinction. 
A  residence  was  assigned  him  in  the  abbey  of  Pontigny,  where  he  lived,  for 
some  years,  in  great  magnificence,  partly  by  a  pension  out  of  the  revenues  of 
the  abbey,  and  partly  by  the  generosity  of  the  French  monarch. (2) 

In  the  mean  time,  the  exiled  primate  filled  all  Europe  with  exclamation 
against  the  violence  he  had  suffered.  He  compared  himself  to  Christ,  who 
had  been  condemned  by  a  lay  tribunal,  and  who  was  crucified  anew  in  the 
present  oppressions  under  which  his  church  laboured. (3)  But  complaint  was 
a  language  little  suited  to  the  vehemence  of  Becket's  temper,  and  in  which 
he  did  not  long  acquiesce.  Having  resigned  his  see  into  the  hand*  of  the 
pope,  as  a  mark  of  submission,  and  received  it  again  from  the  head  of  the 
church,  with  high  encomiums  on  his  piety  and  fortitude,  he  issued  out  a  cen- 
sure of  excommunication  against  the  king's  chief  ministers  by  name,  com- 
prehending in  general  all  those  who  had  favoured  or  obeyed  the  Constitutions 
of  Clarendon :  he  abrogated  and  annulled  those  Constitutions,  absolving  all 
persons  from  the  oaths  which  they  had  taken  to  observe  them ;  and  he  sus- 
pended the  spiritual  thunder  over  Henry,  only  that  he  might  avoid  the  blow 
by  a  timely  repentance.  (4) 

Henry,  on  the  other  hand,  employed  the  temporal  weapons  still  in  his 
power.  He  suspended  the  payment  of  St.  Peter's  Pence,  and  made  some 
advances  towards  an  alliance  with  the  emperor,  Frederick  Barbarossa,  who 
was  then  engaged  in  violent  wars  with  Pope  Alexander  III.  Both  parties 
grew  sick  of  contention,  and  each  was  afraid  of  the  other.  Although  the 
vigour  of  Henry's  government  had  confirmed  his  authority  in  all  his  domi- 
nions, he  was  sensible  that  his  throne  might  be  shaken  by  a  sentence  of  ex- 
communication ;  but  as  the  trials  hitherto  made  of  the  spiritual  weapons  by 
Becket  had  not  succeeded  to  his  expectation,  and  every  thing  remained  quiet 
both  in  England  and  Normandy,  nothing  seemed  impossible,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  the  vigilance  and  capacity  of  so  great  a  prince. 

These  considerations  produced  frequent  attempts  at  an  accommodation, 
which  was  long  obstructed  by  mutual  jealousy.  After  all  differences  seemed 

(1)  M.  Paris.    R.  Hoveden.     Epist.  St.  Tkom.     Vit.  St.  Thorn.  (2)  Epist.  St.  Thorn 

,3)  Ibid.  (4)  M.  Paris.    R.  Hoveden.    Fltz-Steph     Vit.  St,  Thorn 


LET  XXVIIL]  MODERNEUROPE.  167 

adjusted,  the  king  offered  to  sign  the  treaty,  with  a  salvo  to  his.  royal  dignity 
— a  reservation  which  gave  so  much  umbrage  to  the  primate,  that  the  nego- 
tiation became  fruitless.  And  in  a  second  negotiation,  Becket,  imitating 
Henry's  example,  offered  to  make  his  submissions  with  a  salvo  of  the  honour 
of  God  and  the  liberties  of  the  Church — a  proposal  which,  for  a  like  reason, 
was  offensive  to  the  king,  and  rendered  the  treaty  abortive.  A  third  con- 
ference was  broken  off  by  the  same  means.  And  even  in  a  fourth,  when  all 
things  were  settled,  and  the  primate  expected  to  be  introduced  to  the  king, 
Henry  refused  to  grant  him  the  kiss  of  peace,  under  pretence  that  he  made 
a  rash  vow  to  the  contrary.  The  want  of  this  formality,  insignificant  as  it 
may  seem,  prevented  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  it  being  regarded  in  those 
times  as  the  only  sure  mark  of  forgiveness. 

In  one  of  these  conferences,  at  which  the  French  king  was  present,  Henry 
said  to  that  monarch,  "  There  have  been  many  kings  of  England,  some  of 
greater,  some  of  less  authority  than  myself:  there  have  also  been  many 
archbishops  of  Canterbury,  holy  and  good  men,  and  entitled  to  every  kind 
of  respect : — let  Becket  only  act  towards  me  with  the  same  submission 
which  the  greatest  of  his  predecessors  has  paid  to  the  least  of  mine,  and 
there  shall  be  no  controversy  between  us."(l) 

Lewis  was  so  much  struck  with  this  state  of  the  case,  and  with  an  offer 
which  Henry  made  to  submit  his  cause  to  the  French  clergy,  that  he  could 
not  forbear  condemning  Becket  and  withdrawing  his  friendship  for  a  time. 
But  their  common  animosity  against  Henry  soon  produced  a  renewal  of  theii 
former  intimacy,  and  the  primate  revived  his  threats  and  excommunications. 
All  difficulties  between  the  parties,  however,  were  at  last  got  over,  and  Becket 
was  permitted  to  return  on  conditions  both  honourable  and  advantageous 
—a  certain  proof  how  much  Henry  dreaded  the  interdict  that  was  ready  to 
be  laid  upon  his  dominions,  if  he  had  continued  in  disobedience  to  the  church, 
and  how  terrible  the  thunder  of  the  church  must  then  have  been,  since  it 
could  humble  a  prince  of  so  haughty  a  spirit. 

This  accommodation  with  Becket,  though  settled  on  terms  by  no  means 
favourable  to  the  crown,  did  not  even  procure  Henry  that  temporary  tran- 
quillity which  he  had  hoped  to  reap  from  it.  Instead  of  being  taught  mode- 
ration by  a  six  years'  exile,  the  primate  was  only  animated  with  a  spirit  01 
revenge.  Elated  by  the  victory  which  he  had  obtained  over  his  sovereign, 
he  set  no  bounds  to  his  arrogance.  On  his  arrival  in  England,  where  he 
went  from  town  to  town  in  a  sort  of  triumphal  cavalcade,  he  notified  to  tht 
archbishop  of  York  the  sentence  of  suspension,  and  to  the  bishops  of  London 
and  Salisbury  that  of  excommunication,  which,  at  his  solicitations,  the  pope 
had  pronounced  against  them,  because  they  had  assisted  at  the  coronation 
of  prince  Henry,  whom  the  king  had  associated  in  the  royalty,  during  the 
absence  of  the  primate,  and  when  an  interdict  was  ready  to  be  laid  upon  his 
dominions — a  precaution  thought  necessary  to  ensure  the  succession  of  that 
prince.  By  this  violent  measure,  therefore,  Becket  in  effect  declared  war 
against  the  king  himself;  yet,  in  so  doing,  he  appears  to  have  been  guided 
by  policy  as  well  as  passion.  Apprehensive  lest  a  prince  of  such  profound 
sagacity  should  in  the  end  prevail,  he  resolved  to  take  all  the  advantage 
which  his  present  victory  gave  him,  and  to  disconcert  the  cautious  measures 
of  the  king  by  the  vehemence  and  vigour  of  his  own  conduct.  Assured  of 
support  from  Rome,  he  was  little  apprehensive  of  dangers  which  his  courage 
taught  him  to  despise,  and  which,  though  followed  by  the  most  fatal  conse- 
quences, would  still  gratify  his  thirst  for  glory,  and  reward  his  ambition  with 
the  crown  of  martyrdom. 

The  suspended  and  excommunicated  prelates  waited  upon  the  king  at 
Baieux  in  Normandy,  where  he  then  resided,  and  complained  to  him  of  the 
violent  proceedings  of  Becket ;  and  Henry,  sensible  that  his  whole  plan  of 
operations  was  overturned,  and  the  contest  revived,  which  he  had  endea- 
voured by  so  many  negotiations  to  appease,  was  thrown  into  the  most  violent 

(1)   yit,  St.Thom.  lib.  ii. 


168  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART!. 

agitation.  •*  Will  my  servants,"  exlaimed  he,  "  still  leave  me  exposed  to 
the  insolence  of  this  ungrateful  and  imperious  priest  ]" — These  words  seemed 
to  call  for  vengeance ;  and  four  gentlemen  of  the  king's  household,  Reginald 
Fitz-Urse,  William  de  Tracey,  Hugh  de  Moreville,  and  Richard  Brito. 
communicating  their  thoughts  to  each  other,  and  swearing  to  revenge  their 
sovereign's  quarrel,  secretly  withdrew  from  court,  and  made  the  best  of  their 
way  to  England. 

In  the  mean  time  Henry,  informed  of  some  menacing  expressions  which 
they  had  dropped,  despatched  a  messenger  after  them,  charging  them  to  attempt 
nothing  against  the  person  of  the  primate.  But  these  orders  came  too  late 
to  prevent  their  fatal  purpose.  Though  they  took  different  roads,  to  avoid 
suspicion,  they  arrived  nearly  about  the  same  time  at  Canterbury,  where  they 
found  the  primate  in  perfect  security ;  and  on  his  refusing,  with  his  usual 
insolence  and  obstinacy,  to  take  off  the  excommunication  and  suspension  of 
the  bishops,  they  murdered  him  in  the  church  of  St.  Benedict,  during  the 
evening  service.(l) 

Such,  my  dear  Philip,  was  the  tragical  death  of  Thomas  a  Becket — a  pre- 
late of  the  most  lofty,  intrepid,  and  inflexible  spirit,  who  was  able  to  cover 
from  the  world,  and  probably  from  himself,  the  efforts  of  pride  and  ambition, 
under  the  disguise  of  sanctity,  and  of  zeal  for  the  interest  of  Christ  and  his 
church.  His  death  confirmed  to  the  clergy  those  privileges  which  his  oppo- 
sition could  not  obtain.  Though  Henry  had  proposed  to  have  him  arrested, 
when  informed  of  his  renewed  insolence,  he  was  no  sooner  told  of  the  pri- 
mate's murder  than  he  was  filled  with  the  utmost  consternation.  Interdicts 
and  excommunications,  weapons  in  themselves  so  terrible,  would  now,  he 
foresaw,  be  armed  with  double  force :  in  vain  should  he  plead  his  innocence, 
and  even  his  total  ignorance  of  the  fact ;  he  was  sufficiently  guilty,  if  the 
church  thought  fit  to  esteem  him  so.  These  considerations  gave  him  the ' 
deepest  and  most  unaffected  concern,  which  he  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal. 
He  shut  himself  up  from  the  light  of  the  sun  for  three  days,  denying  himself 
all  manner  of  sustenance  ;  and,  as  soon  as  he  recovered,  in  any  degree,  his 
tone  of  mind,  he  sent  a  solemn  embassy  to  Rome,  maintaining  his  innocence, 
and  offering  to  submit  the  whole  affair  to  the  decision  of  the  holy  see. (2) 

The  pope,  flattered  by  this  unexpected  condescension,  forebore  to  proceed 
to  extremities  against  Henry ;  more  especially  as  he  was  sensible  that  he 
could  reap  greater  advantages  from  moderation  than  from  violence.  Mean- 
time the  clergy  were  not  idle  in  magnifying  the  sanctity  of  the  murdered 
prelate.  Other  saints  had  borne  testimony,  by  their  sufferings,  to  the  ge- 
neral doctrines  of  Christianity,  but  Becket  had  sacrificed  his  life  for  the 
power  and  privileges  of  the  church.  This  peculiar  merit  challenged  (nor 
without  a  ready  concurrence)  a  tribute  of  gratitude  to  his  memory  from  the 
whole  body  of  the  priesthood.  Endless  were  the  panegyrics  on  his  virtues ; 
and  the  miracles  wrought  by  his  relics  were  more  numerous,  more  nonsen- 
sical, and  more  impudently  attested,  than  those  which  ever  filled  the  legend 
of  any  saint  or  martyr.  His  shrine  not  only  restored  dead  men  to  life  ;  it 
also  restored  cows,  dogs,  and  horses.  Presents  were  sent,  and  pilgrimages 
performed,  from  all  parts  of  Christendom,  in  order  to  obtain  his  intercession 
with  Heaven :  and  it  was  computed  that,  in  one  year,  above  a  hundred  thou- 
sand pilgrims  arrived  at  Canterbury,  and  paid  their  devotions  at  his  tomb. (3) 

As  Henry  found,  however,  that  he  was  in  no  immediate  danger  from  the 
thunder  of  the  Vatican,  he  undertook  the  conquest  of  Ireland — an  enterprise 
which  he  had  long  meditated,  and  for  which  he  had  obtained  a  bull  from  pope 
Adrian  IV.  but  which  had  been  deferred  by  reason  of  his  quarrels  with  the 
primate.  Of  that  island  something  must  here  be  said. 

Ireland  was  probably  first  peopled  from  Britain  as  Britain  was  from  Gaul : 
and  the  inhabitants  of  all  those  countries  seem  to  have  proceeded  from  the 
same  Celtic  origin,  which  is  lost  in  the  most  distant  antiquity.  The  Irish, 
from  the  earliest  accounts  of  history  or  tradition,  had  been  buried  in  igno- 

(1)  Vit.  St.  Thorn,  lib.  iii.    M.  Paris.    Benedict.    Abbas.  (2)  M.  Paris.    R.  Hoveden 

;li,  Gul.  Neubrig.    J.  Brompton.    R.  Hoveden. 


LET.  XXVIII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  169 

ranee  and  barbarism ;  and  as  their  country  was  never  conquered  or  even 
invaded  by  the  Romans,  who  communicated  to  the  Western  world  civility  and 
slavery,  they  had  remained  almost  in  their  primitive  condition.  The  small 
principalities,  into  which  the  island  was  divided,  exercised  perpetual  hostili- 
ties against  each  other;  and  the  uncertain  succession  of  the  Irish  princes 
was  a  continual  source  of  domestic  convulsion,  the  usual  title  of  each  petty 
sovereign  to  his  principality  being-  the  murder  of  his  predecessor.  Courage 
and  force,  though  exercised  in  the  commission  of  violence,  were  more 
honoured  than  pacific  virtues ;  and  the  most  simple  arts  of  life,  even  tillage 
and  agriculture,  were  almost  wholly  unknown  among  the  rude  natives  of 
Ireland. 

From  this  short  account  of  the  state  of  the  country,  you  Avill  be  less  sur- 
prised, my  dear  Philip,  when  you  are  told,  that  Henry,  who  landed  at  the 
head  of  no  more  than  five  hundred  knights  and  their  attendants,  in  a  progress 
which  he  made  through  that  island,  had  little  other  occupation  than  to  receive 
the  homage  of  his  new  subjects.  He  left  most  of  the  Irish  chieftains  or 
princes  in  possession  of  their  ancient  territories ;  he  bestowed  lands  on  some 
of  his  English  adventurers ;  and,  after  a  stay  of  a  few  months,  returned  to 
Britain,  where  his  presence  was  much  wanted,  having  annexed  Ireland  to  the 
English  crown.(l) 

The  pope's  two  legates,  Albert  and  Theodin,  to  whom  was,  committed  the 
trial  of  Henry's  conduct  in  regard  to  the  death  of  Becket,  were  arrived  in 
Normandy,  before  his  return,  and  had  sent  frequent  letters  to  England,  full 
of  menacing  expressions.  The  king  hastened  over  to  meet  them;  and  was 
so  fortunate  as  to  conclude  an  accommodation  with  them,  on  terms  more 
easy  than  could  have  been  expected.  He  cleared  himself  by  oath  of  all  con- 
cern in  the  murder  of  Becket.  But  as  the  passion  which  he  had  expressed 
on  account  of  that  prelate's  conduct  had  probably  been  the  cause  of  his 
violent  death,  he  promised  to  serve  three  years  against  the  Infidels,  either 
in  Spain  or  Palestine,  if  the  pope  should  require  him ;  and  he  agreed  to  per- 
mit appeals  to  the  Holy  See,  in  ecclesiastical  causes,  on  surety  being  given 
that  nothing  should  be  attempted  against  the  rights  of  his  crown.  (2) 

Henry  seemed  now  to  have  reached  the  pinnacle  of  human  grandeur  and 
felicity.  His  dangerous  controversy  with  the  church  was  at  an  end,  and  he 
appeared  to  be  equally  happy  in  his  domestic  situation  and  his  political  go- 
vernment. But  this  tranquillity  was  of  short  duration.  Prince  Henry,  at 
the  instigation  of  Lewis  VII.  his  father-in-law,  insisted  that  his  father  should 
resign  to  him  either  the  kingdom  of  England  or  the  dutchy  of  Normandy  : 
and  the  king's  two  younger  sons,  Geoffrey  and  Richard,  also  leagued  with 
the  court  of  France,  by  the  persuasion  of  their  mother,  queen  Eleanor, 
whose  jealousy,  when  in  years,  was  as  violent  as  her  amorous  passions  in 
youth. 

Thus  Europe  saw,  with  astonishment,  the  best  and  most  indulgent  of 
parents  obliged  to  maintain  war  against  his  whole  family ;  and,  what  was  still 
more  extraordinary,  several  princes  not  ashamed  to  support  this  absurd  and 
unnatural  rebellion ! — Not  only  Lewis  king  of  France,  but  William  king  of 
Scotland,  Philip  earl  of  Flanders,  and  several  other  princes  on  the  continent, 
besides  many  barons,  both  English  and  Norman,  espoused  the  quarrel  of 
young  Henry  and  his  brothers.(S) 

In  order  to  break  that  alarming  confederacy,  the  king  of  England  humbled 
himself  so  far  as  to  supplicate  the  court  of  Rome.  Though  sensible  of  the 
danger  of  ecclesiastical  authority  in  temporal  disputes,  he  applied  to  the  pope 
to  excommunicate  his  enemies,  and  by  that  means  reduce  to  obedience  his 
undutiful  children,  whom  he  found  such  reluctance  to  punish  by  the  sword. 
The  bulls  required  were  issued  by  Alexander  III. ;  but  they  not  having  the 
desired  effect,  Henry  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  arms :  and  he  carried 
on  war  successfully,  and  at  the  same  time,  against  France,  Scotland,  and  hir 
rebellious  barons  in  England  and  Normandy. 

(1)  Benedict.  Abbas.    M.  Paris.     Expugnat.  Hibern.  lib.  1  (2)  M.  Paris.    P  Hoveden 

(31  Benedict.  Abbas.    R.  Hovpden.    W.  Neubrig. 

8 


170  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

Meanwhile,  the  English  monarch,  sensible  of  his  danger,  and  of  the  effects 
of  superstition  on  the  minds  of  the  people,  went  barefooted  to  Becket's  tomb  : 
prostrated  himself  before  the  shrine  of  the  saint ;  remained  in  fasting  and 
prayer  during  a  whole  day ;  watched  all  night  the  holy  reliques ;  and,  assem- 
bling a  chapter  of  the  monks,  put  a  scourge  of  discipline  into  each  of  their 
hands,  and  presented  his  bare  shoulders  to  the  lashes  which  these  incensed 
ecclesiastics  not  sparingly  inflicted  upon  him ! — Next  morning  he  received 
absolution ;  and  his  generals  obtained,  on  the  same  day,  a  great  victory  over 
the  Scots,  which  was  regarded  as  a  proof  of  his  final  reconciliation  with 
Heaven,  and  with  Thomas  a  Becket.(l) 

The  victory  over  the  Scots  was  gained  near  Alnwick,  where  their  king  was 
taken  prisoner ;  and  the  spirit  of  the  English  rebels  being  broken  by  this 
blow,  the  whole  kingdom  was  restored  to  tranquillity.  It  was  deemed  im- 
pious any  longer  to  resist  a  prince  who  seemed  to  lie  under  the  immediate 
protection  of  Heaven.  The  clergy  exalted  anew  the  merits  and  the  powerful 
intercession  of  Becket ;  and  Henry,  instead  of  opposing  their  superstition, 
politically  propagated  an  opinion  so  favourable  to  his  interests. (2)  Victorious 
in  all  quarters,  crowned  with  glory,  and  absolute  master  of  nis  English  do- 
minions, he  hastened  over  to  Normandy ;  where  a  peace  was  concluded  with 
Lewis,  and  an  accommodation  brought  about  with  his  sons. 

Having  thus,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  extricated  himself  from  a  situa- 
tion in  which  his  throne  was  exposed  to  the  utmost  danger,  Henry  occupied 
himself  for  several  years  in  the  administration  of  justice,  enacting  of  laws, 
ind  in  guarding  against  those  inconveniences  which  either  the  past  convul-  , 
sions  of  the  state  or  the  political  institutions  of  that  age,  rendered  unavoid- 
able. The  success  which  had  attended  him  in  all  his  wars  discouraged  his 
neighbours  from  attempting  any  thing  against  him,  so  that  he  was  enabled  to 
complete  his  internal  regulations  without  disturbance  from  any  quarter.  Some 
of  these  regulations  deserve  particular  notice. 

As  the  clergy,  by  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  which  Henry  endeavoured 
still  to  maintain,  were  subjected  to  a  trial  by  the  civil  magistrate,  it  seemed 
but  just  to  afford  them  the  protection  of  that  power  to  which  they  owed 
obedience:  he  therefore  enacted  a  law,  that  the  murderers  of  a  clergyman 
should  be  tried  before  the  justiciary,  in  the  presence  of  the  bishop,  or  his 
official ;  and,  besides  the  usual  punishment  for  murder,  should  be  subjected  to 
a  forfeiture  of  their  estates,  and  a  confiscation  of  their  goods  and  chattels. (3) 
He  also  passed  an  equitable  law,  that  the  goods  of  a  vassal  should  not  be 
seized  for  the  debt  of  his  lord,  unless  the  vassal  was  surety  for  the  debt ;  and 
that,  in  cases  of  insolvency,  the  rents  of  vassals  should  be  paid  to  the  cre- 
ditors of  the  lord,  not  to  the  lord  himself.(4) 

The  partition  of  England  into  four  divisions,  and  the  appointment  of  itine- 
rant judges,  learned  in  the  law,  to  go  the  circuit  in  each  division,  and  to 
decide  the  causes  in  the  counties,  after  the  example  of  the  commissaries  of 
Lewis  VI.  and  the  missi  of  Charlemagne,  was  another  important  ordinance 
of  the  English  monarch — a  measure  which  had  a  direct  tendency  to  curb  the 
oppressions  of  the  barons,  and  to  protect  the  inferior  gentry  or  small  land- 
holders, and  the  common  people,  in  their  property.  (5)  And  that  there  might 
be  fewer  obstacles  to  the  execution  of  justice,  he  was  vigilant  in  demolishing 
all  the  new  erected  castles  of  the  nobility,  in  England  as  well  as  in  his  foreign 
dominions.  Nor  did  he  permit  any  fortress  to  remain  in  the  custody  of  those 
he  found  reason  to  suspect.  (6) 

But  lest  the  kingdom  should  be  weakened  by  this  peaceful  policy,  Henry 
published  a  famous  decree,  called  an  Assize  of  Arms,  by  which  all  his  sub- 
jects were  obliged  to  put  themselves  in  a  situation  to  defend  themselves  and 
the  realm.  Every  person  possessed  of  a  single  knight's  fee  was  ordered  to 
have  a  coat  of  mail,  a  helmet,  a  shield,  and  a  lance  :  and  the  same  accoutre- 
ments were  required  to  be  provided  by  every  one,  whether  nobleman  or  gen- 

(1)  Benedict.  Abbas.    E.  Hfcvccten.    W.  Neubrig.  (2)  R.  Hoveden.  (3)  Gervase.  Diceto. 

(4)  Benedict.  Abbas.  (5)  E.  Hoveden.  (G)  Benedict.  Abbas. 


LET.  XXVIII.]  MODERNEUROPE.  171 

tleman,  for  whatever  number  of  knight's  fees  he  might  hold.  Every  free 
layman,  who  had  rents  or  goods  to  the  value  of  sixteen  marks,  was  to  be 
armed  in  like  manner :  eveiy  one  that  had  ten  marks  was  obliged  to  have  an 
iron  gorget,  a  cap  of  iron,  and  a  lance  ;  and  all  burgesses  were  to  have  a  cap 
of  iron,  a  lance,  and  a  coat  thickly  quilted  with  wool,  tow,  or  some  such  ma- 
terials, called  a  Wambais.(l) 

While,  the  English  monarch  was  thus  liberally  employed  in  providing  foi 
the  happiness  and  security  of  his  subjects,  the  king  of  France  had  fallen  into 
a  most  abject  superstition ;  and  was  induced,  by  a  devotion  more  sincere  than 
Henry's,  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  Becket,  in  order  to  obtain  his 
intercession  for  the  recovery  of  Philip,  his  son  and  heir.  Lewis,  as  the  saga- 
cious Hume  remarks,  with  no  less  ingenuity  than  pleasantry,  probably  thought 
himself  entitled  to  the  favour  of  that  saint,  on  account  of  their  ancient  inti- 
macy ;  and  hoped  that  Becket,  whom  he  had  protected  while  on  earth,  would 
not,  now  that  he  was  so  highly  advanced  in  heaven,  forget  his  old  friend  and 
benefactor ;  the  young  prince  was  restored  to  health ;  and,  as  was  supposed, 
through  the  intercession  of  Becket.  But  the  king  himself,  soon  after  his 
return,  was  struck  with  an  apoplexy,  which  deprived  him  of  his  judgment ; 
and  Philip  II.  afterward  surnamed  Augustus,  took  upon  him  the  administra- 
tion, though  only  fifteen  years  of  age.  His  father's  death,  which  happened 
next  year,  opened  his  way  to  the  throne ;  and  he  proved  the  ablest  and 
greatest  monarch  that  had  governed  France  since  the  age  of  Charlemagne. 
The  superior  age  and  experience  of  Henry,  however,  while  they  moderated 
his  ambition,  gave  him  such  an  ascendant  over  this  prince,  that  no  dangerous 
rivalship,  for  some  time,  arose  between  them.  The  English  monarch,  instead 
of  taking  advantage  of  Philip's  youth,  employed  his  good  offices  in  composing 
the  quarrels  which  arose  in  the  royal  family  of  France  ;  and  he  was  successful 
in  mediating  an  accommodation  between  the  king,  his  mother,  and  uncles. 
But  these  services  were  ill  requited  by  Philip,  who,  when  he  came  to  man's 
estate,  encouraged  Henry's  sons  in  their  ungrateful  and  undutiful  behaviour 
towards  their  father. (2) 

The  quarrels  between  the  king  of  England  and  his  family,  however,  were 
in  some  measure  quieted  by  the  death  of  his  two  sons,  young  Henry  and  his 
brother  Geoffrey,  who  had  both  been  in  open  rebellion  against  their  parental 
sovereign :  and  the  rivalship  between  old  Henry  and  Philip  seemed,  for  a 
time,  to  give  place  to  the  general  passion  for  the  relief  of  the  Holy  Land. 
Both  assumed  the  cross,  and  imposed  a  tax,  amounting  to  the  tenth  of  all 
moveables,  on  such  of  their  subjects  as  remained  at  home.(3) 

But,  before  this  great  enterprise  could  be  carried  into  execution,  many  ob- 
stacles were  to  be  surmounted.  Philip,  still  jealous  of  Henry's  greatness, 
entered  into  a  private  confederacy  with  prince  Richard,  now  heir  apparent  to 
the  English  crown ;  and,  by  working  on  his  ambitious  and  impatient  temper, 
persuaded  him  to  seek  present  power  and  independency  at  the  expense  of 
filial  duty,  and  of  the  grandeur  of  that  monarchy  which  he  was  one  day  to 
inherit.  The  king  of  England  was  therefore  obliged,  at  an  advanced  age,  to 
defend  his  dominions  by  arms,  and  to  enter  on  a  war  with  France,  and  with 
his  eldest  surviving  son — a  prince  of  great  valour  and  popularity,  who  had 
seduced  the  chief  barons  of  Poitou,  Guienne,  Anjou,  and  Normandy.  Henry, 
as  might  be  expected,  was  unsuccessful — a  misfortune  which  so  much  sub- 
dued his  spirit,  that  he  concluded  a  treaty  on  the  most  disadvantageous 
terms.  He  agreed  that  Richard  should  receive  the  homage,  on  oath  of  fealty 
of  all  his  subjects,  and  that  all  his  associates  should  be  pardoned :  and  -he 
engaged  to  pay  the  king  of  France  a  compensation  for  the  charges  of  the 
war.  f4) 

But  the  mortification  which  Henry,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  give  law 
to  his  enemies,  received  from  these  humiliating  conditions,  was  light  in  com- 
parison  of  what  he  experienced  from  another  cause  on  that  occasion.  When 
he  demanded  a  list  of  the  persons  to  whom  he  was  to  grant  an  indemnity  foi 

ll)  .annal.  Waverl.  Bened.  Abbas.  (2)  Benedict.  Abbas.   R.  Hoveden.  (3)  Benedict.  Abbas 

(4)  M.  Paris.    Bened.  Abbas.    K.  Hoveden. 


172  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  1 

confederating  with  Richard,  he  was  astonished  to  find  at  the  head  of  them 
the  name  of  ms  lavourite  son  John,  who  had  always  shared  his  confidence, 
and  who,  on  account  of  his  influence  with  the  king,  had  often  excited  the 
jealousy  of  Richard.  Overloaded  with  cares  and  sorrows,  and  robbed  of  his 
last  domestic  comfort,  this  unhappy  father  broke  out  into  expressions  of  the 
utmost  despair :  he  cursed  the  day  of  his  birth ;  and  bestowed  on  his  undu- 
tiful  and  ungrateful  children  a  malediction  which  he  could  never  be  brought 
to  retract.(l)  The  more  his  heart  was  disposed  to  friendship  and  affection, 
the  more  he  resented  the  barbarous  return  which  his  four  sons  had  succes- 
sively made  to  his  parental  care  ;  and  this  fatal  discovery,  by  depriving  him 
of  all  that  made  life  desirable,  quite  broke  his  spirit,  and  threw  him  into  a 
lingering  fever,  of  which  he  soon  after  expired,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  at  the  castle  of  Chinon,  near  Saumur,  in  Normandy. 

The  character  of  Henry,  both  in  public  and  private  life,  is  almost  without 
a  blemish ;  and  his  natural  endowments  were  equal  to  his  moral  qualities. 
He  possessed  every  mental  and  personal  accomplishment  which  can  make  a 
man  either  estimable  or  amiable.  He  was  of  a  middle  stature,  strong  and 
well  proportioned  ;  his  countenance  was  lively  and  engaging ;  his  conversation 
affable  and  entertaining;  his  elocution  easy,  persuasive,  and  ever  at  com- 
mand. He  loved  peace,  but  possessed  both  bravery  and  conduct  in  war ;  was 
provident  without  timidity,  severe  in  the  execution  of  justice  without  rigour, 
and  temperate  without  austerity.  He  is  said  to  have  been  of  a  very  amorous 
complexion,  and  historians  mention  two  of  his  natural  sons  by  Rosamond, 
the  fair  daughter  of  lord  Clifford — namely,  Richard  Longespee  or  Longsword 
(so  called  from  the  sword  which  he  usually  wore),  who  married  the  heiress 
of  Salisbury ;  and  Geoffrey,  first  bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  afterward  archbishop 
of  York.  The  other  circumstances  of  the  story  commonly  told  of  that  lady 
seem  to  be  fabulous,  though  adopted  by  many  historical  writers. 

Like  most  of  his  predecessors  of  the  Norman  line,  Henry  spent  more  of 
his  time  on  the  continent  than  in  England.  He  was  surrounded  by  the  Eng- 
lish nobility  and  gentry  when  abroad ;  and  the  French  nobility  and  gentry 
attended  him  when  he  returned  to  this  island.  All  foreign  improvements, 
therefore,  in  literature  and  politeness,  in  laws  and  arts,  seem  now  to  have 
been  transplanted  into  England :  and  the  spirit  of  liberty,  which  still  conti- 
nued to  animate  the  breasts  of  the  native  English,  communicated  itself  to 
the  barons,  who  were  all  yet  of  Norman  extraction,  and  made  them  both 
more  desirous  of  independency  themselves,  and  more  willing  to  indulge  it 
to  the  people,  whom  they  had  at  first  affected  to  despise,  and  of  restraining 
those  exorbitant  prerogatives  and  arbitrary  exactions  to  which  the  necessities 
of  war  and  tlie  violence  of  conquest  had  originally  obliged  them  to  submit. 

The  effects  of  this  secret  revolution  in  the  sentiments  of  men  we  shall 
afterward  have  occasion  to  trace.  At  present  I  must  return  to  the  affairs  of 
Germany ;  remarking  by  the  way,  that  Henry  II.  left  only  two  legitimate 
sons,  Richard,  who  succeeded  him,  and  John,  commonly  denominated  Lack- 
land, because  he  inherited  no  territory,  though  his  father,  at  one  time,  had 
intended  to  leave  him  a  large  share  of  his  extensive  dominions. 


LETTER  XXIX. 

'[Tie  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies.    Rome  and  the  Italian  States,  under 
Frederic  I.  surnamed  Barbarossa,  -with  some  Account  of  the  third  Crusade. 

I  HAVE  already  observed,  my  dear  Philip,  that  Frederic  duke  of  Suabia,  sur- 
named Barbarossa,  a  prince  of  great  courage  and  capacity,  was  unanimously 
elected  emperor  on  the  death  of  his  uncle  Conrad  III.,  not  only  by  the  Ger- 
mans, but  also  by  the  Lombards,  who  grave  their  votes  on  that  occasion.  His 

111  K.Hovcden. 


LET.  XXIX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  173 

election  was  no  sooner  known,  than  almost  all  the  princes  of  Europe  sent 
ambassadors  to  Mersburg,  to  congratulate  him  on  his  elevation.  The  king 
of  Denmark  went  thither  in  person  for  the  investiture  of  his  dominions ;  and 
Frederic  crowned  the  Danish  monarch  with  his  own  hand,  and  received  the 
oath  of  allegiance  from  him  as  a  vassal  of  the  empire.(l) 

But  although  the  reign  of  Frederic  thus  auspiciously  commenced,  it  was 
soon  involved  in  troubles,  which  required  all  his  courage  and  capacity  to  sur- 
mount, and  which  it  would  be  tedious  circumstantially  to  relate.  I  shall 
therefore  only  observe,  that,  after  having  settled  the  affairs  of  Germany,  by 
restoring  Bavaria  to  Henry  the  Lion,  duke  of  Saxony,  the  emperor  marched 
into  Italy,  in  order  to  compose  the  disburbances  of  that  country,  and  be 
crowned  by  the  pope,  in  imitation  of  his  predecessors.(2) 

Adrian  IV.  who  then  filled  St.  Peter's  chair,  was  an  Englishman,  and  a 
great  example  of  what  may  be  done  by  personal  merit  and  good  fortune.  The 
son  of  a  mendicant,  and  long  a  mendicant  himself,  strolling  from  country  to 
country,  he  was  received  as  a  servant  to  the  canons  of  St.  Rufus  in  Provence, 
where,  after  a  time,  he  was  admitted  a  monk,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of 
abbot  and  general  of  the  order,  and  at  length  to  the  pontificate.  Adrian 
was  inclined  to  crown  a  vassal,  but  afraid  of  giving  himself  a  master ;  he 
'.herefore  insisted  upon  the  Roman  ceremonial ;  which  required,  that  the  em- 
peror should  prostrate  himself  before  the  pope,  kiss  his  feet,  hold  his  stirrup, 
and  lead  the  holy  father's  white  palfrey  by  the  bridle  the  distance  of  nine 
Roman  paces. 

Frederic  looked  upon  this  ceremony  as  an  insult,  and  refused  to  submit  to 
it.  On  his  refusal,  the  cardinals  fled,  as  if  the  emperor  had  given  the  signal 
of  civil  war;  and  the  Roman  chancery,  which  kept  a  register  of  every  thing 
of  this  kind,  assured  him  that  his  predecessors  had  always  complied  with 
these  forms.  The  ceremony  of  kissing  the  pope's  feet,  which  he  knew  to  be 
the  established  custom,  did  not  hurt  Frederic's  pride ;  but  he  could  not  bear 
that  of  holding  the  bridle  and  the  stirrup,  which  he  considered  as  an  innovation : 
and  indeed  it  does  not  appear  that  any  emperor,  except  Lothario,  successor 
to  Henry  V.  had  complied  with  this  part  of  the  ceremony.  Frederic's  pride, 
however,  at  length  digested  these  two  supposed  affronts,  which  he  construed 
only  as  empty  marks  of  Christian  humility,  though  the  court  of  Rome  viewed 
them  as  proofs  of  real  subjection.  (3) 

But  the  emperor's  difficulties  were  not  yet  over.  The  citizens  of  Rome 
sent  him  a  deputation,  insolently  demanding  the  restoration  of  their  ancient 
form  of  government,  and  offering  to  stipulate  with  him  for  the  imperial  dig- 
nity. "  Charlemagne  and  Otho  conquered  you  by  their  valour,"  replied  Fre- 
deric, "  and  I  am  your  master  by  right  of  succession :  it  is  mine  to  prescribe 
laws,  and  yours  to  receive  them."  With  these  words  he  dismissed  the  depu- 
ties, and  was  inaugurated  without  the  walls  of  the  city  by  the  pope,  who  put 
the  sceptre  into  his  hand,  and  the  crown  upon  his  head.(4) 

The  nature  of  the  empire  was  then  so  little  understood,  and  the  pretensions 
so  contradictory,  that,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Roman  citizens  mutinied,  and  a 
great  deal  of  blood  was-  spilt,  because  the  pope  had  crowned  the  emperor 
without  the  consent  of  the  senate  and  the  people ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
pope  Adrian,  by  all  his  letters,  declared,  that  he  had  conferred  the  benefice  of 
the  Roman  empire  on  Frederic  I.  llbeneficiumimperiiRomani;^novftlie  word 
beneficium  literally  signified  a  fief,  though  his  holiness  explained  it  otherwise. 
Adrian  likewise  exhibited  publicly  in  Rome  a  picture  of  the  emperor  Lothario 
on  his  knees  before  pope  Alexander  II.,  holding  both  his  hands  joined  between 
those  of  the  pontiff,  which  was  the  distinguishing  mark  of  vassalage ;  and  on 
the  picture  was  this  inscription : 

Rexvenit  ante  fores,  jurans  pnus  urbis  honores: 
Post  homo  Jit,  papoe ;  sumit  quo  dante  coronam.(5) 

(1)  Jnnal.  de  I'Emp.  torn.  i.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Bunaii.  Hist.  Fred.  I.    Mural.  Antig.  1UL 

(41  Id.  ibid.  15}  .Innal,  de  I'F.mp.  torn.  i.    Bunau,  ubi  sup. 


174  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

"  Before  the  gates  the  king  appears, 
Rome's  honours  to  maintain  he  swears ; 
Then  to  the  pope  sinks  lowly  down, 
Who  grants  him  the  imperial  crown." 

Frederic,  who  had  retired  to  his  German  dominions,  was  at  Besan9on,  when 
he  received  information  of  Adrian's  insolence ;  and  having  expressed  his  dis- 
pleasure at  it,' a  cardinal  then  present  made  answer,  "If  he  does  not  hold  the 
empire  of  the  pope,  of  whom  does  he  hold  it  ?"  Enraged  at  this  impertinent 
speech,  Otho,  count  Palatine,  would  have  run  the  author  of  it  through  the 
oody,  with  the  sword  which  he  wore  as  marshal  of  the  empire,  had  not  Fre- 
deric prevented  him.  The  cardinal  immediately  fled,  and  the  pope  entered 
into  a  treaty.  The  Germans  then  made  use  of  no  argument  but  force,  and  the 
court  of  Rome  sheltered  itself  under  the  ambiguity  of  its  expressions.  Adrian 
declared,  that  benefice,  according  to  his  idea,  signified  a  favour,  not  a  fief, 
and  he  promised  to  put  out  of  the  way  the  painting  of  the  consecration  of 
Lothario.  (1) 

A  few  observations  will  not  here  be  improper.  Adrian  IV.,  besieged  by 
William  I.  king  of  Sicily,  in  Benevento,  gave  up  to  him  several  ecclesiastical 
pretensions.  He  consented  that  Sicily  should  never  have  any  legate,  nor  be 
subject  to  any  appeal  to  the  See  of  Rome,  except  with  the  king's  permission. ' 
Since  that  time,  the  kings  of  Sicily,  though  the  only  princes  who  are  vassals 
of  the  pope,  are  in  a  manner  popes  themselves  in  their  own  island.  The 
Roman  pontiffs,  thus  at  once  adored  and  abused,  somewhat  resembled,  to 
borrow  a  remark  from  Voltaire,  the  idols  which  the  Indians  scourge  to  obtain 
favours  from  them. 

Adrian,  however,  fully  revenged  himself  upon  other  princes  who  stood  in 
need  of  him.  He  .wrote  in  the  following  manner  to  Henry  II.  of  England. 
"  There  is  no  doubt,  and  you  acknowledge  it,  that  Ireland,  and  all  the  islands 
which  have  received  the  faith,  appertain  to  the  Roman  church ;  but  if  you 
want  to  take  possession  of  that  island,  in  order  to  banish  vice  from  it,  to 
enforce  the  observance  of  the  Christian  doctrines,  and  with  an  intent  of 
paying  the  yearly  tribute  of  St.  Peter's  penny  for  every  house,  we  with 
pleasure  grant  you  our  permission  to  conquer  it."(2)  Thus  an  English  beggar, 
become  bishop  of  Rome,  bestowed  Ireland,  by  his  sole  authority,  upon  an 
English  king,  who  wanted  to  usurp  it,  and  who  had  power  to  carry  his  design 
into  execution. 

The  intrepid  activity  of  Frederic  Barbarossa  had  not  only  to  subdue  the 
pope,  who  disputed  the  empire;  Rome,  which  refused  to  acknowledge  a 
master ;  and  many  other  cities  of  Italy,  that  asserted  their  independency  ;  he 
had,  at  the  same  time,  the  Bohemians,  who  had  mutinied  against  him,  to 
humble :  and  also  the  Poles,  with  whom  he  was  at  -war.  Yet  all  this  he 
effected.  He  conquered  Poland,  and  erected  it  into  a  tributary  kingdom :  he 
quelled  the  tumults  of  Bohemia ;  and  the  king  of  Denmark  is  said  to  have 
renewed  to  the  empire  the  homage  for  his  dominions. (3)  He  secured  the 
fidelity  of  the  German  princes,  by  rendering  himself  formidable  to  foreign 
nations ;  and  flew  back  to  Italy,  where  hopes  of  independency  had  arisen,  in 
consequence  of  his  troubles  and  perplexities.  He  found  every  thing  there 
in  confusion ;  not  so  much  from  the  efforts  of  the  several  cities  to  recover 
their  freedom,  as  from  that  party  rage  which  constantly  prevailed,  as  I  have 
frequently  had  occasion  to  observe,  at  the  election  of  a  pope. 

On  the  death  of  Adrian  IV.  two  opposite  factions  tumultuously  elected  two 
persons  known  by  the  names  of  Victor  IV.  and  Alexander  III.  The  emperor's 
allies  necessarily  acknowledged  the  pope  chosen  by  him ;  and  those  princes, 
who  were  jealous  of  the  emperor,  acknowledged  the  other.  What  was  t-he 
shame  and  scandal  of  Rome,  therefore  became  the  signal  of  division  over  all 
Europe.  Victor  IV.  Frederic's  pope,  had  Germany,  Bohemia,  and  one  half 

(I)  Jlnnal.  de  V  Emp.  torn.  i.    Bunau.  ubi  sup.  (2)  M.  Paris.   GiraM.    Cambr.   Spelman.     Canal 

'31  Jlnnal.de  I'  Emp. 


LET.  XXIX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  173 

of  Italy  on  his  side  The  othei  kingdoms  and  states  submitted  to  Alexander 
III.  in  honour  of  whom  the  Milanese,  who  were  avowed  enemies  to  the  empe- 
ror, built  the  city  of  Alexandria.  In  vain  did  Frederic's  party  endeavour  to 
have  it  called  Caesaria,  the  pope's  name  prevailed:  and  it  was  afterward 
called,  out  of  derision,  Alexandria  del  Paglia,  or  Alexandria  built  of  straw,  on 
account  of  the  meanness  of  its  buildings. (1) 

Happy  had  it  been  for  Europe,  if  that  age  had  produced  no  disputes  at- 
tended with  more  fatal  consequences;  but  unfortunately  that  was  not  the 
case.  Milan,  for  maintaining  its  independency,  was,  by  the  emperor's  orders, 
razed  to  the  foundations,  and  salt  strewed  upon  its  ruins ;  Brescia  and  Pla- 
centia  were  dismantled  by  the  conqueror ;  and  all  the  other  cities  which  had 
aspired  at  independency,  were  deprived  of  their  privileges. 

Pope  Alexander  III.  however,  who  had  excited  these  revolts,  and  had  been 
obliged  to  take  refuge  in  France,  returned  to  Rome,  after  the  death  of  his 
rival ;  and,  at  his  return,  the  civil  war  was  renewed.  The  emperor  caused 
another  pope  to  be  elected,  under  the  appellation  of  Pascal  III.  who  also 
dying  in  a  short  time,  a  third  was  nominated  by  Frederic,  under  the  title  of 
Calixtus  III.  Meanwhile  Alexander  was  not  intimidated.  He  solemnly  ex- 
communicated the  emperor ;  and  the  flames  of  civil  discord,  which  he  had 
raised,  continued  to  spread.  The  chief  cities  of  Italy,  supported  by  the  Greek 
emperor,  and  the  king  of  Sicily,  entered  into  an  association  for  the  defence 
of  their  liberties ;  and  the  pope,  at  length,  proved  stronger  by  negotiating 
than  the  emperor  by  fighting.  The  imperial  army,  worn  out  by  fatigues  and 
diseases,  was  defeated  by  the  confederates,  and  Frederic  himself  narrowly 
escaped  being  made  prisoner.  About  the  same  time  he  was  defeated  at  sea 
by  the  Venetians,  and  his  eldest  son  Henry,  who  commanded  his  fleet,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Pope  Alexander,  in  honour  of  this  victory, 
sailed  out  into  the  Adriatic  sea,  or  Gulf  of  Venice,  accompanied  by  the  whole 
senate ;  and,  after  having  pronounced  a  thousand  benedictions  on  that  ele- 
ment, threw  into  it  a  ring  as  a  mark  of  his  gratitude  and  affection.  Hence 
the  origin  of  that  ceremony  which  is  annually  performed  by  the  Venetians, 
under  the  notion  of  espousing  the  Adriatic. (2) 

In  consequence  of  these  misfortunes,  the  emperor  was  disposed  to  an  ac- 
commodation with  the  pope ;  but  his  pride  would  not  permit  him  to  make  any 
humiliating  advance.  He  therefore  rallied  his  troops,  and  exerted  himself 
with  so  much  vigour  in  repairing  his  loss,  that  he  was  soon  in  a  condition  to 
risk  another  battle,  in  which  his  enemies  were  worsted ;  and  being  no  less  a 
politician  than  a  general,  he  seized  this  fortunate  moment  to  signify  his  desire 
of  peace  to  Alexander  III.  who  received  the  proposals  with  great  joy.  Venice 
had  the  honour  of  being  the  place  of  reconciliation.  The  emperor,  the  pope, 
and  a  number  of  princes  and  cardinals,  repaired  to  that  city,  then  mistress 
of  the  sea,  and  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  There  the  emperor  put  an 
end  to  his  bloody  dispute  with  the  see  of  Rome,  by  acknowledging  the  pope, 
kissing  his  feet,  and  holding  his  stirrup  while  he  mounted  his  mule.(3) 

This  reconciliation  was  attended  with  the  submission  of  all  the  towns  in 
Italy,  which  had  entered  into  an  association  for  their  mutual  defence.  They 
obtained  a  general  pardon,  and  were  left  at  liberty  to  use  their  own  laws  and 
forms  of  government,  but  were  obliged  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
emperor,  as  their  superior  lord. 

Calixtus,  the  antipope,  finding  himself  abandoned  by  the  emperor,  in  con- 
sequence of  that  treaty,  made  his  submissions  to  Alexander  III.  who  received 
him  with  great  humanity;  and  in  order  to  prevent,  for  the  future,  those 
schisms  which  had  so  often  attended  the  election  of  popes,  his  holiness  called 
a  general  council,  in  which  it  was  decreed,  that  no  pope  should  be  deemed 
duly  elected  without  having  the  votes  of  two  thirds  of  the  college  of  cardi- 
nals in  his  favour.(4) 

The  affairs  of  Italy  being  thus  settled,  the  emperor  returned  to  Germany 

(1)  Murat,  Antiq.  Ital.  (2)  Ibid. 

13)  Bunau,  Hist.  Fred.  I.  (4)  MosheNi,  Hut.  Eccles.  vol.  iii. 


176  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART! 

where  Henry  the  Lion,  duke  of  Saxony,  had  raised  fresh  troubles.  He  was 
a  proud,  haughty  and  turbulent  prince,  like  most  of  his  predecessors,  and 
not  only  oppressed  his  own  subjects,  but  committed  violences  against  all  his 
neighbours.  His  natural  pride  was  not  diminished  by  his  alliance  with  the 
king  of  England,  whose  daughter  he  had  married.  Glad  of  an  opportunity 
of  being  revenged  upon  Henry,  who  had  abandoned  him  in  his  Italian  expe- 
dition, Frederic  convoked  a  diet  at  Goslar,  where  the  duke  was  put  to  the 
ban  of  the  empire ;  and,  after  a  variety  of  struggles  the  sentence  was  put  in 
execution.  He  was  divested  of  all  his  dominions,  which  were  bestowed  upon 
different  vassals  of  the  empire. 

Sensible  of  his  folly  when  too  late,  the  degraded  duke  threw  himself  at  the 
emperor's  feet,  and  begged  with  great  humility  that  some  of  his  territories 
might  be  restored.  Frederic,  touched  with  his  unfortunate  condition,  re- 
ferred him  to  a  diet  of  the  empire  at  Erfurt.  There  Henry  endeavoured  to 
acquit  himself  of  the  crimes  laid  to  his  charge.  But  as  it  was  impracticable 
immediately  to  withdraw  his  fiefs  from  the  present  possessors,  the  emperor 
advised  him  to  reside  in  England,  until  the  princes  who  had  shared  his 
dominions  could  be  persuaded  to  relinquish  them ;  and  he  promised  that,  in 
the  mean  time,  no  attempts  should  be  made  upon  the  territories  of  Brunswic 
or  Lunenburg,  which  he  would  protect  in  behalf  of  Henry's  children.  In  com- 
pliance with  this  advice,  the  duke  retired  to  England,  where  he  was  hospita- 
bly entertained  by  his  father-in-law,  Henry  II.  and  there  his  wife  bore  him 
a  fourth  son,  from  whom  the  present  house  of  Brunswic,  and  consequently 
the  present  royal  family  of  England,  is  descended. (1) 

While  tranquillity  was,  in  this  manner,  happily  restored  to  Italy  and  Ger- 
many, the  Oriental  Christians  were  in  the  utmost  distress.  The  great  Sa- 
ladin,  a  prince  of  Persian  extraction,  and  born  in  the  small  country  of  the 
Curdes,  a  nation  always  warlike,  and  always  free,  having  fixed  himself,  by 
his  bravery  and  conduct,  on  the  throne  of  Egypt,  began  to  extend  his  con- 
quest over  all  the  East;  and  finding  the  settlements  of  the  Christians  in 
Palestine  an  invincible  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  his  arms,  he  bent  the 
whole  force  of  his  policy  and  valour  to  subdue  that  small  and  barren  but 
important  territory.  Taking  advantage  of  the  dissensions  which  prevailed 
among  the  champions  of  the  Cross,  and  having  secretly  gained  the  count  of 
Tripoli,  who  commanded  their  armies,  he  invaded  Palestine  with  a  mighty 
force;  and,  aided  by  the  treachery  of  that  count,  gained  at  Tiberias  a  com^ 
plete  victory  over  them,  which  utterly  broke  the  power  of  the  already  Ian 
guishing  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  The  holy  city  itself  fell  into  his  hands,  after 
a  feeble  resistance :  the  kingdom  of  Antioch  also  was  almost  entirely  subdued 
by  his  arms ;  and,  except  some  maritime  towns,  nothing  of  importance  re- 
mained of  those  boasted  conquests,  which,  near  a  century  before,  had  cost 
the  efforts  of  all  Europe  to  acquire. (2) 

Clement  III.  who  then  filled  the  papal  chair,  no  sooner  received  these 
melancholy  tidings,  than  he  ordered  a  crusade  to  be  preached  through  all  the 
countries  in  Christendom.  Europe  was  filled  with  grief  and  astonishment  at 
the  progress  of  the  Infidels  in  Asia.  To  give  a  check  to  it  seemed  the  com- 
mon cause  of  Christians.  Frederic  Barbarossa,  who  was  at  that  time  em- 
ployed in  making  regulations  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  good 
order  of  Germany,  assembled  a  diet  at  Mentz,  in  order  to  deliberate  with  the 
states  of  the  empire  on  -this  subject.  He  took  the  cross ;  and  his  example 
was  followed  by  his  son  Frederic,  duke  of  Suabia,  together  with  sixty-eight 
of  the  most  eminent  German  nobles,  ecclesiastics  as  well  as  laymen.  The 
rendezvous  was  appointed  at  Ratisbon ;  and  in  order  to  prevent  the  incon- 
venience of  too  great  a  multitude,  the  emperor  decreed,  that  no  person  should 
take  the  cross  who  could  not  afford  to  expend  three  marks  of  siJver.  But 
notwithstanding  that  regulation,  wisely  calculated  to  prevent  those  neces- 
sities which  had  ruined  the  former  armies,  so  great  was  the  zeal  of  the  Ger- 
mans, that  adventurers  assembled  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 

(11  Jlnnal.  de  f  Emp.  torn.  i.  (2)  Maimbourg,  ffi.it.  det  Croisades, 


UET.  XXX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  177 

thousand  fighting  men,  well  armed,  and  provided  with  necessaries  for  the  ex- 
pedition. (1) 

Before  his  departure,  Frederic  made  a  progress  through  the  principal  cities 
of  Germany,  accompanied  by  his  son  Henry,  to  whom  he  intended  to  commit 
the  government  of  the  empire,  and  that  he  might  omit  nothing  necessary  to 
the  preservation  of  peace  and  harmony  during  his  absence,  he  endeavoured 
so  to  regulate  the  succession  to  his  dominions  as  that  none  of  his  children 
should  have  cause  to  complain,  or  any  pretext  to  disturb  the  public  tran- 
quillity. 

The  emperor  in  person  marched  at  the  head  of  thirty  thousand  men,  by 
the  way  of  Vienna,  to  Presburg,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  rest  of  his  army. 
He  thence  proceeded  through  Hungary,  into  the  territories  of  the  Greek 
emperor,  who,  notwithstanding  his  professions  of  friendship,  had  been  de- 
tached from  the  interests  of  Frederic  by  Saladin's  promises  and  insinuations, 
and  took  all  opportunities  of  harassing  the  Germans  in  their  march.  Incensed 
at  this  perfidy,  Frederic  laid  the  country  under  contribution ;  took  and  plun- 
dered Philippolis;  defeated  a  body  of  Greek  troops  that  attacked  him  by 
surprise ;  and  compelled  Isaacus  Angelus,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  to  sue 
for  peace.  He  wintered  atAdrianople ;  crossed  the  Hellespont  in  the  spring ; 
refreshed  his  troops  a  short  time  in  Laodicea ;  defeated  the  Turks  in  several 
battles  ;  took  and  pillaged  the  city  of  Iconium,  and  crossed  Mount  Taurus. 
All  Asia  was  filled  with  the  terror  of  his  arms.  He  seemed  to  be  among  the 
soldiers  of  the  cross  what  Saladin  was  among  the  Turks — an  able  politician, 
and  a  good  general,  tried  by  fortune.  The  Oriental  Christians  therefore 
flattered  themselves  with  certain  relief  from  his  assistance.  But  their  hopes 
were  suddenly  blasted.  This  great  prince  was  an  expert  swimmer,  ven- 
tured to  bathe  in  the  cold  river  Cydnus,  in  order  to  refresh  himself  after 
fatigue  in  a  sultry  climate,  perhaps  in  emulation  of  the  Macedonian  con- 
queror ;  and  by  that  means  caught  a  mortal  distemper,  which  at  once  put  an 
end  to  his  life  and  his  bold  enterprisers) 

Thus  unfortunately  perished  Frederic  I.  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age, 
and  the  thirty-eighth  of  his  reign — a  prince  of  a  firm  spirit  and  strong  ta- 
lents, who  had  the  good  of  his  country  always  at  heart,  and  who  supported 
the  dignity  of  the  empire  with  equal  courage  and  reputation.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  imperial  throne  by  his  son  Henry  VI.  surnamed  the  severe. — 
But  before  I  enter  on  the  reign  of  that  prince,  my  dear  Philip,  I  must  carry 
forward  the  history  of  the  third  crusade,  continued  by  the  kings  of  France 
and  England. 


LETTER  XXX. 

France  and  England,  from  the  Death  of  Henry  II.  to  the  Granting  of  the  greai 
Charter  by  King  John,  with  a  further  Account  of  the  third  Crusade. 

THE  death  of  Henry  II.  was  an  event  esteemed  equally  fortunate  by  his 
son  Richard,  and  by  Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France.  Philip  had  lost  a  dan- 
gerous and  implacable  enemy,  and  Richard  got  possession  of  that  crown  which 
he  had  so  eagerly  pursued.  Both  seemed  to  consider  the  recovery  of  the 
Holy  Land  as  the  sole  purpose  of  their  government ;  yet  neither  was  so  much 
impelled  to  that  pious  undertaking  by  superstition,  as  by  the  love  of  military 
glory.  The  king  of  England,  in  particular,  carried  so  little  the  appearance  of 
sanctity  in  his  conduct,  that,  when  advised  by  a  zealous  preacher  of  the 
crusade,  (who  from  that  merit  had  acquired  the  privilege  of  speaking  the 
boldest  truths)  to  rid  himself  of  his  pride,  avarice,  and  voluptuousness,  which 
the  priest  affectedly  called  the  king's  three  favourite  daughters,  Richard 
promptly  replied,  "  You  counsel  wefl ! — and  I  hereby  dispose  of  the  first  to 

(1)  Maimbourg,  Hist,  des  Croisades.    Bunau,  ubi  supra. 
(2^  Maimbourg,  ubi  sup.    Bunau.  Hist.  Fred.  I. 

VOL.  I.— M 


178  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PxRTl. 

the  Templars,  of  the  second  to  the  Benedictines,  and  of  the  third  to  my 
Bishops."(l) 

The  reiterated  calamities  attending  the  former  crusades  taught  the  kings 
of  France  and  England  the  necessity  of  trying  another  road  to  the  Holy 
Land.  They  determined  to  conduct  their  armies  thither  by  sea ;  to  carry 
provisions  along  with  them ;  and,  by  means  of  their  naval  power,  to  main- 
tain an  open  communication  with  their  own  states,  and  with  all  the  western 
parts  of  Europe.  The  first  place  of  rendezvous  was  the  plains  of  Vezelay, 
on  the  borders  of  Burgundy,  when  Philip  and  Richard  found  their  armies 
amount  to  one  hundred  thousand  men :  an  invincible  force,  animated  by  re- 
ligion and  glory,  and  conducted  by  two  warlike  monarchs.  They  renewed 
their  promises  of  mutual  friendship ;  pledged  their  faith  not  to  invade  each 
other's  dominions  during  the  crusade,  and,  exchanging  the  oaths  of  all  their 
barons  and  prelates  to  the  same  effect,  then  separated.  Philip  took  the  road 
to  Genoa,  Richard  that  to  Marseilles,  both  with  a  view  of  meeting  their  fleets, 
which  were  severally  appointed  to  assemble  in  those  harbours. (2)  They 
put  to  sea  together ;  and  both,  nearly  about  the  same  time,  were  obliged  by 
stress  of  weather  to  take  shelter  in  Messina,  where  they  were  detained 
during  the  whole  winter.  This  event  laid  the  foundation  of  animosities  be- 
tween them,  which  were  never  afterward  entirely  removed,  and  proved  ulti- 
mately fatal  to  their  armament. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  that  subject,  a  few  words  relative  to  the  character 
and  circumstances  of  the  two  princes  will  be  necessary.  Philip  and  Richard, 
though  professed  friends,  were,  by  the  situation  and  extent  of  their  domi- 
nions, rivals  in  power ;  by  their  age  and  inclinations,  competitors  for  glory ; 
and  these  causes  of  emulation,  which  might  have  stimulated  them  to  martial 
efforts,  had  they  been  acting  in  the  field  against  the  common  enemy,  soon 
excited  quarrels,  during  their  present  leisure,  between  monarchs  of  such  fiery 
tempers.  Equally  haughty,  ambitious,  intrepid,  and  inflexible,  they  were 
irritated  at  the  least  appearance  of  injury,  and  they  were  incapable,  by  mu- 
tual condescensions,  to  efface  those  occasions  of  complaint  which  mutually 
arose  between  them.  Nor  were  other  sources  of  discord  wanting. 

William  II.  the  last  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  had  married  Joan,  sister  to 
Richard ;  and  that  prince,  dying  without  issxie,  had  bequeathed  his  domi- 
nions to  his  paternal  sister  Constantia,  the  only  legitimate  offspring  surviving 
of  Roger,  the  Norman,  who  conquered  those  states  from  the  Greeks  and  Sa- 
racens, as  we  have  already  seen.  Henry  VI.  then  emperor  of  Germany,  had 
married  this  princess,  in  expectation  of  that  rich  inheritance ;  but  Tancrcd, 
her  natural  brother,  by  his  interest  among  the  Sicilian  nobles,  had  acquired 
possession  of  the  throne,  and  maintained  his  claim  against  all  the  efforts  of 
the  empire.  The  approach  of  the  crusaders  naturally  gave  the  king  of  Sicily 
apprehensions  for  his  unstable  government :  and  he  was  uncertain  whether 
tic  had  most  reason  to  dread  the  presence  of  the  French  or  English  monarch. 
Philip  was  engaged  in  strict  alliance  with  the  emperor,  Tancred's  competitor ; 
Richard  was  disgusted  by  his  rigour  towards  the  queen-dowager,  whom  he 
confined  in  Palermo,  because  she  had  opposed  his  succession  to  the  crown. 
Sensible  therefore  of  the  delicacy  of  his  situation,  Tancred  resolved  to  pay 
his  court  to  both  these  princes  :  nor  was  he  unsuccessful  in  his  endeavours. 
He  persuaded  Philip,  that  it  would  be  highly  improper  to  interrupt  the  expe- 
dition against  the  infidels,  by  any  attack  upon  a  Christian  prince  ;  he  restored 
queen  Joan  to  her  liberty,  and  even  found  means  to  make  an  alliance  with 
Richard.  But  before  this  friendship  was  cemented,  Richard,  jealous  both  of 
Tancred  and  the  inhabitants  of  Messina,  had  taken  up  his  quarters  in  the 
suburbs,  and  possessed  himself  of  a  small  fort  which  commanded  the  harbour. 
The  citizens  took  umbrage.  Mutual  insults  and  injuries  passed  between 
them  and  the  English  soldiers.  Philip,  who  had  quartered  his  troops  in  the 
town,  endeavoured  to  accommodate  the  quarrel,  and  held  a  conference  with 
Richard  for  that  purpose. 

fl)  M.  Westminst.  (3)  R.  Hovcden.    Gaus.  Vinisauf.     Her  Hitrosol  lib  ii 


LET.  XXX.J  MODERNEUROPE.  179 

While  the  two  kings,  who  met  in  the  open  fields,  were  engaged  in  discourse 
on  this  subject,  a  body  of  the  Sicilians  seemed  to  be  drawing  towards  them. 
Richard,  always  ardent  and  impatient,  pushed  forward,  in  order  to  learn  the 
cause  of  that  extraordinary  movement ;  and  the  English  adventurers,  insolent 
from  their  power,  and  inflamed  by  former  animosities,  wanting  only  a  pre- 
tence to  attack  the  Messinese,  chased  them  from  the  field,  drove  them  into 
the  town,  and  entered  with  them  at  the  gates.  The  king  employed  his 
authority  to  restrain  them  from  pillaging  or  massacring  the  defenceless  inha- 
bitants ;  but  he  gave  orders  that  the  standard  of  England,  in  token  of  his 
victory,  should  be  erected  on  the  walls.  Philip,  who  considered  the  city  of 
Messina  as  his  quarters,  exclaimed  against  the  arrogance  of  the  English 
monarch,  and  ordered  some  of  his  troops  to  pull  down  the  standard.  But 
Richard  informed  him  by  a  messenger,  that  although  he  would  willingly  him- 
self remove  that  ground  of  offence,  he  would  not  permit  it  to  be  done  by 
others ;  and  if  the  French  king  attempted  such  an  insult  on  his  dignity,  he 
should  not  succeed  but  by  the  utmost  effusion  of  blood.  Philip,  satisfied  with 
this  species  of  haughty  condescension,  recalled  his  orders,  and  the  difference 
was  seemingly  accommodated ;  but  the  seeds  of  rancour  and  jealousy  still 
remained  in  the  breasts  of  the  two  monarchs.(l) 

After  leaving  Sicily,  the  English  fleet  was  assailed  by  a  furious  tempest 
It  was  driven  on  the  coast  of  Cyprus,  and  some  of  the  vessels  were  wrecked 
near  Lemisso  in  that  island.  Isaac  Comnenus,  despot  of  Cyprus,  who  had 
assumed  the  magnificent  title  of  emperor,  pillaged  the  ships  that  were  stranded, 
and  threw  the  seamen  and  passengers  into  prison.  But  Richard,  who  arrived 
soon  after,  took  ample  vengeance  on  him  for  the  injury.  He  disembarked 
his  troops ;  defeated  the  tyrant,  who  opposed  his  landing ;  entered  Lemisso 
by  storm;  gained  next  day  a  second  victory ;  obliged  Isaac  to  sui render  at 
discretion ;  established  governors  over  the  island ;  and  afterward  conferred 
it  as  a  sovereignty  upon  Guy  of  Lusignan,  the  expelled  king  of  Jerusalem 
Thrown  into  prison,  and  loaded  with  irons,  the  Greek  prince  complained  of 
the  little  respect  with  which  he  was  treated.  Richard  ordered  silver  fetters 
to  be  made  for  him ;  and  this  phantom  of  an  emperor,  pleased  with  the  dis- 
tinction, expressed  a  sense  of  the  generosity  of  his  conqueror.(2) 

Richard,  by  reason  of  these  transactions  at  Cyprus,  was  later  of  arriving 
in  Asia  than  Philip.  But  the  English  monarch  came  opportunely  to  partake 
:n  the  glory  of  the  siege  of  Ptolemais ;  a  seaport  town,  which  had  been 
invested  above  two  years,  by  the  united  forces  of  all  the  Christians  in  Pales- 
tine, and  defended  by  the  utmost  efforts  of  Saladin  and  the  Saracens.  Before 
this  place,  Frederick,  duke  of  Suabia,  son  of  the  emperor  Barbarossa,  and 
who  succeeded  him  in  the  command,  together  with  the  remains  of  the  German 
army,  had  perished.  The  arrival  of  the  armies  of  France  and  England,  how- 
ever, with  Philip  and  Richard  at  their  head,  inspired  new  life  into  the  besiegers : 
and  the  emulation  between  these  rival  kings  and  rival  nations,  produced 
extraordinary  acts  of  valour.  Richard  especially,  animated  by  a  more  pre- 
cipitate courage  than  Philip,  and  more  agreeable  to  the  romantic  spirit  of  that 
age,  drew  to  himself  the  attention  of  all  the  religious  and  military  world,  and 
acquired  a  great  and  splendid  reputation.  Ptolemais  was  taken.  The  Sara- 
cen garrison,  reduced  to  the  last  extremity,  surrendered  themselves  prisoners 
of  war ;  and  the  governor  engaged  that  Saladin,  besides  paying  a  large  sum 
for  their  ransom,  should  release  two  thousand  five  hundred  Christian  prisoners 
of  distinction,  and  restore  the  wood  of  the  true  cross. (3) 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  was  this  famous  siege,  which  had  so  long  engaged 
the  attention  of  all  Europe  and  Asia,  brought  to  the  desired  close,  after  the 
loss  of  three  hundred  thousand  men,  exclusive  of  persons  of  superior  rank ; 
six  archbishops,  twelve  bishops,  forty  earls,  and  five  hundred  barons.  But 
the  French  monarch,  instead  of  pursuing  the  hopes  of  farther  conquest,  and 
redeeming  the  holy  city  from  slavery,  being  disgusted  with  the  ascendant 

(1)  Bened.  Abbas.    M.Paris.    G.  Vinisauf.  ubi  sup.  (2)  Ibid. 

(3)  Benedict.  Abbas.  G.  Vinisauf.  lib.  iii.  Saladin  refused  to  ratify  the  treaty ;  and  the  Saracen  pri 
sioncrs  to  the  number  of  five  thousand,  were  inhumanly  butchered.  Id  ibid. 

M2 


80  THE    HISTORY    OF  'foal. 

assumed  at  I  .i.tqilin  y  the  king  of  England,  and  having  views  of  many 
advantages  \vhirli  lie  might  reap  by  his  presence  in  Europe,  declared  his 
resolution  of  returning  to  France;  and  he  pleaded  his  ill  state  of  health  as  an 
excuse  for  his  desertion  of  the  common  cause.  He  left  however  to  Richard 
ten  thousand  of  his  troops,  under  the  command  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy ;  and 
he  renewed  his  oath  never  to  commit  hostilities  against  that  prince's  territo- 
ries during  his  absence.  But  no  sooner  did  he  reach  Italy,  than  he  applied 
to  pope  Celestine  III.  for  a  dispensation  from  his  vow ;  and,  though  denied 
that  request,  he  still  proceeded,  but  after  a  more  concealed  manner,  in  his 
unjust  projects.  He  seduced  prince  John,  king  Richard's  brother,  from  his 
allegiance,  and  did  every  thing  possible  to  blacken  the  character  of  that 
monarch  himself;  representing  him  as  privy  to  the  murder  of  the  marquis 
de  Montserrat,  who  had  been  taken  off,  as  was  well  known,  by  an  Asiatic 
ciiief,  called  The  old  Man  of  the  Mountain,  the  prince  of  the  Assassins — a  word 
w  hich  has  found  its  way  into  most  European  languages,  from  the  practice  of 
these  bold  and  determined  ruffians,  against  whom  no  precaution  was  sufficient 
to  guard  any  man,  how  powerful  soever,  and  whose  resentment  the  marquis 
had  provoked.(l) 

But  Richard's  heroic  actions  in  Palestine  were  the  best  apology  for  his 
conduct.  The  Christian  adventurers,  under  his  command,  determined,  o;: 
opening  the  campaign,  to  attempt  the  siege  of  Ascalon,  in  order  to  prepare 
the  way  for  that  of  Jerusalem ;  and  they  marched  along  the  seacoast  with 
that  intention.  Saladin  proposed  to  intercept  their  passage,  and  placed  him- 
self on  the  road  with  an  army  of  three  hundred  thousand  combatants.  On 
this  occasion  was  fought  one  of  the  greatest  battles  of  that  age,  and  the  most 
celebrated  for  the  military  genius  of  the  commanders ;  for  the  number  and 
valour  of  the  troops,  and  for  the  great  variety  of  events  which  attended  it. 
The  right  wing  of  the  Christian  army  commanded  by  d'Avesness,  and  the 
left  conducted  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  were  both  broken  in  the  beginning 
of  the  day,  and  in  danger  of  being  utterly  defeated,  when  Richard,  who  com- 
manded in  the  centre,  and  led  on  the  main  body,  restored  the  battle.  He 
attacked  the  enemy  with  admirable  intrepidity  and  presence  of  mind ;  per- 
formed  the  part  of  a  consummate  general  and  gallant  soldier;  and  not  only 
gave  his  two  wings  leisure  to  recover  from  their  confusion,  but  obtained  a 
complete  victory  over  the  Saracens,  forty  thousand  of  whom  are  said  to  have 
been  slain  in  the  field. (2)  Ascalon  soon  after  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Christians :  other  sieges  were  carried  on  with  success ;  and  Richard  was 
even  able  to  advance  within  sight  of  Jerusalem,  the  great  object  of  his  hopes 
and  fears,  when  he  had  the  mortification  to  find,  that  he  must  abandon  all 
thoughts  of  immediate  success,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  career  of  victory. 

Animated  with  an  enthusiastic  ardour  for  these  holy  wars,  the  champions 
of  the  cross,  at  first,  laid  aside  all  regard  to  safety  or  interest  in  the  prose- 
cution of  their  pious  purpose ;  and  trusting  to  the  immediate  assistance  of 
Heaven,  set  nothing  before  their  eyes  but  fame  and  victory  in  this  world, 
and  a  crown  of  glory  hi  the  next.  But  long  absence  from  home,  fatigue, 
disease,  famine,  and  the  varieties  of  fortune  which  naturally  attend  war,  had 
gradually  abated  that  fury  which  nothing  was  able  instantly  to  allay  or  with 
stand.  Every  leader,  except  the  king  of  England,  expressed  a  desire  of  speed- 
ily returning  to  Europe;  so  that  there  appeared  an  absolute  necessity  of  aban- 
doning, for  the  present,  all  hopes  of  farther  conquest,  and  of  securing  the 
acquisitions  of  the  adventurers  by  an  accommodation  with  Saladin.  Richard 
therefore  concluded  a  truce  with  that  monarch ;  stipulating  that  Ptolemais, 
Joppa,  and  other  sea-port  towns  of  Palestine,  should  remain  in  the  hands  of 
the  Christians,  and  that  every  one  of  that  religion  should  have  liberty  to 
perform  his  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  unmolested.(3)  This  truce  was  con- 
cluded for  three  years,  three  months,  three  weeks,  three  days,  and  thiee 
hours — a  magical  number,  suggested  by  a  superstition  well  suited  to  the 
object  of  the  war. 

(I)  VV.  Heming.    J.  Brompton.    G.  Vinisauf.  lib.  iii.    Rymer  vol.i.  (2)  G.  Viriisauf.  lib.  iv 

(3;  W  Heming.  lib  ii.    G.  Vinisauf.  lib.  vi. 


LET.  XXX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  181 

Saladin  died  at  Damascus,  soon  after  concluding  tlie  tnice  with  the  leaders 
of  the  crusade.  He  was  a  prince  of  great  generosity  and  valour ;  and  it  ig 
truly  memorable,  that,  during  his  fatal  illness,  he  ordered  his  winding-sheet 
to  be  carried  as  a  standard  through  every  street  of  the  city,  while  a  crier 
went  before  the  person  who  bore  that  ensign  of  mortality,  and  proclaimed  with 
a  loud  voice,  "  This  is  all  that  remains  to  the  mighty  Saladin,  the  conqueroi 
of  the  East !"  His  last  will  is  also  remarkable.  He  ordered  charities  to  be 
distributed  to  the  poor,  without  distinction  of  Jew,  Christian,  or  Mahometan  ;(1) 
intending  by  this  legacy  to  inculcate,  that  all  men  are  brethren,  and  that, 
when  we  would  assist  them,  we  ought  not  to  inquire  what  they  believe,  but 
what  they  feel — an  admirable  lesson  to  Christians,  though  from  an  Infidel. 
But  the  advantage  of  science,  of  moderation,  and  humanity,  were  at  that 
time  indeed  entirely  on  the  side  of  the  Saracens. 

After  the  truce  Richard  had  no  farther  business  in  Palestine,  and  the 
intelligence  which  he  received  of  the  intrigues  of  his  brother  John  and  the 
king  of  France  made  him  sensible  that  his  presence  was  necessary  in  Europe. 
Not  thinking  it  safe,  however,  to  pass  through  France,  he  sailed  to  the  Adri- 
atic ;  and  being  shipwrecked  near  Aquileia,  he  put  on  the  habit  of  a  pilgrim, 
with  an  intention  of  taking  his  journey  secretly  through  Germany.  But  his 
liberality  and  expenses  betrayed  him.  He  was  arrested  and  thrown  into 
prison  by  Leopold,  duke  of  Austria,  whom  he  had  offended  at  the  siege  of 
Ptolemais,  and  who  sold  him  to  the  emperor  Henry  VI.  who  had  taken 
offence  at  Richard's  alliance  with  Tancred,  king  of  Sicily,  and  was  glad  to 
have  him  in  his  power.  (2)  Thus  the  gallant  king  of  England,  who  had  filled 
the  whole  world  with  his  renown,  found  himself,  during  the  most  critical 
state  of  his  affairs,  confined  to  a  dungeon,  in  the  heart  of  Germany,  loaded 
with  irons,  and  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  his  enemy,  the  basest  and  most  sordid 
of  mankind.  (3) 

While  the  high  spirit  of  Richard  suffered  every  insult  and  indignity  in 
Germany,  the  king  of  France  employed  every  means  of  force  and  intrigue^ 
of  war  and  negotiation,  against  the  dominions  and  the  person  of  his  unfor- 
tunate rival.  He  made  the  emperor  the  largest  offers,  if  he  would  deliver 
into  his  hands  the  royal  prisoner :  he  formed  an  alliance  by  marriage  with 
Denmark,  desiring  that  the  ancient  Danish  claim  to  the  crown  of  England 
might  be  transferred  to  him :  he  concluded  a  treaty  with  prince  John,  the 
king's  brother,  who  is  said  to  have  done  homage  to  him  for  the  English 
crown;  and  he  invaded  Normandy,  while  the  traitor  John  attempted  to  make 
himself  master  of  England. (4) 

In  the  mean  time  Richard,  being  produced  before  a  diet  of  the  empire, 
made  such  an  impression  on  the  German  princes,  by  his  eloquence  and  spirit, 
that  they  exclaimed  loudly  against  the  conduct  of  the  emperor.  The  pope 
also  threatened  him  with  excommunication ;  and  although  Henry  had  listened 
to  the  proposals  of  the  king  of  France  and  prince  John,  he  found  it  would 
be  impracticable  for  him  to  execute  his  and  their  base  purposes,  or  to  detain 
any  longer  the  king  of  England  in  captivity.  He  therefore  concluded  a 
treaty  with  Richard  for  his  ransom,  and  agreed  to  restore  him  to  his  freedom 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  marks  of  pure  silver,  about  three  hundred 
thousand  pounds  of  our  present  money  ;(5)  an  enormous  sum  in  those  days. 


(1)  W.  Heming.  lib.  ii.    G.  Vinisauf.  lib.  vi. 


aptive.     (Hist. 
his  release. 
M  M  Paris.    W.  Heming.    E.  Hoveden.  5)  Eymer,  vol  i 


182  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  I. 

As  soon  as  Philip  heard  of  Richard's  release,  he  wrote  to  his  confederate 
John  in  these  emphatical  words  :  "  Take  care  of  yourself!  the  devil  is  broke 
loose."  How  different  on  this  occasion  were  the  sentiments  of  the  English 
nation ! — Their  joy  was  extreme  on  the  appearance  of  their  king,  who  had 
acquired  so  much  glory,  and  spread  the  reputation  of  their  name  to  the 
farthest  East.  After  renewing  the  ceremony  of  his  coronation,  amid  the 
acclamations  of  all  ranks  of  people,  and  reducing  the  fortresses  which  still 
remained  in  the  hands  of  his  brother's  adherents,  Richard  passed  over  with 
an  army  into  Normandy ;  impatient  to  make  war  upon  Philip,  and  to  revenge 
himself  for  the  many  injuries  he  had  sustained  from  that  monarch.(l) 

When  we  consider  two  such  powerful  and  warlike  monarchs,  inflamed  with 
personal  animosity  against  each  other ;  enraged  by  mutual  injuries ;  excite* 
by  rivalship ;  impelled  by  opposite  interests,  and  instigated  by  the  pride  and 
violence  of  their  own  temper,  our  curiosity  is  naturally  raised,  and  we  expect 
an  obstinate  and  furious  war,  distinguished  by  the  greatest  events,  and  con- 
cluded by  some  remarkable  catastrophe.  We  find  ourselves,  however, 
entirely  disappointed ;  the  taking  of  a  castle,  the  surprise  of  a  straggling 
party,  a  rencounter  of  horse,  which  resembles  more  a  rout  than  a  battle,  com- 
prehend the  whole  of  the  exploits  on  both  sides :  a  certain  proof,  as  a  great 
historian  observes,  of  the  weakness  of  princes  in  that  age,  and  of  the  little 
authority  which  they  possessed  over  their  refractory  vassals.  (2) 

During  this  war,  which  continued,  with  short  intervals,  till  Richard's  death, 
prince  John  deserted  Philip,  threw  himself  at  his  brother's  feet,  craved  par- 
don for  his  offences,  and  was  received  into  favour,  at  the  intercession  of  his 
mother  queen  Eleanor.  "  I  forgive  him  with  all  my  heart,"  said  the  king ; 
"  and  hope  I  shall  as  easily  forget  his  offences,  as  he  will  my  pardon."(3) 

Peace  was  just  ready  to  be  concluded  between  England  and  France,  when 
Richard  was  unfortunately  slain  by  an  arrow,  before  an  inconsiderable  castle 
which  he  besieged  in  hopes  of  taking  from  one  of  his  vassals  a  great  mass 
of  gold  which  had  been  found  hid  in  the  earth.  The  story  is  thus  related : 

Vidomar,  viscount  of  Limoges,  had  found  a  treasure,  of  which  he  sent  par 
to  the  king,  as  a  present.  But  Richard,  as  superior  lord,  claimed  the  whole 
and,  at  the  head  of  some  Brabanyons,  besieged  the  count  in  the  castle  ol 
Chains,  in  order  to  make  him  comply  with  his  demand.  The  garrison  offered 
to  surrender ;  but  the  king  replied,  since  he  nad  taken  the  trouble  to  come 
thither  and  besiege  the  place  in  person,  he  would  take  it  by  force,  and  hang 
every  one  of  them.  The  same  day  Richard,  accompanied  by  Marcadee, 
leader  of  his  Braban9ons,  went  to  survey  the  castle ;  when  one  Bertrand  de 
Gourdon,  an  archer,  took  aim  at  him,  and  pierced  his  shoulder  with  an  arrow. 
The  king,  however,  gave  orders  for  the  assault ;  took  the  place,  and  hanged 
all  the  garrison,  except  Gourdon,  whom  he  reserved  for  a  more  cruel  execu- 
tion. (4) 

Richard's  wound  was  not  in  itself  dangerous,  but  the  unskilfulness  of  We 
surgeon  made  it  mortal ;  and  when  the  king  found  his  end  approaching,  he 
sent  for  Gourdon,  and  demanded  the  reason  why  he  sought  his  life.  "  My 
father,  and  my  two  brothers,"  replied  the  undaunted  soldier,  "  fell  by  your 
sword,  and  you  intended  to  have  executed  me.  I  am  now  in  your  power, 
and  you  may  do  your  worst ;  but  I  shall  endure  the  most  severe  torments 
with  pleasure,  provided  I  can  think  that  Heaven  has  afforded  me  such  great 
revenge,  as,  with  my  own  hand,  to  be  the  cause  of  your  death."  Struck  with 
the  boldness  of  this  reply,  and  humbled  by  his  approaching  dissolution, 
Richard  ordered  the  prisoner  to  be  set  at  liberty,  and  a  sum  of  money  to  be 
given  him.  But  the  blood-thirsty  Brabangon,  Marcadee,  a  stranger  to  such 
generosity,  seized  the  unhappy  man,  flayed  him  alive,  and  then  hanged 
him.(5) 

The  most  shining  part  of  the  character  of  Richard  I.  was  his  military 

'!)  K.Uovedcn.  (2)  Hume,  Ifist.  England,  vol.  i.  (3)  M.Paris. 

(4)  R.  Hoveden.    J.  BrompUm. 

(5)  Hoveden.    The  Brabancons  were  ruffian  mercenaries,  formed  out  of  the  numerous  bands  of  robbers 
who,  during  the  middle  ages,  infested  every  country  of  Europe,  and  set  the  civil  magistrate  at  defiance 


LET.  XXX. J  MODERN    EUROPE.  183 

talents.  No  man,  even  in  that  romantic  age,  carried  personal  coinage  or 
intrepidity  to  a  greater  height ;  and  this  quality  obtained  him  the  appellation 
of  C(£ur  de  Lion,  or  the  Lion-hearted  Hero.  As  he  left  no  issue  behind  him, 
he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  John. 

The  succession  was  disputed  by  Arthur,  duke  of  Britanny,  son  of  Geoffrey, 
the  elder  brother  of  John ;  and  the  barons  of  Anjou,  Maine,  and  Touraine, 
declared  in  favour  of  this  young  prince's  title.  The  king  of  France,  whose 
daughter  he  espoused,  also  assisted  him ;  and  every  thing  promised  success, 
when  Arthur  was  unfortunately  taken  prisoner  by  his  uncle  John,  and 
inhumanly  murdered. 

The  fate  of  this  unhappy  prince  is  differently  related,  but  the  following 
account  seems  the  most  probable.  After  having  employed  unsuccessfully 
different  assassins,  John  went  himself  in  a  boat,  by  night,  to  the  castle  of 
Rouen,  where  Arthur  was  confined,  and  ordered  him  to  be  brought  forth. 
Aware  of  his  danger,  and  subdued  by  the  continuance  of  his  misfortunes,  and 
by  the  approach  of  death,  the  brave  youth,  who  had  before  gallantly  main 
tained  the  justice  of  his  cause,  threw  himself  on  his  knees  before  his  uncle, 
and  begged  for  mercy.  But  the  barbarous  tyrant,  making  no  reply,  stabbed 
his  nephew  to  the  heart,  and,  fastening  a  stone  to  the  dead  body,  threw  it  into 
the  Seine.(l) 

John's  misfortunes  commenced  with  his  crime.  The  whole  world  was 
struck  with  horror  at  his  barbarity ;  and  he  was  from  that  moment  detested 
by  his  subjects,  both  in  England  and  on  the  continent.  The  Bretons,  disap- 
pointed in  their  fondest  hopes,  waged  implacable  war  against  him,  in  order 
to  revenge  the  murder  of  their  duke :  and  they  carried  their  complaints  before 
the  French  monarch,  as  superior  lord,  demanding  justice  for  the  inhuman 
violence  committed  by  John  on  the  person  of  Arthur.  Philip  II.  received 
their  application  with  pleasure  ;  he  summoned  John  to  stand  trial  before  him 
and  his  peers  :  and,  on  his  non-appearance,  he  was  declared  guilty  of  felony 
and  parricide,  and  all  his  foreign  dominions  were  adjudged  forfeited  to  the 
crown  of  France.  (2) 

Nothing  now  remained  but  the  execution  of  this  sentence,  in  order  to  com- 
plete the  glory  of  Philip,  whose  active  and  ambitious  spirit  had  long  with 
impatience  borne  the  neighbourhood  of  so  powerful  a  vassal  as  the  king  of 
England.  He  therefore  greedily  embraced  the  present  favourable  opportunity 
of  annexing  to  the  French  crown  the  English  dominions  on  the  continent ; 
a  project  which  the  sound  policy  of  Henry  II.  and  the  military  genius  of 
Richard  I.  had  rendered  impracticable  to  the  most  vigorous  efforts,  and  most 
dangerous  intrigues,  of  this  able  and  artful  prince.  But  the  general  defection 
of  John's  vassals  rendered  every  enterprise  easy  against  him;  and  Philip  not 
only  reunited  Normandy  to  the  crown  of  France,  but  successively  reduced 
Anjou,  Maine,  Touraine,  and  part  of  Poitou,  under  his  dominion.(S)  Thus, 
by  the  baseness  of  one  prince,  and  the  intrepidity  of  another,  the  French 
monarchy  received,  in  a  few  years,  such  an  accession  of  power  and  grandeur 
as,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  it  would  have  required  several  ages  to 
attain. 

John's  arrival  in  England  completed  his  disgrace.  He  saw  himself  uni- 
versally despised  by  the  barons,  on  account  of  his  pusillanimity  and  baseness ; 
and  a  quarrel  with  the  clergy  drew  upon  him  the  contempt  of  that  order,  and 
the  indignation  of  Rome.  The  papal  chair  was  then  filled  by  Innocent  III., 
who,  having  been  exalted  to  it  at  a  more  early  period  of  life  than  usual,  and 
being  endowed  with  a  lofty  and  enterprising  genius,  gave  full  scope  to  his 
ambition ;  and  attempted,  perhaps  more  openly  than  any  of  his  predecessors, 
to  convert  that  ghostly  superiority,  which  was  yielded  him  by  all  the  European 
princes,  into  a  real  dominion  over  them ;  strongly  inculcating  that  extrava- 

Excluded  the  protection  of  general  society,  these  banditti  formed  a  kind  of  government  among  themselvt* 
Troops  of  them  were  sometimes  enlisted  in  the  service  of  one  prince  or  baron,  sometimes  in  that  of  « 
another ;  and  they  often  acted  in  an  independent  manner,  under  leaders  of  their  own.    W.  Neubrig 
Citron.  Gem.  (1)  T.  WykPs.     W.  Heroin".    M.  Paris.     H.  Knighton 

(21  Annal.  Morgan.    M.  West.  (3)  Otron.  Trevit.    Ypod.  Neusl 


184  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

gant  maxim,  "  that  neither  princes  nor  bishops,  civil  governors  nor  ecclesi- 
astical rulers,  have  any  lawful  power,  in  church  or  state,  but  what  they 
derive  from  the  pope."  To  this  pontiff  an  appeal  was  made  relative  to  the 
election  of  an  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Two  primates  had  been  elected ; 
one  by  the  monks  or  canons  of  Christ-Church,  Canterbuiy,  and  one  by  the 
suffragan  bishops,  who  had  the  king's  approbation.  The  pope  declared  both 
elections  void;  and  commanded  the  monks,  under  penalty  of  excommunica- 
tion, to  choose  for  their  primate  cardinal  Langton,  an  Englishman  by  birth, 
but  educated  in  France,  and  connected  by  his  interests  and  attachments  with 
the  see  of  Rome.  The  monks  complied ;  and  John,  inflamed  with  rage  at 
such  a  usurpation  of  his  prerogative,  expelled  them  the  convent ;  swearing 
by  God's  teeth,  his  usual  oath,  that,  if  the  pope  gave  him  any  farther  disturb- 
mce,  he  would  banish  all  the  bishops  and  clergy  of  England.(l)  Innocent, 
nowever,  knew  his  weakness,  and  laid  the  kingdom  under  an  interdict ;  at 
that  time  the  grand  instrument  of  vengeance  and  policy  employed  against 
sovereigns  by  the  court  of  Rome. 

The  execution  of  this  sentence  was  artfully  calculated  to  strike  the  senses 
in  the  highest  degree,  and  to  operate  with  irresistible  force  on  the  superstitious 
minds  of  the  people.  The  nation  was  suddenly  deprived  of  all  exterior 
exercise  of  its  religion ;  the  altars  were  despoiled  of  their  ornaments ;  the 
crosses,  the  relics,  the  images,  the  statues  of  the  saints,  were  laid  on  the 
ground ;  and,  as  if  the  air  itself  had  been  profaned,  and  might  pollute  them 
by  its  contact,  the  priests  carefully  covered  them  up,  even  from  their  own 
approach  and  veneration.  The  use  of  bells  entirely  ceased  in  all  the  churches ; 
the  bells  themselves  were  removed  from  the  steeples,  and  laid  on  the  ground 
with  the  other  sacred  utensils.  Mass  was  celebrated  with  shut  doors,  and 
none  but  the  priests  were  admitted  to  that  holy  institution.  The  laity  par- 
took of  no  religious  rite,  except  baptism  of  new-born  infants,  and  the  com- 
munion to  the  dying.  The  dead  were  not  interred  in  consecrated  ground  : 
they  were  thrown  into  ditches,  or  buried  in  the  common  fields ;  and  their 
obsequies  were  not  attended  with  prayers,  or  any  hallowed  ceremony.  The 
people  were  prohibited  the  use  of  meat,  as  in  Lent,  and  debarred  from  all 
pleasures  and  amusements.  Every  thing  wore  the  appearance  of  the  deepest 
distress,  and  of  the  most  immediate  apprehensions  of  divine  vengeance  and 
indignation.  (2) 

While  England  groaned  under  this  dreadful  sentence,  a  new  and  very  ex- 
traordinary scene  disclosed  itself  on  the  continent.  Pope  Innocent  III. 
published  a  crusade  against  the  Albigenses,  a  species  of  sectaries  in  the 
South  of  France,  whom  he  denominated  heretics ;  because,  like  all  sectaries, 
they  neglected  the  rites  of  the  church,  and  opposed  the  power  and  influence 
of  the  clergy.  Moved  by  that  mad  superstition,  which  had  hurried  such 
armies  into  Asia,  in  order  to  combat  the  infidels,  and  the  reigning  passion 
for  wars  and  adventures,  people  flocked  from  all  parts  of  Europe  to  the 
standard  of  Simon  de  Montfort,  the  general  of  this  crusade.  The  count  of 
Thoulouse,  who  protected  the  Albigenses,  was  stripped  of  his  dominions; 
and  these  unhappy  people  themselves,  though  the  most  inoffensive  of  man- 
kind, were  exterminated  with  all  the  circumstances  of  the  most  unfeeling 
barbarity.  (3) 

Innocent,  having  thus  made  trial  of  his  power,  carried  still  farther  his 
ecclesiastical  vengeance  against  the  king  of  England,  who  was  now  both 
despised  and  hated  by  his  subjects  of  all  ranks  and  conditions.  He  gave  the 
bishops  of  London,  Ely,  and  Worcester,  authority  to  denounce  against  John 
the  sentence  of  excommunication.  His  subjects  were  absolved  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance,  and  a  sentence  of  deposition  soon  followed.  But  as  this  last 

(1)  M.Paris. 

(2)  John,  besides  banishing  the  bishops,  and  confiscating  the  estates  of  all  the  ecclesiastics  who  obeyed 
the  interdict,  took  a  very  singular  and  severe  revenge  upon  the  clergy.    In  order  to  distress  tliein   in  the 

.  tenderest  point,  and  at  the  same  time  expose  them  to  reproach  and  ridicule,  lie  threw  into  prison  all  their 
concubines.  (M.  Paris.  Ann.  Waverl.)  These  concubines  were  a  sort  of  inferior  wives,  politically 
Indulged  to  the  clergy  by  the  civil  magistrate,  after  the  members  of  that  sacred  body  wereenjomed  celibact 
liv  the  canons  of  the  church.  PadrePaolo. Hist.  Cone.  Trid.  lib. i.  (3)  Hist  Mbig. 


LET.  XXX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  186 

sentence  required  an  armed  force  to  execute  it,  the  pontiff  pitched  on  Philip 
II.  king  of  France,  as  the  person  into  whose  hand  he  could  most  properly 
intrust  so  terrible  a  weapon :  and  he  proffered  that  monarch,  beside  the  remis- 
sion of  all  his  sins,  and  endless  spiritual  benefits,  the  kingdom  of  England 
as  the  reward  of  his  labour.(l) 

Seduced  by  the  prospect  of  present  interest,  Philip  accepted  the  pope's 
liberal  offer ;  although  he  thereby  ratified  an  authority  which  might  one  day 
tumble  him  from  his  throne,  and  which  it  was  the  common  concern  of  all 
princes  to  oppose.  He  levied  a  great  army ;  summoned  all  the  vassals  of  his 
crown  to  attend  him  at  Rouen;  collected  a  fleet  of  seventeen  hundred  vessels, 
great  and  small,  in  the  sea-ports  of  Normandy  and  Picardy ;  and  partly  by 
the  zeal  of  the  age,  partly  by  the  personal  regard  universally  paid  him,  pre- 
pared a  force  which  seemed  equal  to  the  greatness  of  his  enterprise.  John, 
on  the  other  hand,  issued  out  writs,  requiring  the  attendance  of  all  his  mili- 
tary vassals  at  Dover,  and  even  of  all  able-bodied  men,  to  defend  the  kingdom 
in  this  dangerous  extremity.  An  infinite  number  appeared,  out  of  which  he 
selected  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men.  (2)  He  had  also  a  formidable  fleet 
at  Portsmouth,  and  he  might  have  relied  on  the  fidelity  of  both ;  not  indeed 
from  their  attachment  to  him,  but  from  that  spirit  of  emulation  which  has  so 
long  subsisted  between  the  natives  of  England  and  France. 

All  Europe  was  held  in  expectation  of  a  decisive  action  between  the  two 
kings,  when  the  pope  artfully  tricked  them  both,  and  took  to  himself  that 
tempting  prize  which  he  had  pretended  to  hold  out  to  Philip.  This  extraor- 
dinary transaction  was  negotiated  by  Pandolfo,  the  pope's  legate  to  France 
and  England.  In  his  way  through  France,  he  observed  Philip's  great  arma- 
ment, and  highly  commended  his  zeal  and  diligence.  He  thence  passed  to 
Dover,  under  pretence  of  negotiating  with  the  barons  in  favour  of  the  French 
king,  and  had  a  conference  with  John  on  his  arrival.  He  magnified  to  that 
prince  the  number  of  the  enemy,  and  the  disaffection  of  his  own  subjects ; 
intimating,  that  there  was  yet  one  way,  and  but  one,  to  secure  himself  from 
the  impending  danger ;  namely,  to  put  himself  under  the  protection  of  the 
pope,  who,  like  a  kind  and  merciful  father,  was  still  willing  to  receive  him 
into  his  bosom. 

John,  labouring  under  the  apprehensions  of  present  terror,  listened  to  the 
insidious  proposal,  and  abjectly  agreed  to  hold  his  dominions  as  a  feudatory 
of  the  church  of  Rome.  In  consequence  of  this  agreement,  he  did  homage 
to  the  pope  in  the  person  of  his  legate,  Pandolfo,  with  all  the  humiliating 
rites  which  the  feudal  law  required  of  vassals  before  their  liege-lord  and  supe- 
rior. He  came  disarmed  into  the  presence  of  the  legate,  who  was  seated  on 
a  throne ;  he  threw  himself  on  his  knees  before  it :  he  lifted  up  his  joined 
hands,  and  put  them  between  those  of  Pandolfo,  and  swore  fealty  to  the  pope 
in  the,  following  words :  "  I  John,  by  the  grace  of  God,  king  of  England,  and 
lord  of  Ireland,  for  the  expiation  of  my  sins,  and  out  of  my  own  free  Avill, 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  my  barons,  do  give  unto  the  church  of  Rome, 
and  to  pope  Innocent  III.  and  his  successors,  the  kingdoms  of  England  and 
Ireland,  together  with  all  the  rights  belonging  to  them ;  and  will  hold  them 
of  the  pope,  as  his  vassal.  I  will  be  faithful  to  God,  to  the  church  of 
Rome,  to  the  pope  my  lord,  and  to  his  successors  lawfully  elected :  and  I 
bind  myself  to  pay  him  a  tribute  of  one  thousand  marks  of  silver  yearly ; 
to  wit,  seven  hundred  for  the  kingdom  of  England,  and  three  hundred  for 
Ireland."(3) 

Part  of  the  money  was  immediately  paid  to  the  legate,  as  an  earnest  of  the 
subjection  of  the  kingdom ;  after  which  the  crown  and  sceptre  were  also 
delivered  to  him.  The  insolent  Italian  trampled  the  money  under  his  feet, 
indicating  thereby  the  pope's  superiority  and  the  king's  dependent  state,  and 
kept  the  regalia  five  days ;  then  returned  them  to  John,  as  a  favour  from  the 
pope,  their  common  master. 

During  this  shameful  negotiation,  the  French  monarch  waited  impatiently 

U)  M.Paris.    M.  Westminst.  (2)  Ibid.  (3)  Rymer,  vol.  i.    M.  Paris,  Hist.  Major. 


186  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  i 

at  Boulogne  for  the  legate's  return,  in  order  to  put  to  sea.  The  legate  at 
length  returned;  and  the  king,  to  his  utter  astonishment,  was  given  to  under- 
stand that  he  was  no  longer  permitted  to  attack  England,  which  was  become 
a  fief  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  its  king  a  vassal  of  the  Holy  See.  Philip 
was  enraged  at  this  intelligence :  he  swore  he  would  no  longer  be  the  dupe 
of  such  hypocritical  pretences ;  nor  would  he  have  desisted  from  his  enter- 
prise but  for  weightier  reasons.  His  fleet  was  utterly  destroyed  by  that  of 
England;  and  the  emperor  Otho  IV.,  who  at  once  disputed  the  empire  with 
Frederic  II.  son  to  Henry  VI.,  and  Italy  with  the  pope,  as  we  shall  afterward 
have  occasion  to  see,  had  entered  into  an  alliance  with  his  uncle,  the  king  of 
England,  in  order  to  oppose  the  designs  of  France,  now  become  formidable  to 
the  rest  of  Europe.  With  this  view  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  prodigious 
force ;  and  the  French  monarch  seemed  in  danger  of  being  crushed  for  having 
grasped  at  a  present  proffered  him  by  the  pope. 

Philip,  however,  advanced  undismayed  to  meet  his  enemies,  with  an  army 
of  fifty  thousand  chosen  men,  commanded  by  the  chief  nobility  of  France, 
and  including  twelve  hundred  knights,  and  between  six  and  seven  thousand 
gens  d'armes.  The  emperor  Otho,  on  the  other  side,  had  with  him  the  earl  of 
Salisbury,  bastard  brother  to  king  John,  the  count  of  Flanders,  the  duke  of 
Brabant,  seven  or  eight  German  princes,  and  a  force  superior  to  that  of  Philip. 
The  two  armies  met  near  the  village  of  Bouvines,  between  Lisle  and  Tournay, 
where  the  allies  were  totally  routed,  and  thirty  thousand  Germans  are  said  to 
have  been  slain.  (1) 

This  victory  established  for  ever  the  glory  of  Philip,  and  gave  full  security 
to  all  his  dominions.  John  could  therefore  hope  for  nothing  farther  than 
henceforth  to  rule  his  own  kingdom  in  peace ;  'and  his  close  alliance  with 
the  pope,  which  he  was  determined  at  any  price  to  maintain,  ensured  him, 
as  he  imagined,  the  certain  attainment  of  that  felicity.  How  much  was  he 
deceived !  A  truce  was  indeed  concluded  with  France,  but  the  most  grievous 
scene  of  this  prince's  misfortunes  still  awaited  him.  He  was  doomed  to  hum- 
ble himself  before  his  own  subjects,  that  the  rights  of  Englishmen  might  be 
restored,  and  the  privileges  of  humanity  secured  and  ascertained. 

The  conquest  of  England  by  William  the  Norman,  and  the  introduction  of 
the  feudal  government  into  the  kingdom,  had  much  infringed  the  liberties  ol 
the  natives.  The  whole  people  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  vassalage  under 
the  kings  or  barons,  and  even  the  greater  part  of  them  to  a  state  of  actual 
slavery.  The  necessity  also  of  devolving  great  power  into  the  hands  of  a 
prince  who  was  to  maintain  a  military  dominion  over  a  vanquished  nation, 
had  induced  the  Norman  barons  to  subject  themselves  to  a  more  absolute 
authority,  as  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe,  than  men  of  their  rank 
commonly  submitted  to  in  other  feudal  governments;  so  that  England,  during 
the  course  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  had  groaned  under  a  tyranny  un- 
known to  all  the  kingdoms  founded  by  the  northern  conquerors.  Preroga- 
tives once  exalted  are  not  easily  reduced.  Different  concessions  had  been 
made  by  different  princes,  in  order  to  serve  their  temporary  purposes ;  but 
these  were  soon  disregarded,  and  the  same  unlimited  authority  continued  to 
be  exercised  both  by  them  and  their  successors.  The  feeble  reign  of  John, 
a  prince  equally  odious  and  contemptible  to  the  whole  nation,  seemed  there- 
fore to  afford  all  ranks  of  men  a  happy  opportunity  of  recovering  their  natural 
and  constitutional  rights  ; — and  it  was  not  neglected. 

The  barons  entered  into  a  confederacy,  and  formally  demanded  a  restora- 
tion of  their  privileges ;  and,  that  their  cause  might  wear  the  greater  ap- 
pearance of  justice,  they  also  included  those  of  the  clergy  and  the  people. 
They  took  arms  to  enforce  their  request :  they  laid  waste  the  royal  domains  : 
and  John,  after  employing  a  variety  of  expedients,  in  order  to  divert  the 
blow  aimed  at  the  prerogatives  of  his  crown,  was  obliged  to  lower  himself 
and  treat  with  h:s  subjects. 

A  conference  was  held  between  the  king  and  the  barons  at  Runnemede 

(1)  Gul.  Brit      Fit.  Phil.  Aufutt.    Nag.  Chron.    P. 


LET.  XXXI.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  187 

between  Windsor  and  Staines ;  a  spot  ever  since  deservedly  celebrated,  and 
even  hallowed  by  every  zealous  lover  of  liberty.  There  John,  after  a  debate 
of  some  days,  signed  and  sealed  the  famous  Magna  Chartaj  or  GREAT  CHAR- 
TER; which  either  granted  or  secured  very  important  privileges  to  ever} 
order  of  men  in  the  kingdom — to  the  barons,  to  the  clergy,  and  to  the  people 

What  these  privileges  particularly  were  you  will  best  learn,  my  deai 
Philip,  from  the  charter  itself,  which  deserves  your  most  early  and  continued 
attention,  as  it  involves  all  the  great  outlines  of  a  regal  government,  and 
provides  for  the  equal  distribution  of  justice,  and  free  enjoyment  of  property, 
the  chief  objects  for  which  political  society  was  first  founded  by  men,  which 
the  people  have  a  perpetual  and  unalienable  right  to  recall,  and  which  no 
time,  nor  precedent,  nor  statute,  nor  positive  institution,  ought  to  deter  them 
from  keeping  ever  uppermost  in  their  thoughts. (1) 

The  better  to  secure  the  execution  of  this  charter,  the  barons  stipulated 
with  the  king  for  the  privilege  of  choosing  twenty-five  members,  of  their  own 
order,  as  conservators  of  the  public  liberties  :  and  no  bounds  were  set  to  the 
authority  of  these  noblemen,  either  in  extent  or  duration.  If  complaint  was 
made  of  the  violation  of  the  charter,  any  four  of  the  conservators  might  ad- 
monish the  king  to  redress  the  grievance ;  and  if  satisfaction  was  not  obtain- 
ed, they  could  assemble  the  whole  council  of  twenty -five.  This  august  body, 
in  conjunction  with  the  great  council  of  the  nation,  was  empowered  to  com- 
pel him  to  observe  the  charter ;  and,  in  case  of  resistance,  might  levy  war 
against  him.  All  men  throughout  the  kingdom  were  bound,  under  penalty  of 
confiscation,  to  swear  obedience  to  the  five  and  twenty  barons ;  and  the  free- 
holders, of  each  county  were  to  choose  twelve  knights,  who  should  make  re- 
port of  such  evil  customs  as  required  redress,  conformable  to  the  tenor  of 
the  Great  Charter.(S) 

In  what  manner  John  acted  after  granting  the  charter,  and  under  these 
regulations  to  which  he  seemed  passively  to  submit,  together  with  their  in- 
fluence on  the  English  constitution,  and  on  the  affairs  of  France,  we  shall 
afterward  have  occasion  to  see.  At  present  we,  must  cast  our  eyes  on  the 
other  states  of  Europe. 


LETTER  XXXI. 

The  German  Empire,  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome,  and  the  Italian  States,  from 
the  Accession  of  Henry  VL  to  the  Election  of  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg,  Founder 
of  the  House  of  Austria,  with  a  Continuation  of  the  History  of  the  Crusades 

IT  is  necessary,  my  dear  Philip,  that  I  should  here  recapitulate  a  little , 
for  there  is  no  portion  of  modern  history  more  perplexed  than  that  under 
review. 

The  emperor,  Frederic  Barbarossa,  died  as  you  have  seen,  in  his  expedi- 
tion to  the  Holy  Land;  and  his  son,  Henry  VI.,  received  almost  at  the  same 
time  intelligence  of  the  death  of  his  father  and  his  brother-in-law,  William 
king  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  to  whose  dominions  he  was  heir  in  right  of  his 
wife.  After  settling  the  affairs  of  Germany,  he  levied  an  army,  and  marched 
into  Italy,  in  order  to  be  crowned  by  the  pope,  and  go  with  the  empress  Con- 
stantia  to  recover  the  succession  of  Sicily,  which  was  usurped  by  Tancred, 
her  natural  brother.  With  this  view  he  endeavoured  to  conciliate  the  affec- 
tions of  the  Lombards,  by  enlarging  the  privileges  of  Genoa,  Pisa,  and  other 

(1)  The  most  valuable  stipulation  in  this  charter,  and  the  grand  security  of  the  lives,  liberties,  and  pio- 
jierties  of  Englishmen,  v/as  the  following  concession.  "  No  freeman  shall  be  apprehended,  or  imprisoned 
or  disseised,  or  outlawed,  or  banished,  or  any  other  way  destroyed;  nor  will  WE  go  upon  him,  nor  will 
WE  send  upon  him,  except  by  the  legal  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  by  the  law  of  the  land."  Mag.  Chart. 
Art.  xxxii.)  The  stipulation  next  in  importance  seems  to  be  the  singular  concession,  that  "to  no  mac 
will  we  sell,  to  no  man  will  we  delay,  right  and  justice."  (Ibid.  Art.  xxxiii.)  These  concessions  show, 
in  a  very  strong  light,  the  violences  and  iniquitous  practices  of  the  Anglo-Norman  princes. 
C2)  M.  Paris  Rvmer  vol  i. 


188  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

cities,  in  his  way  to  Rome.  There  the  ceremony  of  coronation  was  per- 
formed the  day  after  Easter,  by  Celestine  III.,  accompanied  with  a  very  re- 
markable circumstance.  That  pope,  who  was  then  in  his  eighty-sixth  year, 
had  no  sooner  placed  the  crown  upon  Henry's  head,  than  he  kicked  it  off 
again ;  as  a  testimony  of  the  power  residing  in  the  sovereign  pontiff,  to 
make  and  unmake  emperor s.(l) 

Henry  now  prepared  for  the  conquest  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  in  which  he 
was  opposed  by  *be  pope.  For  although  Celestine  considered  Tancred  as  a 
usurper,  and  wanted  to  see  him  deprived  of  the  crown  of  Sicily,  which  he 
claimed,  in  imitation  of  his  predecessors,  as  a  fief  of  the  holy  see,  he  was 
still  more  averse  against  the  emperor's  possessing  that  kingdom;  because 
such  an  accession  of  territory  would  have  rendered  him  too  powerful  in  Italy 
for  the  interests  of  the  church.  He  dreaded  so  formidable  a  vassal.  Henry, 
however,  without  paying  any  regard  to  the  threats  and  remonstrances  of  his 
holiness,  took  aunost  all  the  towns  of  Campania,  Apulia,  and  Calabria ;  in- 
vested the  city  of  Naples,  and  sent  for  the  Genoese  fleet,  which  he  had  en- 
gaged to  come  and  form  a  blockade  by  sea.  But,  before  its  arrival,  he  was 
obliged  to  raise  the  siege,  in  consequence  of  a  dreadful  mortality  among  his 
troops,  and  all  future  attempts  upon  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily  proved 
ineffectual  during  the  life  of  Tancred. (2) 

The  emperor,  after  his  return  to  Germany,  incorporated  the  Teutonic 
knights  into  a  regular  order,  religious  and  military,  and  built  a  house  for 
them  at  Coblentz.  These  Teutonic  knights,  and  also  the  knights  Templars, 
and  knights  Hospitallers,  were  originally  monks,  who  settled  in  Jerusalem, 
when  it  was  first  taken  by  the  champions  of  the  Cross.  They  were  estab- 
lished into  religious  fraternities  for  the  relief  of  distressed  pilgrims,  and  for  the 
care  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  without  any  hostile  purpose.  But  the  holy 
city  being  afterward  in  danger,  they  took  up  arms,  and  made  a  vow  to 
combat  the  Infidels,  as  they  had  formerly  done  to  combat  their  own  carnal 
inclinations.  The  enthusiastic  zeal  of  the  times  increased  their  members : 
they  grew  wealthy  and  honourable ;  were  patronised  in  Europe  by  different 
princes,  and  became  a  militia  of  conquerors. (3)  Their  exploits  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  relate. 

In  what  manner  Richard  I.  king  of  England  was  arrested,  on  his  return 
from  the  Holy  Land,  by  Leopold,  duke  of  Austria,  and  detained  prisoner  by 
the  emperor,  we  have  already  seen.  As  soon  as  Henry  had  received  the 
money  for  that  prince's  ransom,  he  made  new  preparations  for  the  conquest 
of  Sicily ;  and  Tancred  dying  about  the  same  time,  he  effected  his  purpose 
by  the  assistance  of  the  Genoese.  The  queen  dowager  surrendered  Salerno, 
and  her  right  to  the  crown,  on  condition  that  her  son  William  should  possess 
the  principality  of  Tarentum.  But  Henry,  joining  the  most  atrocious  cruelty 
to  the  basest  perfidy,  no  sooner  found  himself  master  of  the  place,  than  he 
ordered  the  infant  king  to  be  castrated ;  to  have  his  eyes  put  out,  and  be  con- 
fined in  a  dungeon.  The  royal  treasure  was  transported  to  Germany,  and 
the  queen  and  her  daughters  were  shut  up  in  a  convent.  (4) 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Sicily,  the  empress,  though  near  the 
age  of  fifty,  was  delivered  of  a  son  named  Frederic.  And  Henry,  in  the 
plenitude  of  his  power,  assembled  soon  after  a  diet  of  the  German  princes  to 
whom  he  explained  his  intention  of  rendering  the  imperial  crown  hereditary, 
in  order  to  prevent  those  disturbances  which  attended  the  election  of  empe- 
rors. A  decree  was  passed  for  that  purpose ;  and  Frederic  II.,  yet  in  his 
cradle,  was  declared  king  of  the  Romans.(5) 

In  the  meantime  the  emperor  was  solicited  by  the  pope  to  engage  in  a  new 
crusade,  for  the  relief  of  the  Christians  in  the  Holy  Land.  Henry  obeyed,  but 
took  care  to  turn  it  to  his  advantage.  He  convoked  a  general  diet  at  Worms, 
where  he  solemnly  declared  his  resolution  of  employing  his  whole  power,  and 
even  of  hazarding  his  life,  for  the  accomplishment  of  so  holy  an  undertaking : 
and  he  expatiated  on  the  subject  with  so  much  eloquence,  that  almost  the 

(1)  R.  Hoveden.    Jnnal.  Heiss,  lib.  ii.        (2)  Sigon.  Reg.  Itnl.  lib.  xv.        (3)  Helyot.  Hist.  dr.t  Ordret. 
'41  Sigon.  Reg.  Ital.    Reliue,  de  Reg.  Jfapol.tt  Sicil.  (51  Lunig.    Arch.  Imp.    Heiss,  lib.  ii 


LET.  XXXI.  J  MODERN    EUROPE.  189 

whole  assembly  took  the  cross.  Nay,  such  multitudes,  from  all  the  provinces 
of  the  empire,  enlisted  themselves,  that  Henry  divided  them  into  three  large 
armies  ;  one  of  which,  under  the  command  of  the  bishop  of  Mentz,  took  the 
route  of  Hungary,  where  it  was  joined  by  Margaret  queen  of  that  country, 
who  entered  herself  in  this  pious  expedition,  and  actually  ended  her  days  in 
Palestine.  The  second  army  was  assembled  in  Lower  Saxony,  and  embarked 
in  a  fleet  furnished  by  the  inhabitants  of  Lubec,  Hamburg,  Holstein,  and 
Friesland ,  and  the  emperor  in  person  conducted  the  third  into  Italy,  in  ordei 
to  take  vengeance  upon  the  Normans  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  who  had  risen 
against  his  government. (l) 

The  rebels  were  humbled,  and  their  chiefs  condemned  to  perish  by  the 
most  excruciating  tortures.  One,  Jornandi,  of  the  house  of  the  Norman 
princes,  was  tied  naked  on  a  chair  of  red-hot  iron,  and  crowned  with  a  circle 
of  the  same  burning  metal,  which  was  nailed  to  his  head.  The  empress, 
shocked  at  such  cruelty,  renounced  her  faith  to  her  husband,  and  encouraged 
her  countrymen  to  recover  their  liberties.  Resolution  sprung  from  despair. 
The  inhabitants  betook  themselves  to  arms,  the  empress  Constantia  headed 
them;  and  Henry,  having  dismissed  his  troops,  no  longer  thought  necessary 
to  his  bloody  purposes,  and  sent  them  to  pursue  their  expedition  to  the  Holy 
Land,  (blessed  atonement  for  his  crimes  and  theirs !)  was  obliged  to  submit 
to  his  wife,  and  to  the  conditions  which  she  was  pleased  to  impose  on  him  in 
favour  of  the  Sicilians.  He  died  at  Messina  soon  after  this  treaty;  and,  as 
was  supposed,  of  poison  administered  by  the  empress,  who  saw  the  ruin  of 
her  country  hatching  in  his  perfidious  and  vindictive  heart. (2) 

But  Henry,  amid  all  his  baseness,  possessed  many  great  qualities.  He  was 
active,  eloquent,  brave ;  his  administration  was  vigorous,  and  his  policy  deep. 
None  of  the  successors  of  Charlemagne  was  ever  more  feared  and  obeyed, 
either  at  home  or  abroad. 

The  emperor's  son  Frederic,  having  already  been  declared  king  of  the 
Romans,  became  emperor  on  the  death  of  his  father.  But  as  Frederic  II.  was, 
yet  a  minor,  the  administration  was  committed  to  his  uncle,  Philip  duke  ol 
Suabia,  both  by  the  will  of  Henry  and  by  an  assembly  of  the  German  princes. 
Other  princes,  however,  incensed  to  see  an  elective  empire  become  heredi- 
tary, held  a  new  diet  at  Cologne,  and  chose  Otho  duke  of  Brunswick,  son  of 
Henry  the  Lion.  Frederic's  title  was  confirmed  in  a  third  assembly,  at  Arns- 
burg ;  and  his  uncle  Philip  was  elected  king  of  the  Romans,  in  order  to  give 
greater  weight  to  his  administration. (3)  % 

These  two  elections  divided  the  empire  into  two  powerful  factions,  and 
involved  all  Germany  in  ruin  and  desolation.  Innocent  III.,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Celestine  in  the  papal  chair,  threw  himself  into  the  scale  of  Otho,  and 
excommunicated  Philip  and  all  his  adherents.  This  able  and  ambitious 
pontiff  (of  whom  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  speak)  was  a  sworn  enemy 
to  the  house  of  Suabia ;  not  from  any  personal  animosity,  but  out  of  a  prin- 
ciple of  policy.  That  house  had  long  been  terrible  to  the  popes,  by  its  con- 
tinued possession  of  the  imperial  crown;  and  the  accession  of  the  king  of 
Naples  and  Sicily  made  it  still  more  to  be  dreaded.  Innocent,  therefore, 
gladly  seized  the  present  favourable  opportunity  for  divesting  the  house  of 
Suabia  of  the  empire,  by  supporting  the  election  of  Otho,  and  sowing  divisions 
among  the  Suabian  party.  Otho  was  also  patronised  by  his  uncle,  the  king 
of  England;  a  circumstance  which  naturally  inclined  the  king  of  France  to 
the  side  of  his  rival.  Faction  clashed  with  faction ;  friendship  with  interest ; 
caprice,  ambition,  or  resentment,  gave  the  sway;  and  nothing  was  beheld  on 
all  hands  but  the  horrors  and  miseries  of  civil  war.(  i) 

Meanwhile  the  empress  Constantia  remained  in  Sicily,  where  all  was  peace, 
as  regent  and  guardian  for  her  infant  son,  Frederic  II.,  who  had  been  crowned 
king  of  that  island,  with  the  consent  of  pope  Celestine  III.  But  she  also  had 
her  troubles.  A  new  investiture  from  the  Holy  See  being  necessary  on  the 
death  of  Celestine,  Innocent  III.,  his  successor,  took  advantage  of  the  critical 

(1)  Giannone,  Hist.di  ffapol.  (2)  Id.  ibid.    Relius.  ubi  sup. 

&\  Krantz,  lib.  viii.     Heiss,  lib.  ii.  (4\  Id.  ibid.     Snnal.  de  F  Emp.  torn  i 


190  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

situation  of  affairs  for  agrandizing  the  papacy  at  the  expense  of  the  kings  of 
Sicily.  They  possessed,  as  we  have  seen,  the  privilege  of  filling  up  vacant 
benefices,  and  of  judging  all  ecclesiastical  causes  in  the  last  appeal :  they  were 
really  popes  in  their  own  islands,  though  vassals  of  his  holiness.  Innocent 
pretended  that  these  powers  had  been  surreptitiously  obtained ;  and  demanded, 
that  Constantia  should  renounce  them  in  the  name  of  her  son,  and  do  liege, 
pure,  and  simple  homage  for  Sicily.  But  before  any  thing  was  settled  rela- 
tive to  this  affair,  the  empress  died,  leaving  the  regency  of  the  kingdom  to 
the  pope ;  so  that  he  was  enabled  to  prescribe  what  conditions  he  thought 
proper  to  young  Frederic. (1) 

The  troubles  of  Germany  still  continued;  and  the  pope  redoubled  his 
efforts  to  detach  the  princes  and  prelates  from  the  cause  of  Philip,  king  of  the 
Romans,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  the  king  of  France.  To  these 
remonstrances  he  proudly  replied,  "  either  Philip  must  lose  the  empire,  or  I 
the  papacy ."(2) 

But  all  these  dissensions  and  troubles  in  Europe  did  not  prevent  the  forma 
tion  of  another  crusade,  or  expedition  into  Asia,  for  the  recovery  of  the 
Holy  Land.  The  adventurers  who  took  the  cross  were  chiefly  French  and 
Germans.  Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders,  was  their  commander;  and  the 
Venetians,  as  greedy  of  Avealth  and  power  as  the  ancient  Carthaginians, 
furnished  them  with  ships,  for  which  they  took  care  to  be  amply  paid  both  in 
money  and  territory.  The  Christian  city  of  Zara,  in  Dalmatia,  had  with- 
drawn itself  from  the  government  of  the  republic :  the  army  of  the  cross 
undertook  to  reduce  it  to  obedience ;  and  it  was  besieged  and  taken,  notwith- 
standing the  threats  and  excommunications  of  the  pope. (3)  Nothing  can 
show  in  a  stronger  light  the  reigning  spirit  of  those  pious  adventurers. 

The  storm  next  broke  upon  Constantinople.  Isaac  Angelus,  the  Greek 
emperor,  had  been  dethroned,  and  deprived  of  his  sight,  in  1195,  by  his  bro- 
ther Alexis.  Isaac's  son,  named  also  Alexis,  who  had  made  his  escape  into 
Germany,  and  was  then  in  the  army  of  the  crusade,  implored  the  assistance 
of  its  leaders  against  the  usurper ;  engaging,  in  case  of  success,  to  furnish 
them  provisions,  to  pay  them  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  to  submit  himself 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pope.  By  their  means  the  lawful  prince  was  re- 
stored. He  ratified  the  treaty  made  by  his  son,  and  died ;  Avhen  young 
Alexis,  who  was  hated  by  the  Greeks  for  having  called  in  the  Latins,  became 
the  victim  of  a  new  faction.  One  of  his  relations,  surnamed  Murtzufle, 
Strangled  him  with  his  own  hands,  and  usurped  the  imperial  throne.  (4) 

Baldwin  and  his  followers,  who  Avanted  only  an  apology  for  their  intended 
violence,  had  now  a  good  one ;  and,  under  pretence  of  revenging  the  death 
of  Alexis,  made  themselves  masters  of  Constantinople.  They  entered  it  with 
little  or  no  resistance;  put  everyone  who  opposed  them  to  the  sword,  and 
gave  themselves  up  to  all  the  excesses  of  avarice  and  fury.  The  booty  of 
the  French  lords  alone  was  valued  at  four  hundred  thousand  marks  of  silver : 
the  very  churches  were  pillaged !  And  what  strongly  marks  the  character  of 
that  giddy  nation,  which  has  been  at  all  times  nearly  the  same,  we  are  told 
by  Nicetas,  that  the  French  officers  danced  with  the  ladies  in  the  sanctuary 
of  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  after  having  robbed  the  altar,  and  drenched  the 
city  in  blood.  (5) 

Thus  was  Constantinople,  the  most  flourishing  Christian  city  in  the  world, 
taken  for  the  first  time,  and  sacked  by  Christians,  who  had  vowed  to  fight 
only  against  infidels ! — Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders,  the  most  powerful  of 
these  ravagers,  got  himself  elected  emperor ;  and  this  new  usurper  condemned 
the  other  usurper,  Murtuzfle,  to  be  thrown  headlong  from  the  top  of  a  lofty 
column.  The  Venetians  had  for  their  share  Peloponnesus,  the  island  of 
Candia,  and  several  cities  on  the  coast  of  Phrygia,  which  had  not  yet  sub- 
mitted to  the  Turkish  yoke.  The  marquis  de  Montferrat  seized  Thessaly ; 
so  that  Baldwin  had  little  left  except  Thrace  and  Mesia.  The  pope  gained, 

(1)  Mural.  Jinliq.  ltd.  torn.  vi.         (2)  Oe.it.  Innocent.  III.         (3)  Maimbourg,  Hist,  des  Croiaadtt 
.<)  Nicetas,  Chron.  (5)  Ibid. 


LET.  XXXI.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  191 

for  a  time,  the  whole  eastern  church ;  and,  in  a  word,  an  acquisition  was 
made  of  much  greater  consequence  than  Palestine.  Of  this  indeed  the  con- 
querors seemed  fully  convinced ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  vow  they  had 
taken,  to  go  and  succour  Jerusalem,  only  a  very  inconsiderable  number  01 
the  many  knights  who  had  engaged  in  this  pious  enterprise  went  into  Syria, 
and  those  were  such  as  could  get  no  share  in  the  spoils  of  the  Greeks. (1) 

Innocent  III.,  speaking  of  this  conquest,  says,  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  God, 
willing  to  console  his  church  by  the  reunion  of  the  schismatics,  has  made 
the  empire  pass  from  the  proud,  superstitious,  disobedient  Greeks,  to  the 
humble,  pious,  catholic,  and  submissive  Latins."  So  easy  it  is  by  words  to 
give  that  complexion  to  persons  and  things  which  most  favours  our  interests 
and  our  prejudices ! 

I  should  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  the  affairs  of  Germany  ;  but  a  few 
more  particulars,  consequent  on  the  taking  of  Constantinople,  require  first 
to  be  noted,  as  they  cannot  afterward  be  brought  properly  under  review. 

There  still  remained  a  number  of  princes  of  the  imperial  house  of  Com- 
nenus,  who  did  not  lose  their  courage  with  the  destruction  of  their  empire. 
One  of  those,  who  bore  among  others  the  name  of  Alexis,  took  refuge  on  the 
coast  of  Colchis ;  and  there,  between  the  sea  and  mount  Caucasus,  erected 
a  petty  state,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  the  Empire  of  Trebisond ;  so 
much  was  the  word  empire  abused  ! — Theodore  Lascarus  retook  Nice,  and 
settled  himself  in  Bithynia  by  opportunely  making  use  of  the  Arabs  against 
the  Turks.  He  also  assumed  the  title  of  emperor,  and  caused  a  patriarch  to 
be  electea  of  his  own  communion.  Other  Greeks  entered  into  an  alliance 
with  the  Turks,  and  even  called  in  their  ancient  enemies,  the  Bulgarians,  to 
assist  them  against  the  emperor  Baldwin,  who,  being  overcome  by  those  bar- 
barians near  Adrianople,  had  his  legs  and  arms  cut  off,  and  was  left  a  prey  to 
wild  beasts. (2)  Henry,  his  brother  and  successor,  was  poisoned  in  1216; 
and,  within  half  a  century,  the  imperial  city,  which  had  gone  to  ruin  undei 
the  Latins,  returned  once  more  to  the  Greeks. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  the  East,  Philip  and  Otho  were 
desolating  the  West.  At  length  Philip  prevailed;  and  Otho,  obliged  to 
abandon  Germany,  took  refuge  in  England.  Philip,  elated  with  success,  got 
his  election  confirmed  by  a  second  coronation,  and  proposed  an  accommoda- 
tion with  the  pope,  as  a  means  of  finally  establishing  his  throne.  But  before 
that  accommodation  could  be  brought  about,  he  fell  a  sacrifice  to  private  re- 
venge ;  being  assassinated  by  the  count  Palatine  of  Bavaria,  in  consequence 
of  a  private  dispute.  (3) 

Otho  returned  to  Germany  on  the  death  of  Philip,  married  that  prince's 
daughter,  and  was  crowned  at  Rome  by  Innocent  III.  after  yielding  to  the 
Holy  See  the  long  disputed  inheritance  of  the  countess  Matilda,  and  confirm- 
ing the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Italian  cities. 

But  these  concessions,  as  far  at  least  as  they  regarded  the  pope,  were  only 
a  sacrifice  to  present  policy.  Otho  therefore  no  sooner  found  himself  in  a 
condition  to  act  offensively,  than  he  resumed  his  grant ;  and  not  only  reco- 
vered the  possessions  of  the  empire,  but  made  hostile  incursions  into  Apulia, 
ravaging  the  dominions  of  young  Frederic,  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  who 
was  under  the  protection  of  the  Holy  See.  Hence  we  may  date  the  ruin  of 
Otho.  Innocent  excommunicated  him :  and  Frederic,  now  fifteen  years  of 
age,  was  elected  emperor,  by  a  diet  of  the  German  princes.(4) 

Otho,  however,  on  his  return  to  Germany,  finding  his  party  still  considera- 
ble, and  not  doubting  but  he  should  be  able  to  humble  his  rival  by  means 
of  his  superior  force,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  his  uncle,  John  king  of 
England,  against  Philip  Augustus  king  of  France.  The  unfortunate  battle 
of  Bouvines,  where  the  confederates  were  defeated,  as  we  have  seen,  corn- 
pleted  the  fate  of  Otho.  He  attempted  to  retreat  into  Germany,  but  was 
prevented  by  young  Frederic,  who  had  marched  into  the  empire  at  the  head 
of  a  powerful  army,  and  was  every  where  received  with  open  arms. 

(1)  Nicetas.    Cantacuzeuus.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Heiss,  lib  ii.  cap.  xv 

'4)  Hciss,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xvi- 


192  THE  HISTORY   OF  [PART.  I. 

Thus  abandoned  by  all  the  princes  of  Germany,  and  altogether  without  re- 
source, Otho  retired  to  Brunswick,  where  he  lived  four  years  as  a  private  man, 
dedicating  his  time  to  the  duties  of  religion.  He  was  not  deposed,  but  for- 
got ;  and  if  it  is  true  that,  in  the  excess  of  his  humility,  he  ordered  himself 
to  be  thrown  down,  and  trod  upon  by  his  kitchen-boys,  we  may  well  say 
with  Voltaire,  that  the  kicks  of  a  turnspit  can  never  expiate  the  faults  of  a 
prince.  (1) 

Frederic  II.,  being  now  universally  acknowledged  emperor,  was  crowned  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle  with  great  magnificence :  and,  in  order  to  preserve  the  favour 
of  the  pope,  he  added  to  the  other  solemnities  of  his  coronation  a  vow  to  go  in 
person  to  the  Holy  Land.  (2) 

About  this  time  pope  Innocent  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Hohorius  III., 
who  expressed  great  eagerness  in  forwarding  the  crusade,  which  he  ordered 
to  be  preached  up  through  all  the  provinces  of  Germany,  Sweden,  Denmark, 
Bohemia,  and  Hungary :  and  his  endeavours  were  crowned  with  extraordinary 
success.  The  emperor  indeed  excused  himself  from  the  performance  of  his 
vow,  until  he  should  have  regulated  the  affairs  of  Italy ;  and  almost  all  the 
other  European  monarchs  were  detained  at  home  by  domestic  disturbances. 
But  an  infinite  number  of  private  noblemen  and  their  vassals  took  the  cross, 
under  the  dukes  of  Austria  and  Bavaria,  the  archbishop  of  Mentz,  and  the 
bishops  of  Munster  and  Utrecht ;  and  Andrew,  king  of  Hungary,  who 
brought  «with  him  a  body  of  fine  troops,  was  declared  generalissimo  of  the 
crusade.  (3) 

While  these  adventurers  of  Upper  Germany  marched  towards  *Italy,  in 
order  to  embark  at  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Messina,  a  fleet  of  three  hundred  sail 
was  equipped  in  the  ports  of  Lower  Saxony,  to  transport  the  troops  of  West- 
phalia, Saxony,  and  the  territory  of  Cologne.  And  those  joining  the  squad- 
ron of  the  Frieslanders,  Flemings,  and  subjects  of  Brabant,  commanded  by 
William  count  of  Holland,  George  count  of  Weerden,  and  Adolphus  count  of 
Berg,  set  sail  for  the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  on  their  voyage  to  Ptolemais.  But 
being  driven  by  a  tempest  into  the  road  of  Lisbon,  they  were  prevailed  upon 
to  assist  Alphonso  king  of  Portugal  against  the  Moors.  They  defeated  these 
Infidels,  and  afterward  took  from  them  the  city  of  Alcazar.(4) 

Meanwhile  the  king  of  Hungaiy  and  his  army,  having  joined  the  king  of 
Cyprus,  landed  at  Ptolemais ;  where  he  was  joyfully  received  by  John  de 
Brienne,  a  younger  brother  of  the  family  of  that  name  in  Champagne,  who 
had  been  nominated  king  of  Jerusalem.  After  refreshing  and  reviewing  the 
forces,  the  two  kings  marched  into  tfce  great  valley  of  Jesrael,  against  the 
Saracens,  with  the  wood  of  the  true  cross  carried  before  them.  But  Coradin 
Son  of  Saphadin,  soldan  of  Egypt  and  Babylon,  and  nephew  to  the  famou? 
Saladin,  finding  himself  greatly  outnumbered  by  the  Christians,  retired  with- 
out giving  battle ;  and  the  champions  of  the  cross  undertook  the  siege  of 
Thabor,  in  which  they  miscarried.  They  now  separated  themselves  into  foui 
bodies,  for  the  conveniency  of  subsisting.  The  king  of  Cyprus  died,  and  the 
king  of  Hungary  returned  to  his  own  dominions,  in  order  to  quiet  some  dis 
turbances  wftich  had  arisen  during  his  absence. (5) 

The  fleet  from  the  coast  of  Spain  arrived  at  Ptolemais  soon  after  the  de 
parture  of  the  king  of  Hungary;  and  it  was  resolved  in  a  council  of  war  to 
besiege  Damietta  in  Egypt,  which  was  accordingly  invested  by  sea  and  land, 
and  taken  after  a  siege  of  eighteen  months.  During  the  siege  Saphadin  died: 
and  his  eldest  son  Meledin,  his  successor  in  the  kingdom  of  Egypt,  who  came 
to  the  relief  of  the  besieged,  was  defeated.  The  duke  of  Austria,  with  a 
large  body  of  troops,  returned  soon  after  to  Germany ;  and  a  reinforcement 
arrived  from  the  emperor,  under  the  conduct  of  Cardinal  Albano,  legate  of 
the  Holy  See.  (6) 

This  cardinal,  who  was  a  Spanish  benedictine,  pretended  that  he,  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  pope,  the  natural  head  of  the  crusade,  had  an  incontestible 

(1)  jinnal.derEmp.imn.il.  (2)  Heiss,  lib  ii.  cap.  xvii.  (3)  rfnnal.  Paderborn 

(4)  Ibid.  (5)  Jac.  de  Vilri.    Maimbourg.  ubi  supra. 

(6J  Vertot,  Hist,  de  Chcv.  de  Malth.  torn.  i.    Maimbourg,  Hist,  des  Croisades,  loin.  ii. 


LET.  XXXI.j  MODERN    EUROPE.  193 

right  to  be  general ;  and  that,  as  the  king  of  Jerusalem  held  his  crown  only 
by  virtue  of  the  pope's  license,  he  ought  in  all  things  to  pay  obedience  to  the 
legate  of  his  holiness.  Much  time  was  spent  in  that  dispute,  and  in  writing 
to  Rome  for  advice.  At  length  the  pope's  answer  came,  by  which  he  ordered 
the  king  of  Jerusalem  to  serve  under  the  Benedictine :  and  his  orders  were 
punctually  obeyed.  John  de  Brienne  resigned  the  command,  and  this  monkish 
general  brought  the  army  of  the  cross  between  two  branches  of  the  Nile, 
just  at  the  time  that  river,  which  fertilizes  and  defends  Egypt,  began  to  over- 
flow its  banks.  The  soldan,  informed  of  the  situation  of  his  enemies,  flooded 
I  he  Christian  camp,  by  opening  the  sluices;  and  while  he  burnt  their  ships 
on  the  one  side,  the  Nile,  increasing  on  the  other,  threatened  every  hour  to 
sv  allow  up  their  whole  army.  The  legate  therefore  now  saw  himself  and 
hh  troops  in  a  similar  extremity  to  that  in  which  the  Egyptians  under  Pha- 
ivoh  are  described,  when  they  beheld  the  sea  ready  to  rush  in  upon  them. 
In  consequence  of  this  pressing  danger,  Damietta  was  restored;  and  the 
leaders  of  the  crusade  were  obliged  to  conclude  a  dishonourable  treaty,  by 
vhich  they  bound  themselves  not  to  serve  against  Meledin,  soldan  of  Egypt, 
for  eight  years.(l) 

The  Christians  of  the  East  had  now  no  hopes  left  but  in  the  emperor 
Frederic  II.,  who  was  about  this  time  crowned  at  Rome  by  pope  Honorius  III., 
whose1  friendship  he  had  purchased,  by  promising  to  detach  Naples  and  Sicily 
from  the  empire,  and  bestow  it  on  his  son  Henry,  to  be  held  as  a  fief  of  the 
Holy  See.  He  also  promised  to  pass  into  Asia  with  an  army,  at  any  time 
the  pope  should  appoint.  But  this  promise  Frederic  was  very  little  inclined 
to  perform,  and  therefore  found  a  thousand  pretences  for  delaying  his  journey 
He  was  indeed  more  worthily  employed;  embellishing  and  aggrandizing 
Naples ;  in  establishing  a  university  in  that  city,  where  the  Roman  law  was 
taught;  and  in  expelling  the  vagrant  Saracens,  who  still  infested  Sicily. (2) 

In  the  mean  time  the  unfortunate  leaders  of  the  crusade  arrived  in  Europe ; 
and  the  pope,  incensed  at  the  loss  of  Damietta,  wrote  a  severe  letter  to  the 
emperor,  taxing  him  with  having  sacrificed  the  interests  of  Christianity,  by 
delaying  so  long  the  performance  of  his  vow,  and  threatening  him  with 
immediate  excommunication,  if  he  did  not  instantly  depart  with  an  army 
into  Asia.  Frederic,  exasperated  at  these  reproaches,  renounced  all  corres- 
pondence with  the  court  of  Rome ;  renewed  his  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in 
Sicily;  filled  up  vacant  sees  and  benefices,  and  expelled  some  bishops,  who 
were  creatures  of  the  pope,  on  pretence  of  their  being  concerned  in  practices 
against  the  state.  (3) 

Honorius  at  first  attempted  to  cdJhibat  rigour  with  rigour,  threatening  the 
emperor  with  the  thunder  of  the  church,  for  presuming  to  lift  up  his  hand 
against  the  sanctuary;  but  finding  Frederic  not  to  be  intimidated,  his  holi- 
ness became  sensible  of  his  own  imprudence,  in  wantonly  incurring  the 
resentment  of  so  powerful  a  prince,  and  thought  proper  to  sooth  his  temper 
by  submissive  apologies  and  gentle  exhortations.  The  emperor  and  the  pope 
were  accordingly  reconciled,  and  conferred  together  at  Veroli;  where  the 
emperor,  as  a  proof  of  his  sincere  attachment  to  the  church,  published  some 
very  severe  edicts  against  heresy,  which  seem  to  have  authorized  the  tribunal 
of  the  inquisition.  (4) 

A  solemn  assembly  was  afterward  held  at  Ferentino,  where  both  the  pope 
and  the  emperor  Avere  present,  together  with  John  de  Brienne,  titular  king 
of  Jerusalem,  who  was  come  into  Europe  to  demand  succours  against  the 
soldan  of  Egypt.  John  had  an  only  daughter  named  Yolanda,  whom  he  pro- 
posed as  a  wife  to  the  emperor,  with  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  as  her  dower, 
on  condition  that  Frederic  should,  within  two  years,  perform  the  vow  he  had 
made  to  lead  an  army  into  the  Holy  Land.  Frederic  married  her  on  these 
terms,  because  he  chose  to  please  the  pope :  and  since  that  time  the  kings  of 
Sicily  have  taken  the  title  of  king  of  Jerusalem. 

(l)Vertot,  Hist,  de  Chen,  de  Jtfalth.  torn.  i.     Maimbnurg,  Hist,  des  Croisades,  torn.  ii. 

f2)  Sigon.  Reg  Hal.    Giannonfi.  Him.  <li  JTapnl.  (3)  Ibid.  (4)  .Petr.  de  Vignes.  lib  i 

V<vr,~  I.— X  9 


194  T  H  E    H  I  S  'I'  U  R  Y    0  F  [PART  I. 

But  the  emperor  was  in  no  hurry  to  go  and  conquer  his  wife's  portion, 
having  business  of  more  importance  on  his  hands  at  home.  The  chief  cities 
of  Lombardy  had  entered  into  a  secret  league,  with  a  view  to  throw  off  his 
authority.  He  convoked  a  diet  at  Cremona,  where  all  the  German  and 
Italian  noblemen  were  summoned  to  attend.  A  variety  of  subjects  were 
there  discussed,  but  nothing  of  consequence  was  settled.  An  accommoda- 
tion, however,  was  soon  after  brought  about,  by  the  mediation  of  the  pope, 
who,  as  umpire  of  the  dispute,  decreed,  that  the  emperor  should  lay  aside  his 
resentment  against  the  confederate  towns,  and  that  the  towns  should  furnish 
and  maintain  four  hundred  knights  for  the  relief  of  the  Holy  Land.(l) 

Peace  being  thus  concluded,  Honorius  reminded  the  emperor  of  his  vow  : 
Frederic  promised  compliance ;  but  his  holiness  died  before  he  could  see  the 
execution  of  a  project  which  he  seemed  to  have  so  much  at  heart.  He  was 
succeeded  in  the  papal  chair  by  Gregory  IX.,  brother  of  Innocent  III.,  who, 
pursuing  the  same  line  of  policy,  urged  the  departure  of  Frederic  for  the 
Holy  Land ;  and  finding  the  emperor  still  backward,  declared  him  incapable 
of  holding  the  imperial  dignity,  as  having  incurred  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication. Frederic,  incensed  at  such  insolence,  ravaged  the  patrimony  of 
St.  Peter,  and  was  actually  excommunicated.  The  animosity  between  the 
Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  revived;  the  pope  was  obliged  to  quit  Rome,  and 
Italy  became  a  scene  of  war  and  desolation :  or  rather  of  a  hundred  civil  wars, 
which,  by  inflaming  the  minds,  and  exciting  the  resentment  of  the  Italian 
princes,  accustomed  them  but  too  much  to  the  horrid  practices  of  poisoning 
and  assassination. 

During  these  transactions,  Frederic  II.,  in  order  to  remove  the  cause  of  so 
many  troubles,  and  to  gratify  the  prejudices  of  a  superstitious  age,  resolved 
to  perform  his  vow.  He  accordingly  embarked  for  the  Holy  Land,  leaving 
the  affairs  of  Italy  to  the  management  of  Renaldo,  duke  of  Spoleto.  The 
pope  prohibited  his  departure,  before  he  was  absolved  from  the  censures  oi 
the  church.  But  Frederic  went  in  contempt  of  the  church,  and  succeeded 
better  than  any  commander  who  had  gone  before  him.  He  did  not  indeed 
desolate  Asia,  and  gratify  the  barbarous  zeal  of  the  times,  by  spilling  the 
blood  of  Infidels ;  but  he  concluded  a  treaty  with  Meledin,  soldan  of  Egypt, 
and  master  of  Syria,  by  which  the  end  of  his  expedition  seemed  fully  an- 
swered. The  soldan  ceded  to  him  Jerusalem,  and  its  territory,  as  far  as 
Joppa;  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  and  all  the  country  between  Jerusalem  and 
Ptolemais ;  Tyre,  Sidon,  and  the  neighbouring  territories.  In  return  for  these 
concessions,  the  emperor  granted  the  Saracens  a  truce  for  ten  years,  and  pru- 
dently returned  to  Italy,  where  his  presence  was  much  wanted. (2) 

Frederic's  reign,  after  his  return  from  the  East,  was  one  continued  quarrel 
with  the  popes.  The  cities  of  Lombardy  had  revolted  during  his  absence,  at 
the  instigation  of  Gregory  IX.,  and,  before  they  could  be  reduced,  the  same 
pontiff  excited  the  emperor's  son  Henry,  who  had  been  elected  king  of  the 
Romans,  to  rebel  against  his  father.  The  rebellion  was  suppressed,  the  prince 
was  confined,  and  the  emperor  obtained  a  complete  victory  over  the  associated 
towns ;  but  his  troubles  were  not  yet  ended.  The  pope  excommunicated  him 
anew ;  and  sent  a  bull  into  Germany,  in  order  to  sow  division  between  Frede- 
ric and  the  princes  of  the  empire,  in  which  are  the  following  remarkable 
words.  "  A  beast  of  blasphemy,  replete  with  names,  is  risen  from  the  sea, 
with  the  feet  of  a  bear,  the  face  of  a  lion,  and  members  of  other  different 
animals ;  which,  like  the  proud,  hath  opened  its  mouth  in  blasphemy  against 
the  holy  name ;  not  even  fearing  to  throw  the  arrows  of  calumny  against  the 
tabernacle  of  God,  and  the  saints  that  dwell  in  heaven.  This  beast,  desirous 
of  breaking  every  thing  in  pieces  by  his  iron  teeth  and  nails,  and  of  trampling 
all  things  under  his  feet,  hath  already  prepared  private  battering  rams  against 
the  wall  of  the  Catholic  faith ;  and  now  raises  open  machines,  in  erecting 
soul-destroying  schools  of  Ishmaelites ;  rising,  according  to  report,  in  oppo- 

'!)  Richard.  Chron.  ap  Murat 

(2)  Jlnnal.  Boior.  lib.  vii.     Heiss,  Hixt.  de  I'Emp  lib.  ii.  cap.  xvii      Maimbourg,  ubi  sup. 


LET.  XXXI.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  195 

sition  to  Christ  the  Redeemer  of  mankind,  the  table  of  whose  covenant  he 
attempts  to  abolish  with  the  pen  of  wicked  heresy.  Be  not  therefore  sur- 
prised at  the  malice  of  this  blasphemous  beast ;  if  we,  who  are  the  servants 
of  the  Almighty,  should  be  exposed  to  the  arrows  of  his  destruction. — This 
king  of  plagues  was  even  heard  to  say,  that  the  whole  world  has  been  deceived 
by  three  impostors ;  namely,  Moses,  Jesus  Christ,  and  Mahomet.  But  he 
makes  Jesus  Christ  far  inferior  to  the  other  two :  '  They,'  says  he,  '  supported 
their  glory  to  the  last,  whereas  Christ  was  ignominiously  crucified.'  "  He 
also  maintains,"  continues  Gregory,  "  that  it  is  folly  to  believe  the  ONE  only 
God,  Creator  of  the  Universe,  could  be  born  of  a  woman,  and  more  especially 
of  a  -virgin."(l) 

Frederic,  on  the  other  hand,  in  his  apology  to  the  princes  of  Germany,  calls 
Gregory  the  Great  Dragon,  the  Antichrist,  of  whom  it  is  written,  "  and  another 
Red  Horse  arose  from  the  sea,  and  he  that  sat  upon  him  took  Peace  from  the 
Earth."(2) 

The  emperor's  apology  was  sustained  in  Germany ;  and,  finding  he  had 
nothing  to  fear  from  that  quarter,  he  resolved  to  take  ample  vengeance  of 
the  pope  and  his  associates.  With  that  view  he  marched  to  Rome,  where  he 
thought  his  party  was  strong  enough  to  procure  him  admission.  But  this 
favourite  scheme  was  defeated  by  the  activity  of  Gregory,  who  ordered  a 
crusade  to  be  preached  against  the  emperor,  as  an  enemy  of  the  Christian 
faith ;  a  step  which  incensed  Frederic  so  much,  that  he  ordered  all  his  pri- 
soners, who  wore  the  cross,  to  be  exposed  to  the  most  cruel  tortures.(S) 

The  two  factions  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  continued  to  rage  with 
greater  violence  than  ever ;  involving  cities,  districts,  and  even  private  fami 
lies,  in  troubles,  divisions,  and  civil  butchery,  no  quarter  being  given  on  either 
side.  Meanwhile  Gregory  IX.  died,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  see  of  Rome 
by  Celestine  IV.,  and  afterward  by  Innocent  IV.,  formerly  cardinal  Fresque, 
and  who  had  always  expressed  the  greatest  regard  for  the  emperor  and  his 
interest.  Frederic  was  accordingly  congratulated  upon  this  occasion ;  but 
having  more  penetration  than  those  about  him,  he  sagely  replied,  "  I  see  lit- 
tle reason  to  rejoice.  The  cardinal  was  my  friend,  but  the  pope  will  be  my 
enemy."(4) 

Innocent  soon  proved  the  justice  of  this  conjecture.  He  ambitiously  at- 
tempted to  negotiate  a  peace  for  Italy.  But  not  being  able  to  obtain  from 
Frederic  his  exorbitant  demands,  and  in  fear  for  the  safety  of  his  own  person, 
he  fled  into  France,  assembled  a  general  council  at  Lyons,  and  deposed  the 
emperor.  "  I  declare,"  said  he,  "  Frederic  II.  attainted  and  convicted  of 
sacrilege  and  heresy,  excommunicated  and  dethroned;  and  I  order  the 
electors  to  choose  another  emperor,  reserving  to  myself  the  disposal  of  the 
kingdom  of  Sicily."(5) 

Frederic  was  at  Turin  when  he  received  the  news  of  his  deposition,  and 
behaved  in  a  manner  that  seemed  to  border  upon  weakness.  He  called  for 
the  casket  in  which  the  imperial  ornaments  were  kept ;  and  opening  it,  and 
taking  the  crown  in  his  hand,  "Innocent,"  cried  he,  "has  not  yet  deprived 
me  of  thee :  thou  art  still  mine !  and  before  I  part  with  thee  much  blood  shall 
be  spilt."(6) 

Conrad,  the  emperor's  second  son,  had  been  declared  king  of  the  Romans, 
on  the  death  of  his  brother  Henry,  which  soon  followed  his  confinement ;  but 
the  empire  being  now  declared  vacant  by  the  pope,  the  German  bishops,  (foi 
none  of  the  princes  were  present,)  at  the  instigation  of  his  holiness,  proceeded 
to  the  election  of  a  new  emperor.  And  they  chose  Henry,  landgrave  o? 
Thuringia,  who  was  styled  in  derision,  "  The  King  of  Priests." 

Innocent  now  renewed  the  crusade  against  Frederic.  It  was  proclaimed 
by  the  preaching  friars,  since  called  Dominicans,  and  the  minor  friars,  known 
by  the  name  of  Cordeliers  or  Franciscans,  anew  militia  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
which,  about  this  time,  began  to  be  established  in  Europe.  The  pope,  how- 

(1)  Gob.  Pers.  Cosmod.  cap.  Ixiv.        (2)  Id.  ibid.        (3)  Krantz.  lib.  viii.  Murat,    Annal  Ital.  torn  »ij 
!4)  Id.  ioid.  (5)  Gob.  Pers.  ubi  sup.  (6)  M  Paris,  Hint.  JMajar. 

N2 


196  THEHISTORYOF  [PABT  1. 

ever,  did  not  confine  himself  to  these  measures  only,  but  engaged  in  conspi- 
racies against  the  life  of  an  emperor  who  had  dared  to  resist  the  decree  of  a 
council,  and  oppose  the  whole  body  of  monks  and  zealots.  Frederic's  life 
was  several  times  in  danger  from  plots,  poisonings,  and  assassinations ;  which 
induced  him,  it  is  said,  to  make  choice  of  Mahometan  guards,  whom  he  was 
certain  would  not  be  under  the  influence  of  the  prevailing  superstition. 

Meanwhile  the  landgrave  of  Thuringia  dying,  the  same  prelates  who  had 
taken  the  liberty  of  creating  one  emperor  made  another;  namely,  William 
count  of  Holland,  a  young  nobleman  of  twenty  years  of  age,  who  bore  the 
same  contemptuous  title  as  his  predecessor.(l) 

Fortune,  which  had  hitherto  favoured  Frederic,  seemed  now  to  desert  him. 
He  was  defeated  before  Parma,  which  he  had  long  besieged ;  and,  to  com- 
plete his  misfortune,  he  soon  after  learned,  that  his  natural  son  Entius, 
whom  he  had  made  king  of  Sardinia,  was  worsted  and  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Bolognese. 

In  this  extremity,  Frederic  retired  to  his  kingdom  of  Naples,  in  order  to 
recruit  his  army:  and  there  died  of  a  fever,  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his 
age. (2)  He  was  a  prince  of  great  genius,  erudition,  and  fortitude ;  and,  not- 
withstanding all  the  troubles  he  had  to  encounter,  he  built  towns,  founded 
universities,  and  gave  a  kind  of  new  life  to  learning,  in  Italy. 

After  the  death  of  Frederic  II.  the  affairs  of  Germany  fell  into  the  utmost 
confusion,  and  Italy  continued  long  in  the  same  distracted  state  in  which  he 
had  left  it.  The  clergy  took  arms  against  the  laity,  the  weak  were  oppressed 
by  the  strong,  and  laws  divine  and  human  were  disregarded.  But  a  particular 
history  of  that  unhappy  period  would  fill  the  mind  with  disgust  and  horror : 
[  shall  therefore  only  observe,  that  after  the  death  of  Frederic's  son  Conrad, 
\vho  had  assumed  the  imperial  dignity  as  successor  to  his  father,  and  the 
death  of  his  competitor,  William  of  Holland,  a  variety  of  candidates  appeared 
for  the  empire,  and  several  were  elected  by  different  factions  ;  among  whom 
was  Richard  earl  of  Cornwall,  brother  to  Henry  III.  king  of  England.  But 
ao  emperor  was  properly  acknowledged,  till  the  year  1273,  when  Rodolph, 
count  of  Hapsburg,  was  unanimously  raised  to  the  vacant  throne. 

During  the  interregnum  which  preceded  the  election  of  Rodolph, — Den- 
mark, Holland,  and  Hungary,  entirely  freed  themselves  from  the  homage 
they  were  wont  to  pay  to  the  empire  ;  and  nearly  about  the  same  time  several 
German  cities  erected  a  municipal  form  of  government,  which  still  continues. 
Lubec,  Cologne,  Brunswic,  and  Dantzic,  united  for  their  mutual  defence 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  great  lords,  by  a  famous  association,  called 
the  Hanseatic  League ;  and  these  towns  were  afterward  joined  by  eighty 
others,  belonging  to  different  states,  which  formed  a  kind  of  commercial 
republic.  Italy  also  during  this  period  assumed  a  new  form  of  government. 
That  freedom  for  which  the  cities  of  Lombardy  had  so  long  struggled  was 
confirmed  to  them  for  a  sum  of  money :  they  were  emancipated  by  the  fruits 
of  their  industry.  Sicily  likewise  changed  its  government  and  its  prince,  as 
shall  be  related  in  the  history  of  France,  which  furnished  a  sovereign  to  the 
Sicilians. 

I  next  propose  to  carry  forward  the  affairs  of  England,  to  the  reign  o/ 
Edward  I.,  a  period  at  which  the  history  of  our  own' island  becomes  peculiarly 
interesting  to  every  Briton. 


LETTER  XXXII. 

England,  from  the  Granting  of  the  Great  Charter,  to  the  Reign  of  Edward  I. 

You  have  already  seen,  my  dear  Philip,  in  what  manner  king  John  was 
forced  by  his  barons  to  grant  the  Great  Charter  of  English  liberty,  and  the 
regulations  necessary  for  preserving  it,  to  which  he  seemed  passively  to  sub- 
mit. He  went  still  farther ;  he  dismissed  his  forces,  and  promised  that  his 

(1)  Jlnnal.  Boier.  (2)  Krantz,  lib.  viii.    Heiss,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xvii. 


LET.  XXXII.)  MODERN    EUROPE.  197 

government  should  be  as  gentle  as  his  people  could  wish  it.  But  he  only 
dissembled  till  he  should  find  a  favourable  opportunity  to  revoke  all  his  con- 
cessions ;  and,  in  order  to  facilitate  such  an  event,  "he  secretly  sent  abroad 
emissaries  to  enlist  foreign  soldiers,  and  to  invite  the  rapacious  Braban§ons 
into  his  service,  by  the  prospect  of  sharing  the  spoils  of  England.  He  also 
despatched  a  messenger  to  Rome,  to  lay  the  Great  Charter  before  the  pope, 
who,  considering  himself  as  superior  lord  of  the  kingdom,  was  incensed  at 
the  temerity  of  the  barons,  and  issued  a  bull  annulling  the  charter,  absolving 
the  king  from  his  oath  to  observe  it,  and  denouncing  a  general  sentence  of 
excommunication  against  every  one  who  should  persevere  in  maintaining 
such  treasonable  pretensions. (1) 

John  now  pulled  off  the  mask ;  he  recalled  all  that  he  had  done ;  and,  as 
his  foreign  mercenaries  arrived  along  with  the  bull,  he  expected  nothing  but 
universal  submission.  But  our  gallant  ancestors  were  not  so  easily  to  be 
frightened  out  of  their  rights.  Langton,  the  primate,  though  he  owed  his 
elevation  to  an  encroachment  of  the  court  of  Rome^  refused  to  obey  the  pope 
in  publishing  the  sentence  of  excommunication  agffmst  the  barons.  Persons 
of  all  ranks,  among  the  clergy  as  well  as  laity,  seemed  determined  to  main- 
tain, at  the  expense  of  their  lives,  the  privileges  granted  in  the  Great  Charter. 
John  had  therefore  nothing  to  rely  on  for  re-establishing  his  tyranny,  but  the 
sword  of  his  Brabangons :  and  that  unfortunately  proved  too  strong,  if  not 
for  the  liberties  of  England,  at  least  for  its  prosperity. 

The  barons,  after  obtaining  the  Great  Charter,  had  sunk  into  a  kind  of 
fatal  security,  having  not  only  dismissed  their  vassals,  but  taken  no  rational 
measures  for  reassembling  them  on  any  emergency  :  so  that  the  king  found 
himself  master  of  the  field,  without  any  adequate  force  to  oppose  him.  Castles 
were  defended,  and  skirmishes  risked,  but  no  regular  opposition  was  made 
to  the  progress  of  the  royal  arms ;  while  the  ravenous  mercenaries,  incited 
by  a  cruel  and  incensed  prince,  were  let  loose  against  the  houses  and  estates 
of  the  barons,  and  spread  devastation  over  the  whole  face  of  the  kingdom. 
Nothing  was  to  be  seen,  from  Dover  to  Berwick,  but  the  flames  of  villages, 
castles  reduced  to  ashes,  and  the  consternation  and  misery  of  the  helpless 
inhabitants.  (2) 

In  this  desperate  extremity,  the  barons,  dreading  the  total  loss  of  their 
liberties,  their  lives,  and  their  possessions,  had  recourse  to  a  remedy  no  less 
desperate.  They  offered  to  acknowledge,  as  their  sovereign,  prince  Lewis, 
eldest  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France,  provided  he  would  protect 
them  from  the  fury  of  their  enraged  monarch.  The  temptation  was  too 
great  to  be  resisted  by  a  prince  of  Philip's  ambition.  He  sent  over  instantly 
a  small  army  to  the  relief  of  the  barons,  and  afterward  a  more  numerous 
body  of  forces,  with  his  son  Lewis  at  their  head ;  although  the  pope's  legate 
threatened  him  with  interdicts  and  excommunications,  if  he  presumed  to 
invade  the  dominions  of  a  prince  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the  Holy 
See.  Assured  of  the  fidelity  of  his  subjects,  these  menaces  were  little  re- 
garded by  Philip. 

The  French  monarch,  however,  took  care  to  preserve  appearances  in  his 
violences,  and  only  appearances.  He  pretended  his  son  Lewis  had  accepted 
the  offer  from  the  English  barons  without  his  advice,  and  contrary  to  his  in- 
clinations, and  that  the  armies  sent  into  England  were  levied  in  that  prince's 
name.  But  these  artifices  were  not  employed  by  Philip  to  deceive.  He 
knew  that  the  pope  had  too  much  penetration  to  be  so  easily  imposed  upon, 
and  that  they  were  too  gross  even  to  gull  the  people  ;  but  he  knew,  at  the 
same  time,  that  the  manner  of  conducting  any  measure  is  of  as  much  conse- 
quence as  the  measure  itself,  and  that  a  violation  of  decency,  in  the  eye  of 
the  world,  is  more  criminal  than  a  breach  of  justice. 

Lewis  no  sooner  landed  in  England  than  John  was  deserted  by  his  foreign 
troops,  who,  being  principally  levied  in  the  French  provinces,  refused  to 
serve  against  the  heir  of  their  monarchy ;  so  that  the  barons  had  the  melan- 

tlx  Ryiner,  voL  i.    M  Paris,  Hist.  Major.  (21  M.  Paris.    Chron.  Maitret. 


198  T  H  E    H  1  S  T  O  R  Y    0  F  [PART  I 

choly  prospect  of  succeeding  in  their  purpose,  and  of  escaping  the  tyranny  at 
their  own  king,  by  imposing  on  themselves  and  the  nation  a  foreign  yoke 
But  the  imprudent  partiality  of  Lewis  to  his  countrymen  increased  that 
jealousy  which  it  was  so  natural  for  the  English  to  entertain  in  their  present 
situation,  and  did  great  hurt  to  his  cause.  Many  of  the  dissatisfied  barons 
returned  to  the  king's  party ;  and  John  was  preparing  to  make  a  last  effort 
for  his  crown,  when  death  put  an  end  to  his  troubles  and  his  crimes,  in  the 
forty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  eighteenth  of  his  reign.  His  character 
is  nothing  but  a  complication  of  vices,  equally  mean  and  odious  ;  ruinous  to 
himself  and  destructive  to  his  people.  But  a  sally  of  wit  upon  the  usual 
corpulency  of  the  priests,  more  than  all  his  enormities,  made  him  pass  with 
the  clergy  of  that  age  for  an  impious  prince.  "  How  plump  and  well  fed  is 
this  animal !"  exclaimed  he,  one  day,  when  he  had  caught  a  very  fat  stag; 
"  and  yet  I  dare  swear  he  never  heard  mass."(l) 

John  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry  III.,  only  nine  years  old,  at  his 
father's  death :  and  for  once  a  minority  proved  of  singular  service  to  England. 
The  earl  of  Pembroke,  wflo  by  his  office  of  mareschal  was  at  the  head  of  the 
military  power,  and  consequently,  in  perilous  times,  at  the  head  of  the  state, 
determined  to  support  the  authority  of  the  infant  prince.  He  was  chosen 
protector ;  and,  fortunately  for  the  young  monarch  and  for  the  nation,  the 
regency  could  not  have  been  intrusted  into  more  able  or  more  faithful  hands. 
In  order  to  reconcile  all  classes  of  men  to  the  government  of  his  pupil,  he 
made  him  renew  and  confirm  the  Great  Charter.  And  he  wrote  letters  in 
Henry's  name  to  all  the  malecontent  barons,  representing,  that  whatever 
animosity  they  might  have  harboured  against  the  late  king,  they  ought  to 
retain  none  against  his  son,  who  had  now  succeeded  to  his  throne,  but  neither 
to  his  resentments  nor  to  his  principles,  and  was  resolved  to  avoid  the  paths 
which  had  led  to  such  dangerous  extremities ;  exhorting  them,  at  the  same 
time,  by  a  speedy  return  to  their  duty,  to  restore  the  independency  of  the 
kingdom,  and  secure  that  liberty  for  which  they  had  so  zealously  contended, 
and  which  was  now  confirmed  to  them  by  a  second  charter.  (2) 

These  arguments,  enforced  by  the  character  of  Pembroke,  had  a  mighty 
influence  on  the  barons.  Most  of  them  secretly  negotiated  with  him,  and 
many  of  them  openly  returned  to  their  duty.  Lewis,  therefore,  who  had  made 
a  journey  to  France,  and  brought  over  fresh  succours  with  him  from  that  king- 
dom, found  histparty  much  weakened  on  his  return ;  and  that  the  death  oi 
John,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  had  blasted  his  favourite  designs.  He  laid 
siege,  however,  to  Dover,  which  was  gallantly  defended  by  Hubert  de  Burgh. 
In  the  meantime,  the  French  army,  commanded  by  the  count  de  Perche,  was 
totally  defeated  by  the  earl  of  Pembroke,  before  the  castle  of  Lincoln ;  and 
four  hundred  knights,  with  many  persons  of  superior  rank,  were  made  pri- 
soners by  the  English.  Lewis,  when  informed  of  this  fatal  event,  retired  to 
London,  which  was  the  centre  and  life  of  his  party.  He  there  received  intel- 
ligence of  a  new  disaster,  which  extinguished  all  his  hopes.  A  French  fleet, 
with  a  strong  reinforcement  on  board,  had  been  repulsed  on  the  coast  of 
Kent,  and  obliged  to  take  shelter  in  their  own  harbours. (3) 

The  English  barons,  after  this  second  advantage  gained  over  the  French, 
by  the  royal  party,  hastened  from  all  quarters  to  make  peace  with  the  pro- 
tector, and  prevent,  by  an  early  submission,  those  attainders  to  which  they 
were  exposed  on  account  of  their  rebellion;  while  Lewis,  whose  cause  was 
now  totally  desperate,  began  to  be  anxious  for  the  safety  of  his  person,  and 
was  glad,  on  any  tolerable  conditions,  to  make  his  escape  from  a  country 
where  every  thing  was  become  hostile  to  him.  He  accordingly  concluded  a 
treaty  with  Pembroke,  by  which  he  promised  to  evacuate  the  kingdom ;  only 
stipulating,  in  return,  an  indemnity  to  his  adherents,  a  restitution  of  their 
honours  and  fortunes,  and  the  free  and  equal  enjoyment  of  those  liberties 
which  had  been  granted  to  the  rest  of  the  nation. (4)  Thus,  my  dear  Philip, 
was  happily  terminated  a  civil  war,  which  seemed  to  spring  from  the  most 

(1)  M.  Paris.  (2)  Rymer,  vol.  i     Brady   aopend  No  143.  (3)  M.  Paris. 

(4 1  Rymer.  vol.  i. 


Lt-T.  XXX1I.J  MODERN   EUROPE.'  199 

incurable  hatred  and  jealousy,  and  bad  threatened  to  make  England  a  pi  evince 
of  France. 

The  prudence  and  equity  of  the  protector,  after  the  expulsion  of  the 
French,  contributed  to  cure  entirely  those  wounds  which  had  been  made  by 
intestine  discord.  He  received  the  rebellious  barons  into  favour:  observed 
strictly  the  terms  of  peace  which  he  had  granted  them ;  restored  them  to 
their  possessions ;  and  endeavoured,  by  an  equal  behaviour,  to  bury  all  past 
animosities  in  perpetual  oblivion.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  kingdom,  this 
great  and  good  man  did  not  long  survive  the  pacification:  and  Henry,  when 
he  came  of  age,  proving  a  weak  and  contemptible  prince,  England  was  again 
involved  in  civil  broils,  which  it'  would  be  equally  idle  and  impertinent  to 
relate;  as  they  were  neither  followed,  during  many  years,  by  an  event  of 
importance  to  society,  nor  attended  with  any  circumstances  which  can  throw 
light  upon  the  human  character.  Their  causes  and  consequences  were  alike 
insignificant. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  observe,  that  the  king  having  married  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  the  count  of  Provence,  was  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of  strangers, 
from  that  and  other  countries,  whom  he  caressed  with  the  fondest  affection, 
and  enriched  by  an  imprudent  generosity.  The  insolence  of  these  foreigners, 
is  said  to  have  arisen  to  such  a  height,  that  when,  on  account  of  their  outrages 
or  oppressions,  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  laws,  they  scrupled  not  to  say, 
"  What  do  the  laws  of  England  signify  to  us  1  We  mind  them  not."  This 
open  contempt  of  the  English  constitution,  roused  the  resentment  of  the 
barons,  and  tended  much  to  aggravate  the  general  discontent  arising  from  the 
preference  shown  to  strangers,  as  it  made  every  act  of  violence,  committed  by 
a  foreigner,  appear  not  only  an  injury,  but  an  insult.  Yet  no  remonstrance 
or  complaint  could  ever  prevail  on  the  king  to  abandon  them,  or  even  to 
moderate  his  attachment  towards  them. 

But  Henry's  profuse  bounty  to  his  foreign  relations,  and  to  their  friends 
and  favourites,  would  have  appeared  more  tolerable  to  the  English,  had  any 
thing  been  done  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation,  or  had  the  king's  enterprises  in 
foreign  countries,  been  attended  with  any  success  or  glory  to  himself  or  the 
public.  Neither  of  these,  however,  was  the  case.  As  imprudence  governed 
his  policy,  misfortune  marked  his  measures.  He  declared  war  against  France, 
and  made  an  expedition  into  Guienne,  upon  the  invitation  of  his  father-in-law, 
who  promised  to  join  him  with  all  his  forces ;  but  being  worsted  at  Taille- 
Dourg,  he  was  deserted  by  his  allies,  lost  what  remained  to  him  of  Poitou,  and 
was  obliged  to  return  with  disgrace  into  England.(l) 

Want  of  economy,  and  an  ill-judged  liberality,  were  the  great  defects  in 
Henry's  domestic  administration.  These  kept  him  always  needy,  and  obliged 
him  continually  to  harass  his  barons  for  money,  under  different  pretences. 
Their  discontents  were  thereby  increased,  and  he  was  still  a  beggar.  Even 
before  his  foreign  expedition,  his  debts  had  become  so  troublesome,  that  he 
sold  all  his  plate  and  jewels,  in  order  to  discharge  them.  When  this  expe- 
dient was  first  proposed  to  him,  he  asked  where  he  should  find  purchasers, 
"  In  the  city  of  London,"  it  was  replied.  "  On  my  word,"  said  he,  "  if  the 
treasury  of  Augustus  were  brought  to  sale,  the  citizens  are  able  to  be  the 
purchasers.  These  clowns,  who  assume  to  themselves  the  name  of  barons, 
abound  in  every  thing,  while  we  are  reduced  to  necessities."(2)  And  he 
was  thenceforth  observed  to  be  more  greedy  in  his  exactions  upon  the  citizens. 

Many  however  as  were  the  grievances  that  the  English,  during  this  reign, 
had  reason  to  complain  of  in  their  civil  government,  they  seem  to  have  been 
still  less  burthensome  than  those  which  proceeded  from  spiritual  usurpations 
and  abuses ;  and  which  Henry,  who  relied  on  the  pope  for  the  support  of  his 
tottering  authority,  never  failed  to  countenance.  All  the  chief  benefices  of 
the  kingdom  were  conferred  on  Italians,  great  numbers  of  whom  were  sent 
over  to  be  provided  for:  and  non-residence  and  pluralities  were  carried  to  so 
enormous  a  height,  that  Mansel,  the  king's  chaplain,  is  computed  to  have  held, 

(1)  M.  Paris     W.  Heming.  Chron.  hnnst  ,2,  M.  Paris 


200  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PARTI 

at  one  time,  seven  hundred  ecclesiastical  livings.  The  pope  exacted  the 
revenues  of  all  vacant  benefices :  the  twentieth  of  all  ecclesiastical  revenues, 
without  exception ;  the  third  of  such  as  exceeded  one  hundred  marks  a  year, 
and  the  half  of  such  as  were  possessed  by  non-residents  !  He  claimed  also 
the  goods  of  all  intestate  clergymen :  he  pretended  a  right  to  inherit  all  monej 
got  by  usury;  and  he  levied  voluntary  contributions  on  the  people.(l) 

But  the  most  oppressive  expedient  employed  by  the  court  of  Rome,  in 
order  to  drain  money  from  England,  was  that  of  embarking  Henry  in  a  pro- 
ject for  the  conquest  of  Sicily.  On  the  death  of  the  emperor  Frederic  II., 
the  succession  of  that  island  devolved  to  his  son  Conrad,  and  afterward  to 
his  grandson  Conradine,  yet  an  infant;  and  as  Mainfroy,  the  emperor's 
natural  son,  under  pretence  of  governing  the  kingdom  during  the  minority 
of  the  young  prince,  had  formed  a  scheme  for  usurping  the  sovereignty, 
Innocent  IV.  had  a  good  apology  for  exerting  that  superiority  which  the  popes 
claimed  over  Sicily,  and  at  the  same  time  of  gratifying  his  hatred  against  the 
house  of  Suabia.  He  accordingly  attempted  to  make  himself  master  of  the 
kingdom;  but  being  disappointed  in  all  his  enterprises  by  the  activity  and 
artifices  of  Mainfroy,  and  finding  that  his  own  force  was  not  sufficient  for 
such  a  conquest,  he  made  a  tender  of  the  crown  to  Richard  earl  of  Cornwall, 
brother  to  Henry  III.,  and  supposed  to  be  the  richest  subject  in  Europe. 
Richard  had  the  prudence  to  reject  the  dangerous  present,  but  not  the  power 
to  prevent  the  evil.  The  same  offer  being  afterward  made  to  the  king,  in 
favour  of  his  second  son  Edmond,  that  weak  monarch  was  led,  by  the  levity 
and  thoughtlessness  of  his  disposition,  to  embrace  the  insidious  proposal,  and 
immense  sums  were  drained  from  England,  under  pretence  of  carrying  this 
project  into  execution ;  for  the  pope  took  that  upon  himself.  But  the  money 
was  still  found  insufficient :  the  conquest  of  Sicily  was  as  remote  as  ever. 
Henry,  therefore,  sensible  at  length  of  the  cheat,  was  obliged  to  resign  into 
the  pope's  hands  that  crown  which  he  had  more  than  purchased,  but  which  it 
was  never  intended  either  he  or  his  family  should  inherit.(2) 

The  earl  of  Cornwall  had  now  reason  to  value  himself  on  his  foresight,  in 
refusing  the  fraudulent  bargain  with  Rome,  and  in  preferring  the  solid 
honours  of  an  opulent  and  powerful  prince  of  the  blood  in  England,  to  the 
empty  and  precarious  glory  of  a  foreign  dignity;  but  he  had  not  always 
firmness  sufficient  to  adhere  to  this  resolution.  His  immense  wealth  made 
the  German  princes  cast  their  eyes  on  him  as  a  candidate  for  the  empire, 
after  the  death  of  William  of  Holland ;  and  his  vanity  and  ambition  for  once 
prevailed  over  his  prudence  and  his  avarice.  He  went  over  to  Germany, 
was  tempted  to  expend  vast  sums  on  his  election,  and  succeeded  so  far  as 
to  be  chosen  by  a  faction,  and  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  but  having  no 
personal  or  family  connexions  in  that  country,  he  never  could  attain  any  solid 
power.  He  therefore  found  it  necessary  to  return  into  England,  after  having 
lavished  a-way  the  frugality  of  a  whole  life,  in  order  to  procure  a  splendid 
title.(3) 

England,  in  the  mean  while,  was  involved  in  new  troubles.  The  weakness 
of  Henry's  government,  and  the  absence  of  his  brother,  gave  reins  to  the 
factious  and  turbulent  spirit  of  the  barons.  They  demanded  an  extension  of 
their  privileges ;  and,  if  we  may  credit  the  historians  of  those  times,  had 
formed  a  plan  of  so  many  limitations  on  the  royal  authority,  as  would  have 
reduced  the  king  to  a  mere  cipher.  Henry  would  agree  to  nothing  but  a 
renewal  of  the  Great  Charter;  which, at  the  desire  of  the  barons,  was  ratified 
in  the  following  manner.  All  the  prelates  and  abbots  were  assembled :  they 
held  burning  tapers  in  their  hands ;  the  Great  Charter  was  read  before  them ; 
they  denounced  the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  every  one  who 
should  violate  that  fundamental  law :  they  threw  their  tapers  on  the  ground, 
and  exclaimed,  "  May  the  soul  of  every  one,  who  incurs  this  sentence,  so 
stink  and  corrupt  in  hell !"  The  king  also  bore  a  part  in  the  ceremony,  and 
subjoined,  "  So  help  me  God !  I  will  keep  all  these  articles  inviolate,  as  I  am 

(I)  M.Paris.  C2)  Rymer,  vol.  i.    M.  Paris.  Chron.  Dunat.  (3)  M.  Paris 


LtT.XXXIl.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  201 

a  man,  as  1  am  a  Christian,  as  I  am  a  knight,  and  as  I  am  a  king  crowned 
and  anointed."(l) 

This  tremendous  ceremony,  however,  was  no  sooner  over  than  the  king 
forgot  his  engagements,  and  the  barons  renewed  their  pretensions.  At  the 
head  of  the  malecontents  was  Simon  de  Mountfort,  earl  of  Leicester,  a  man 
of  great  talents  and  boundless  ambition,  who  had  married  Eleanor,  the  king's 
sister,  and  hoped  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  the  feeble  and  irresolute  hand 
that  held  it.  He  represented  to  his  associates  the  necessity  of  reforming  the 
state,  and  of  putting  the  execution  of  the  laws  into  other  hands  than  those 
which  had  hitherto  been  found,  from  repeated  experience,  unfit  for  that  im- 
portant charge.  After  so  many  submissions  and  fruitless  promises,  the  king's 
word,  he  said,  could  no  longer  be  relied  on,  and  his  inability  to  violate  national 
privileges  could  thenceforth  only  ensure  their  preservation. 

These  observations,  which  were  founded  in  truth,  and  entirely  conformable 
to  the  sentiments  of  those  to  whom  they  were  addressed,  had  the  desired 
effect.  The  barons  resolved  to  take  the  administration  into  their  own  hands ; 
and  Henry,  having  summoned  a  parliament  at  Oxford,  found  himself  a  prisoner 
in  his  national  council,  and  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  terms  prescribed 
to  him,  called  the  Provisions  of  Oxford.  According  to  these  provisions 
twelve  barons  were  selected  from  among  the  king's  ministers ;  twelve  more 
were  chosen  by  the  parliament ;  and  to  these  twenty-four  barons  unlimited 
authority  was  granted  to  reform  the  state.  Leicester  was  at  the  head  of  this 
legislative  body,  to  which  the  supreme  power  was  in  reality  transferred; 
and  their  first  step  seemed  well  calculated  for  the  end  which  they  professed 
to  have  in  view.  They  ordered  that  four  knights  should  be  chosen  by  each 
county ;  that  they  should  make  enquiry  into  the  grievances  of  which  their 
neighbourhood  had  reason  to  complain,  and  should  attend  the  ensuing  parlia- 
ment, in  order  to  give  information  to  that  assembly  of  the  state  of  their  par- 
ticular counties.  (2) 

The  earl  of  Leicester  and  his  associates,  however,  having  advanced  so  far 
as  to  satisfy  the  nation,  instead  of  continuing  in  the  same  popular  course, 
immediately  provided  for  the  extension  and  continuation  of  their  own  exor- 
bitant authority,  at  the  expense  both  of  the  king  and  the  people.  They  en- 
joyed the  supreme  power  near  three  years ;  and  had  visibly  employed  it,  not 
for  the  reformation  of  the  state,  their  original  pretence  for  assuming  it,  but 
for  the  aggrandizement  of  themselves  and  families.  The  breach  of  trust  was 
evident  to  all  the  world :  every  order  of  men  in  England  felt  it,  and  murmured 
against  it ;  and  the  pope,  in  order  to  gain  the  favour  of  the  nation,  absolved 
the  king,  and  all  his  subjects,  from  the  oath  which  they  had  taken  to  observe 
the  Provisions  of  Oxford.  (3) 

As  soon  as  Henry  received  the  pope's  absolution  from  his  oath,  accompanied 
with  threats  of  excommunication  against  all  his  opponents,  he  resumed  the 
government;  offering,  however,  to  maintain  all  the  regulations  made  by  the 
reforming  barons,  except  those  which  entirely  annihilated  the  royal  authority. 
But  these  haughty  chieftains  could  not  peaceably  resign  that  uncontrolled 
power  which  they  had  so  long  enjoyed.  Many  of  them  adopted  Leicester's 
views,  which  held  in  prospect  nothing  less  than  the  throne  itself.  The 
civil  war  was  renewed  in  all  its  horrors  :  and  after  several  fruitless  negocia- 
tions,  the  collected  force  of  the  two  parties  met  near  Lewes  in  Sussex,  where 
the  royal  army  was  totally  defeated,  and  the  king  and  prince  Edward  made 
prisoners. 

No  sooner  had  Leicester  obtained  this  victory,  and  got  the  royal  family  in 
his  power,  than  he  acted  as  sole  master,  and  even  tyrant  of  the.kingdom. 
He  seized  the  estates  of  no  less  than  eighteen  barons,  as  his  share  of  the 
spoil  gained  in  the  battle  of  Lewes ;  he  engrossed  to  himself  the  ransom  of 
all  the  prisoners,  and  told  his  barons,  with  wanton  insolence,  that  it  was  suffi- 
cient for  them  that  he  had  saved  them,  by  that  victory,  from  the  forfeitures 
and  attainders  which  hung  over  them.  All  the  officers  of  the  crown  were 

M)W.  Hemiug.    M.  Paris.  M.  West,  (2)  Rymer,  vol.  i.  M.  Paris.    Citron.  Dunst.       (3)  Ibid. 


202  THE   HISTtiRY  OF  .       [PART  I. 

named  by  him :  the  whole  authority,  as  well  as  arms  of  the  state,  was  lodged 
in  his  hands.(l) 

But  it  was  impossible  that  things  could  remain  long  in  this  equivocal  situa- 
tion. It  became  necessary  for  Leicester,  either  to  descend  to  the  rank  of  a 
subject,  or  mount  up  to  that  of  a  sovereign ;  and  he  could  do  neither  without 
peril.  He  summoned  a  new  parliament ;  which,  for  his  own  purposes,  he 
fixed  on  a  more  democratical  basis  than  any  called  since  the  Norman  conquest, 
if  not  from  the  foundation  of  the  monarchy.  He  ordered  returns  to  be  made 
not  only  of  two  knights  from  every  shire,  but  also  of  deputies  from  the 
boroughs  :(2)  and  thus  introduced  into  the  national  council  a  second  order  of 
men,  hitherto  regarded  as  too  mean  to  enjoy  a  place  in  those  august  assem- 
blies, or  have  any  share  in  the  government  of  the  state. 

But  although  we  are  indebted  to  Leicester's  usurpation  for  the  first  rude 
outline  of  the  House  of  Commons,  his  policy  only  forwarded  by  some  years 
an  institution  for  which  the  general  state  of  society  had  already  prepared  the 
nation ;  and  that  house,  though  derived  from  so  invidious  an  origin,  when 
summoned  by  legal  princes,  soon  proved  one  of  the  most  useful  members  of 
the  constitution,  and  gradually  rescued  the  kingdom,  as  we  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  see,  both  from  aristocratical  and  regal  tyranny.  It  is  but  just,  how- 
ever, to  observe,  that  as  this  necessary,  and  now  powerful  branch  of  our  con- 
stitution, owed  its  rise  to  usurpation,  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  three  that  has 
latterly  given  a  usurper  to  the  state.  The  person  to  whom  I  allude  is  Oliver 
Cromwell :  and  I  will  be  so  bold  as  to  affirm,  that  if  ever  England  is  again 
subjected  to  the  absolute  will  of  any  ONE  man,  unless  from  abroad,  that  man 
must  be  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  people  are  alike  jealous 
of  the  power  of  the  king  and  of  the  nobles-:  but  they  are  themselves  greedy 
of  dominion,  and  can  only  possess  it  through  their  representatives.  A  popular 
member  of  the  lower  house,  therefore,  needs  only  ambition,  enterprise,  and  a 
favourable  conjuncture,  to  overturn  the  throne ;  to  strip  the  nobles  of  their 
dignities ;  and,  while  he  blows  the  trumpet  of  liberty,  to  tell  his  equals  they 
are  slaves. 

Leicester's  motive  for  giving  this  form  to  the  parliament  was  a  desire  of 
crushing  his  rivals  among  the  powerful  barons ;  and  trusting  to  the  popularity 
acquired  by  such  a  measure,  he  made  the  earl  of  Derby  be  accused  in  the 
king's  name,  and  ordered  him  to  be  seized  and  committed  to  prison  without 
being  brought  to  any  legal  trial.  Several  other  barons  were  threatened  with 
the  same  fate,  and  deserted  the  confederacy.  The  royalists  flew  to  arms ; 
prince  Edward  made  his  escape ;  and  the  joy  of  this  young  hero's  appearance, 
together  with  the  oppressions  under  which  the  nation  laboured,  soon  produced 
him  a  force  which  Leicester  was  unable  to  resist.  A  battle  was  fought  near 
Evesham,  where  Leicester  was  slain,  and  his  army  totally  routed.  When  that 
nobleman,  who  possessed  great  military  talents,  observed  the  vast  superiority 
in  numbers,  and  excellent  dispositions  of  the  royalists,  he  exclaimed,  "  The 
Lord  have  mercy  on  our  souls  !  for  I  see  our  bodies  are  prince  Edward's :  he 
has  learned  from  me  the  art  of  war."(3)  Another  particular  deserves  to  be 
noticed.  The  old  king,  disguised  in  armour,  having  been  purposely  placed  by 
the  rebels  in  the  front  of  the  battle,  had  received  a  wound,  and  was  ready  to 
be  put  to  death,  when  he  weakly,  but  opportunely,  cried  out,  "  Spare  my  life ! 
I  am  Henry  of  Winchester,  your  king  !"(4)  His  brave  son  flew  to  his  rescue, 
and  put  him  in  a  place  of  safety. 

The  victory  of  Evesham  proved  decisive  in  favour  of  the  royal  party,  but 
was  used  with  moderation.  Although  the  suppression  of  so  extensive  a 
rebellion  commonly  produces  a  revolution  in  government,  and  strengthens  as 
well  as  enlarges  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown,  no  sacrifices  of  national 
liberty  were  exacted  upon  this  occasion.  The  clemency  of  this  victory  is 
also  remarkable ;  no  blood  was  shed  on  the  scaffold.  The  mild  disposition 
of  the  king,  and  the  prudence  of  the  prince,  tempered  the  insolence  of  oower, 
and  gradually  restored  order  to  the  several  members  of  the  state. 

(I)  Rymer,  vol.  i.    M.  Parig.    W.  Heming.    H.  Knyghton.  (2)  Ibid. 

(3}  W.  Heming.    M.  Paris.  (4)  W.  Heming.  lib.  HI 


LET.  XXXIII. J  MODERN    EUROPE.  203 

The  affairs  of  England  were  no  sooner  settled  than  prince  Edward,  seduced 
by  a  thirst  of  glory,  undertook"an  expedition  into  the  Holy  Land ;  where  he 
signalized  himself  by  many  acts  of  valour,  and  struck  such  terror  into  the 
Saracens,  that  they  employed  an  assassin  to  murder  him.  The  ruffian 
wounded  Edward  in  the  arm,  but  paid  for  his  temerity  with  his  life.(l)  Mean- 
while the  prince's  absence  from  England  was  productive  of  many  pernicious 
consequences,  which  the  old  king,  unequal  to  the  burden  of  government,  was 
little  able  to  prevent.(2)  He  therefore  implored  his  gallant  son  to  return,  and 
assist  him  in  swaying  that  sceptre  which  was  ready  to  drop  from  his  feeble 
hands.  Edward  obeyed ;  but  before  his  arrival  the  king  expired,  in  the  sixty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  fifty-sixth  of  his  reign,  the  longest  in  the 
English  annals. 

The  most  obvious  feature  in  the  character  of  Henry  III.  is  his  weakness. 
From  this  source,  rather  than  from  insincerity  or  treachery,  arose  his  negli- 
gence in  observing  his  promises ;  and  hence,  for  the  sake  of  present  conve- 
niency,  he  was  easily  induced  to  sacrifice  the  lasting  advantages  arising  from 
the  trust  and  confidence  of  his  people.  A  better  head,  with  the  same  dispo- 
sitions, would  have  prevented  him  from  falling  into  so  many  errors!  but 
(every  good  has  its  alloy !)  with  a  worse  heart,  it  would  have  enabled  him  to 
maintain  them. 

Prince  Edward  had  reached  Sicily,  in  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land, 
when  he  received  intelligence  of  the  death  of  his  father,  and  immediately 
proceeded  homeward.  But  a  variety  of  objects,  my  dear  Philip,  claim  your 
attention,  before  I  carry  farther  the  transactions  of  our  own  island,  which 
now  become  truly  important.  The  reign  of  Edward  I.  forms  a  new  era  in 
the  history  of  Britain. 


LETTER  XXXIII. 

trance,  from  the  Reign  of  Philip  Augustus,  to  the  End  of  the  Reign  of  Lewis  IK, 
commonly  called  St.  Lewis,  with  some  Account  of  the  last  Crusade. 

THE  reign  of  Philip  Augustus  has  already  engaged  our  attention.  We  have 
had  occasion  to  observe  the  great  abilities  of  that  prince,  both  as  a  warrior 
and  a  politician ;  we  have  seen  him  reunite  many  fine  provinces  to  the  king- 
dom of  France  at  the  expense  of  the  English  monarchy :  we  have  seen  him 
attempt  the  conquest  of  England  itself;  and  we  have  also  seen  in  what  man- 
ner prince  Lewis  was  obliged  to  abandon  that  project,  notwithstanding  the 
power  and  the  intrigues  of  Philip.  Soon  after  the  return  of  Lewis,  his  father 
died,  and  left  the  kingdom  of  France  twice  as  xarge  as  he  had  received  it ;  so 
that  future  acquisitions  became  easy  to  his  successors. 

Lewis  VIII.  however,  did  not  enlarge  the  monarchy.  His  short  reign  was 
chiefly  spent  in  a  crusade  against  the  Albigenses,  in  the  prosecution  of  which 
he  died.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Lewis  IX.  commonly  called  St.  Lewis. 
During  the  minority  of  this  prince,  though  in  his  twelfth  year  at  his  acces- 
sion, a  variety  of  disorders  arose  in  France,  occasioned  chiefly  by  the  ambi 
tion  of  the  powerful  vassals  of  the  crown.  But  all  these  were  happily  com- 
posed by  the  prudence  and  firmness  of  Blanche  of  Castile,  the  regent  and 
queen-mother. 

Lewis  no  sooner  came  of  age  than  he  was  universally  acknowledged  to  be 
the  greatest  prince  in  Europe ;  and  his  character  is,  perhaps,  the  most  singular 
in  the  annals  of  history.  To  the  mean  and  abject  superstition  of  a  monk  he 
united  all  the  courage  and  magnanimity  of  a  hero ;  nay,  what  maybe  deemed 
still  more  wonderful,  the  justice  and  integrity  of  the  sincere  patriot ;  and, 
where  religion  was  not  concerned,  the  mildness  and  humanity  of  the  true 

(1)  M.  Paris.    T.  Wykes. 

(2)  The  police  was  so  loose  during  the  latter  part  of  Henry's  reign,  that  not  only  single  nouses,  out 
whole  villages,  were  often  uillaged  by  bands  of  robbers.     Chron.  DunfU 


204  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

philosopher.  So  far  was  he  from  taking  advantage  of  the  divisions  among 
the  English  during  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  or  attempting  to  expel  those  dan- 
gerous rivals  from  the  provinces  which  they  still  possessed  in  France,  that  he 
entertained  many  scruples  in  regard  to  the  sentence  of  attainder  pronounced 
against  the  king's  father ;  and  had  not  his  bishops,  it  is  said,  persuaded  him 
that  John  was  justly  punished  for  his  barbarity  and  felony,  he  would  have 
restored  all  the  conquests  made  by  Philip  Augustus,  (l) 

When  Gregory  IX.,  after  excommunicating  Frederic  II.,  offered  the  empire 
to  the  count  of  Artois,  brother  to  St.  Lewis,  this  pious  prince  acted  in  the 
same  disinterested  manner.  He  did  not  indeed  refuse  that  gift  as  what 
the  pope  had  no  right  to  bestow ;  but  he  replied,  that  Frederic  had  always 
appeared  to  him  a  good  Catholic;  that  ambassadors  should  first  be  sent  to 
him,  to  know  his  sentiments  touching  his  faith ;  that,  if  orthodox,  there  could 
be  no  reason  for  attacking  him ;  but  if  heretical,  war  ought  to  be  carried  on 
against  him  with  violence ;  and,  in  such  case,  even  against  the  pope  himself.  (2) 

This  was  Lewis's  foible.  Persuaded  that  heretics,  or  those  who  did  not 
hold  the  established  belief,  deserved  the  punishment  of  death,  he  favoured 
the  tribunal  of  the  inquisition ;  and  the  same  turn  of  thinking  led  him  to 
ascribe  merit  to  a  war  against  infidels.  His  humane  heart  became  a  prey  to 
the  barbarous  devotion  of  the  times.  Being  seized  with  a  dangerous  illness, 
which  deprived  him  of  his  senses,  and  almost  of  his  life,  his  heated  imagina- 
tion took  fire,  and  he  thought  he  heard  a  voice  commanding  him  to  shed  the 
blood  of  infidels.  He  accordingly  made  a  vow,  as  soon  as  he  recovered,  to 
engage  in  a  new  crusade,  and  immediately  took  the  cross.  Nor  could  any 
remonstrances  engage  him  to  forego  his  purpose :  he  considered  his  vow  as  a 
sacred  obligation,  which  it  was  not  permitted  man  to  dissolve.  (3) 

But  Lewis,  though  not  to  be  dissuaded  from  his  eastern  expedition,  was  in 
no  hurry  to  depart.  He  spent  four  years  in  making  preparations,  and  in 
settling  the  government  of  his  kingdom,  which  he  left  to  the  care  of  his 
mother ;  and,  at  length,  set  sail  for  Cyprus,  accompanied  by  his  queen,  his 
three  brothers,  and  almost  all  the  knights  of  France.  At  Cyprus  it  was 
resolved  to  make  a  descent  upon  Egypt,  as  experience  hath  shown  that  Jeru- 
salem and  the  Holy  Land  could  never  be  preserved  while  that  country  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  infidels.(4)  But  before  I  speak  of  the  transac- 
tions of  Egypt,  I  must  say  a  few  words  of  the  state  of  the  East  in  those  times. 

Asia,  my  dear  Philip,  from  the  earliest  ages,  has  been  the  seat  of  enormous 
monarchy,  and  the  theatre  of  the  most  astonishing  revolutions.  You  have 
seen  with  what  rapidity  it  was  overrun  by  the  Arabs,  and  afterward  by  the 
Turks ;  you  have  seen  those  conquering  people,  for  a  time,  borne  down  by 
the  champions  of  the  cross,  and  Saladin  himself  sink  beneath  the  arm  of  our 
illustrious  Richard.  But  neither  the  zeal  of  the  Christians,  nor  the  enthusi- 
asm of  the  Mahometans,  who  were  supposed  to  have  carried  conquest  to 
its  utmost  point,  was  attended  with  a  success  equal  to  the  hardy  valour  of 
the  Moguls,  or  Western  Tartars,  under  Genghiz-Kan ;  who,  in  a  few  years, 
extended  his  dominions  from  a  small  territory,  to  more  than  eighteen  hun- 
dred leagues,  from  east  to  west,  and  above  a  thousand  from  north  to  south. 
He  conquered  Persia,  and  pushed  his  conquests  as  far  as  the  Euphrates ; 
subdued  Indostan,  and  great  part  of  China;  all  Tartary,  and  the  frontier 
provinces  of  Russia. 

This  wonderful  man  died  in  1226,  when  he  was  preparing  to  complete  the 
conquest  of  China.  His  empire  was  divided  among  his  four  sons,  whose 
names  it  is  unnecessary  here  to  mention.  They  continued  united  till  the 
deatli  of  Octay,  his  successor  as  Great  Kan,  who  totally  subjected  Egypt. 
One  of  his  grandsons  passed  the  Euphrates  ;  dispossessed  the  Turks  of  that 
part  of  Asia  Minor  now  called  Natolia,  and  terminated  the  dominion  of  the 
Caliphs  of  Bagdat.  Another  of  them  carried  terror  into  Poland,  Hungary, 
Dalmatia,  and  to  the  very  gates  of  Constantinople.^) 

(1)  Nangiug,in  nt&  Ludovid  IX.  (2)  Ibid.  (3)  Joinville,  Hist,  de  St.  Louis.  14)  1DUL 

'5)  I)e  la  Croix,  Vit.  Qenghiz-Ka*.    Mod.  Unio.  Hist.  vol.  iii.  fol.  edit 


LET.  XXXIII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  S05 

These  Western  Tartars,  accustomed  from  their  birth  to  brave  hunger, 
fatigue,  and  death,  were  irresistible,  while  they  preserved  their  savage  aus- 
terity of  manners.  The  offspring  of  the  same  deserts  which  had  produced 
the  Scythians,  the  Huns,  and  Turks,  they  were  more  fierce  than  either;  and 
as  the  Goths  had  formerly  seized  upon  Thrace,  when  expelled  by  the  Huns 
from  their  native  habitations,  the  Korasmins,  in  like  manner,  flying  before 
the  Moguls,  overran  Syria  and  Palestine,  and  made  themselves  masters  of 
Jerusalem  in  1244,  putting  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword.(l)  The  Christians, 
however,  still  possessed  Tyre,  Sidon,  Tripoli,  and  Ptolemais ;  and  though 
always  divided  among  themselves,  and  cutting  one  another's  throats,  they 
united  in  imploring  the  assistance  of  Europe  against  this  danger. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  the  East,  and  of  the  Oriental  Christians,  when 
St.  Lewis  set  out  for  their  relief.  But  instead  of  sailing  immediately  for 
Palestine,  he  made  a  descent,  as  I  have  observed,  upon  Egypt.  His  declared 
purpose  in  so  doing,  has  been  already  explained.  But  as  the  soldan  of  Egypt 
was  not  now  in  possession  of  Jerusalem,  this  invasion  must  have  proceeded 
from  the  king  of  France's  ignorance  of  the  affairs  of  the  East ;  or  from  an 
ambition  of  conquering  so  fine  a  country,  more  than  from  any  hope  of  ad- 
vancing the  interests  of  Christianity. 

Lewis  and  his  prodigious  army,  said  to  have  been  transported  in  eighteen 
hundred  ships,  landed  near  the  city  of  Damietta ;  which,  contrary  to  all  ex- 
pectation, was  abandoned  to  them.  He  afterward  received  fresh  succours 
from  France ;  and  found  himself  in  the  plains  of  Egypt  at  the  head  of  sixty 
thousand  men,  the  flower  of  his  kingdom,  by  whom  he  was  both  obeyed  and 
loved.  What  might  not  have  been  expected  from  such  a  force,  under  such 
a  general !  Not  only  Egypt,  but  Syria,  should  have  yielded  to  their  arms. 
Yet  this  crusade,  like  all  the  rest,  terminated  in  sorrow  and  disappointment. 
One  half  of  these  fine  troops  fell  a  prey  to  sickness  and  debauchery;  the 
other  was  defeated  by  the  soldan,  at  Massoura;  where  Lewis  beheld  his 
brother  Robert  of  Artois  killed  by  his  side,  and  himself  taken  prisoner,  toge- 
ther with  his  other  two  brothers,  the  count  of  Anjou  and  the  count  of  Poitiers, 
and  all  his  nobility.  (2) 

The  French,  however,  were  still  in  possession  of  Damietta."  There  St. 
Lewis's  consort  was  lodged ;  and  thinking  her  safety  doubtful,  as  the  place 
was  besieged,  she  addressed  herself  to  the  Sieur  Joinville,  a  venerable  knight, 
and  made  him  promise,  on  the  faith  of  chivalry,  to  cut  off  her  head,  if  ever 
her  virtue  should  be  in  danger.  "  Most  readily,"  answered  Joinville,  in  the 
true  spirit  of  the  times,  "  will  I  perform  at  your  request  what  I  thought  in- 
deed to  do  of  myself,  should  misfortune  make  it  necessary."  But  he  had 
happily  no  occasion  to  put  his  promise  into  execution.  Damietta  held  out, 
and  a  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  soldan ;  by  which  that  city  was  restored, 
in  consideration  of  the  king's  liberty,  and  a  thousand  pieces  of  gold  paid  for 
the  ransom  of  the  other  prisoners.  (3) 

Lewis  was  now  solicited  to  return  to  Europe  with  the  remnant  of  his  fleet 
and  army,  but  devotion  led  him  to  Palestine ;  where  he  continued  for  four 
years,  without  effecting  any  thing  of  consequence.  In  the  mean  time  the 
affairs  of  France  were  in  much  confusion.  The  queen-mother,  during  the 
king's  captivity,  had  unadvisedly  given  permission  to  a  fanatical  monk  to 
preach  a  new  crusade  for  her  son's  release ;  and  this  man,  availing  himself 
of  the  pastoral  circumstance  in  the  Nativity,  assembled  near  one  hundred 
thousand  people  of  low  condition,  whom  he  called  shepherds.  It  soon  ap- 
peared, however,  that  they  might  with  more  propriety  have  been  styled 
wolves.  They  robbed  and  pillaged  wherever  they  came ;  and  it  was  found 
necessary  to  disperse  them  by  force  of  arms.  Nor  was  that  effected  without 
much  trouble.(4) 

The  death  of  the  queen  mother  determined  Lewis,  at  last,  to  revisit  France. 
But  he  only  returned  in  order  to  prepare  for  a  new  crusade ;  so  strongly  had 

(1)  De  la  Croix,  Vit.  Genghiz-Kan.    Mod.  Univ.  Hist.  vol.  iii.  fol.  edit. 

(2)  Joinville,  Hist,  de  St.  Louis.  (3)  Ibid. 

(4)  Fontainay,  Hist,  de  V  Eglise  Gallic,  torn.  xi.    Boutay,  Hist,  sicad.  Paris,  torn,  iii 


206  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  I 

that  madness  taken  hold  of  his  mind !  Meanwhile  his  zeal  for  justice,  his  care 
to  reform  abuses,  his  wise  laws,  his  virtuous  example,  soon  repaired  the  evils 
occasioned  by  his  absence.  He  established,  on  a  solid  foundation,  the  right 
of  appeal  to  the  royal  judges,  one  of  the  best  expedients  for  reducing  the 
exorbitant  power  of  the  nobles.  He  absolutely  prohibited  private  wars,  which 
the  feudal  anarchy  had  tolerated:  he  substituted  juridical  proofs,  instead  of 
those  by  duel ;  and,  no  less  enlightened  than  pious,  he  rescued  France  from 
the  exactions  of  the  court  of  Rome.(l) 

In  his  transactions  with  his  neighbours,  Lewis  was  alike  exemplary.  Equity 
and  disinterestedness  were  the  basis  of  his  policy.  If  he  sometimes  carried 
these  virtues  too  far,  as  a  prince,  they  always  did  him  honour  as  a  man :  they 
even  procured  him  respect  as  a  sovereign ;  and  secured  to  his  subjects  the 
greatest  blessings  that  a  people  can  enjoy — peace  and  prosperity.  He  ceded 
to  James  I.  of  Arragon  his  incontestible  right  to  Rousillon  and  Catalonia, 
which  had  been  subject  to  France  from  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  in  exchange 
for  certain  claims  of  that  monarch  to  some  fiefs  in  Provence  and  Languedoc ; 
and  he  restored  to  the  English  crown  Querci,  Perigord,  and  the  Limousin, 
for  no  higher  consideration  than  that. the  king  of  England  should  renounce 
all  right  to  Normandy,  Maine,  and  the  other  forfeited  provinces,  which  were 
already  in  the  possession  of  France.  But  Lewis,  as  has  been  observed,  was 
doubtful  of  the  right  by  which  he  held  those  provinces.  And  although  an 
ambitious  prince,  instead  of  making  this  compromise,  might  have  taken 
advantage  of  the  troubles  of  England  under  Henry  III.  to  seize  Guienne,  and 
all  that  remained  to  that  monarchy  in  France,  such  a  prince  might  also,  by 
these  means,  have  drawn  on  himself  the  jealousy  of  his  neighbours,  and  in 
the  end  have  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  his  rapacity;  whereas,  Lewis,  by  his  mode- 
ration, acquired  the  confidence  of  all  Europe,  and  was  chosen  arbiter  between 
the  king  of  England  and  his  barons,  at  a  time  when  it  was  his  interest  to 
have  ruined  both ;  an  honour  never  conferred  upon  any  other  rival  monarch, 
and  with  which,  perhaps,  no  other  could  ever  safely  have  been  trusted.  He 
determined  in  favour  of  the  king  without  prejudice  to  the  people ;  he  annulled 
the  Provisions  of  Oxford,  as  derogatory  to  the  rights  of  the  crown,  but 
enforced  the  ^observation  of  the  Great  Charter.  And  although  this  sentence 
was  rejected  by  Leicester  and  his  party,  it  will  remain  to  all  ages  an  eternal 
monument  of  the  equity  of  Lewis. (2) 

The  most  blameable  circumstance  in  this  great  monarch's  conduct,  and 
perhaps  the  only  one  that  deserves  to  be  considered  in  that  light,  was  his 
approbation  of  the  treaty  between  his  brother  and  the  pope,  relative  to  Sicily. 
That  kingdom  had  formerly  been  offered,  as  you  have  seen,  to  the  earl  of 
Cornwall,  and  to  prince  Edmond,  son  of  Henry  III.  After  being  given  up  by 
England,  it  was  offered  to  the  count  of  Anjou:  he  accepted  it;  and  Lewis 
permitted  a  crusade  to  be  preached  in  France  against  Mainfroy,  who  had  now 
actually  usurped  the  Sicilian  throne,  in  prejudice  of  his  nephew  Conradine. 
The  count  of  Anjou  marched  into  Italy  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army. 
Mainfroy  was  defeated  and  slain  in  the  plains  of  Benevento,  and  Conradine 
appeared  in  vindication  of  his  native  rights.  He  also  was  routed,  and  taken 
prisoner,  together  with  his  uncle,  the  duke  of  Austria ;  and  both  were  exe- 
cuted at  Naples,  upon  a  scaffold,  at  the  request  of  the  pope,  and  by  the  sen- 
tence of  a  pretended  court  of  justice  ;(3)  an  indignity  not  hitherto  offered  to 
a  crowned  head. 

In  consequence  of  the  revolution  that  followed  this  barbarity,  by  which 
Charles,  count  of  Anjou,  established  himself  on  the  Sicilian  throne,  the  ancient 
rights  of  that  island  were  annihilated,  and  it  fell  entirely  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  pope.  Meanwhile  St.  Lewis,  who,  either  out  of  respect  to  his  holiness, 
or  of  complaisance  to  his  brother,  thus  beheld  with  indifference  the  liberties 
>f  mankind  sacrificed,  and  the  blood  of  princes  unjustly  spilled,  was  pre- 
paring- to  lead  a  new  army  against  the  infidels.  He  hoped  to  make  a  convert 


(1)  Fontainny,  Hist.  deVEgliae  Gallic,  torruxi.     Boulay,  Hist.  AcaA,  Paris,  torn  lii. 
•  -ymer.voU.  CAron.  T.V 
iiannone,  flint  di  JVaji 


(2)  Rymer,  vol.  i.  CAron.  T.  VVykes.     Ch.ron.Dv.nst.    M.Paris.     W.  Heming. 
<3)  G' 


LET.  XXXIV.]  MOD  K  UN    EUROPE.  20? 

of  the  king  of  Tunis ;  and,  for  that  purpose,  landed  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
sword  in  hand,  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  But  the  Mussulman  refused  to  em- 
brace Christianity :  the  French  army  was  seized  with  an  epidemical  distemper, 
of  which  Lewis  beheld  one  of  his  sons  expire,  and  another  at  the  point  of 
death,  when  he  was  seized  with  it  himself,  and  died  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of 
his  age.  His  son  and  successor,  Philip,  recovered ;  kept  the  field  against  the 
Moors ;  and  saved  the  remains  of  the  French  army,  which  procured  him  the 
name  of  the  Hardy. (1)  But  the  reign  of  this  prince  must  not  at  present 
engage  our  attention ;  we  must  return  to  the  affairs  of  Spain,  which  had  still 
little  connexion  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  but  was  every  day  rising  into  conse- 
quence. ' 


LETTER  XXXIV. 

Spain,  from  the  Middle  of  the  Eleventh  to  the  End  of  the  Thirteenth  Century. 

WE  left  Spain,  my  dear  Philip,  towards  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century, 
dismembered  by  the  Moors  and  Christians,  and  both  a  prey  to  civil  wars. 
About  that  time  Ferdinand,  son  of  Sancho,  surnamed  the  Great,  king  of 
Navarre  and  Arragon,  reunited  to  his  dominions  Old  Castile,  together  with 
the  kingdom  of  Leon,  which  he  took  from  his  brother-in-law,  whom  he  slew 
in  battle.  Castile  then  became  a  kingdom,  and  Leon  one  of  its  provinces. (2) 

In  the  reign  of  this  Ferdinand  lived  Don  Roderigo,  surnamed  the  Cid,  who 
actually  married  Chimene,  whose  father  he  had  murdered.  They  who  know 
nothing  of  this  history,  but  from  the  celebrated  tragedy  written  by  Corneille, 
suppose  that  Ferdinand  was  in  possession  of  Andalusia.  The  Cid  began  his 
famous  exploits  by  assisting  Don  Sancho,  Ferdinand's  eldest  son,  to  strip  his 
brothers  and  sisters  of  the  inheritance  left  them  by  their  father ;  but  Sancho 
being  murdered  in  one  of  these  unjust  expeditions,  his  brothers  entered  again 
into  possession  of  their  estates. 

A  short  digression  will  be  here  necessary.  Besides  the  many  kings  at  this 
time  in  Spain,  who  amounted  to  near  the  number  of  twenty,  there  were  also 
many  independent  lords,  who  came  on  horseback  completely  armed,  and  fol- 
lowed by  several  squires,  to  offer  their  service  to  the  princes  and  princesses 
engaged  in  war.  The  princes  with  whom  these  lords  engaged  girded  them 
with  a  belt,  and  presented  them  with  a  sword,  with  which  they  gave  them  a 
slight  blow  on  the  shoulder ;  and  hence  the  origin  of  knights-errant,  and  of 
the  number  of  single  combats,  which  so  long  desolated  Spain. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  these  combats  was  fought  after  the  niurder 
of  that  king  Sancho,  whose  death  I  have  just  mentioned,  and  who  was  assas- 
sinated while  he  was  besieging  his  sister  Auraca  in  the  city  of  Zamora.  Three 
knights  maintained  the  honour  of  the  infanta  against  Don  Diego  de  Lara,  who 
had  accused  her.  Don  Diego  overthrew  and  killed  two  of  the  infanta's 
knights ;  and  the  horse  of  the  third  having  the  reigns  of  his  bridle  cut,  carried 
his  master  out  of  the  lists,  and  the  combat  was  declared  undecided. 

Of  all  the  Spanish  knights,  the  Cid  distinguished  himself  most  eminently 
against  the  Moors.  Several  knights  ranged  themselves  under  his  banner ; 
and  these  knights,  with  their  squires  and  horsemen,  composed  an  army  covered 
with  iron,  and  mounted  on  the  most  beautiful  steeds  in  the  country.  With 
this  force  he  overcame  several  Moorish  kings ;  and  having  fortified  the  city 
of  Alcassar,  he  there  erected  a  little  sovereignty. 

But  of  the  various  enterprises  in  which  the  Cid  and  his  followers  were 
engaged,  the  most  gallant  was  the  siege  of  Toledo,  which  his  master  Alphonso 
VI.,  king  of  Old  Castile,  undertook  against  the  Moors.  The  noise  of  this 
siege,  and  the  Cid's  reputation,  -brought  many  knights  and  princes  from 
France  and  Italy;  particularly  Raymond,  count  of  Toulouse,  and  two  princes 
of  the  blood-royal  of  France,  of  the  branch  of  Burgundy.  The  Moorish 

11  Joinville,  ubi  sup.    Mezeray,  torn.  iii.    Renault  torn  •  (2)  Mariana,  Hist,  de  Espana. 


'208  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

king,  named  Hiaya,  was  the  son  of  Almamon,  one  of  the  most  generous 
princes  mentioned  in  history,  and  who  had  afforded  an  asylum,  in  this  very 
city  of  Toledo,  to  Alphonso,  when  persecuted  by  his  brother  Sancho.  They 
had  lived  together  for  a  long  time  in  strict  friendship ;  and  Almamon  was  so 
far  from  detaining  Alphonso,  when  he  became  king  by  the  death  of  Sancho, 
that  he  gave  him  part  of  his  treasures,  and  they  shed  tears,  it  is  said,  at  part- 
ing. But  the  spirit  of  those  times  made  every  thing  lawful  against  Infidels ; 
and  even  meritorious.  Several  Moorish  princes  went  out  of  the  city  to  re- 
proach Alphonso  with  his  ingratitude,  and  many  remarkable  combats  were 
fought  under  the  walls. 

This  siege  lasted  a  whole  year;  at  the  end  of  which  Toledo  capitulated: 
•ju  condition  that  the  Moors  should  enjoy  their  religion  and  laws,  and  suffer 
no  injury  in  their  persons  or  property.(l)  All  New  Castile,  in  a  short  time, 
yielded  to  the  Cid,  who  took  possession  of  it  in  the  name  of  Alphonso ;  and 
Madrid,  a  small  place,  which  was  one  day  to  become  the  capital  of  Spain,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Christians. 

Immediately -after  the  reduction  of  Toledo,  Alphonso  called  an  assembly 
of  bishops,  who,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  people,  formerly  thought 
necessary,  promoted  a  priest  named  Bernard  to  the  bishoprick  of  that  city ; 
and  pope  Urban  II.,  at  the  king's  request,  made  him  primate  of  Spain.  The 
king  and  the  pope  were  also  anxious  to  establish  the  Roman  liturgy  and  ritual 
in  place  of  the  Gothic,  or  Musarabic,  hitherto  in  use.  The  Spaniards  con- 
tended zealously  for  the  ritual  of  their  ancestors :  the  pope  urged  them  to 
receive  that  which  he  had  given  his  infallible  sanction:  a  violent  squabble 
arose ;  and,  to  the  disgrace  of  human  reason,  a  religious  opinion  was  referred 
to  the  decision  of  the  sword.  Two  knights  accordingly  entered  the  lists  in 
complete  armour.  The  Musarabic  champion  was  victorious ;  but  the  king 
and  the  archbishop  had  influence  enough  to  get  a  new  trial  appointed,  though 
contrary  to  all  the  laws  of  combat.  The  next  appeal  was  to  God  by  fire.  A 
fire  being  prepared  for  that  purpose,  a  copy  of  each  liturgy  was  cast  into  the 
flames.  The  fire,  most  likely,  respected  neither;  but  authority  prevailed 
The  Roman  liturgy  was  ordered  to  be  received ;  yet  some  churches  were  per- 
mitted to  retain  the  Musarabic.(2) 

Alphonso,  either  from  policy  or  inclination,  augmented  the  dominions  which 
he  had  acquired  through  the  valour  of  the  Cid,  by  marrying  Zaid,  daughter 
of  Abenhabet,  the  Mahometan  king  of  Seville,  with  whom  he  received  several 
towns  in  dowry :  and  he  is  reproached  with  having,  in  conjunction  with  his 
father-in-law,  invited  the  Miramolin  of  Africa  into  Spain.  But  be  that  as  it 
may,  the  Miramolin  came ;  and,  instead  of  assisting,  as  was  expected,  the 
king  of  Seville,  in  reducing  the  petty  Moorish  princes,  he  turned  his  arms 
against  Abenhabet ;  took  the  city  of  Seville,  and  became  a  dangerous  neigh- 
bour to  Alphonso.  (3) 

In  the  mean  time  the  Cid,  at  the  head  of  his  army  of  knights,  subdued  the 
kingdom  of  Valencia.  Few  kings  in  Spain  were,  at  that  time,  so  powerful  as 
he ;  yet  he  never  assumed  the  regal  title,  but  continued  faithful  to  his  master 
Alphonso.  He  governed  Valentia,  however,  with  all  the  authority  of  a 
sovereign,  receiving  ambassadors,  and  being  treated  with  the  highest  respect 
by  all  nations.  After  his  death,  which  happened  in  1096,  the  kings  of  Castile 
and  Arragon  continued  their  wars  against  the  Infidels ;  and  Spam  was  more 
drenched  in  blood  than  ever,  and  more  desolated. 

Alphonso,  surnamed  the  Battle-giver,  king  of  Navarre  and  Arragon,  took 
Saragossa  from  the  Moors ;  and  that  city,  which  afterward  became  the  capi- 
tal of  the  kingdom  of  Arragon,  never  again  returned  under  the  dominion  oi' 
the  Infidels.  He  was  continually  at  war  either  with  the  Christians  or  Maho- 
metans ;  and  the  latter  gained  a  complete  victory  over  them,  which  mortified 
him  so  much,  that  he  died  of  chagrin,  leaving  his  kingdom  by  will  to  the 
Knights  Templars.  This  was  bequeathing  a  civil  war  as  his  last  legacy. 

(1)  Rod.  Tolet.  da  Reb.  Hisp.    Mariana,  ubi  sup.    Ferreras,  Hist,  de  Espana.  (2)  Id  ibid 

<3)  Bod.  Tolet.  de  Reb.  Hup. 


LET.  XXXIV.J  M  O  DE  R  N   E  URO  P  E.  209 

The  testament  was  esteemed  valid ;  but  fortunately  these  knights  were  not 
in  a  condition  to  enforce  it ;  and  the  states  of  Arragon  chose  for  their  king 
Garcias  Remiero,  brother  to  the  deceased  monarch.  He  had  led  a  monastic 
life  for  upwards  of  forty  years,  and  proved  incapable  of  governing.  The 
people  of  Navarre  therefore  chose  another  king,  descended  from  their  an- 
cient monarchs ;  and,  by  this  division,  both  these  states  became  a  prey  to  the 
Moors.  They  were  saved  by  the  timely  assistance  of  Alphonso  VII.,  king  of 
Castile,  who  had  obtained  many  victories  over  the  Infidels,  and  in  return  for 
his  protection  received  the  city  of  Saragossa  from  the  Arragonese,  and  the 
homage  of  the  king  of  Navarre.  This  success  so  much  elated  Alphonso,  that 
he  assumed  the  title  of  Emperor  of  Spain.(l) 

Alphonso  Henriquez,  count  of  Portugal,  received  about  this  time  the  title 
of  king  from  his  soldiers,  after  a  victory  obtained  over  the  Moors ;  and  he 
took  Lisbon  from  them  by  the  assistance  of  the  crusaders,  as  has  been  already 
mentioned.  On  this  occasion,  pope  Alexander  III.,  steady  to  the  policy  of 
his  predecessors,  took  advantage  of  the  papal  maxim,  that  all  countries  con- 
quered from  the  Infidels  belong  to  the  Holy  See,  to  assert  his  superiority 
over  Portugal ;  and  Alphonso  politically  allowed  him  an  annual  tribute  of  two 
marks  of  gold,  on  receiving  a  bull  from  Rome  confirming  his  regal  dignity 
and  his  infallible  right  to  that  territory.(S) 

A  very  few  efforts  would  now  have  been  sufficient  to  have  driven  the  Moors 
entirely  out  of  Spain :  but  for  that  purpose  it  was  necessary  that  the  Spanish 
Christians  should  be  united  among  themselves,  whereas  they  were  unhappily 
engaged  in  perpetual  wars  one  with  another.  They  united,  however,  at  length, 
from  a  sense  of  common  danger,  and  also  implored  the  assistance  of  the  other 
Christian  princes  of  Europe. 

Mahomet  Ben  Joseph,  Miramolin  of  Africa,  having  crossed  the  sea  with  an 
army  of  near  one  hundred  thousand  men,  and  being  joined  by  the  Moors  in 
Andalusia,  assured  himself  of  making  an  entire  conquest  of  Spain.  The 
rumour  of  this  great  armament  roused  the  attention  of  the  whole  European 
continent.  Many  adventurers  came  from  all  quarters.  To  these  the  kings 
of  Castile,  Arragon,  and  Navarre,  united  their  forces :  the  kingdom  of  Por- 
tugal also  furnished  a  body  of  troops;  and  the  Christian  and  Mahometan 
armies  met  in  the  defiles  of  the  Black  Mountain,  or  Sierra  Morena,  on  the 
borders  of  Andalusia,  and  in  the  province  of  Toledo.  Alphonso  the  Noble, 
king  of  Castile,  commanded  the  centre  of  the  Christian  army :  the  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo  carried  the  cross  before  him.  The  Miramolin  occupied  the 
same  place  in  the  Moorish  army :  he  was  dressed  in  a  rich  robe,  with  the 
Koran  in  one  hand,  and  a  sabre  in  the  other.  The  battle  was  long  and 
obstinately  disputed,  but  at  length  the  Christians  prevailed  :(3)  and  the  six- 
teenth of  July,  the  day  on  which  the  victory  was  gained,  is  still  celebrated 
in  Toledo. 

The  consequences  of  this  victory,  however,  were  not  so  great  as  might 
have  been  expected.  The  Moors  of  Andalusia  were  strengthened  by  the 
remains  of  the  African  army,  while  that  of  the  Christians  was  immediately 
dispersed.  Almost  all  the  knights  who  had  been  present  at  the  battle 
returned  to  their  respective  homes  as  soon  as  it  was  over.  But  although 
the  Christians  seemed  thus  to  neglect  their  true  interest,  by  allowing  the 
Mahometans  time  to  recruit  themselves,  the  Moors  employed  that  time  more 
to  their  own  hurt  than  the  Christians  could  if  united  against  them.  All  the 
Moorish  states,  both  in  Spain  and  Africa,  were  rent  in  pieces  by  civil  dissen- 
sions, and  a  variety  of  new  sovereigns  sprang  up,  which  entirely  broke  the 
power  of  the  Infidels. 

The  period  seemed  therefore  arrived,  to  use  the  language  of  that  haughty 
and  superstitious  nation,  marked  out  by  Heaven  for  the  glory  of  Spain,  and 
the  expulsion  of  the  Moors.  Ferdinand  III.,  styled  by  his  countrymen  St. 
Ferdinand,  took  from  the  Infidels  the  famous  city  of  Cordova,  the  residence 
of  the  first  Moorish  kings ;  and  James  I.  of  Arragon  dispossessed  them  oi 

(1)  Bod.  Tolet.  deReb.  Hisp          (2)  Neuaville,  Hist  Gen  de  Port.         (3)  Rod.  Tolet.  de  Jtet,.  l/txo 

VOL.  I.— O 


210  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART!. 

the  island  of  Majorca,  and  drove  them  out  of  the  fine  kingdom  of  Valentia. 
St.  Ferdinand  also  subdued  the  province  of  Murcia,  and  made  himself  master 
of  Seville,  the  most  opulent  city  belonging  to  the  Moors. (l)  Death  at  length 
put  an  end  to  Hfs  conquests  :  and  if  divine  honours  are  due  to  those  who  have 
been  the  deliverers  of  their  country,  Spain  justly  reverences  the  name  of 
Ferdinand  III. 

Alphonso,  surnamed  the  Astronomer,  or  the  Wise,  the  son  of  St.  Ferdinand, 
likewise  exalted  the  glory  of  Spain ;  but  in  a  manner  very  different  from  that 
of  his  father.  This  prince,  who  rivalled  the  Arabians  in  the  sciences,  digested 
the  celebrated  Spanish  code,  called  Las  Portidas ;  and  under  his  inspection 
those  astronomical  tables  were  drawn  up,  which  still  bear  his  name,  and  do 
honour  to  his  memory.  In  his  old  age  he  saw  his  son  Sancho  rebel  against 
him,  and  was  reduced  to  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  leaguing  with  the 
Moors  against  his  own  blood,  and  his  rebellious  Christian  subjects.  This 
was  not  the  first  alliance  which  Christians  had  entered  into  with  Mahometans 
against  Christians ;  but  it  was  certainly  the  most  excusable. 

Alphonso  invited  to  his  assistance  the  Miramolin  of  Africa,  who  immedi- 
ately crossed  the  sea ;  and  the  two  monarchs  met  at  Zara,  on  the  cpnfines 
of  Granada.  The  behaviour  and  speech  of  the  Miramolin,  on  this  occasion, 
deserves  to  be  transmitted  to  the  latest  posterity.  He  gave  the  place  of 
honour  to  Alphonso  at  meeting :  "  I  treat  you  thus,"  said  he,  "  because  you 
are  unfortunate;  and  enter  into  alliance  with  you  merely  to  revenge  the 
common  cause  of  all  kings  and  all  fathers."(2) 

The  rebels  were  overcome ;  but  the  good  old  king  died  before  he  had  time 
to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  victory :  and  the  Miramolin  being  obliged  to  return 
to  Africa,  the  unnatural  Sancho  succeeded  to  the  crown  in  prejudice  to  the 
offspring  of  a  former  marriage.  He  even  reigned  happily ;  and  his  son  Fer- 
dinand IV.  took  Gibraltar  from  the  Moors. (3) 

This  Ferdinand  is  called  by  the  Spanish  historians  the  Summoned :  and 
the  reason  they  assign  for  it  is  somewhat  remarkable.  Having  ordered  two 
noblemen,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  to  be  thrown  from  the  top  of  a  rock,  those  noble- 
men, before  they  were  pushed  off,  summoned  him  to  appear  in  the  presence 
of  God  within  a  month;  at  the  end  of  which  he  died.(4)  It  is  to  be  wished, 
as  Voltaire  very  justly  observes,  that  this  story  were  true ;  or,  at  least, 
believed  to  be  so  by  all  princes  who  think  they  have  a  right  to  follow  their  own 
imperious  wills  at  the  expense  of  the  lives  of  their  fellow-creatures. 

These  are  the  circumstances  most  worthy  of  notice  in  the  history  of  Spain, 
during  the  period  here  examined.  We  must  now  take  a  view  of  the  progress 
of  society. 


LETTER   XXXV. 

Progress  of  Society  in  Europe  during  the  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Centuries. 

You  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  letters  begin  to  revive,  and  manners 
to  soften,  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century.  But  the  progress  of 
refinement  was  slow  during  the  two  succeeding  centuries,  and  often  altogether 
obstructed  by  monastic  austerities,  theological  disputes,  ecclesiastical  broils, 
and  the  disorders  of  the  feudal  anarchy.  Society,  however,  made  many 
beneficial  advances  before  the  close  of  this  period.  These  I  shall  endeavour 
distinctly  to  trace. 

The  influence  of  the  spirit  of  chivalry  on  manners,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
great  and  singular;  it  enlarged  the  ge'nerosities  of  the  human  heart,  and 
soothed  its  ferocity.  But  being  unhappily  blended  with  superstition,  it 
became  itself  the  means  of  violence :  armed  one  half  of  the  species  against 
the  other,  and  precipitated  Europe  upon  Asia.  I  allude  to  the  crusades. 

(1)  Rod.  Tolet.  de  Reb.  ffisp.  (2)  Fern-ran  ct  Mariana,  uhi  supra 

(3)  Id.  Ibid.  (4)  Ferrera.s,  Hitt.  Espana. 


I,BT.  XXXV.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  211 

Yet  these  romantic  expeditions,  though  barbarous  and  destructive  in  them 
selves,  were  followed  by  many  important  consequences,  equally  conducive  to 
the  welfare  of  the  community  and  of  the  individual.  All  adventurers  who 
assumed  the  cross  being  taken  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the  church, 
and  its  heaviest  anathemas  denounced  against  such  as  should  molest  their 
persons  or  their  property,  private  hostilities  were  for  a  time  suspended  or 
extinguished  :  the  feudal  sovereigns  became  more  powerful,  and  their  vassals 
less  turbulent ;  a  more  steady  administration  of  justice  was  introduced,  and 
some  advances  were  made  towards  regular  government. 

The  commercial  effects  of  the  crusades  were  no  less  considerable  than  their 
political  influence.  Many  ships  were  necessary  to  transport  the  prodigious 
armies  which  Europe  poured  forth,  and  also  to  supply  them  with  provisions. 
These  ships  were  principally  furnished  by  the  Venetians,  the  Pisans,  and  the 
Genoese ;  who  acquired,  by  that  service,  immense  sums  of  money,  and  opened 
to  themselves  at  the  same  time,  a  new  source  of  wealth,  by  importing  into 
Europe  the  commodities  of  Asia.  A  taste  for  these  commodities  became 
general.  The  Italian  cities  grew  rich,  powerful,  and  obtained  extensive  pri- 
vileges. Some  of  them  erected  themselves  into  sovereignties,  others  into 
corporations  or  independent  communities  ;(1)  and  the  establishment  of  those 
communities  may  be  considered  as  the  first  great  step  towards  civilization  in 
modern  Europe. 

This  subject  requires  your  particular  attention.  The  feudal  government, 
as  I  have  frequently  had  occasion  to  observe,  had  degenerated  into  a  system 
of  oppression.  The  nobles  had  reduced  the  great  body  of  the  people  to  a 
state  of  actual  servitude,  and  the  condition  of  those  denominated  free  was 
little,  if  at  all,  more  desirable.  Not  only  the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  but 
even  whole  cities  and  villages,  held  of  some  great  lord,  on  whom  they 
depended  for  protection;  and  the  citizens  were  no  less  subject  to  his  arbi- 
trary jurisdiction  than  those  employed  in  cultivating  the  estates  of  their 
masters.  Services  of  various  kinds,  equally  disgraceful  and  oppressive,  were 
exacted  from  them  without  mercy  or  moderation :  and  they  were  deprived  of 
the  most  natural  and  unalienable  rights  of  humanity.  They  could  not  dispose 
of  their  effects  by  will,  appoint  guardians  to  their  children,  or  even  marry, 
without  the  consent  of  their  superior  lord.  (2) 

Men  in  such  a  condition  had  few  motives  to  industry.  Accordingly  we 
find  all  the  cities  of  Europe,  before  their  enfranchisement,  equally  poor  and 
wretched.  But  no  sooner  were  they  formed  into  bodies  politic,  governed  by 
magistrates  chosen  from  among  their  own  members,  than  the  spirit  of 
industry  revived,  and  commerce  began  to  flourish.  Population  increased 
with  independency;  the  conveniences  of  life  with  the  means  of  procuring 
them ;  property  gave  birth  to  statutes  and  regulations  ;  a  sense  of  common 
interest  enforced  them;  and  the  more  frequent  occasions  of  intercourse 
among  men,  and  kingdoms,  gradually  led  to  a  greater  refinement  in  manners, 
and  tended  to  wear  off  those  national  and  local  prejudices  which  create 
dissension  and  animosity  between  the  inhabitants  of  different  states  and 
provinces. 

The  manner  in  which  these  immunities  were  obtained  was  different  in  the 
different  kingdoms  of  Europe.  Some  of  the  Italian  cities,  as  we  have  seen, 
acquired  their  freedom  by  arms,  others  by  money;  and  in  France  and  Ger- 
many many  of  the  great  barons  were  glad  to  sell  charters  of  liberty  to  the 
towns  within  their  jurisdiction,  in  order  to  repair  the  expense  incurred  by  the 
crusades.  The  sovereigns  also  granted,  or  sold,  like  privileges  to  the  towns 
within  the  royal  domain,  in  order  to  create  some  power  that  might  counter- 
balance their  potent  vassals,  who  often  gave  law  to  the  crown.(3)  The  prac- 
tice quickly  spread  over  Europe  ;  and  before  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century 
its  beneficial  effects  were  generally  felt. 

These  effects  were  no  less  extensive  upon  government  than  upon  manners 

U)  Mural.  Jlntiq.  Hal.  vol.  ii. 

3)   Ordon.  des  Rots  de  France,  torn.  i.  iii.    Dacb.  Spicilo".  torn.  xi.    Murat.  Antiqvdt.  Ital.  vol  iv 

3)  Du  Cange,  voc.  communia. 

O  2 


212  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

Self-preservation  had  obliged  every  man,  during  several  centuries,  to  court 
the  patronage  of  some  powerful  baron,  whose  castle  was  the  common  asylum 
in  times  of  danger ;  but  towns  surrounded  with  walls,  and  filled  with  citizens 
trained  to  arms,  bound  by  interest  as  well  as  the  most  solemn  engagements 
to  protect  each  other,  afforded  a  more  commodious  and  secure  retreat.  The 
nobles  became  of  less  importance,  when  they  ceased  to  be  the  sole  guardians 
of  the  people ;  and  the  crown  acquired  an  increase  of  power  and  consequence, 
when  it  no  longer  depended  entirely  upon  its  great  vassals  for  the  supply  of 
its  armies.  The  cities  contributed  liberally  towards  the  support  of  the  royal 
authority,  as  they  regarded  the  sovereigns  as  the  authors  of  their  liberty, 
and  their  protectors  against  the  domineering  spirit  of  the  nobles.  Hence 
another  consequence  of  corporation  charters. 

The  inhabitants  of  cities  having  obtained  personal  freedom,  and  municipal 
jurisdiction,  soon  aspired  at  civil  liberty  and  political  power.  And  the  sove- 
reigns, in  most  kingdoms,  found  it  necessary  to  admit  them  to  a  share  in  the 
legislature,  on  account  of  their  utility  in  raising  the  supplies  for  government ; 
it  being  a  fundamental  principle  in  the  feudal  policy,  that  no  free  man  could 
be  taxed  but  with  his  own  consent.  The  citizens  were  now  free ;  and  the 
wealth,  the  power,  and  the  consequence  which  they  acquired  on  recovering 
their  liberty,  added  weight  to  their  claim  to  political  eminence,  and  seemed 
to  mark  them  out  as  an  essentfel  branch  in  the  constitution.  They  had  it 
much  in  their  power  to  supply  the  exigencies  of  the  crown,  and  also  to  re- 
press the  encroachment  of  the  nobles.  In  England,  Germany,  and  even  in 
France,  where  the  voice  of  liberty  is  heard  no  more,  the  representatives  of 
communities  accordingly  obtained,  by  different  means,  a  place  in  the  national 
council,  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.(l) 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  an  intermediate  power  was  established  between  the 
king  and  nobles,  to  which  each  had  recourse  alternately,  and  which  some- 
times opposed  the  one,  and  sometimes  the  other.  It  tempered  the  rigour  of 
aristocratical  oppression  with  a  mixture  of  popular  liberty,  at  the  same  time 
that  it  restrained  the  usurpations  of  the  crown:  it  secured  to  the  great  body 
of  the  people,  who  had  formerly  no  representatives,  active  and  powerful 
guardians  of  their  rights  and  liberties ;  and  it  entirely  changed  the  spirit  of 
the  laws,  by  introducing  into  the  statutes  and  the  jurisprudence  of  the  Eu- 
ropean nations  ideas  of  equality,  order,  and  public  good. 

To  this  new  power  that  part  of  the  people  still  in  servitude,  the  villains, 
who  resided  in  the  country,  and  were  employed  in  agriculture,  looked  up  for 
freedom.  They  obtained  it,  though  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  feudal  polity. 
The  odious  names  of  masters  and  slaves  were  abolished.  The  husbandman 
became  farmer  of  the  same  fields  which  he  had  formerly  been  compelled  to 
cultivate  for  the  benefit  of  another.  He  reaped  a  share  of  the  fruits  of  his 
own  industry.  New  prospects  opened,  new  incitements  were  offered  to 
ingenuity  and  enterprise.  The  activity  of  genius  was  awakened;  and  a 
numerous  class  of  men,  who  formerly  had  no  political  existence,  were 
restored  to  society  and  augmented  the  force  and  riches  of  the  state. 

The  second  great  advance  which  society  made,  during  the  period  under 
review,  was  an  approach  towards  a  more  regular  administration  of  justice. 
The  barbarous  nations  who  overran  the  Roman  empire,  and  settled  in  its  pro- 
vinces, rejected  the  Roman  jurisprudence,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe, 
with  the  same  contempt  that  they  spurned  the  Roman  arts.  Both  respected 
objects  of  which  they  had  no  conception,  and  were  adapted  to  a  state  of 
iociety  with  which  they  were,  then  unacquainted.  But  as  civilization  ad- 
vanced, they  became  sensible  of  the  imperfection  of  their  own  institutions, 
and  even  of  their  absurdity.  The  trial  by  ordeal  and  by  duel  was  abolished 
in  most  countries  before  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  vaiious  at- 
tempts were  made  to  restrain  the  practice  of  private  war ;  one  of  the  greatest 
abuses  in  the  feudal  polity,  and  which  struck  at  the  foundation  of  all  govern- 
ment. 

(11  M.  I'Abbe  Mably,  Observat.  sur.  I' Hist,  de  France,  torn.  ii.  Henault,  torn.  i.  Pfesael,  Abreg*  dt 
Pffist.  di  Droit  d' JHlcmagne.  Brady,  Treatise  of  Boroughs.  Madox,  Firma  Burfi. 


LET.  XXXV.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  213 

As  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate  was  found  ineffectual  to  remedy 
this  evil,  the  church  interposed ;  and  various  regulations  were  published,  in 
order  to  set  bounds  to  private  hostilities.  But  these  all  proving  insufficient, 
supernatural  means  were  employed ;  a  letter  was  sent  from  heaven  to  a  bishop 
of  Aquitaine,  enjoining  men  to  cease  from  violence,  and  be  reconciled  to  each 
other.  This  revelation  was  published  during  a  season  of  public  calamity, 
when  men  were  willing  to  perform  any  thing  in  order  to  avert  the  wrath  of 
an  offended  God.  A  general  reconciliation  took  place :  and  a  resolution  was 
formed,  that  no  man  should,  in  time  to  come,  attack  or  molest  his  adversaries 
during  the  seasons  set  apart  for  celebrating  the  great  festivals  of  the  church, 
or  from  the  evening  of  Thursday  in  each  week  to  the  morning  of  Monday 
in  the  week  ensuing ;  the  intervening  days  being  considered  as  particularly 
holy.  Christ's  passion  having  happened  on  one  of  those  days,  and  his  resur- 
rection on  another.  This  cessation  from  hostilities  was  called  "  The  Truce 
of  God ;"  and  three  complete  days,  in  every  week,  allowed  such  a  considerable 
space  for  the  passions  of  the  antagonists  to  cool,  and  for  the  people  to  enjoy 
a  respite  from  the  calamities  of  war,  as  well  as  to  take  measures  for  their 
own  security,  that,  if  the  Truce  of  God  had  been  exactly  observed,  it  must 
have  gone  far  towards  putting  an  end  to  private  wars.  That,  however,  was 
not  the  case ;  the  nobles  prosecuted  their  quarrels,  as  formerly,  till  towards 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  when  a  carpenter  of  Guienne  gave  out,  that 
Jesus  Christ,  together  with  the  Blessed  Virgin,  had  appeared  to  him,  and, 
having  commanded  him  to  exhort  mankind  to  peace,  had  given  him,  ats  a 
proof  of  his  mission,  an  image  of  the  Virgin  holding  her  son  in  her  arms, 
with  this  inscription :  "  Lamb  of  God,  who  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world, 
give  us  peace !"  This  law  fanatic  was  received  as  an  inspired  messenger  of 
Heaven.  Many  prelates  and  barons  assembled  at  Puy,  and  took  an  oath, 
not  only  to  make  peace  with  all  their  own  enemies,  but  to  attack  such  as 
refused  to  lay  down  their  anus  and  to  be  reconciled  to  their  enemies.  They 
formed  an  association  for  that  purpose,  and  assumed  the  honourable  name  of 
•'  The  Brotherhood  of  God."  Like  associations  were  formed  in  other  coun- 
tries ;  and  these,  together  with  civil  prohibitions,  enforced  by  royal  power, 
contributed  to  remove  this  pernicious  evil.(l) 

When  society  was  thus  emerging  from  barbarism,  and  men  were  become 
sensible  of  the  necessity  of  order,  a  copy  of  Justinian's  Pandects  was  dis- 
covered at  Amalphi,  in  Italy:  and  although  the  age  had  still  too  little  taste 
to  relish  the  beauty  of  the  Roman  classics,  it  immediately  perceived  the  merit 
of  a  system  of  laws,  in  which  all  the  points  most  interesting  to  mankind 
were  settled  with  precision,  discernment,  and  equity.  All  men  of  letters 
were  struck  with  admiration  at  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients :  the  Justinian 
code  was  studied  with  eagerness ;  the  professors  of  civil  law  were  appointed, 
who  taught  this  new  science  in  most  countries  of  Europe. 

The  effects  of  studying  and  imitating  so  perfect  a  model  were,  as  might  be 
expected,  great.  Fixed  and  general  laws  were  established ;  the  principles 
and  the  forms  by  which  judges  should  regulate  their  decisions  were  ascer- 
tained ;  the  feudal  law  was  reduced  into  a  regular  system ;  the  canon  law 
was  methodised ;  the  loose  uncertain  customs  of  different  provinces  or  king- 
doms were  collected  and  arranged  with  order  and  accuracy.  And  these  im- 
provements in  the  system  of  jurisprudence  had  an  extensive  influence  upon 
society.  They  gave  rise  to  a  distinction  of  professions. 

Among  rude  nations  no  profession  is  honourable  but  that  of  arms ;  and, 
as  the  functions  of  peace  are  few  and  simple,  war  is  the  only  study.  Such 
had  been  the  state  of  Europe  during  several  centuries.  But  when  law  be- 
came a  science,  the  knowledge  of  which  required  a  regular  course  of  studies, 
together  with  long  attention  to  the  practice  of  courts,  a  new  order  of  men 
naturally  acquired  consideration  and  influence  in  society.  Another  profes- 
sion beside  that  of  arms  was  introduced,  and  reputed  honourable  among  the 

(J)  Du  Cange,  Gloss,  voc.  Treuga.  Du  Mont.  Corps  Diplomatique,  torn.  i.  Robertson's  Introd.  Hitt 
fliarles  V.  sect  i.  Hume.  Hitt.  England,  Append,  i. 


214  FHE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

laity :  the  talents  requisite  for  discharging  it  were  cultivated ;  the  arts  and 
virtues  of  peace  were  placed  in  their  proper  rank :  and  the  people  of  Europe 
became  accustomed  to  see  men  rise  to  eminence  by  civil  as  well  as  military 
employment.  (1) 

The  study  of  the  Roman  law  had  also  a  considerable  influence  upon  letters. 
The  knowledge  of  a  variety  of  sciences  became  necessary,  in  order  to  ex- 
pound with  judgment  the  civil  code ;  and  the  same  passion  which  made  men 
prosecute  the  juridical  science  with  so  much  ardour  made  them  anxious  to 
excel  in  every  branch  of  literature.  Colleges  and  universities  were  founded, 
a  regular  course  of  studies  was  planned,  and  a  regular  set  of  professors  esta- 
blished. Privileges  of  great  value  were  conferred  upon  masters  and  scholars ; 
academical  titles  and  honours  were  invented,  as  rewards  for  the  different 
degrees  of  literary  eminence ;  and  an  incredible  number  of  students,  allured 
by  these  advantages,  resorted  to  the  new  seats  of  learning.  (2) 

But  a  false  taste  unhappily  infected  all  those  seminaries ;  which  is  thus 
ingeniously  accounted  for  by  a  learned  and  inquisitive  writer: — Most  of  the 
persons  who  attempted  to  revive  literature  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies had  received  instruction,  and  derived  their  principle  of  science,  from  the 
Greeks  in  the  Eastern  empire,  or  the  Arabs  in  Spain  and  Africa.  Both  those 
people,  acute  and  inquisitive  to  excess,  corrupted  the  sciences  which  they  cul- 
tivated. The  Greeks  rendered  theology  a  system  of  speculative  refinement, 
or  endless  controversy ;  and  the  Arabs  communicated  to  philosophy  a  spirit 
of  metaphysical  and  frivolous  subtlety.  Misled  by  these  guides,  the  persons 
who  first  applied  to  science  were  involved  in  a  maze  of  intricate  inquiries. 
Instead  of  allowing  their  fancy  to  take  its  natural  range,  and  produce  such 
works  of  elegant  invention  as  might  have  improved  the  taste  and  refined  the 
sentiments  of  the  age ;  instead  of  cultivating  those  arts  which  embellish 
human  life,  and  render  it  delightful,  they  spent  the  whole  force  of  their 
genius  in  speculations  as  unavailing  as  they  were  difficult.  (3) 

But,  fruitless  and  ill-directed  as  these  speculations  were,  their  novelty 
roused,  and  their  boldness  engaged,  the  human  mind ;  and  although  science 
was  further  circumscribed  in  its  influence,  and  prevented  during  several  ages 
from  diffusing  itself  through  society,  by  being  delivered  in  the  Latin  tongue, 
its  progress  deserves  to  be  mentioned,  as  one  of  the  great  causes  which  con- 
tributed to  introduce  a  change  of  manners  into  modern  Europe.  That  ardent 
though  mistaken  spirit  of  inquiry  which  prevailed  put  ingenuity  and  inven- 
tion in  motion,  and  gave  them  vigour :  it  led  men  to  a  new  employment  of 
their  faculties,  which  they  found  to  be  agreeable  as  well  as  interesting ;  it 
accustomed  them  to  exercises  and  occupations  that  tended  to  soften  their 
manners  and  to  give  them  some  relish  for  those  gentle  virtues  which  are 
peculiar  to  nations  among  whom  science  has  been  successfully  cultivated. 

Some  ages  indeed  elapsed  before  taste,  order,  and  politeness  were  restored 
to  society :  but  anarchy  and  barbarism  gradually  disappeared  with  ignorance ; 
the  evils  of  life,  with  its  crimes ;  and  public  and  private  happiness  grew  daily 
better  understood ;  until  Europe  (wisely  governed !)  came  to  enjoy  a!5  those 
advantages,  pleasures,  amusements,  and  tender  sympathies,  which  an?  seces- 
sary  to  alleviate  the  pains  inseparable  from  existence,  and  sooth  the  »•  'rows 
allied  to  humanity. 

(1)  Montesquieu.  I' Esprit  de»  Loix.  liv.  xxviii.     Hume,  Hist.  England, chap,  xxiii.    Robert*  •* 

ttisi.  CAorCes  V.  sect  i.  (2)  Id.  Ibid.  (3)  Robertson,  ubi  sup. 


LET  XXXVI.l  MODERN    EUROPE.  215 


LETTER  XXXVI. 

England  during  the  Reign  of  Edward  I.  with  an  Introduction  to  the  History  of 
Scotland ;  some  Account  of  the  Conquest  of  that  Country  by  the  English,  and 
the  final  Reduction  of  Wales. 

THE  reign  of  Edward  I.  my  dear  Philip,  as  already  observed,  forms  a  new 
era  in  the  history  of  Britain.  I  must  now  make  you  sensible  what  entitles  it 
to  that  distinction. 

As  soon  as  Edward  returned  to  England  (where  his  authority  was  firmly 
established,  by  his  high  character  both  at  home  and  abroad),  he  applied  him- 
self assiduously  to  the  correcting  of  those  disorders  which  the  civil  commo- 
tions, and  the  loose  administration  of  his  father,  had  introduced  into  every 
part  of  government.  His  policy,  though  severe,  was  equally  liberal  and  pru- 
dent. By  an  exact  distribution  of  justice,  and  a  rigid  execution  of  the  laws, 
he  gave  at  once  protection  to  the  inferior  orders  of  the  state,  and  diminished 
the  arbitrary  power  of  the  nobles.  He  made  it  a  rule  in  his  own  conduct  to 
observe,  except  upon  extraordinary  occasions,  the  privileges  secured  to  the 
barons  by  the  Great  Charter,  and  he  insisted  on  their  observance  of  the  same 
charter  towards  their  vassals ;  he  made  the  crown  be  regarded  as  the  gram 
fountain  of  justice,  and  the  general  asylum  against  violence  and  oppression. 
By  these  wise  measures,  the  state  of  the  kingdom  was  soon  wholly  changed ; 
order  and  tranquillity  were  restored  to  society,  and  vigour  to  government.(l) 

Now  it  was  that  the  enterprising  spirit  of  Edward  began  more  remarkably 
to  show  itself.  He  undertook  an  expedition  against  Lewellyn  prince  of 
Wales,  who  had  formerly  joined  the  rebellious  barons,  and  whose  two 
brothers,  David  and  Roderic,  had  fled  to  Edward  for  protection ;  craving  his 
assistance  to  recover  their  possessions,  and  seconding  his  attempts  to  enslave 
their  native  country. 

The  Welch  prince  had  no  resource  against  the  superior  force  of  Edward 
but  the  inaccessible  situation  of  his  mountains,  which  had  hitherto  protected 
his  forefathers  against  all  the  attempts  of  the  Saxon  and  Norman  conquerors. 
He  accordingly  retired  with  the  bravest  of  his  subjects  among  the  hills  of 
Snowdon.  But  Edward,  no  less  vigorous  than  cautious,  pierced  into  the 
heart  of  the  country,  and  approached  the  Welch  army  in  its  last  retreat. 
Having  carefully  secured  every  pass  behind  him,  he  avoided  putting  to  trial 
the  valour  of  a  nation  proud  of  its  ancient  independency.  He  trusted  to  the 
more  slow  but  sure  effects  of  famine  for  success ;  and  Lewellyn  was  at  length 
obliged  to  submit,  and  receive  the  terms  imposed  upon  him  by  the  English 
monarch.  (2) 

These  terms,  though  sufficiently  severe,  were  but  ill  observed  by  the  vic- 
tors. The  English  oppressed  and  insulted  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts 
'which  were  yielded  to  them.  The  indignation  of  the  Welch  was  roused 
they  flew  to  arms ;  and  Edward  again  entered  Wales  with  an  army,  not  dis 
pleased  with  the  occasion  of  making  his  conquest  final.  This  army  he  com- 
mitted to  the  command  of  Roger  Mortimer,  while  he  himself  waited  the 
event  in  the  castle  of  Rudhlan ;  and  Lewellyn,  having  ventured  to  leave  his 
fastnesses,  was  defeated  by  Mortimer,  and  slain,  together  with  two  thousand 
of  his  followers.  All  the  Welch  nobility  submitted  to  Edward,  and  the  laws 
of  England  were  established  in  that  principality.  (3) 

In  order  to  preserve  his  conquest,  Edward  had  recourse  to  a  barbarous 
policy.  He  ordered  David,  brother  to  Lewellyn,  and  his  successor  in  the 
principality  of  Wales,  to  be  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered,  as  a  traitor,  for 
taking  arms  in  defence  of  his  native  country,  which  he  had  once  unhappily 

(1)  M.  West.    T.  WaiMnsham.  '21  T.  Wykes. 

f3l  T.  Walsingham.     T.  Wvke*    1nn>il.  .'»".•:  --r'.     Pow.-l.  Hist.  Walts. 


216  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART!. 

deserted,  and  for  maintaining  by  force  his  own  hereditary  authority.  He 
also  ordered  all  the  Welch  bards  to  be  collected  together  and  put  to  death ; 
from  a  belief,  and  no  absurd  one,  that  he  should  more  easily  subdue  the  inde- 
pendent spirit  of  the  people,  when  their  minds  ceased  to  be  roused  by  the 
ideas  of  military  valour  and  ancient  glory,  preserved  in  the  traditional  poenib 
of  these  minstrels,  and  recited  or  sung  by  them  on  all  public  occasions  and 
days  of  festivity.  (1) 

Edward's  conduct,  in  regard  to  Scotland,  at  which  his  ambition  now  pointed, 
is  little  more  excusable.  But  several  things  must  be  premised,  my  dear  Philip, 
before  I  proceed  to  his  transactions  with  that  country. 

On  the  final  departure  of  the  Romans  from  this  island,  you  have  seen  the 
Scots  and  Picts.,  its  northern  inhabitants,  ravaging  South  Britain.  They  were 
repelled,  but  not  subdued,  by  the  Saxons ;  and  the  first  Norman  princes 
were  too  much  occupied  with  the  affairs  of  the  continent  to  push  their  con- 
quests beyond  the  Tweed.  Meanwhile  fierce  and  bloody  wars  were,  during 
several  ages,  carried  on  between  the  Scots  and  Picts,  and  Kenneth  II.,  the 
sixty-ninth  Scottish  king,  according  to  tradition,  had  obtained,  in  838,  a 
complete  victory  over  the  Picts,  and  united  into  one  monarchy  the  whole 
country  at  present  known  by  the  name  of  North  Britain.  The  Scots  thence- 
forth became  more  formidable ;  and,  having  less  business  on  their  hands  at 
home,  were  always  ready  to  join  the  English  malecontents,  and  made  frequent 
incursions  into  the  bordering  counties.  In  one  of  these  incursions,  as  I  have 
had  occasion  to  notice,  William  king  of  Scotland  was  taken  prisoner ;  and 
Henry  II.,  as  the  price  of  his  liberty,  not  only  extorted  from  him  an  exorbi- 
tant ransom,  and  a  promise  to  surrender  the  places  of  greatest  strength  in  his 
dominions,  but  compelled  him  to  do  homage  for  his  whole  kingdom.  Richard 
I.,  a  more' generous,  but  less  politic,  prince  than  his  father,  solemnly  re- 
nounced his  claim  of  homage,  and  absolved  William  from  the  other  hard 
conditions  which  Henry  had  imposed.  The  crown  of  Scotland  was  therefore 
again  rendered  independent,  and  the  northern  potentate  only  did  homage  for 
the  fiefs  which  he  enjoyed  in  England,  (a  circumstance  which  has  occasioned 
many  mistakes,  and  much  dispute  among  historians)  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  king  of  England  himself  swore  fealty  to  the  French  monarch,  for  the 
fiefs  which  he  inherited  in  France.  But  on  the  death  of  Alexander  III.  near 
a  century  after  the  captivity  of  William,  Edward  I.,  availing  himself  of  the 
situation  of  affairs  in  Scotland,  revived  the  claim  of  sovereignty  which  had 
been  renounced  by  Richard.  (2) 

This  is  the  real  state  of  the  controversy  concerning  the  independency  of 
Scotland,  which  took  its  rise  about  this  time,  and  in  the  following  manner. 
As  Alexander  left  no  male  issue,  nor  any  descendant  except  Margaret  of 
Norway,  his  granddaughter,  who  did  not  long  survive  him,  the  right  of  suc- 
cession belonged  to  the  descendants  of  David  earl  of  Huntingdon,  third  son  of 
king  David  I.  Of  that  line,  two  illustrious  competitors  for  the  crown  ap- 
peared :  Robert  Bruce,  son  of  Isabel,  earl  David's  second  daughter ;  and 
John  Baliol,  grandson  of  Margaret,  the  eldest  daughter.  According  to  thet 
rules  of  succession  now  established,  Baliol's  right  was  preferable :  he  would 
succeed  as  the  representative  of  his  mother  and  grandmother ;  and  Bruce's 
plea  of  being  one  degree  nearer  the  common  stock  would  be  disregarded. 
But  in  that  age  the  question  appeared  no  less  intricate  than  important :  the 
sentiments  of  men  were  divided  :  each  claim  was  supported  by  a  powerful 
faction  ;  and  arms  alone,  it  was  feared,  must  terminate  a  dispute  too  weighty 
for  the  laws  to  decide. 

In  this  critical  situation  the  parliament  of  Scotland,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
miseries  of  civil  war,  embraced  the  dangerous  resolution  of  appealing  to  Ed- 
ward I.  He  was  accordingly  chosen  umpire,  and  both  parties  agreed  to  ac- 
quiesce in  his  decree.  Now  it  was  that  this  ambitious  and  enterprising 
prince,  already  master  of  Wales,  resolved  more  determinedly  to  make  him 
self  lord  of  the  whole  island  of  Britain,  by  reviving  his  obscure  claim  of 

fl)  Sir  J.  Wynne.  (2)  Buchanan,  Hist.  Scot.,  lib.  viii.    Robertson,  book  i 


LET.  XXXVI.]  M  0  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  217 

feudal  superiority  over  Scotland.  Under  pretence  of  examining'  the  question 
with  the  utmost  solemnity,  he  summoned  all  the  Scottish  barons  to  attend 
him  in  the  castle  of  Norham,  a  place  situated  on  the  southern  bank  of  the 
Tweed ;  and  having  gained  some,  and  intimidated  others,  he  prevailed  on  all 
who  were  present,  not  excepting  Bruce  and  Baliol,  the  two  competitors  for 
the  succession,  to  acknowledge  Scotland  a  fief  of  the  English  crown,  and 
swear  fealty  to  him  as  their  sovereign  liege  lord.(l) 

This  step  led  to  another  still  more  important.  As  it  was  in  vain  to  pro- 
nounce a  sentence  which  he  had  not  power  to  execute,  Edward  demanded 
possession  of  the  disputed  kingdom,  that  he  might  be  able  to  deliver  it  to 
him  whose  right  should  be  found  preferable:  and  that  exorbitant  demand 
\vas  complied  with  both  by  the  barons  and  the  claimants.  He  soon  after 
gave  judgment  in  favour  of  Baliol,  as  being  the  least  formidable  of  the  com- 
petitors, we  are  told  by  a  respectable  historian  ;(2)  but,  in  justice  to  Edward, 
I  am  bound  to  say,  that  his  award,  which  was  no  less  equitable  than  solemn, 
seemed  to  proceed  merely  from  the  state  of  the  question.  He  not  only 
referred  it  to  the  consideration  of  a  hundred  and  forty  commissioners,  partly 
English  and  partly  Scotch,  but  proposed  it  to  all  the  celebrated  lawyers  in 
Europe,  who  returned  a  uniform  answer  conformable  to  the  king's  decree. 
Baliol  renewed  the  oath  of  fealty  to  England,  and  was  put  in  possession  of 
the  kingdom.  (3) 

Edward,  having  thus  established  his  unjust  claim  of  feudal  superiority  over 
Scotland,  aspired  next  at  the  absolute  sovereignty  and  dominion  of  that  king- 
dom. He  attempted  to  provoke  Baliol  by  indignities  ;  to  rouse  him  to  rebel- 
lion, and  to  rob  him  of  his  crown,  as  the  punishment  of  his  pretended  treason 
and  felony.  The  passive  spirit  of  Baliol  accordingly  began  to  mutiny ;  and 
he  entered  into  a  secret  alliance  Avith  France,  which  was  already  engaged  in 
a  war  with  England,  the  more  effectually  to  maintain  his  independency. 

The  expenses  attending  these  multiplied  wars  of  Edward,  and  his  new  pre- 
parations for  reducing  Scotland,  obliged  him  to  have  frequent  recourse  to 
parliamentary  supplies,  and  introduced  the  lower  orders  of  the  state  into  the 
public  councils.  This  period,  therefore,  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  reign, 
seems  to  be  the  true  era  of  the  House  of  Commons :  for  the  former  precedent 
of  representatives  from  the  boroughs,  summoned  by  the  earl  of  Leicester, 
was  regarded  as  the  act  of  a  violent  usurpation,  and  had  been  discontinued 
in  all  the  subsequent  parliaments.  But  when  the  multiplied  necessities  of  the 
crown  produced  a  greater  demand  for  money  than  could  be  conveniently  an- 
swered by  the  common  mode  of  taxation,  Edward  became  sensible,  that  the 
most  expeditious  way  of  obtaining  supplies  was  to  assemble  the  deputies  of 
all  the  boroughs :  to  lay  before  them  the  exigencies  of  the  state  ;  to  discuss 
the  matter  in  their  presence,  and  to  require  their  consent  to  the  demands  of 
their  sovereign.  He  therefore  issued  writs  to  the  sheriffs,  enjoining  them  to 
send  to  parliament,  along  with  two  knights  of  the  shire,  two  deputies  from 
each  borough  within  their  county,  provided  with  sufficient  powers  from  their 
community,  to  consent  to  what  levies  should  seem  necessary  for  the  support 
of  government—"  as  it  is  a  most  equitable  rule,"  says  he,  in  his  preamble  to 
this  writ,  "  that  what  concerns  all  should  be  approved  of  by  all ;  and  common 
dangers  be  repelled  by  united  efforts."(4)  Such  a  way  of  thinking  implies  a 
generosity  of  mind  much  superior  to  what  might  be  expected  from  Edward's 
general  conduct. 

The  aldermen  and  common-council,  after  the  election  of  these  deputies, 
gave  surety  for  their  attendance  before  the  king  and  parliament ;  and  their 
charges  were  borne  by  the  borough  that  sent  them.(5)  How  different  in  that, 
as  well  as  in  other  respects,  from  our  more  modern  representatives ! — Instead 
of  checking  and  controlling  the  authority  of  the  king,  they  were  naturally 
induced  to  adhere  to  him,  as  the  great  fountain  of  justice,  and  to  support  him 
against  the  power  of  the  nobles,  who  at  once  suppressed  them,  and  disturbed 

(1)  Rymer,  vol.  ii.    W.  Hemming,  vol.  i.  (2)  Kobertson,  Hist.  Scotland,  book  i. 

(3)  Rymer,  vol.  ii.    W.  Hemming,  vol.  i.  (4)  Brady,  Treatise  of  Boroughs,  from  the  Record* 

(a)  Id.  ibid.  Rcliquie  Spclm.  ,  . 


JlS  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PART! 

him  in  the  execution  of  the  laws.  The  king,  in  his  turn,  gave  countenance 
to  an  order  of  men  so  useful,  and  so  little  dangerous.  The  peers  also  were 
obliged  to  pay  them  some  respect,  on  account  of  their  consequence  as  a  body. 
By  these  means  the  commons,  or  third  estate,  long  so  abject  in  England,  as 
well  as  in  all  other  European  nations,  rose  gradually  to  their  present  impor- 
tance ;  and,  in  their  progress,  made  arts  and  commerce,  the  necessary  attend- 
ants on  liberty  and  equality,  flourish  in  Britain. 

Edward  employed  the  supplies  granted  by  his  people  in  warlike  prepara- 
tions against  his  northern  neighbour.  He  cited  Baliol  as  his  vassal,  to  ap- 
pear in  an  English  parliament,  to  be  held  at  Newcastle.  But  that  prince, 
having  now  received  pope  Celestine's  dispensation  from  his  oath  of  fealty, 
renounced  the  homage  which  had  been  done  to  England,  and  set  Edward  at 
defiance.  This  bravado  was  but  ill  supported  by  the  military  operations  of 
the  Scots.  Edward  crossed  the  Tweed  without  opposition,  at  the  head  of 
thirty  thousand  foot,  and  four  thousand  horse.  Berwick  was  taken  by  as- 
sault ;  the  Scottish  army  was  totally  routed  near  Dunbar ;  the  whole  southern 
part  of  the  kingdom  was  subdued ;  and  the  timid  Baliol,  discontented  with 
his  own  subjects,  and  overawed  by  the  English,  instead  of  making  use  of 
those  resources  which  were  yet  left,  hastened  to  make  his  submissions  to  the 
conqueror.  He  expressed  the  deepest  penitence  for  his  disloyalty  to  his 
liege  lord ;  and  he  made  a  solemn  and  irrevocable  renunciation  of  his  crown 
into  the  hands  of  Edward.(l) 

The  English  monarch  marched  as  far  north  as  Aberdeen  and  Elgin  without 
meeting  a  single  enemy.  No  Scotsman  approached  him,  but  to  pay  him  sub- 
mission and  do  him  homage.  Even  the  turbulent  Highlanders,  ever  refrac- 
tory to  their  own  princes,  and  averse  against  the  restraints  of  law,  endea- 
voured by  a  timely  obedience  to  prevent  the  devastation  of  their  country : 
and  Edward,  flattering  himself  that  he  had  now  attained  the  great  object  of 
his  wishes,  in  the  final  reduction  of  Scotland,  left  earl  Warrenne  governor  of 
the  kingdom,  and  returned  with  his  victorious  army  into  England. (2) 

Here  a  few  particulars  are  necessary.  There  was  a  stone,  to  which  the 
popular  superstition  of  the  Scots  paid  the  highest  veneration.  All  their  kings 
were  seated  on  it  when  they  received  the  rite  of  inauguration.  Ancient  tradi- 
tion assured  them,  that  their  nation  should  always  govern  where  this  stone 
was  placed ;  and  it  was  carefully  preserved  at  Scone,  as  the  true  palladium  of 
their  monarch,  and  their  ultimate  resource  under  all  misfortunes.  Edward 
got  possession  of  it,  and  carried  it  with  him  into  England.  He  also  gave  orders 
to  destroy  all  the  records,  and  all  those  monuments  of  antiquity  which  might 
preserve  the  memory  of  the  independency  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  and 
refute  the  English  claims  of  superiority.  The  great  seal  of  Baliol  was  broken, 
and  that  prince  himself  was  carried  prisoner  to  London,  and  committed  to 
close  custody  in  the  Tower.(3)  Two  years  after  he  was  restored  to  liberty, 
and  submitted  to  a  voluntary  banishment  in  France ;  where,  without  making 
any  farther  attempt  for  the  recovery  of  his  royalty,  he  died  in  a  private 
station. 

Edward  was  not  so  successful  in  an  effort  which  he  made  for  the  recover} 
of  Guienne.  The  French  monarch,  Philip  IV.,  surnamed  the  fair,  had  robbed 
England  of  this  province,  by  an  artifice  similar  to  that  which  Edward  had 
practised  against  the  Scots.  He  had  cited  the  English  monarch,  as  his  vassal, 
to  answer,  in  the  court  of  peers,  the  charge  of  treason  against  his  sovereign ; 
for  having  permitted  his  subjects  to  seize  some  Norman  vessels,  and  denied 
satisfaction :  and  Edward,  refusing  to  comply,  was  declared  guilty  of  treason, 
and  the  dutchy  of  Guienne  confiscated.  An  English  army  was  sent  over  to 
recover  it  under  the  earl  of  Lancaster,  who  died  in  a  short  time ;  and  the 
earl  of  Lincoln,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  command,  failed  in  the  attempt. 
But  the  active  and  ambitious  spirit  of  Edward  could  not  rest  satisfied  so  long 
as  the  ancient  patrimony  of  his  family  remained  in  the  hands  of  his  rival 

(1)  Rymer,  vol.  ii.     Hemming,  vol.  i.    Trivet  Annul.  (2)  Id.  ibi<i 

(3)  W.  Hemming.    T.  Walsingliam. 


LET.  XXXVL]  MODERNEUROPE.  219 

He  therefore  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  earls  oi  Houand  and  Flan- 
deis;(l)  and  hoped,  that  when  he  should  enter  the  frontiers  of  France,  at  the 
head  of  his  English,  Flemish,  and  Dutch  armies,  the  French  king  would 
purchase  peace  by  the  restitution  of  Guienne. 

But  in  order  to  set  this  vast  machine  in  motion,  considerable  supplies  were 
necessary  from  parliament ;  and  these  Edward  readily  obtained  both  from 
the  lords  and  commons.  He  was  not  so  fortunate  in  his  impositions  on  the 
clergy,  whom  he  always  hated,  and  from  whom  he  demanded  a  fifth  of  all 
their  moveables,  as  a  punishment  for  their  adherence  to  the  Mounfort  fac- 
tion. They  urged  the  pope's  bull  in  opposition  to  all  such  demands ;  and 
Edward,  instead  of  applying  to  Boniface  VIIL,  then  pontiff,  for  a  relaxation 
of  his  mandate,  boldly  told  the  ecclesiastics,  that  since  they  refused  to  sup- 
port the  civil  government,  they  were  unworthy  to  receive  any  benefit  from 
it,  and  he  would  accordingly  put  them  out  of  the  protection  of  the  laws. 

This  vigorous  measure  was  immediately  carried  into  execution.  Orders 
were  issued  to  the  judges  to  receive  no  cause  brought  before  them  by  the 
clergy;  to  hear  and  decide  all  causes  in  which  they  were  defendants ;  to  do 
every  one  justice  against  them,  but  to  do  them  justice  against  nobody.  The 
ecclesiastics  soon  found  themselves  in  the  most  miserable  situation  imaginable. 
They  could  not  remain  always  in  their  own  houses  or  convents  for  want  of 
subsistence :  if  they  went  abroad  in  quest  of  necessaries,  they  were  robbed 
and  abused  by  every  ruffian,  and  no  redress  could  be  obtained  by  them  for 
the  most  violent  injury.  The  spirit  of  the  clergy  was  at  last  broken  by  this 
harsh  treatment.  They  all  either  publicly  or  privately  complied  with  the 
king's  demands,  and  received  the  protection  of  the  laws. (2)  Not  one  eccle- 
siastic, as  the  sagacious  Hume  remarks,  seemed  willing  to  suffer  for  the  sake 
of  religious  privileges,  this  new  species  of  martyrdom,  the  most  tedious  and 
languishing  of  any ;  the  most  mortifying  to  spiritual  pride,  and  not  rewarded 
by  that  crown  of  glory  which  the  church  holds  up  with  such  ostentation  to 
her  faithful  sons. 

But  all  these  supplies  were  not  sufficient  for  the  king's  necessities.  He 
was  obliged  to  exert  his  arbitrary  power,  and  lay  an  oppressive  hand  on  every 
order  of  men  in  the  kingdom.  The  people  murmured,  and  the  barons  muti- 
nied, notwithstanding  their  great  personal  regard  for  Edward.  He  was 
obliged  to  make  concessions ;  to  promise  all  his  subjects  a  compensation  for 
the  losses  they  had  sustained ;  and  to  confirm  the  Great  Charter,  with  an 
additional  clause,  in  order  to  secure  the  nation  for  ever  against  all  imposi- 
tions and  taxes  without  consent  of  parliament.(3)  These  concessions,  my 
dear  Philip,  our  ancestors  had  the  honour  of  extorting,  by  their  boldness  and 
perseverance,  from  the  ablest,  the  most  warlike,  and  _  the  most  ambitious 
monarch  that  ever  sat  upon  the  throne  of  England.  The  validity  of  the 
Great  Charter  was  never  afterward  formally  disputed. 

Such  a  number  of  domestic  discontents  obstructed  the  king's  embarkation 
for  Flanders;  so  that  he  lost  the  proper  season  for  action,  and  after  his 
arrival  made  no  great  progress  against  the  enemy.  The  French  monarch, 
however,  proposed  a  cessation  of  arms ;  and  peace  was  soon  after  brought 
about  by  the  mediation  of  the  pope,  in  consequence  of  which  Guienne  was 
restored  to  England. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Scots  rebelled.  Earl  Warrenne  having  returned  to 
England,  on  account  of  his  ill  state  of  health,  had  left  the  administration 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  Ormsby  and  Cressingham,  the  officers  next  in  rank, 
who,  instead  of  acting  with  that  prudence  and  moderation  necessary  to 
reconcile  the  Scottish  nation  to  a  yoke  which  they  bore  with  such  extreme 
reluctance,  exasperated  every  man  of  spirit  by  the  rigour  and  severity  of  their 
government.  Among  these  William  Wallace,  whose  heroic  exploits  are 
worthy  of  just  panegyric,  but  to  whom  the  fond  admiration  of  the  Scots  has 
ascribed  many  fabulous  acts  of  prowess,  undertook  and  accomplished  the 

(li  Rymer,  vol.  ii.    Hemming,  vol.  i.  (2)  W.  Hemming,  vol.  i.     Chron.  Dunst.  vol.  ii 

13)  T.  Walsinsham      W.  Hemming. 


220  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

desperate  project  of  delivering  his  native  country  from  the  dominion  of 
foreigners.  He  had  been  provoked  by  the  insolence  of  an  English  officer  to 
put  him  to  death ;  and  finding  himself  on  that  account  obnoxious  to  the  con- 
querors, he  fled  into  the  woods,  and  offered  himself  as  a  leader  to  all  whom 
the  oppressions  of  the  English  governors  had  reduced  to  the  like  necessity 
He  was  of  a  gigantic  stature,  and  endowed  with  wonderful  strength  of  body ; 
with  invincible  fortitude  of  mind;  with  disinterested  magnanimity;  with  in- 
credible patience,  and  ability  to  bear  hunger,  fatigue,  and  all  the  severities  of 
the  seasons :  so  that  he  soon  acquired,  among  his  desperate  associates,  that 
authority  to  which  his  virtues  so  eminently  entitled  him.  Every  day  brought 
accounts  of  his  gallant  actions,  which  were  received  with  no  less  favour  by 
his  countrymen  than  terror  by  the  enemy.  All  men  who  thirsted  after  military 
fame  were  desirous  to  partake  of  his  renown :  his  successful  valour  seemed 
to  vindicate  the  nation  from  the  ignominy  under  which  it  had  fallen  by  its  tame 
submission  to  the  English ;  and  although  no  nobleman  of  note  ventured  yet 
to  join  the  party  of  Wallace,  he  had  gained  a  general  confidence  and  attach- 
ment which  birth  and  fortune  alone  are  not  able  to  confer. 

So  many  fortunate  enterprises  brought  the  valour  of  the  Scottish  chieftain's 
followers  to  correspond  with  his  own :  and  he  determined  to  strike  a  decisive 
blow  against  the  English  government.  Ormsby,  apprised  of  this  intention, 
fled  hastily  into  England ;  and  all  the  other  officers  of  his  nation  imitated  his 
example.  The  terror  added  courage  to  the  Scots,  who  betook  themselves  to 
arms  in  every  quarter.  Many  of  the  principal  barons  openly  countenanced 
Wallace's  party :  and  the  nation,  shaking  off  its  fetters,  prepared  to  defend,  by 
one  united  effort,  that  liberty  which  it  had  so  unexpectedly  recovered  from  the 
hands  of  its  oppressors. 

Meanwhile  Warrenne,  having  collected  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men  in 
the  North  of  England,  in  order  to  re-establish  his  authority,  suddenly  entered 
Annandale,  before  the  Scots  had  united  their  forces,  or  put  themselves  in  a 
posture  of  defence ;  and  many  of  the  nobles,  alarmed  at  the  danger  of  their 
situation,  renewed  their  oaths  of  fealty,  and  received  a  pardon  for  past  offences. 
But  Wallace,  still  undaunted,  continued  obstinate  in  his  purpose.  As  he  found 
himself  unable  to  give  battle  to  the  enemy,  he  marched  northwards,  with  an 
intention  of  prolonging  the  war,  and  of  turning  to  his  advantage  the  situation 
of  that  mountainous  and  barren  country. .  Warrenne  attacked  him  in  his 
camp  near  Stirling,  on  the  banks  of  the  Forth,  where  the  English  army  was 
totally  routed.  Cressingham,  whose  impatience  urged  this  attack,  was  slain ; 
Warrenne  was  obliged  to  retire  into  England,  and  the  principal  fortresses  in 
Scotland  surrendered  to  the  conqueror.(l) 

Wallace  was  now  universally  revered  as  the  deliverer  of  his  country,  and 
received  from  his  followers  the  title  of  Regent  or  guardian  of  the  kingdom,  a 
dignity  which  he  well  deserved.  Not  satisfied  with  expelling  the  enemy,  he 
urged  his  army  to  march  into  England,  and  revenge  all  past  injuries  by  reta- 
liating on  that  hostile  nation.  The  Scots,  who  deemed  every  thing  possible 
with  such  a  leader,  joyfully  attended  his  call.  They  broke  into  the  northern 
counties  during  the  winter  season,  laying  every  thing  waste  before  them ;  and, 
after  extending  their  ravages  on  all  sides,  as  far  as  the  bishopric  of  Durham, 
returned  into  their  own  country  loaded  with  spoils,  and  crowned  with  glory, 
under  the  victorious  Wallace.  (2) 

Edward  was  in  Flanders  when  he  received  intelligence  of  these  events ; 
and,  having  already  concluded  a  peace  with  France,  he  hastened  over  to 
England,  in  assured  hopes,  not  only  of  wiping  off  every  disgrace,  but  of 
recovering  the  important  conquest  of  Scotland,  which  he  had  always  consi- 
dered as  the  chief  glory  of  his  reign.  With  this  view  he  collected  the  whole 
military  force  of  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland ;  and,  with  an  army  of  one 
hundred  thousand  combatants,  entered  the  devoted  kingdom.  Scotland  was 
never  at  any  time  able  to  withstand  such  a  force.  At  present  it  was  without 
a  head,  and  torn  by  intestine  jealousies.  The  elevation  of  Wallace  was  the 

W  W.  Hemming.    T.  Walaingliam.  £2)  W.  Hemming,  vol  i 


LET.  XXXV1.J  MODERN  EUROPE.  221 

object  of  envy  to  the  nobility,  who  repined  to  see  a  private  man  raised  above 
them  by  his  rank,  and  still  more  by  his  reputation.  Sensible  of  these  evils, 
Wallace  resigned  his  authority ;  and  the  chief  command  devolved  upon  men 
more  eminent  by  birth,  though  less  distinguished  by  abilities,  but  under 
whom  the  nobles  were  more  willing  to  serve  in  defence  of  their  country. 
They  fixed  their  station  at  Falkirk,  where  Edward  came  up  with  them,  and 
the  whole  Scottish  army  was  broken,  and  chased  off  the  field  with  great 
slaughter.(l) 

The  subjection  of  Scotland,  however,  was  not  yet  accomplished.  The 
English  army,  after  reducing  all  the  southern  provinces,  was  obliged  to  retire 
for  want  of  provisions ;  and  the  Scots,  no  less  enraged  at  their  present  defeat 
than  elevated  by  their  past  victories,  still  maintained  the  contest  for  liberty. 
They  were  again  victorious,  and  again  subdued.  Wallace  alone  maintained 
his  independency  amid  the  universal  slavery  of  his  countrymen.  But  he 
was  at  length  betrayed  to  the  English  by  his  friend  Sir  John  Monteith :  and 
Edward,  whose  natural  bravery  and  magnanimity  should  have  led  him  to 
respect  like  qualities  in  an  enemy,  ordered  this  illustrious  patriot  to  be  carried 
in  chains  to  London ;  to  be  tried  as  a  rebel  and  traitor,  though  he  had  never 
made  submission  or  sworn  fealty  to  England,  and  to  be  executed  on  Tower- 
hill.  (2)  He  could  not  think  his  favourite  conquest  secure,  while  Wallace 
was  alive.  Hence  the  unworthy  fate  of  a  man,  who  had  defended  for  many 
years,  with  signal  valour  and  perseverance,  the  liberties  of  his  native  country. 

But  the  barbarous  policy  of  Edward  failed  of  the  purpose  to  which  it  was 
directed.  The  cruelty  and  injustice  exercised  upon  Wallace,  instead  of 
breaking  the  spirit,  only  roused  more  effectually  the  resentment  of  the  Scots. 
All  the  envy  which,  during  his  lifetime,  had  attended  that  gallant  chieftain, 
being  now  buried  in  his  grave,  he  was  universally  regarded  as  the  champion 
of  Scotland,  and  equally  lamented  by  all  ranks  of  men.  The  people  were 
every  where  disposed  to  rise  against  the  English  government :  and  a  new  and 
more  fortunate  leader  soon  presented  himself,  who  conducted  them  to  liberty, 
to  victory,  and  to  vengeance. 

Robert  Bruce,  son  of  that  Robert  who  had  been  one  of  the  competitors  for 
the  crown  of  Scotland,  had  succeeded  in  consequence  of  his  father's  death,  to 
all  his  pretensions ;  and  the  death  of  John  Baliol,  which  happened  about  the 
same  time  in  France,  seemed  to  open  a  full  career  to  the  genius  and  ambition 
of  this  young  nobleman.  He  had  formerly  served  in  the  English  army;  but 
in  a  private  conference  held  with  Wallace,  after  the  battle  of  Falkirk,  the 
flame  of  patriotism  was  suddenly  conveyed  from  the  breast  of  one  hero  to 
that  of  another.  Bruce  regretted  his  engagement  with  Edward,  and  secretly 
determined  to  seize  the  first  opportunity  of  rescuing  from  slavery  his 
oppressed  country.  The  time  of  deliverance  seemed  now  come.  He  hoped 
that  the  Scots,  without  a  leader,  and  without  a  king,  would  unanimously 
repair  to  his  standard,  and  seat  him  on  the  vacant  throne.  Inflamed  with  the 
ardour  of  youth,  and  buoyed  up  by  native  courage,  his  aspiring  spirit  saw 
alone  the  glory  of  the  enterprise,  or  regarded  the  difficulties  that  must  attend 
it  as  the  source  only  of  greater  glory.  The  miseries  and  oppressions  which 
he  had  beheld  his  countrymen  suffer  in  their  unequal  contest  for  independency, 
the  repeated  defeats  and  misfortunes  which  they  had  undergone  in  the  struggle, 
proved  but  so  many  incentives  to  bring  them  relief,  and  to  lead  them  boiling 
with  revenge  against  the  haughty  victors. 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  and  some  suspicions  that  Edward  was 
apprised  of  it,  Bruce  suddenly  left  the  English  court,  and  arrived  in  a  few 
days  at  Dumfries  in  Annandale,  the  chief  seat  of  his  family  interest.  There 
a  number  of  the  nobility  were  happily  assembled,  and  among  the  rest  John 
Cummin,  to  whom  he  had  formerly  communicated  his  designs,  and  who  had 
basely  revealed  them  to  Edward.  The  noblemen  were  astonished  at  the 
appearance  of  Bruce,  and  yet  more  when  he  told  them  that  he  was  come  to 
live  or  die  with  them  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  his  country ;  and  hoped,  with 

(1)  T  Walsinghara.    T.  Wykes.    VV.  Hemming.  12)  M.  West.    Ceo  Buchanan. 


1222  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

their  assistance,  to  redeem  the  Scottish  name  from  all  the  indignities  which 
it  had  so  long  suffered  from  the  tyranny  of  their  imperious  masters.  It  were 
better,  he  said,  if  Heaven  should  so  decree  it,  to  perish  at  once  like  brave 
men,  with  swords  in  their  hands,  than  to  dread  long,  and  at  last  undergo  the 
fate  of  the  unfortunate  Wallace.(l) 

The  spirit  with  which  this  discourse  was  delivered,  the  bold  sentiments 
which  it  conveyed,  the  novelty  of  Brace's  declaration,  assisted  by  the  graces 
of  his  youth  and  manly  deportment,  made  deep  impression  on  the  minds  of 
the  nobles,  and  roused  all  those  principles  of  indignation  and  revenge  with 
which  they  had  long  been  secretly  actuated.  They  declared  their  unanimous 
resolution  to  use  the  utmost  efforts  in  delivering  their  country  from  bondage, 
and  to  second  the  courage  of  Bruce,  in  asserting  his  and  their  undoubted 
rights  against  their  common  oppressors.  Cummin  alone,  who  had  privately 
taken  his  measures  with  Edward,  opposed  the  general  determination,  by 
representing  the  great  power  of  the  English  nation;  and  Brace,  already 
informed  of  his  treachery,  followed  him  out  of  the  assembly,  and,  running 
him  through  the  body,  left  him  for  dead.  Sir  Thomas  Kirkpatrick,  one  of 
Bruce' s  friends,  asked  him  on  his  return,  if  the  traitor  was  slain.  "  I  believe 
so,"  replied  Brace.  "  And  is  that  a  matter,"  cried  Kirkpatrick,  "  to  be  left  to 
conjecture?  I  will  secure  him."  He  accordingly  drew  his  dagger,  ran  to 
Cummin,  and  stabbed  him  to  the  heart.  (2) 

This  deed  of  Brace  and  his  associates,  my  dear  Philip,  which  contains 
circumstances  justly  condemned  by  our  present  manners,  was  regarded  in 
that  age  as  an  effort  of  manly  vigour  and  just  policy.  Hence  the  family  of 
Kirkpatrick  took  for  the  crest  of  their  arms  a  hand  with  a  bloody  dagger ; 
and  as  a  motto,  the  words  employed  by  their  ancestor,  when  he  executed 
that  violent  action :  "  I  will  secure  him!" 

The  murder  of  Cummin  affixed  the  seal  to  the  conspiracy  of  the  Scottish 
nobles.  They  had  now  no  resource  left,  but  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  England 
or  perish  in  the  attempt.  The  genius  of  the  nation  roused  itself  from  its 
long  dejection;  and  Brace,  flying  to  different  quarters,  excited  his  partisans 
every  where  to  arms.  He  successfully  attacked  the  dispersed  bodies  of  the 
English ;  got  possession  of  many  castles ;  and,  having  made  his  authority  be 
acknowledged  in  most  parts  of  the  kingdom,  was  solemnly  crowned  at  Scone, 
by  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  who  had  zealously  embraced  his  cause.  The 
English  were  again  driven  out  of  the  kingdom,  except  such  as  took  shelter  in 
the  fortresses  still  in  their  hands ;  and  Edward  found  that  the  Scots,  already 
twice  conquered  by  his  valour,  were  yet  to  subdue. 

Conscious  however  of  his  superior  power,  as  well  as  superior  skill  in  arms, 
this  great  monarch  made  light  of  his  antagonist.  He  thought  of  nothing  but 
victory  and  vengeance.  He  sent  a  body  of  troops  into  Scotland  under  Ayinar 
de  Valence,  his  general ;  who,  falling  unexpectedly  upon  Bruce,  threw  his 
army  into  disorder,  and  obliged  him  to  take  shelter  in  the  Western  Isles. 
Edward  himself  was  advancing  with  a  mighty  force,  determined  to  make  the 
now  defenceless  Scots  the  victims  of  his  severity,  when  he  unexpectedly 
sickened  and  died  at  Carlisle ;  enjoining  with  his  latest  breath  his  son  and 
successor  to  prosecute  the  war,  and  never  to  desist  till  he  had  finally  subdued 
the  kingdom  of  Scotland. (3)  But  that,  as  we  shall  afterward  have  occasion 
to  see,  the  second  Edward  was  little  able  to  accomplish. 

The  character  of  Edward  I.,  as  a  warrior  and  politician,  has  already  been 
sufficiently  delineated.  I  shall  therefore  forbear  touching  again  on  those 
particulars,  and  conclude  this  letter  with  his  merit  as  a  legislator,  which  has 
justly  obtained  him  the  honourable  appellation  of  the  English  Justinian.  The 
numerous  statutes  passed  during  his  reign  settle  the  chief  points  of  jurispru- 
dence ;  and,  as  Sir  Edward  Coke  observes,  truly  deserve  the  name  of  esta- 
blishments, because  they  have  been  more  constant,  standing,  and  durable 
laws,  than  any  made  since.  The  regular  order  maintained  in  his  adminis- 

(1)  M.  West.    Geo.  Buchanan. 

d)  W.  H.'mminir.     M.W.;?'.    T.  Walsint'Imm.    G.  Buchanan,  lib.  vili. 

(3l  T.  \Vn!<im-li:iui.     Trivet, .Innal.  1307. 


LET.  XXXVIL]  MODERN   EUROPE.  223 

tration  also  gave  the  common  law  an  opportunity  to  refine  itself;  brought 
the  judges  to  a  certainty  in  their  determinations,  and  the  lawyers  to  a  precision 
in  their  pleadings.  He  regulated  the  jurisdiction  of  the  seveial  courts; 
established  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  completed  the  division  of  the 
court  of  Exchequer  into  four  distinct  courts,  each  of  which  managed  its 
separate  branch,  without  dependence  upon  any  one  magistrate ;  and  as  the 
lawyers  afterward  invented  a  method  of  carrying  business  from  one  court  to 
another,  the  several  courts  became  rivals  and  checks  on  each  other ;  a  cir- 
cumstance which  tended  very  much  to  improve  the  practice  of  the  law  in  this 
country.(l)  But  although  Edward  took  so  much  care  that  his  subjects  should 
do  justice  to  each  other,  we  cannot  ascribe  it  to  his  love  of  equity;  for  in  all 
his  transactions,  either  with  them  or  with  his  neighbours,  he  always  desired 
to  have  his  own  hands  free : — and  his  violences  upon  both  were  not  few. 


LETTER  XXXVIL 

England,  during  the  Reign  of  Edrvard  J7.,  with  an  Account  of  the  Affairs  of 

Scotland. 

THE  critical  situation  of  affairs  between  England  and  Scotland  at  the  death 
of  Edward  I.  makes  it  necessary,  my  dear  Philip,  to  carry  farther  the  history 
of  our  own  island,  before  we  return  to  the  transactions  on  the  continent. 

No  prince  ever  ascended  the  English  throne  with  more  advantages  than 
Edward  II.  He  was  in  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  age,  and  universally 
beloved  by  the  people,  both  on  account  of  the  sweetness  of  his  own  dispo- 
sition, and  as  the  son  and  successor  of  their  illustrious  monarch.  He  was 
at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  ready  to  subject  the  whole  island  to  his  sway ; 
and  all  men  promised  themselves  tranquillity  and  happiness  under  his  govern- 
ment. But  the  first  act  of  his  reign  blasted  all  these  hopes,  and  showed  him 
totally  unqualified  for  his  high  station,  instead  of  prosecuting  the  conquest 
of  Scotland,  according  to  the  desire  of  his  father,  he  returned  into  England, 
after  a  few  feeble  efforts,  and  immediately  disbanded  his  forces ;  although 
Robert  Bruce  had,  before  this  time,  emerged  from  his  obscurity,  and  was 
become  sufficiently  formidable  to  make  more  vigorous  measures  necessary. 

The  next  step  taken  by  Edward  was  no  less  weak  and  imprudent.  He 
recalled  Piers  Gaveston,  a  youthful  favourite,  whom  the  late  king  had  banished 
the  realm  on  account  of  his  ascendancy  over  this  prince ;  and  whom,  on  his 
death-bed,  he  had  made  him  promise  never  more  to  entertain.  Gaveston  was 
the  son  of  a  Gascon  knight  of  some  distinction,  and  by  his  shining  accom- 
plishments had  early  insinuated  himself  into  the  affections  of  young  Edward, 
whose  heart  Avas  easily  caught  by  appearances,  and  strongly  disposed  to 
friendship  and  confidence.  He  was  endowed  with  the  utmost  elegance  of 
shape  and  person;  was  noted  for  a  fine  mien  and  easy  carriage ;  had  distin- 
guished himself  in  all  warlike  and  genteel  exercises,  and  was  celebrated  for 
those  quick  sallies  of  wit  in  which  his  countrymen  usually  excel.  Little 
wonder  that  such  a  person  was  thought  necessary  to  a  gay  monarch,  whose 
foibles  he  was  able  to  flatter:  but  a  wise  king  will  have  no  public  favourite, 
and  still  less  a  foreign  one.  Edward  experienced  this  danger. 

Gaveston  no  sooner  arrived  at  court  than  he  was  loaded  with  benefits,  and 
exalted  to  the  highest  honours.  The  king  bestowed  upon  him  the  earldom 
of  Cornwall,  which  had  escheated  to  the  crown  by  the  death  of  prince  Edraond, 
son  of  Richard  king  of  the  Romans.  He  married  him  to  his  own  niece ;  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  no  pleasure  in  his  royalty  but  as  it  served  to  add  lustre  to 
this  object  of  his  fond  idolatry.  The  haughty  barons,  already  justly  dissa- 
tisfied with  Edward's  conduct  in  regard  to  Scotland,  were  enraged  at  the 
superiority  of  a  minion  whom  they  despised.  Nor  did  they  take  any  care  to 

(1)  Hale,  Hist  of  Eng-lish  Law. 


224  THE   HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

conceal  their  animosity.  Meanwhile  Gaveston,  instead  of  disarming  envy 
by  the  moderation  and  modesty  of  his  behaviour,  displayed  his  power  and 
influence  with  the  utmost  ostentation.  Every  day  multiplied  his  enemies ; 
and  nothing  was  wanting  but  time  to  cement  their  union,  and  render  it  fatal 
both  to  him  and  his  master. 

This  union  was  at  length  effected  by  Thomas  earl  of  Lancaster,  cousin- 
german  to  the  king,  and  first  prince  of  the  blood.  He  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  that  party  among  the  barons  who  desired  the  depression  of  this 
insolent  stranger.  The  confederated  nobles  bound  themselves  by  oath  to 
expel  Gaveston :  they  took  arms  for  that  purpose,  and  Edward  was  obliged  to 
banish  him.  But  he  was  afterward  recalled,  reinstated  in  his  former  conse- 
quence, and  became  more  than  ever  the  object  of  general  detestation  among 
the  nobility,  on  account  of  his  ostentation  and  insolence.  A  new  confederacy 
was  formed  against  him :  he  was  again  banished,  and  again  recalled  by  the 
fond  deluded  monarch.  A  universal  revolt  took  place :  Edward  and  his 
favourite  were  hunted  from  corner  to  corner;  and  Gaveston  at  last  fell  by 
the  hands  of  the  public  executioner.(l) 

After  the  death  of  Gaveston,  the  king's  person  became  less  obnoxious  to 
the  people.  The  discontents  of  all  men  seemed  to  be  much  appeased ;  the 
animosities  of  faction  no  longer  prevailed ;  and  England,  it  was  hoped,  would 
now  be  able  to  take  vengeance  on  all  her  enemies,  but  especially  on  the  Scots, 
whose  progress  was  become  the  object  of  general  resentment  and  indignation. 

Soon  after  Edward's  retreat  from  Scotland,  Robert  Bruce  made  himself 
master  of  the  whole  kingdom,  except  a  few  fortresses.  He  daily  reconciled 
the  minds  of  the  nobility  to  his  dominion :  he  enlisted  under  his  standard 
every  bold  spirit,  and  he  enriched  his  followers  with  the  spoils  of  the  enemy. 
Sir  James  Douglas,  in  whom  commenced  the  greatness  and  renown  of  that 
warlike  family,  seconded  Robert  in  all  his  enterprises.  Edward  Bruce,  the 
king's  brother,  also  distinguished  himself  by  his  valour ;  and  the  dread  of 
the  English  power  being  now  abated  by  the  feeble  conduct  of  Edward,  even 
the  least  sanguine  of  the  Scots  began  to  entertain  hopes  of  recovering  their 
independency.  They  obtained  a  truce,  which  was  of  short  duration,  and  ill 
observed  on  both  sides.  But,  short  as  it  was,  it  served  to  consolidate  the 
power  of  the  king,  and  introduce  order  into  the  civil  government.  War  was 
renewed  with  greater  fury  than  ever.  Not  content  with  defending  himself 
Robert  made  successful  inroads  into  England ;  subsisted  his  needy  followers 
by  the  plunder  of  the  country,  and  taught  them  to  despise  the  military  genius 
of  a  people  who  had  long  been  the  object  of  their  terror. 

Edward,  at  length  roused  from  his  lethargy,  had  marched  an  army  into 
Scotland ;  and  Robert,  determined  not  to  risk  too  much  against  a  superior 
force,  had  again  retired  into  his  mountains.  The  English  monarch  advanced 
beyond  Edinburgh ;  but  being  destitute  of  provisions,  and  ill  supported  by  his 
nobility,  he  was  obliged  to  return  home,  without  gaining  any  advantage  over 
the  enemy.  The  seeming  union,  however,  of  all  parties  in  England,  after 
the  death  of  Gaveston,  opened  again  the  prospect  of  reducing  Scotland,  and 
promised  a  happy  conclusion  to  a  war  in  which  both  the  interests  and  the 
passions  of  the  nation  were  so  deeply  engaged. 

Edward  assembled  forces  from  all  quarters,  with  a  view  of  finishing  at  one 
blow  this  important  enterprise.  He  summoned  the  most  warlike  of  his  vas- 
sals from  Gascony :  he  enlisted  troops  from  Flanders,  and  other  foreign  coun- 
tries: he  invited  over  great  numbers  of  the  disorderly  Irish,  as  to  a  certain 
prey:  he  joined  to  them  a  body  of  Welch,  who  were  actuated  by  like  mo- 
tives :  he  collected  the  whole  military  force  of  England,  and  entered  Scotland 
at  the  head  of  an  army  of  near  one  hundred  thousand  men.  The  Scottish 
army  did  not  exceed  thirty  thousand  combatants;  but  being  composed  of 
men  who  had  distinguished  themselves  by  many  acts  of  valour,  who  were 
rendered  desperate  by  their  situation,  and  who  were  inured  to  all  the  varieties 
of  fortune,  they  might  justly,  under  such  a  leader  as  Bruce,  be  esteemed 

Ml  T.  Walsingham.    T.  tie  la  More.     W.  Hemming. 


LET.  XXXVII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  225 

equal  to  a  far  more  numerous  body.  Robert,  however,  left  as  little  as  pos- 
sible to  the  superior  gallantry  of  his  troops.  He  posted  himself  strongly  at 
Bannockburn,  about  two  miles  from  Stirling ;  the  only  fortress  in  Scotland 
that  remained  in- the  hands  of  the  English,  and  which  was  on  the  point  of 
surrendering.  He  had  a  rivulet  in  front,  a  hill  on  his  right  flank,  and  a  mo- 
rass on  his  left.  In  this  situation  he  waited  the  approach  of  Edward. 

The  English  army  arrived  in  sight  towards  evening,  and  a  smart  combat 
immediately  commenced  between  two  bodies  of  cavalry.  Robert,  who  was 
at  the  head  of  the  Scots,  engaged  in  a  single  combat  with  Henry  de  Bohun,  a 
gentleman  of  the  family  of  Hereford,  and  at  one  stroke  cleft  his  antagonist 
to  the  chine  with  a  battle-axe,  in  sight  of  the  two  armies.  The  English 
horse  fled  with  precipitation  to  their  main  body,  and  night  prevented  any  far- 
ther hostilities.  Meanwhile  the  Scots,  encouraged  by  this  favourable  event. 
and  glorying  in  the  prowess  of  their  prince,  prognosticated  a  happy  issue  to 
the  contest  of  the  ensuing  day;  and  the  English,  confident  in  their  numbers, 
and  elated  by  past  successes,  longed  for  an  opportunity  of  revenge.  The 
darkness,  though  but  of  a  few  hours,  was  borne  with  impatience :  and  Edward, 
as  soon  as  light  appeared,  drew  up  his  forces,  and  advanced  against  the  Scots 
Both  armies  engaged  with  great  ardour,  and  the  dispute  was  fierce  and  bloody. 
Sir  James  Douglas  had  broken  the  English  cavalry;  but  their  line  of  infantry 
was  still  firm,  when  a  stratagem  decided  the  fortune  of  the  field.  Bruce  had 
collected  a  number  of  wagoners  and  sumpter  boys,  and  furnished  them  with 
standards.  They  appeared  upon  the  heights  towards  the  left.  The  English 
mistook  them  for  a  fresh  army  coming  to  surround  them:  a  panic  seized 
them ;  they  threw  down  their  arms  and  fled.  The  Scots  pursued  with  great 
slaughter  as  far  as  Berwick ;  and,  besides  an  inestimable  booty,  took  many 
persons  of  quality  prisoners,  with  above  four  hundred  gentlemen,  whom 
Robert  treated  with  great  humanity,  and  whose  ransom  was  a  new  accession 
of  wealth  to  the  victorious  army.  Edward  himself  narrowly  escaped,  by 
taking  shelter  in  Dunbar,  whence  he  passed  by  sea  to  Berwick.(l) 

Such  was  the  great  and  decisive  battle  of  Bannockburn,  which  secured  the 
independency  of  Scotland ;  fixed  Bruce  on  the  throne  of  that  kingdom,  and 
may  be  deemed  the  most  signal  blow  that  the  English  monarchy  has  received 
since  the  Norman  invasion.  The  number  of  slain  is  not  certainly  known, 
but  it  must  have  been  very  great ;  for  the  impression  of  this  defeat  on  the 
minds  of  the  English  was  so  strong,  that  no  superiority  of  force  could  en- 
courage them  to  keep  the  field  against  the  Scots  for  some  years. 

In  order  to  avail  himself  of  his  present  success,  Robert  entered  England ; 
ravaged  all  the  northern  counties  without  opposition;  and,  elated  by  his  con- 
tinued prosperity,  now  entertained  hopes  of  making  the  most  important  con- 
quests at  the  expense  of  the  English.  He  sent  over  his  brother  Edward  with 
an  army  of  six  thousand  men  into  Ireland,  and  he  himself  followed  soon  after 
with  a  more  numerous  body  of  troops.  But  a  grievous  famine, 'which  at 
that  time  desolated  both  Britain  and  Ireland,  reduced  the  Scottish  army  to 
the  greatest  extremity;  so  that  Robert  was  obliged  to  return,  with  his  forces 
much  diminished,  into  his  own  country.  His  brother,  who  assumed  the  title 
of  King  of  Ireland,  after  experiencing  a  variety  of  hardships,  was  defeated 
and  slain  by  the  English  near  Dundalk ;  and  Robert  became  sensible  that  he 
had  attempted  projects  too  extensive  for  the  force  of  his  narrow  kingdom. 

Edward,  besides  the  disasters  which  he  suffered  from  the  invasion  of  the 
Scots,  and  the  opposition  formed  against  his  government  in  Ireland,  was 
harassed  with  a  rebellion  in  Wales  :  and  the  factions  of  his  nobility  troubled 
him  yet  more  than  all  these.  They  took  advantage  of  the  public  calamities 
to  insult  his  fallen  fortunes,  and  endeavoured  to  establish  their  own  indepen- 
dency on  the  ruins  of  the  throne.  The  king's  unhappy  situation  obliged  him 
to  comply  with  all  their  demands.  The  ministry  was  new  modelled  by  the 
direction  of  Lancaster,  and  that  prince  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  council. 
Edward  himself  was  evidently  by  nature  unfit  to  hold  the  reins  of  govern- 
ed Mon.  Malms.  T.  de  la  More.  T  Walsingham.  •  Ypod.  Neust 

Vol..  I.— P 


826  T  H  E   H I S  T  O  R  Y   OF  [PART  I. 

merit.  He  was  sensible  of  his  own  defects,  and  sought  to  be  governed ;  yet 
every  favourite  (for  such  they  were  rather  than  ministers)  whom  he  succes- 
sively chose,  was  regarded  as  a  fellow-subject  exalted  above  his  rank  and 
station,  and  became  the  object  of  envy  to  the  chief  nobility.  The  king's 
principal  favourite,  after  the  death  of  Gaveston,  was  Hugh  le  Despenser,  or 
Spenser,  a  young  man  of  English  birth,  and  of  a  noble  family.  He  possessed 
all  the  exterior  accomplishments  of  person  and  address  that  were  fitted  to 
engage  the  weak  mind  of  Edward,  but  was  destitute  of  that  moderation  and 
prudence  which  might  have  qualified  him  to  mitigate  the  envy  of  the  great, 
and  conduct  himself  quietly  through  the  perils  of  the  dangerous  station  to 
which  he  was  advanced. 

No  sooner  was  Edward's  attachment  declared  for  young  Spenser,  than  the 
turbulent  Lancaster  and  most  of  the  great  barons  regarded  him  as  their  rival, 
made  him  the  object  of  their  animosity,  and  formed  violent  plans  for  his 
ruin.  They  withdrew  themselves  from  parliament,  betook  themselves  to 
arms,  and  demanded  the  banishment  of  the  favourite  and  his  father.  These 
noblemen  were  then  absent.  The  father  was  abroad,  the  son  at  sea ;  and 
both  were  employed  in  executing  different  commissions.  The  king  therefore 
replied,  that  his  coronation  oath,  by  which  he  was  bound  to  observe  the  laws, 
restrained  him  from  giving  his  assent  to  so  illegal  a  demand,  or  condemning 
noblemen  who  were  accused  of  no  crime,  nor  had  any  opportunity  afforded 
them  of  giving  answer.  But  equity  and  reason  proved  a  feeble  barrier  against 
men  who  had  arms  in  their  hands,  and  who,  being  already  involved  in  guilt, 
saw  no  safety  but  in  success  and  victory.  They  entered  London  with  their 
troops;  and  giving  into  the  parliament,  which  was  then  sitting,  a  charge 
against  the  Spensers,  (of  which  they  did  not  attempt  to  prove  one  article,) 
they  procured,  by  menaces  and  violence,  a  sentence  of  perpetual  exile  against 
those  ministers.(l) 

This  act  of  violence,  in  which  the  king  was  obliged  to  acquiesce,  rendered 
his  person  and  authority  so  contemptible,  that  every  one  thought  himself 
entitled  to  treat  the  royal  family  with  neglect.  The  queen  was  publicly 
insulted ;  but,  as  that  princess  was  generally  beloved,  Edward  was  permitted 
to  take  vengeance  on  the  offender.  Having  now  some  forces  on  foot,  and 
having  concerted  measures  with  his  friends  throughout  England,  he  ventured 
to  pull  off  the  mask;  to  attack  all  his  enemies;  and  to  recall  the  two  Spen- 
sers, whose  sentence  he  declared  illegal,  unjust,  and  contrary  to  the  tenor  of 
the  Great  Charter. (2) 

The  king  had  now  got  the  start  of  the  barons ;  an  advantage  which  in  those 
times  was  generally  decisive.  It  proved  so  in  the  present  instance.  Lancaster 
alone  made  resistance ;  he  was  taken  prisoner,  condemned  by  a  court  martial, 
and  led  to  execution.  About  twenty  more  of  the  most  notorious  offenders 
were  afterward  condemned  by  legal  trial,  and  executed.  Many  were  thrown 
into  prison ;  some  made  their  escape  beyond  sea ;  and  most  of  the  forfeitures 
were  seized  by  young  Spenser,  whose  rapacity  was  insatiable.  The  barons 
of  the  king's  party  were  disgusted  with  this  partial  division  of  the  spoils : 
the  envy  against  the  favourite  rose  higher  than  ever.  The  people,  who  always 
hated  him,  made  him  still  more  the  object  of  their  aversion :  all  the  relations 
of  the  attainted  barons  vowed  revenge;  and  although  tranquillity  was  in 
appearance  restored  to  the  kingdom,  the  general  contempt  of  the  king,  and 
adium  of  Spenser,  engendered  future  revolutions  and  convulsions. 

In  such  a  situation  no  success  could  be  expected  from  foreign  wars.  Ed- 
ward,  therefore,  after  making  one  more  fruitless  attempt  against  Scotland, 
whence  he  retreated  with  dishonour,  found  it  necessary  to  terminate  hos- 
tilities with  that  kingdom  by  a  truce  of  thirteen  years.  This  truce  was  so 
much  the  more  seasonable  for  England,  as  the  nation  was  at  that  time  threat- 
ened with  hostilities  from  France.  Charles  the  Fair  had  some  grounds  of 
Complaint  against  the  English  ministers  in  Guienne,  and  seemed  desirous  to 

(1)  Tyrrel,  from  the  Register  of  C.  C.  Canterbury.  T.  Waisingham  Tattle's  Collect,  par.  ii  Rymer 
vol.  iii.  .  (2)  Kymcr,  ubi  sup. 


LET.  XXXVII.]  MODERNEUROPE.  22"? 

take  advantage  of  Edward's' weakness,  in  order  to  confiscate  all  his  foreign 
dominions. 

After  an  embassy  by  the  earl  of  Kent,  the  king's  brother,  had  been  tried  in 
vain,  queen  Isabella  obtained  permission  to  go  over  to  Paris,  and  endeavour 
to  adjull;  matters  with  her  brother.  She  there  found  a  number  of  English 
fugitives,  the  remains  of  the  Lancastrian  faction;  and  their  common  hatred 
of  young  Spenser  soon  begot  a  secret  friendship  and  correspondence  between 
them  and  that  princess,  who  envied  the  favourite  his  influence  with  the  king. 
\mong  these  refugees  was  Roger  Mortimer,  a  potent  baron  in  the  Welch 
Marches,  who  had  been  condemned  for  high  treason,  but  had  made  his  escape 
from  the  Tower.  His  consequence  introduced  him  to  queen  Isabella,  and 
the  graces  of  his  person  and  address  advanced  him'  quickly  in  her  affections. 
He  became  her  confidant  and  counsellor  in  all  her  measures ;  and,  gaining 
ground  daily  upon  her  heart,  he  engaged  her  to  sacrifice  at  last  to  her  pas 
sion,  all  the  sentiments  of  honour  and  fidelity  to  her  husband.  Hating  now 
the  man  she  had  injured,  and  whom  she  never  loved,  she  entered  ardently 
into  all  Mortimer's  conspiracies ;  and  having  artfully  got  into  her  hands  the 
young  prince,  and  heir  of  the  monarchy,  she  resolved  on  the  utter  ruin  of 
ihe  king,  as  well  as  of  his  favourite.  She  engaged  her  brother  to  take  part 
in  the  same  criminal  purpose :  her  court  was  daily  filled  with  exiled  barons : 
Mortimer  lived  in  the  most  declared  intimacy  with  her,  and  a  correspondence 
was  secretly  carried  on  with  the  malecontent  party  in  England.(l) 

When  Edward  was  informed  of  these  alarming  circumstances,  he  required 
the  queen  speedily  to  return  with  the  prince.  But  Isabella  publicly  replied, 
that  she  would  never  set  foot  in  the  kingdom,  until  Hugh  Spenser  was  for 
ever  removed  from  his  presence  and  counsels.  This  declaration  procured 
her  great  popularity  in  England,  and  drew  a  decent  veil  over  all  her  treason- 
able enterprises.  She  no  sooner  arrived  with  her  son  in  England  than  the 
king  was  entirely  deserted.  He  fled  to  Wales.  The  elder  Spenser,  now  earl 
of  Winchester,  and  governor  of  the  castle  of  Bristol,  was  delivered  by  the 
garrison  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies ;  and,  being  instantly  condemned 
without  any  trial,  witness,  or  accusation,  to  suffer  death,  he  was  hanged  on  a 
gibbet  in  his  armour.  His  unhappy  but  more  criminal  son  soon  after  shared 
the  same  fate :  and  the  king,  disappointed  in  his  expectation  of  succours  from 
the^Welch,  was  seized  among  their  mountains,  where  he  had  endeavoured  to 
conceal  himself,  and  confined  in  Kenilworth  castle.  Meanwhile  the  queen, 
taking  advantage  of  the  prevailing  delusion,  summoned  in  Edward's  name  a 
parliament  at  Westminster ;  where  the  king  was  accused  of  incapacity  for 
government,  and  by  the  authority  of  her  partisans  deposed.  The  prince,  a 
youth  of  fourteen  years  of  age,  was  placed  on  the  throne,  and  the  queen  was 
appointed  regent  during  his  minority.  (2) 

The  great  body  of  the  people  are  seldom  long  in  the  wrong  with  respect  to 
any  political  measure.  Corrupted  as  they  now  were  by  the  licentiousness  of 
the  times,  and  inflamed  by  faction,  they  could  not,  in  the  present  instance, 
remain  insensible  to  the  voice  of  nature.  A  wife  had  first  dishonoured,  next 
invaded,  and  then  dethroned  her  husband :  she  had  made  her  infant  son  an 
instrument  in  this  unnatural  treatment  of  his  father ;  and  had,  by  false  pre- 
tences, seduced  the  nation  into  rebellion  against  their  sovereign,  whose  weak 
ness  was  his  only  crime.  All  these  circumstances  were  so  odious  in  them- 
selves, and  formed  such  a  complicated  scene  of  guilt,  that  the  least  reflection 
sufficed  to  open  men's  eyes,  and  make  them  detest  so  flagrant  an  infringe- 
ment of  every  public  and  private  duty. 

The  earl  of  Lancaster,  formerly  earl  of  Leicester,  to  whose  custody  the 
dethroned  monarch  had  been  committed,  was  soon  touched  with  sentiments 
of  compassion  and  generosity  towards  his  sovereign ;  and  beside  using  him 
with  gentleness  and  humanity,  he  was  supposed  to  have  entertained  more 
honourable  intentions  in  his  favour.  The  king  was  therefore  taken  out  of 

(1)  T.  Walsingham.    T.  de  la  More.    Ypod.  Neust. 
12    Ypod.  Neusl.    T.  Walsingbam.    T.  de  la  More.    Ryiner,  vol.  iv 
P2 


328  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

his  hands,  and  delivered  over  to  lord  Berkeley  Mull  ravers,  and  Gournay, 
who  were  intrusted  alternately,  each  for  a  month,  with  the  charge  of  guard- 
ing him.  While  in  the  custody  of  Berkeley,  Edward  was  still  treated  with 
the  gentleness  and  respect  due  to  his  rank  and  his  misfortunes ;  but  when 
the  turn  of  Maltravers  and  Gournay  came,  every  species  of  indignity  was 
offered  him,  as  if  their  intention  had  been  to  break  entirely  the  unhappy 
prince's  spirit,  and  to  employ  his  sorrows  and  afflictions,  instead  of  more  vio- 
lent and  more  dangerous  means,  as  the  instruments  of  his  murder.  That 
method  of  laying  Edward  in  his  grave,  however,  appearing  too  slow  to  the 
impatient  Mortimer,  he  sent  orders  to  Gournay  and  Maltravers  to  despatch 
the  king  secretly:  and  these  ruffians  contrived  to  make  the  manner  of  his 
death  as  cruel  as  possible.  Taking  advantage  of  tlyj  indisposition  of  Berkeley, 
in  whose  custody  he  then  was,  but  who  was  incapacitated  by  sickness  from 
attending  his  charge,  they  came  to  Berkeley-castle,  and  put  themselves  in 
possession  of  the  king's  person.  They  threw  him  on  a  bed;  held  him  down 
violently  with  a  table,  which  they  flung  over  him,  and  thrust  into  his  funda- 
ment a  horn,  through  which  they  burnt  his  bowels  with  a  red-hot  iron.  But 
although  outward  marks  of  violence  were  prevented  by  this  expedient,  the 
atrocious  deed  was  discovered  to  all  the  guards  and  attendants  by  the  screams 
of  the  agonizing  king.(l) 

Thus  perished  the  unfortunate  Edward  II.  It  is  not  easy  for  imagination 
to  figure  a  man  more  innocent  and  inoffensive,  or  a  prince  less  fitted  for 
governing  a  fierce  and  turbulent  people.  The  vigour  and  capacity  of  the  son 
made  ample  amends  for  his  father's  weakness.  But  a  variety  of  objects  must 
occupy  our  attention  before  we  consider  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 


LETTER  XXXVIII. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome,  and  the  Italian  States,  from 
the  Election  of  Rodulph  of  Hapsburg,  to  the  Death  of  Henry  VTI. 

THE  German  empire,  my  dear  Philip,  as  I  have  already  had  occasion  to 
observe,  could  not  properly  be  said  to  have  a  head,  from  the  death  of  Fre- 
deric II.,  till  the  election  of  Rodulph  count  of  Hapsburg.  This  great  captain, 
who  had  some  tune  exercised  the  office  of  grand  marshal  to  Ottocarus,  king 
of  Bohemia,  and  was  raised  to  the  imperial  dignity  on  account  of  his  military 
talents,  no  sooner  found  himself  in  possession  of  the  august  throne,  than  he 
employed  his  authority  in  suppressing  the  disorders  which  had  prevailed 
during  the  interregnum ;  and  he  succeeded  so  well  in  his  endeavours,  that 
peace  and  security  were  soon  generally  re-established  in  Germany.  He 
destroyed  in  Thuringia  sixty  castles,  which  were  the  retreats  of  banditti,  and 
ordered  ninety-nine  highwaymen  to  be  hanged  at  one  time  in  the  city  of 
Krfurt.(2) 

Having  thus  in  some  measure  settled  the  interior  police  of  the  empire, 
Rodulph  assembled  a  diet  at  Mentz,  where  he  granted  new  privileges  to 
Goslar  and  other  cities,  and  confirmed  those  which  had  been  granted  by  his 
predecessors.  Here  also  the  deliberations  of  the  assembly  turned  upon  the 
conduct  of  certain  princes,  who  had  protested  against  the  election  of  the 
count  of  Hapsburg.  Among  these  was  Ottocarus,  king  of  Bohemia,  against 
whom  the  diet  had  other  causes  of  dissatisfaction.  He  had  seized  upon  the 
dutchy  of  Austria,  after  the  death  of  Frederic,  the  last  duke;  and  the  states 
complained  of  the  oppressions  which  they  suffered  unde'r  this  usurper,  from 
whom  they  begged  to  be  delivered. 

A  second  diet  was  summoned  on  this  subject  at  Augsburg :  where  Otto- 
carus not  appearing,  or  doing  homage  by  his  ambassadors,  was  declared  a 
rebel  to  the  empire.  His  possession  of  Austria,  Stiria,  Carniola,  and  Carin- 

U)  T.  Wakinghain.    T.  de  la  More  (2)  Annal.  Boior.    Heiss,  liv.  ii.  c  22. 


MODERN   EU  R  OPE.  229 

thia,  was/adjudged  illegal :  and  the  emperor  was  desired  to  divest  him  of 
those  territories. 

When  this  sentence  was  notified  to  Ottocarus,  he  arrogantly  exclaimed. 
"  To  whom  should  I  do  homage  ? — I  owe  Rodulph  nothing :  he  was  formerly 
my  servant,  and  I  paid  him  his  wages.  My  possessions  I  will  maintain 
with  the  point  of  my  sword."(l) 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  Ottocarus  associated  himself  with  several 
other  German  princes,  and  among  the  rest  with  the  duke  of  Bavaria.  But 
they  were  all  at  last  obliged  to  submit ;  and  the  proud  Ottocarus  himself  not 
only  relinquished  the  contested  territories,  but  did  homage  for  Bohemia  and 
Moravia 

This  homage  was  performed  in  the  island  of  Camberg  in  the  Danube, 
under  a  close  canopy,  in  order  to  save  Ottocarus  from  a  public  humiliation. 
He  repaired  to  the  place  all  covered  with  gold  and  jewels.  Rodulph,  by  a 
superior  pride,  received  him  in  the  most  coarse  and  simple  dress ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  ceremony,  either  by  accident  or  design,  the  curtains  of  the  canopy 
fell  back,  and  exposed  to  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  the  armies  that  lined  the 
banks  of  the  river,  the  haughty  king  on  his  knees,  with  his  hands  joined 
between  those  of  his  conqueror,  whom  he  had  so  often  called  his  steward,  and 
to  whom  he  now  became  cup-bearer. 

The  wife  of  Ottocarus,  a  Russian  princess,  and  no  less  haughty  than  her 
husband,  was  so  much  hurt  by  this  mortifying  circumstance,  that  she  induced 
him  to  renounce  the  treaty  he  had  concluded  with  Rodulph,  and  again  have 
recourse  to  arms  for  the  recovery  of  Austria.  The  emperor  immediately 
inarched  against  him ;  and  a  battle  ensued,  in  which  Ottocarus  was  slain. 

Rodulph  now  discovered  himself  to  be  no  less  a  politician  than  a  warrior. 
He  gave  the  government  of  Austria  and  its  appendages  to  his  eldest  son, 
count  Albert ;  whom  he  afterward,  in  a  diet  at  Augsburg,  publicly  invested 
with  that  dutchy,  which  was  incorporated  with  the  college  of  the  princes. 
Hence  the  rise  of  the  house  of  Austria.  And  he  at  the  same  time  invested 
Rodulph,  another  of  his  sons,  with  the  county  of  Suabia,  which  belonged  to 
him  in  right  of  his  wife.  He  also  wisely  resolved  to  adhere  to  the  articles  of 
the  treaty  with  Ottocarus ;  and  accordingly  put  his  infant  son  Winceslaus 
under  the  tutelage  of  the  marquis  of  Brandenburg. (2) 

But  although  Rodulph's  authority  was  now  fully  established  in  Germany, 
he  was  far  from  being  master  in  Italy.  The  imperial  crown  had  indeed  been 
confirmed  to  him  by  Gregory  X.  on  his  ceding  to  the  Holy  See  the  lands  01 
the  Countess  Matilda,  and  all  the  territories  mentioned  in  the  grants  made 
to  the  church  by  former  emperors.  In  so  doing,  Rodulph  properly  yielded 
nothing  but  the  right  of  receiving  homage  from  noblemen,  who  never  did  it 
without  reluctance,  and  cities  which  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  command. 
Venice,  Genoa,  and  Pisa,  had  a  greater  number  of  ships  than  the  emperor 
could  muster  of  ensigns :  Florence  was  become  considerable,  and  already  the 
nurse  of  the  liberal  arts. 

Rodulph  spent  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  in  establishing  the  grandeur  of 
his  family  in  Austria.  He  granted  privileges  to  the  clergy ;  bestowed  new 
dignities  upon  the  noblemen ;  diminished  the  taxes ;  built  and  repaired  public 
edifices ;  and  behaved  with  so  much  generosity  and  moderation,  as  won  the 
hearts  of  all  men.  But  notwithstanding  his  popularity,  he  could  not  procure 
his  son  Albert,  duke  of  Austria,  to  be  elected  king  of  the  Romans ;  a  disap- 
pointment which,  together  with  the  death  of  his  son  Rodulph,  so  much  cha- 
grined him,  that  he  died  soon  after.  He  was  a  prince  of  great  valour,  sagacity, 
and  probity ;  and  raised  the  empire,  from  a  state  of  misery  and  confusion,  to 
the  enjoyment  of  peace,  policy,  and  riches. (3) 

(1)  JKn.  Syhr.  Hist.  Bohem.  (2)  Heigg,  ubi  sup.    Du  Mont.     Corp.  JDiplom.  torn.  i. 

(3)  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  c.  22.  Barre,  torn.  vi.  Annul,  de  I'Emp.  torn.  ii.  Nothing  can  show  in  a  stronger 
light  Rodulph's  resolution  and  presence  of  mind  than  his  behaviour  at  his  coronation.  The  absence 
(if  thp  imperial  sceptre,  supposed  to  be  that  of  Charlemagne,  which  had  been  mislaid,  seemed  to  afford 
some  disaffected  noblemen  a  pretext  for  refusing  the  oath  of  allegiance :— "  This  is  my  sceptre,"  said 
Rodulph,  seizing  6  crucifix ;  and  all  the  princes  and  nobles  instantly  took  the  oath,  and  did  him  homage 
as  emperor.  Heias,  &c.  ubi  sup 


230  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PAET  1 

After  an  interregnum  of  nine  months,  which  was  productive  of  many  dis- 
orders, the  German  princes  raised  to  the  imperial  throne  Adolphus  of  Nassau^ 
on  the  same  principle  which  had  made  them  choose  his  predecessor.  He 
seemed  capable  of  maintaining  the  glory  of  the  empire  at  the  head  of  its 
armies,  without  being  able  to  enslave  it. 

The  reign  of  this  prince  was  one  continued  scene  of  troubles,  and  at  last 
terminated  in  his  deposition.  His  necessities  had  made  him  guilty  of  several 
acts  of  injustice ;  which  Albert  duke  of  Austria,  dissatisfied  at  not  succeed- 
ing to  the  imperial  throne,  took  care  to  represent  in  the  worst  light.  A  con- 
federacy was  formed  against  Adolphus,  and  he  was  deposed  by  the  archbishop 
of  Mentz,  in  the  name  of  the  princes  of  the  empire. 

"Six  years  ago,"  said  the  archbishop,  "the  empire  being  vacant, we  cano- 
nically  elected  Adolphus,  count  of  Nassau,  king  of  the  Romans,  knowing  at 
that  time  no  person  more  worthy  of  the  dignity.  At  first  he  conducted  him- 
self wisely,  following  the  counsels  of  the  most  prudent  electors  and  princes 
of  his  court.  But  he  began  by  degrees  to  despise  their  advice,  and  listen  to 
the  counsels  of  young  persons  without  either  sense  or  experience  ;  then  he 
found  himself  destitute  of  means  and  friends  to  assist  him  sincerely  in  bear- 
ing the  burden  of  government.  The  electors  perceiving  his  indigence,  and 
swayed  by  many  other  motives,  have  demanded  the  pope's  consent  to  depose 
him,  and  choose  another  emperor.  We  are  told  that  our  envoys  have  obtained 
the  consent  of  his  holiness  ;  though  those  of  Adolphus  affirm  the  contrary : 
but  we,  having  no  regard  to  any  authority  except  that  which  is  vested  in 
ourselves*  and  finding  Adolphus  incapable  of  governing  the  empire,  do  depose 
him  from  the  imperial  dignity,  and  elect  Albert,  duke  of  Austria,  king  of  the 
Romans. "(1) 

Adolphus,  apprised  of  this  election,  raised  the  siege  of  Rufiach,  in  Alsace, 
and  marched  towards  Spire,  where  he  encamped.  He  was  reinforced  by  the 
count  Palatine  Rodulph,  Otho  duke  of  Bavaria,  and  the  cities  of  Spire  and 
Worms,  which  had  never  deserted  his  cause.  Albert  advanced  towards  him, 
in  order  to  dispute  the  imperial  crown  by  arms.  They  engaged  between 
Gelnsheim  and  the  cloister  of  Rosendal,  and  the  battle  was  maintained  with 
much  obstinacy  on  both  sides.  In  the  heat  of  action  Adolphus,  singling  out 
his  rival,  attacked  him  hand  to  hand,  haughtily  exclaiming,  "  Here  you  shall 
resign  to  me  the  empire  and  your  life !"— "  Both,"  replied  Albert,  "  are  in  the 
hands  of  God,"  and  immediately  struck  his  competitor  with  such  violence  in 
the  face,  that  he  fell  from  his  horse  and  was  instantly  slain.  (2) 

During  the  reign  of  Adolphus,  and  also  of  his  predecessor  Rodulph,  the 
Jews  were  persecuted  in  the  empire  with  great  cruelty,  on  a  supposition  that 
they  had  slain  several  Christian  children,  and  committed  other  crimes,  which 
oxcited  the  hatred  of  the  public.  They  were  accused  of  having  stolen  a  con- 
secrated host :  and  the  credulous  people,  without  examining  into  the  matter, 
were  so  much  incensed  at  this  pretended  sacrilege,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Nuremburg,  Rottemberg,  Amberg,  and  several  other  towns  of  Franconia  and 
Bavaria,  seized  all  the  unhappy  Israelites  that  fell  in  their  way ;  committed 
them  to  the  flames,  and  drove  the  rest  to  such  despair,  that  numbers  chose 
rather  to  destroy  themselves  and  families  than  run  the  hazard  of  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  merciless  Christians.  Nor  was  this  unhappy  people  treated 
with  more  indulgence  in  Holland  and  Friesland,  their  present  asylum,  at 
that  time  provinces  of  the  empire.  (3) 

Though  Albert  had  been  elected  king  of  the  Romans  before  his  victory 
over  Adolphus,  and  consequently  became  emperor  on  the  death  c-f  that 
prince,  he  chose  to  have  his  title  confirmed  by  a  new  diet ;  which  was  ac- 
cordingly assembled  for  that  purpose  at  Frankfort,  the  elector  of  Triers  and 
the  Palatine  not  having  formerly  given  their  votes :  and  he  was  afterward 
solemnly  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  concourse  of  people  on  that  oc- 

(1)  Chron.  Calm.  (2)  Ibid. 

(3)  Annul.  Slfron.  Mosbeim,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  iii.  Dr.  Mosheim  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  the  ac- 
cusation ncainst  the  Jews  wero  true  or  false  ;  but  his  learned  and  uidicious  translator,  in  a  note,  giv«i 
re-  -on  to  believe  lliey  were  insidiously  forged 


LET.  XXXVIII.j  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  231 

casion  was  so  great,  that  the  duke  of  Saxony,  the  emperor's  brothei,  ana 
several  other  persons,  were  squeezed  to  death  in  the  crowd. (1) 

The  first  years  of  Albert's  reign  were  disquieted  by  a  quarrel  with  the  pope 
and  the  ecclesiastical  electors.  Boniface  VIII.,  the  last  pontiff  who  pre- 
'  tended  to  dispose  of  crowns,  and  who  carried  the  pretensions  of  the  apostolic 
see  as  high  as  any  of  his  predecessors,  took  part  with  the  three  German  arch- 
•"  irihops,  who  had  refused  to  answer  the  emperor's  summons.  They  were  at 
length,  however,  obliged  to  submit ;  and  Boniface  confirmed  the  election  of 
Albert,  when  he  wanted  to  make  him  the  instrument  of  his  vengeance  against 
Philip,  king  of  France.  But  the  emperor  did  not  obtain  this  confirmation,  it 
is  said,  till  he  had  declared  that  "  the  empire  was  transferred  by  the  Holy 
See  from  the  Greeks  to  the  Germans;  that  the  sovereign  pontiff  had  granted 
to  certain  ecclesiastical  and  secular  princes  the  right  of  electing  a  king  of  the 
Romans,  destined  to  the  eirfpire ;  and  that  emperors  and  kings  derive  their 
regal  power  from  the  pope."(2) 

The  most  remarkable  event  in  this  reign  is  the  rise  of  the  republic  of  Swis- 
serland.  Fortified  by  their  natural  situation,  surrounded  with  mountains, 
torrents,  and  woods,  the  Swiss,  having  nothing  to  fear  from  strangers,  had 
lived  happily  in  a  rugged  country,  suited  only  to  men  who  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  a  frugal  and  laborious  course  of  life.  Equality  of  condition  was 
the  basis  of  their  government.  They  had  been  free  from  time  immemorial ; 
and  when  any  of  their  nobility  attempted  to  tyrannize,  they  were  either 
altogether  expelled,  or  reduced  within  bounds  by  the  people.  But  although 
the  Swiss  were  extremely  jealous  of  their  liberty,  they  had  always  been  sub- 
missive to  the  empire,  on  which  they  depended ;  and  many  of  their  towns 
were  free  and  imperial. 

When  Rodulph  of  Hapsburg  was  elected  emperor,  several  lords  of  castles 
formally  accused  the  cantons  of  Cry,  Schwitz,  and  Underwald,  of  having 
withdrawn  themselves  from  their  feudal  subjection.  But  Rodulph,  who  had 
formerly  fought  against  those  petty  tyrants,  decided  in  favour  of  the  citizens 
and  thenceforth  these  three  cantons  were  under  the  patronage,  but  not  the 
dominion,  of  the  house  of  Austria. 

Rodulph  always  treated  the  Swiss  with  great  indulgence,  and  generously 
defended  their  rights  and  privileges  against  the  noblemen  who  attempted  to 
infringe  them.  Albert's  conduct  in  these  respects  was  just  the  reverse  of  his 
father's :  he  wanted  to  govern  the  Swiss  as  an  absolute  sovereign,  and  had 
formed  a  scheme  for  erecting  their  country  into  a  principality  for  one  of  his 
sons.  In  order  to  "accomplish  this  purpose,  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  the 
cantons  of  Ury,  Schwitz,  and  Underwald,  to  submit  voluntarily  to  his  dominion. 
In  case  of  compliance,  he  promised  to  rule  them  with  great  lenity ;  but  find- 
ing them  tenacious  of  their  independency,  and  deaf  to  all  his  solicitations,  he 
resolved  to  tame  them  by  rougher  methods,  and  appointed  governors,  who 
domineered  over  them  in  the  most  arbitrary  manner. 

The  tyranny  of  these  governors  exceeded  all  belief.  Geisler,  governor  of 
Ury,  ordered  his  hat  to  be  fixed  upon  a  pole  in  the  market-place  of  Altorf, 
and  every  passenger  was  commanded,  on  pain  of  death,  to  pay  obeisance  to  it. 
But  the  independent  spirit  of  William  Tell,  who,  among  others,  had  projected 
the  deliverance  of  his  country,  disdained  to  pay  that  absurd  homage.  On 
this,  the  governor  ordered  him  to  be  hanged ;  but  remitted  the  punishment, 
on  condition  that  he  should  strike  an  apple  from  his  son's  head  with  an  arrow. 
Tell,  who  was  an  excellent  marksman,  accepted  the  alternative,  and  had  the 
good  fortune  to  strike  off  the  apple  without  hurting  his  son.  But  Geisler 
perceiving  a  second  qrrow  under  William's  coat,  inquired  for  what  purpose 
that  was  intended :  "  It  was  designed  for  thee,"  replied  the  indignant  Swiss, 
"  If  I  had  killed  my  son."  For  that  heroic  answer  he  was  doomed  to  per- 
petual imprisonment,  though  fortune  happily  put  it  out  of  the  governor's- 
power  to  carry  his  sentence  into  execution. 

This  and  other  acts  of  wanton  tyranny,  determined  Arnauld  Melchtat,  a 

(1)  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  chap.  xxiv. 

(2)  Hist,  de  Demel.  de  Bonif.  VIII.  avec  Philip  le  Bel.     Mosheim,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii'. 


233  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART!. 

native  of  Underwald,  Werner  Straffacher  of  Schwitz,  and  Walter  Furtz  of 
Ury,  to  put  in  execution  those  measures  which  they  had  concerted  for  deli- 
vering themselves  and  their  country  from  the  Austrian  dominion.  Naturally 
bold  and  enterprising,  and  united  by  a  long  intimacy  of  friendship,  they 
had  frequently  met  in  private  to  deliberate  upon  this  interesting  subject:  ' 
each  associated  three  others ;  and  these  twelve  men  accomplished  their 
important  enterprise,  without  the  loss  of  a  single  life.  Having  prepared  the 
inhabitants  of  their  several  cantons  for  a  revolt,  they  surprised  the  Austrian 
governors,  and  conducted  them  to  the  frontiers ;  obliging  them  to  promise 
upon  oath,  never  more  to  serve  against  the  Helvetian  nation,  then  dismissed 
them;(l)  an  instance  of  moderation  not  perhaps  to  be  equalled  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind,  of  a  people  incensed  against  their  oppressors,  and  who  had 
them  in  their  power. 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  these  three  cantons,  Ury,  Schwitz,  and  Underwald, 
delivered  themselves  from  the  Austrian  yoke,  and  established  that  liberty 
which  they  still  enjoy.  The  other  cantons  soon  engaged  in  this  confederacy, 
which  gave  birth  to  the  republic  of  Swisserland.  Never  did  any  people  fight 
.xmger  or  harder  for  their  liberty  than  the  Swiss.  They  have  purchased  it, 
as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  by  above  sixty  battles  against  the  Austrians ; 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  will  long  preserve  it,  for  never  were  the  beneficial 
effects  of  liberty  more  remarkable  than  in  Swisserland.  The  change  of 
government  seems  to  have  produced  a  change  in  the  face  of  the  country.  The 
rude  soil,  which  lay  neglected  under  cruel  and  tyrannical  masters,  now  appears 
cultivated ;  the  craggy  rocks  are  covered  with  vines ;  and  the  wild  heath, 
tilled  by  the  hands  of  freedom,  is  become  a  fruitful  plain. 

fWhen  Albert  was  ready  to  hazard  his  forces  against  that  courage  which  is 
inspired  by  the  enthusiasm  of  new-born  liberty,  he  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  rapa- 
city and  injustice.  His  own  nephew  John,  who  could  not  obtain  from  him 
the  enjoyment  of  his  patrimony,  resolved  to  make  sure  of  his  revenge.  This 
injured  youth,  confederating  with  three  others,  stabbed  the  emperor  in  pre- 
sence of  his  court  and  army,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Prus,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Swisserland.(S)  No  sovereign  was  ever  less  regretted,  though 
few  have  died  more  tragically.  He  did  not  want  valour,  or  abilities ;  but  a 
desire  of  aggrandizing  his  family  influenced  his  whole  conduct,  and  made  him 
violate  every  public  and  private  tie'. 

The  imperial  throne  continued  vacant  for  seven  months  after  the  assas- 
sination of  Albert.  At  length  the  electors  assembled,  at  Frankfort,  and 
chose  Henry  count  of  Luxemburg ;  who  was  crowned,  without  opposition, 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  A  diet  was  soon  after  held  at  Spire,  where  sentence  of 
death  was  pronounced  against  prince  John  for  the  murder  of  his  uncle,  the 
late  emperor ;  whose  sons,  at  the  same  time,  demanded  the  investiture  of 
Austria  and  the  other  hereditary  dominions  of  their  father,  which  Henry 
intended  to  seize.  They  obtained  their  demand,  on  making  him  sensible,  that 
as  the  house  of  Austria  had  already  sent  two  emperors  out  of  the  world,  it 
might  yet  prove  fatal  to  a  third,  if  he  did  not  desist  from  his  unjust  pre- 
tensions.(3) 

At  this  assembly  also  appeared  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Win- 
ceslaus,  king  of  Bohemia.  She  had  been  contracted  to  John,  count  of  Lux- 
emburgh,  son  of  the  present  emperor,  Henry  VII.,  and  now  king  of  Bohemia. 
But  the  marriage  had  been  delayed,  from  time  to  time,  under  different  pre- 
tences. The  princess  therefore  demanded  that  the  contract  might  be  ful- 
filled, or  cause  shown  why  the  nuptials  should  not  be  solemnized :  and  under- 
standing that  a  report  had  been  spread  to  the  disadvantage  of  her  chastity, 
she  repaired  to  the  emperor's  antichamber,  undressed  herself  to  the  shift,  in 
the  presence  of  the  ladies  there  assembled,  and  approaching  Henry  in  that 
condition,  requested  that  she  might  be  immediately  examined  by  matrons. 
She  was  accordingly  committed  to  the  inspection  of  some  experienced  ladies 
«7id  midwives,  who  unanimously  declared  her  an  unspotted  virgin ;  and  ia 

(1)  Sterler.    Annal.  Helvetic.  (2)  RobUorf.  ad  aim.  130a 

,3)  I l.-iss,  lib.  ii.  chap.  25. 


LET.  XXXVI11.]  MODERN  E  U ROPE.  233 

consequence  of  their  testimony,  the  nuptials  were  solemnized  with  great  mag- 
nificence, in  presence  of  the  electors  and  other  princes  and  noblemen  of  the 
diet.(l) 

This  is  a  point  on  which  our  modern  physicians  would  have  had  many  con- 
sultations. They  pretend  that  the  signs  of  virginity  are  altogether  preca- 
rious, though  every  old  woman  affirms  them  infallible.  And  fortunately  the 
daughter  of  Winceslaus  was  judged  by  old  women ;  for  so  scrupulous  were 
the  bridegrooms  of  those  days  on  the  article  of  chastity,  that  the  slightest 
suspicion  in  regard  to  it  was  sufficient  to  obstruct  the  marriage,  or  ruin  the 
happiness  of  a  couple  for  life. 

The  emperors,  from  the  time  of  Frederic  II.,  seemed  to  have  lost  sight  01 
Italy.  But  Henry  VII.,  as  soon  as  he  had  settled  the  affairs  of  the  North, 
resolved  to  re-establish  the  imperial  authority  in  that  country.  With  this 
view  a  diet  was  held  at  Frankfort ;  where  proper  supplies  being  granted  for 
the  emperor's  journey,  well  known  by  the  name  of  the  Roman  Expedition, 
he  set  out  for  Italy,  accompanied  by  the  dukes  of  Austria  and  Bavaria,  the 
archbishop  of  Triers,  the  bishop  of  Liege,  the  counts  of  Savoy  and  Flanders, 
with  other  noblemen,  and  the  militia  of  all  the  imperial  towns. 

Italy  was  still  divided  by  the  factions  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibelines,  who 
butchered  one  another  without  humanity  or  remorse.  But  their  contest  was 
no  longer  the  same :  it  was  not  now  a  struggle  between  the  empire  and  the 
priesthood,  but  between  faction  and  faction,  inflamed  by  mutual  jealousies  and 
animosities.  Pope  Clement  V.  had  been  obliged  to  leave  Rome,  which  was 
distracted  by  the  anarchy  of  popular  government.  The  Colonnas,  the  Ursini, 
and  the  Roman  barons,  divided  the  city :  and  this  division  was  the  cause  of 
the  long  abode  of  the  popes  in  France,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see  in 
the  history  of  that  kingdom ;  so  that  Rome  seemed  equally  lost  to  the  popes 
and  the  emperors.  Sicily  was  in  the  possession  of  the  house  of  Arragon,  in 
consequence  of  the  famous  massacre  called  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  which  de- 
livered that  island  from  the  tyranny  of  the  French,  as  shall  be  afterward  more 
fully  related.  Carobert,  king  of  Hungary,  disputed  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
with  his  uncle  Robert,  son  of  Charles  II.,  of  the  house  of  Anjou.  The  house 
of  Este  had  established  itself  at  Ferrara ;  and  the  Venetians  wanted  to  make 
themselves  masters  of  that  country.  The  old  league  of  the  Italian  cities  no 
longer  subsisted.  It  had  been  formed  with  no  other  view  than  to  oppose  the 
emperors ;  and  since  they  had  neglected  Italy,  the  cities  were  wholly  em- 
ployed in  aggrandizing  themselves  at  the  expense  of  each  other.  The  Floren- 
tines and  the  Genoese  made  war  upon  the  republic  of  Pisa.  Every  city  was 
also  divided  into  faction  within  itself;  Florence  between  the  Blacks  and  the 
Whites,  and  Milan  between  the  Visconti  and  the  Turriani. 

In  the  midst  of  these  troubles  Henry  VII.  appeared  in  Italy,  and  caused 
himself  to  be  crowned  king  of  Lombardy  at  Milan.  The  Guelphs  had  con- 
cealed the  old  iron  crown  of  the  Lombard  kings,  as  if  the  right  of  reigning 
were  attached  to  a  particular  circlet  of  metal.  But  Henry,  contemning  such 
a  thought,  ordered  a  new  crown  to  be  made  with  which  the  ceremony  of 
inauguration  was  performed.  (2) 

Cremona  was  the  first  place  that  ventured  to  oppose  the  emperor.  He 
reduced  it  by  force,  and  laid  it  under  heavy  contributions.  Parma,  Vicenza, 
and  Placentia,  made  peace  with  him  on  reasonable  conditions.  Padua  paid 
a  hundred  thousand  crowns,  and  received  an  imperial  officer  as  governor. 
The  Venetians  presented  Henry  with  a  large  sum  of  money,  an  imperial 
crown  of  gold  enriched  Avith  diamonds,  and  a  chain  of  very  curious  workman- 
ship. Brescial  made  a  desperate  resistance,  and  sustained  a  very  long  siege : 
in  the  course  of  which  the  emperor's  brother  was  slain,  and  his  army  dimi- 
nished to  such  a  degree,  that  the  inhabitants  ventured  to  march  out,  under 
the  command  of  their  prefect,  Thibault  de  Drussati,  and  give  him  battle.  But 
they  were  repulsed  with  great  loss,  after  an  obstinate  engagement,  and  at  last 
obliged  to  submit.  Their  city  was  dismantled. 

(1)  Heiss,  lib.  ii.  chap.  25.  (2)  Struv.  period  ix.sec  4. 


234  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PARTI 

From  Brescia  Henry  marched  to  Genoa,  where  he  was  received  with  ex- 
pressions of  joy,  and  splendidly  entertained.  He  next  proceeded  to  Rome, 
where,  after  much  bloodshed,  he  received  the  imperial  crown  from  the  hands 
of  the  cardinals.  Clement  V.,  who  had  originally  invited  Henry  into  Italy, 
growing  jealous  of  his  success,  had  leagued  with  Robert  king  of  Naples  and 
the  Ursini  faction  to  oppose  his  entrance  into  Rome.  He  entered  it  in  spite 
of  them,  by  the  assistance  of  the  Colonnas.(l) 

Now  master  of  that  ancient  city,  Henry  appointed  it  a  governor;  and 
ordered,  that  all  the  cities  and  states  of  Italy  should  pay  him  an  annual 
tribute.  In  this  order^he  comprehended  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  to  which 
he  was  going  to  make  good  his  claims  of  superiority  by  arms,  when  he  died  at 
Benevento  of  poison,  as  it  is  commonly  supposed,  given  him  by  a  Dominican 
friar  in  the  consecrated  wine  of  the  sacrament.(2) 

During  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  who  was  a  valiant  and 
politic  prince,  the  knights  of  the  Teutonic  order  aggrandized  themselves  by 
making  war  upon  the  Pagans  of  the  North.  They  possessed  themselves  of 
Samogitia,  after  butchering  .all  the  inhabitants  who  refused  to  embrace 
Christianity :  they  took  Dantzick,  and  purchased  Pomerella  of  a  marquis  of 
Brandenburg,  to  whom  it  then  belonged.  But  while  the  order  was  making 
these  acquisitions  in  Europe,  it  lost  all  its  possessions  in  Asia.  (3) 

The  affairs  of  France  now  claim  our  attention. 


LETTER  XXXIX. 

France,  from  the  Death  of  Lewis  IX.,  till  the  Accession  of  the  House  of  Valois. 

You  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  seen  the  pious  Lewis  IX.  perish  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  in  a  second  expedition  against  the  Infidels.  The  most  re- 
markable circumstance  in  the  reign  of  his  son  and  successor,  Philip  III.,  sur- 
named  the  Hardy,  a  prince  of  some  merit,  but  much  inferior  to  his  father,  is 
the  interest  that  he  took  in  the  affairs  of  his  uncle  Charles  of  Anjou,  king  of 
Naples  and  Sicily.  This  circumstance  naturally  leads  us  to  an  account  of 
the  famous  Sicilian  Vespers,  and  of  the  war  between  France  and  Arragon. 

Charles,  by  the  severity  of  his  government,  had  not  only  rendered  him- 
self but  his  family  odious  to  the  Sicilians ;  and  the  insolence  and  debauchery 
of  the  French  troops  had  excited  an  irreconcilable  aversion  against  the 
whole  nation.  At  the  same  time,  the  boundless  ambition  of  this  prince,  who 
was  actually  preparing  to  attack  the  Greek  emperor.  Michael  Paleologus, 
and  was  suspected  to  have  an  eye  to  the  German  empire,  raised  a  general 
jealousy  of  him  among  his  neighbours.  Of  that  number  was  pope  Nicholas 
III.,  who  particularly  dreaded  Charles's  power ;  and,  if  he  is  not  slandered 
by  the  French  historians,  contrived  the  scheme  of  his  humiliation,  though 
it  did  not  take  effect  till  after  the  death  of  his  Holiness.  It  was  conducted 
by  John  di  Prodica,  a  Sicilian  nobleman,  who  had  secretly  prepared  the  minds 
of  his  countrymen  for  a  revolt :  and  an  accident  gave  it  birth. 

On  the  evening  of  Easter-day,  as  the  French  and  Sicilians  were  going  in 
procession  to  the  church  of  Montreale,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Palermo,  a 
bride  happened  to  pass  by  with  her  train ;  when  one  Droguet,  a  Frenchman, 
instantly  ran  to  her,  and  began  to  use  her  in  a  rude  manner,  under  pretence 
of  searching  for  concealed  arms.  A  young  Sicilian,  flaming  with  resentment, 
stabbed  Droguet  to  the  heart ;  a  tumult  ensued,  and  two  hundred  French- 
men were  slain  on  the  spot.  The  enraged  populace  now  ran  to  the  city,  cry- 
ing aloud,  "  Kill  the  French !  Kill  the  French  '."—and,  without  any  distinc- 
tion of  age  or  sex,  murdered  every  person  of  that  nation  found  in  Palermo. 
The  same  fury  spread  itself  through  the  whole  island,  and  produced  a  general 

1)  Struv.  ubi  sup.    Cuspin.  Vit.  Hen.  VII.  (2)  Id.  ibid. 

(3)  Pet  de  Duisburgh,  Chronic.  Prussia.  Solignac,  Hist,  de  Pologw.  Barre,  Hist.  <f  Mlemagnt, 
toon*  vi. 


LET.  XXXIX.)  MODERN    EUROPE.  235 

massacre.  The  rage  of  the  conspirators  was  so  great,  that  they  did  not  even 
spare  their  own  relations,  but  ripped  up  women  with  child  by  Frenchmen, 
and  dashed  the  half-formed  infants  against  the  walls  ;  while  the  priests, 
catching  the  general  phrensy,  butchered  all  their  French  penitents. (1) 

Peter,  king  of  Arragon,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  Maiufroy,  the 
former  usurper  of  Sicily,  supported  the  Sicilians  in  their  rebellion,  and  openly 
claimed  the  kingdom  in  right  of  his  wife.  The  Sicilians  received  him  with 
open  arms.  He  was  crowned  at  Palermo  ;  and  Charles  of  Anjou  was  obliged 
to  abandon  the  island,  after  having  besieged  Messina  for  six  weeks  in  vain. 
He  had  now  no  hopes  but  from  France,  where  the  nobility  in  general  were 
well  affected  to  him,  and  readily  offered  to  furnish  troops  for  his  support. 
In  this  disposition  they  were  encouraged  by  Philip  III.  Martin  IV.,  who  had 
succeeded  Nicholas  III.  in  the  see  of  Rome,  was  also  entirely  in  the  interest 
of  Charles ;  who  might  probably  have  recovered  Sicily,  had  he  not  impru- 
dently agreed  to  decide  the  dispute  with  Peter  by  single  combat. 

The  king  of  Arragon,  who  had  the  duel  very  little  at  heart,  Avas  by  that 
means  enabled  to  amuse  his  rival,  and  fix  his  own  family  on  the  throne  of 
Sicily,  which  became  a  separate  kingdom  from  Naples.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  pope  excommunicated  Peter,  and  gave  his  dominions  to  any  of  the 
younger  sons  of  France  that  the  king  should  choose  to  name.  Philip  III., 
flattered  by  this  proposal,  declared  his  son  Charles  of  Valois  king  of  Arragon 
and  Valentia,  and  count  of  Barcelona.  He  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  nu- 
merous army  in  order  to  realize  these  honours ;  and  he  furnished,  at  the 
same  time,  his  uncle  Charles  of  Anjou  with  a  fleet  and  army  for  the  recovery 
of  Sicily.  Splendid  projects !  which  proved  the  ruin  of  both. 

Charles  had  left  his  son  of  the  same  name  at  Naples,  with  strict  orders  to 
risk  nothing  until  his  arrival  with  succours  from  France.  But  that  young 
prince,  provoked  by  the  Arragonese  fleet,  sailed  out  with  the  force  under  his 
command,  and  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  before  his  father's  return ;  a 
circumstance  which  so  much  affected  the  king,  that  he  is  said  to  have  stran- 
gled himself  with  a  halter — a  death  sufficiently  mild  for  such  a  tyrant.(2) 

Meanwhile  the  French  army,  under  the  command  of  Philip,  had  penetrated 
into  Catalonia,  and  laid  siege  to  Gironne,  which  made  a  gallant  defence. 
The  king  of  Arragon,  being  in  the  neighbourhood  with  a  small  army, 
attacked  a  convoy  going  to  the  French  camp,  and  received  a  mortal  wound. 
Gironne  surrendered;  and  Philip,  having  put  a  good  garrison  into  it,  dis- 
missed part  of  his  fleet,  which  had  been  principally  hired  from  the  Italian 
states.  Roger  di  Loria,  the  Arragonese  admiral,  who  durst  not  attack  the 
French  fleet  while  entire,  burnt  and  destroyed  it  when  divided,  seizing  all  the 
money  and  provisions  intended  for  the  support  of  the  army :  and  these  losses 
sunk  so  deeply  into  the  mind  of  Philip,  that  he  secretly  repassed  the  Pyre- 
nees, and  died  a  few  days  after  at  Perpignan.(3) 

Philip  III.  was  the  first  French  monarch  who  granted  Letters  of  Nobility, 
which  he  bestowed  on  Ralph  the  Goldsmith.  In  so  doing,  he  only  restored 
the  ancient  constitution  of  the  Franks,  who  being  all  of  one  blood,  were 
esteemed  equally  noble,  and  alike  capable  of  the  highest  offices.  The  notion 
of  a  particular  and  distinct  noblesse  took  its  rise  towards  the  close  of  the 
second  race,  when  many  of  the  officers  of  the  crown  had  usurped  and  con- 
verted into  hereditary  dignities,  the  offices  and  jurisdictions  which  they 
received  from  royal  favour.  (4) 

The  reign  of  Philip  IV.,  surnamed  the  Fair,  the  son  and  successor  of  Philip 
the  Hardy,  forms  an  era  in  the  history  of  France,  by  the  civil  and  political 
regulations  to  which  it  gave  birth ;  the  institution  of  the  supreme  tribunals, 
called  Parliaments,  and  the  formal  admission  of  the  commons,  or  third  estate, 
into  the  general  assemblies  of  the  nation.  How  the  French  commons  came 
afterward  to  be  excluded  from  these  assemblies,  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
see  in  the  course  of  our  narration. 

The  first  care  of  Philip  was  to  compose  all  differences  with  his  neighbours, 

(1)  Spondan.    Malespina.    Giannone,  Hist,  di  Napol.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Nag.  Chron. 

<4)  llenault,  torn.  i. 


236  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

as  he  found  his  finances  exhausted  :  and  this  he  was  enabled  to  effect  by  the 
mediation  of  Edward  I.  of  England,  against  whom  he  afterward  ungene- 
rously commenced  hostilities,  while  that  monarch  was  engaged  in  a  war  with 
Scotland.  »  Philip  also  attempted,  at  the  expense  of  much  blood  and  treasure, 
to  seize  the  country  of  Flanders,  which  had  leagued  with  England.  But  as 
these  wars  were  neither  distinguished  by  any  remarkable  event,  nor  followed 
by  any  consequence  that  altered  the  state  of  either  country,  I  shall  proceed 
*o  the  transactions  between  Philip  and  the  see  of  Rome,  and  the  extinction 
of  the  order  of  Knights  Templars. 

Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  of  whose  arrogance  I  have  already  had  occasion  to 
speak,  prohibited  the  clergy  in  general  from  granting  any  aids  or  subsidies 
to  princes  without  his  leave.  Philip  IV.,  who  was  no  less  haughty  than  his 
holiness,  and  very  needy,  thought  the  clergy,  as  being  the  richest  order  of 
the  state,  ought  to  contribute  to  the  wants  of  the  crown,  when  the  situation 
of  affairs  made  it  necessary,  and  without  any  application  to  Rome ;  he  there- 
fore encountered  the  pope's  bull  by  an  edict,  forbidding  any  of  the  French 
clergy  to  send  money  abroad  without  the  royal  permission.  This  was  the 
first  cause  of  the  famous  quarrel  between  Boniface  and  Philip ;  and  the  inso- 
lence of  a  bishop  of  Pamiers  threw  things  into  a  still  greater  ferment. 

This  man,  named  Bernard  Saissetti,  who  had  rebelled  against  the  king  in 
his  diocess,  was  appointed  by  Boniface  legate  to  the  French  court.  An 
obnoxious  subject  thus  invested  with  a  dignity,  which,  according  to  the  see 
of  Rome,  made  him  equal  to  the  sovereign  himself,  came  to  Paris  and  braved 
Philip,  threatening  his  kingdom  with  an  interdict.  A  layman  who  had 
behaved  in  such  a  manner  would  have  been  punished  with  death,  but  the  per- 
son of  a  churchman  was  sacred;  and  Philip  was  satisfied  with  delivering  this 
incendiary  into  the  hands  of  his  metropolitan,  the  archbishop  of  Narbonne, 
not  daring  to  treat  him  as  a  criminal. 

Pope  Boniface,  enraged  at  the  confinement  of  his  legate,  issued  a  bull, 
declaring,  "  That  the  vicar  of  Christ  is  vested  with  full  authority  over  the 
"  kings  and  kingdoms  of  the  earth :"  and  the  clergy  of  France  received,  at 
the  same  time,  an  order  from  his  holiness  to  repair  to  Rome.  A  French  arch- 
deacon carried  this  bull  and  these  orders  to  the  king,  commanding  him,  under 
pain  of  excommunication,  to  acknowledge  the  pope  as  his  temporal  sovereign. 
This  insolence  was  answered  with  a  moderation  little  suited  to  the  character 
of  Philip.  He  contented  himself  with  ordering  the  pope's  bull  to  be  thrown 
into  the  fire,  and  prohibiting  the  bishops  from  departing  the  kingdom.  Forty 
of  them,  however,  with  many  of  the  heads  of  religious  orders,  went  to  Rome, 
notwithstanding  the  king's  prohibition.  For  this  trespass  he  seized  all  their 
temporalities. 

While  Boniface  and  his  council  were  considering  the  conduct  of  Philip, 
and  by  means  of  his  confessor  brought  his  most  secret  thoughts  under  review, 
that  politic  prince  assembled  the  states  of  his  kingdom.  They  acknowledged 
liis  independent  right  to  the  sovereignty  of  France,  and  disavowed  the  pope's 
claim.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  representatives  of  cities  were  first 
regularly  summoned  to  the  national  assembly.  (1) 

Philip  was  now  at  full  liberty  to  treat  the  pope  as  an  open  enemy.  He 
accordingly  leagued  with  the  family  of  Colonna,  and  sent  William  de  Nogaret, 
a  celebrated  lawyer,  into  Italy,  with  a  sum  of  money,  in  order  to  raise  troops. 
A  body  of  desperadoes  were  suddenly  and  secretly  collected,  with  which 
William  and  Sciarra  Colonna  surprised  Boniface  at  Anagni,  a  town  in  his 
own  territories,  and  the  place  of  his  birth,  exclaiming,  "  Let  the  pope  die ! 
and  long  live  the  king  of  France!"  Boniface,  however,  did  not  lose  his 
courage.  He  dressed  himself  in  his  cope,  put  the  tiara  upon  his  head;  and, 
holding  the  keys  in  one  hand  and  the  cross  in  the  other,  presented  himself 
with  an  air  of  majesty  before  his  conquerors.  On  this  occasion,  it  is  said, 
Sciarra  had  the  brutality  to  strike  him,  crying  out,  "  Tyrant !  renounce  the 
pontificate,  which  thou  hast  dishonoured." — "  I  am  pope,"  replied  Boniface 

(1)  Henault,  nl.i  sup.     Du  Chesne.    Polyd.  Vir?. 


LET.  XXXIX.]  MODERN    E  U  R  0  P  E.  237 

with  a  look  of  intrepidity,  "  and  I  will  die  pope  !';  This  gallant  behaviour 
had  such  an  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants,  that  they  rose  against  his 
enemies,  and  rescued  him  from  their  hands.  But  Boniface  was  so  much 
affected  by  the  indignities  which  had  been  offered  him,  that  he  died  in  a  few 
days.(l) 

On  the  death  of  Boniface,  the  cardinals  elected  Nicholas  Boccacini,  who 
took  the  name  of  Benedict  XI.  He  was  a  mild  and  good  man ;  and,  being 
des;rous  of  using  his  power  for  the  promoting  of  peace,  he  revoked  the  sen 
tence  of  excommunication  which  his  predecessor  had  fulminated  agains' 
Philip  the  Fair.  He  also  pardoned  the  Colonnas,  and  showed  a  great  dis 
position  to  reform  that  corruption  which  death  spread  itself  through  the  domi 
nions  of  the  church.  But  these  proceedings,  so  notorious  in  themselves 
excited  the  hatred  of  his  licentious  and  vindictive  countrymen,  who  suddenl) 
took  him  off  by  poison.  He  was  succeeded  by  Clement  V.,  who,  being  a 
Frenchman,  and  entirely  in  the  interest  of  Philip,  fixed  his  residence  in 
France.  By  means  of  this  pope  the  French  monarch  hoped  to  have  obtained 
the  empire  for  his  brother,  Charles  of  Valois,  and  actually  reunited  the  city 
of  Lyons  to  his  kingdom. (2) 

But  although  this  was  justly  considered  as  a  great  acquisition,  Philip  had 
occasion  for  the  assistance  of  Clement  in  an  affair  that  lay  nearer  his  heart. 
I  allude  to  the  suppression  of  the  order  of  Knights  Templars.  That  religious 
and  military  order,  which  took  its  rise,  as  has  been  already  observed,  during 
the  first  fervour  of  the  crusades,  had  made  rapid  advances  in  credit  and  autho- 
rity ;  and  had  acquired,  from  the  piety  of  the  faithful,  ample  possessions  in 
every  Christian  country,  but  more  especially  in  France.  The  great  riches  of 
those  knights,  and  other  concurring  causes,  had  however  relaxed  the  severity 
of  their  discipline.  Convinced  by  experience,  by  fatigues,  and  by  dangers,  of 
the  folly  of  their  fruitless  expeditions  into  Asia,  they  chose  rather  to  enjoy 
in  ease  their  opulent  fortunes  in  Europe;  and  being  all  men  of  birth,  they 
scorned  the  ignoble  occupations  of  a  monastic  life,  and  passed  their  time 
wholly  in  the  fashionable  amusements  of  hunting,  gallantry,  and  the  plea- 
sures of  the  table.  By  these  means  the  Templars  had  in  a  great  measure 
lost  that  popularity  which  first  raised  them  to  honour  and  distinction.  But 
the  immediate  cause  of  their  destruction  proceeded  from  the  cruel  and  vin- 
dictive spirit  of  Philip  the  Fair. 

The  severity  of  the  taxes,  and  the  mal-administration  of  Philip  and  his 
council  in  regard  to  the  coin,  which  they  had  repeatedly  altered  in  its  value, 
occasioned  a  sedition  in  Paris.  The  Knights  Templars  were  accused  of  being 
concerned  in  the  tumult.  They  were  rich,  as  has  been  observed;  and  Philip 
was  no  less  avaricious  than  vindictive.  He  determined  to  involve  the  whole 
order  in  one  undistinguished  ruin ;  and,  on  no  better  information  than  that 
of  two  knights  condemned  by  their  superiors  to  perpetual  imprisonment  for 
their  vices,  he  ordered  all  the  Templars  in  France  to  be  committed  to  prison 
on  one  day,  and  imputed  to  them  such  enormous  and  absurd  crimes  as  are 
sufficient  of  themselves  to  destroy  all  the  credit  of  the  accusation.  They 
were  universally  charged  with  robbery,  murder,  and  the  vices  most  shocking 
to  nature ;  and  it  was  pretended,  that  every  one  whom  they  received  into 
their  order  was  obliged  to  renounce  his  Saviour,  to  spit  upon  the  cross,  and 
to  join  to  this  impiety  the  superstition  of  worshipping  a  gilded  head,  which 
was  secretly  kept  in  one  of  their  houses  at  Marseilles.  The  novice  was  also 
said  to  be  initiated  by  many  infamous  rites,  which  could  serve  no  other  pur- 
pose but  to  degrade  the  order  in  his  eyes :  and,  as  Voltaire  very  justly 
observes,  it  shows  a  very  indifferent  knowledge  of  mankind,  to  suppose  there 
can  be  any  societies  that  support  themselves  by  the  badness  of  their  morals, 
or  who  make  a  law  to  enforce  the  practice  of  impudence  and  obscenity. 
Every  society  endeavours  to  render  itself  respectable  to  those  who  are 
desirous  of  becoming  members  of  it. 

Absurd,  however,  as  these  accusations  appear,  above  one  hundred  knights 

(1)  A.  Baillet,  Hist,  de  Demelez  du  Boniface  VIII.  a-ecc  Philip  le  Bel. 

(2)  Trivet  Annul,    Menitr.  Hist.  Cone,  de  Lyons. 


238  THE    HISTORY    OF 

were  put  to  the  rack,  in  order  to  extort  from  them  a  confession  of  their  guilt. 
The  more  obstinate  perished  in  the  hands  of  their  tormentors.  Several,  in 
the  violence  of  their  agonies,  acknowledged  whatever  was  desired  of  them. 
Forged  confessions  were  imputed  to  others ;  and  Philip,  as  if  their  guilt  had 
now  been  certain,  proceeded  to  a  confiscation  of  all  their  treasures.  But  no 
sooner  were  these  unhappy  men  relieved  from  their  tortures  than  they  dis- 
avowed their  forced  confessions;  exclaimed  against  the  forgeries;  justified 
the  innocence  of  their  order,  and  appealed  to  the  many  gallant  actions  per- 
formed by  them  as  a  full  apology  for  their  conduct. 

Enraged  at  this  disappointment,  and  thinking  himself  bound  in  honour  to 
proceed  to  extremities,  Philip  ordered  fifty-four  Templars,  whom  he  branded 
as  relapsed  heretics,  to  perish  by  the  punishment  of  fire  in  his  capital.  Great 
numbers  expired,  after  a  like  manner,  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom :  and 
when  the  tyrant  found  that  the  perseverance  of  those  unhappy  victims,  in 
justifying  to  the  last  their  innocence,  had  made  deep  impression  on  the  minds 
of  the  people,  he  endeavoured  to  overcome  the  constancy  of  the  Templars  by 
new  inhumanities.  John  de  Molay,  the  grand-master  of  the  order,  and 
another  great  officer,  brother  to  the  sovereign  of  Dauphiny,  were  conducted 
to  a  scaffold,  erected  before  the  church  of  Notre-dame  at  Paris.  A  full  par- 
don was  offered  them  on  one  hand ;  a  fire  destined  for  their  execution  was 
shown  them  on  the  other.  But  these  gallant  noblemen  persisted  in  the  pro- 
testation of  their  own  innocence  and  that  of  their  order ;  and,  as  the  reward 
of  their  fortitude,  they  were  instantly  hurried  into  the  flames  by  the  public 
executioner.(l) 

In  all  this  barbarous  injustice,  Clement  V.,  who  then  resided  at  Poitiers, 
fully  concurred ;  and,  by  the  plenitude  of  his  apostolic  power,  in  a  general 
council  held  at  Vienne,  without  examining  a  single  witness,  or  making  any 
inquiry  into  the  truth  of  facts,  he  abolished  the  whole  order.  The  Templars 
all  over  Europe  were  thrown  into  prison ;  their  conduct  underwent  a  strict 
scrutiny,  and  the  power  of  their  enemies  still  pursued  and  oppressed  them. 
But  no  where,  except  in  France,  were  the  smallest  traces  of  their  guilt  pre- 
tended to  be  found.  Some  countries  sent  ample  testimony  of  their  piety  and 
morals :  but,  as  the  order  was  now  annihilated,  their  lands  in  France,  Italy, 
England,  and  Germany,  were  given  to  the  Knights  Hospitallers.  In  Spain, 
they  were  given  to  the  knights  of  Calatrava,  an  order  established  to  combat 
the  Moors.(2) 

Philip,  soon  after  the  suppression  of  this  order,  revived  his  quarrel  with  the 
count  of  Flanders,  whose  dominions  he  again  unsuccessfully  attempted  to 
unite  to  the  crown  of  France.  The  failure  of  that  project,  together  with  some 
domestic  misfortunes,  threw  him  into  a  languishing  consumption,  which  carried 
him  off  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  reign,  and  the  forty-seventh  of  his  age.  He 
was  certainly  a  prince  of  great  talents ;  and,  notwithstanding  his  vices,  France 
ought  to  reference  his  memory.  By  fixing  the  parliaments,  or  supreme  courts 
of  judicature,  he  secured  the  ready  execution  of  justice  to  all  his  subjects  ; 
and,  though  his  motive  might  not  be  the  most  generous  for  calling  in  the  third 
estate  into  the  national  council,  he  by  that  measure  put  it  in  the  power  of  the 
French  nation  to  have  established  a  free  government. 

Lewis  X.,  surnamed  Hutin,  the  son  and  successor  of  Philip  the  Fair,  began 
his  reign  with  an  act  of  injustice.  At  the  instigation  of  his  uncle,  the  count 
of  Valois,  he  caused  his  prime  minister  Marigny  to  be  executed,  on  account 
of  many  pretended  crimes,  and  magic  among  the  rest,  but  in  reality  on  account 
of  his  supposed  riches,  which  were  confiscated  to  the  crown. 

But  neither  the  confiscation  of  Marigny's  effects,  nor  of  those  who  wero 
styled  his  accomplices,  being  sufficient  for  the  king's  wants,  he  extorted 
money  from  the  nobility,  under  various  pretences :  he  levied  a  tenth  upon 
the  clergy :  he  sold  enfranchisements  to  the  slaves  employed  in  cultivating 
the  royal  domains ;  and  when  they  would  not  purchase  their  freedom,  he 

:lj  Putcaii,  Hist,  de  la  Condemnat.  de  Templars.  NIC.  Gartler.  J/iit.  Templar.  Steph.  Halux.  Vii 
rcntif.  .'Jvenion.  (2)  Id.  ibid  Ryrnor,  vol.  iii.  Vertot.  Hist.  Chen.  Maltk  t<5m  ii. 


LET.  XL.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  339 

declared  them  free,  whether  they  would  or  not,  and  levied  the  money  by 
force  !(1)  He  died,  like  his  father,  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  upon 
Flanders. 

On  the  death  of  Lewis  X.  a  violent  dispute  arose  in  regard  to  the  succes- 
sion. The  king  left  one  daughter,  by  his  first  wife,  Margaret  of  Burgundy, 
and  his  queen,  Clemence  of  Hungary,  pregnant.  Clemence  was  brought  to 
bed  of  a  son,  who  lived  only  eight  days.  It  had  long  been  a  prevailing 
opinion,  that  the  crown  of  France  could  never  descend  to  a  female ;  and  as 
nations  in  accounting  for  principles  which  they  regard  as  fundamental,  and 
as  peculiar  to  themselves,  are  fond  of  grounding  them  on  primary  laws  rather 
than  on  blind  custom,  it  had  been  usual  to  derive  this  maxim  (though,  accord- 
ing to  the  best  antiquarians,  falsely)  from  a  clause  in  the  Salian  Code,  the 
body  of  laws  of  an  ancient  tribe  among  the  Franks.  In  consequence  of  this 
opinion,  and  precedents  founded  on  it,  Philip  V.,  surnamed  the  Long,  brother 
to  Lewis  X.,  was  proclaimed  king;  and  as  the  duke  of  Burgundy  made  some 
opposition,  and  asserted  the  right  of  his  niece,  the  states  of  the  kingdom,  by 
a  solemn  and  deliberate  decree,  excluded  her,  and  declared  all  females  for  ever 
incapable  of  succeeding- to  the  crown  of  France.(2)  The  wisdom  of  this 
decree  is  too  evident  to  need  being  pointed  out.  It  not  only  prevents  those 
evils  which  necessarily  proceed  from  female  caprices  and  tender  partialities, 
so  apt  to  make  a  minister  from  love,  and  degrade  him  from  whim,  but  is 
attended  with  this  peculiar  advantage,  that  a  foreigner  can  never  become 
sovereign  of  France  by  marriage ;  a  circumstance  always  dangerous,  and 
often  productive  of  the  most  fatal  revolutions. 

The  reign  of  Philip  the  Long,  and  also  of  his  brother  Charles  IV.,  surnamed 
the  Fair,  were  both  short ;  nor  was  either  distinguished  by  any  memorable 
event.  Charles  left  only  one  daughter,  and  consequently  no  heir  to  the 
crown ;  but,  as  his  queen  was  pregnant,  Philip  of  Valois,  the  next  male  heir, 
was  appointed  regent,  with  a  declared  right  of  succession,  if  the  issue  should 
prove  female.  The  queen  of  France  was  delivered  of  a  daughter:  the 
regency  ended;  and  Philip  de  Valois  was  unanimously  placed  on  the  throne 
of  France. 

This  prince  was  cousin-german  to  the  deceased  king,  and  incontestably  the 
nearest  heir-male  descended  from  a  male :  but  Edward  III.,  as  we  shall  soon 
have  occasion  to  see,  took  up  the  dispute  upon  other  grounds.  In  the  mean 
time  I  must  make  you  acquainted  with  the  more  early  part  of  the  reign  of  that 
illustrious  monarch. 


LETTER  XL. 

England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Spain,  during  the  Reign  of  Edward  III. 

THE  reign  of  Edward  III.,  my  dear  Philip,  opens  a  wide  field  of  observation, 
and  involves  whatever  is  great  or  interesting  in  the  history  of  Europe  during 
that  period.  But  before  we  enter  on  the  foreign  transactions  of  this  prince, 
I  must  inform  you  of  the  domestic;  and,  for  this  purpose,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  recapitulate  a  little. 

You  have  already  been  witness  to  the  miserable  death  of  the  second  Edward, 
by  the  inhuman  emissaries  of  Roger  Mortimer  the  queen's  gallant,  who  was 
become  the  object  of  public  odium.  The  hatred  of  the  nation  daily  increased 
both  against  him  and  queen  Isabella.  Conscious  of  this,  they  subjected  to 
their  vengeance  whomsoever  they  feared,  in  order  to  secure  their  usurped 
power.  The  earl  of  Kent,  the  young  king's  uncle,  was  iniquitously  con- 
demned and  executed ;  the  earl  of  Lancaster,  Kent's  brother,  was  thrown  into 
prison ;  and  many  of  the  prelates  and  nobility  were  prosecuted  under  different 
pretences.  (3) 

(1)  Le  Gf-n.In  .     Dupleix.  (2)  Mezeray.     Du  Tillet.    P.  Henaiilt.    P.  Daniel 

(3    W.  M  ! i, •:!>!>!;.    T   Walsingham. 


Q40  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART! 

• 

These  abuses  could  not  long  escape  the  observation  of  a  prince  of  so  much 
discernment  as  young  Edward,  nor  fail  to  rouse  his  active  spirit  against  the 
murderer  of  his  father,  and  the  dishonourer  of  his  mother.  But  he  was 
besieged  in  such  a  manner  by  the  creatures  of  Mortimer,  that  it  became 
necessary  to  conduct  the  project  of  bringing  that  felon  to  justice  with  as 
much  secrecy  and  caution  as  if  he  had  been  forming  a  conspiracy  against 
his  sovereign.  He  communicated  his  intentions,  however,  to  some  of  the 
nobility,  who  readily  entered  into  his  views ;  and  they  surprised  the  usurper 
in  the  castle  of  Nottingham,  and  dragged  him  from  an  apartment  adjoining 
to  the  queen's,  while  she,  in  the  most  pathetic  manner,  implored  her  son  to 
spare  the  geyitle  Mortimer ! — A  parliament  was  immediately  summoried  for  his 
condemnation ;  and  he  was  sentenced  to  die,  from  the  supposed  notoriety  of 
his  crimes,  without  any  form  of  trial.  He  perished  by  the  hands  of  the 
hangman,  at  the  Elmes,  near  London :  and  the  queen  was  confined,  during 
life,  to  her  house  at  Risings ;  where  she  languished  out  twenty-five  years  of 
sorrow  rather  than  of  penitence. (1) 

Edward  having  now  taken  the  reins  of  government  into  his  own  hands, 
applied  himself,  with  industry  and  judgment,  to  redress  all  those  grievances 
which  had  either  proceeded  from  want  of  authority  in  the  crown,  or  the  late 
abuses  of  it.  He  issued  writs  to  the  judges,  enjoining  them  to  administer 
justice,  without  paying  any  regard  to  the  arbitrary  orders  of  the  great :  and 
as  thieves,  robbers,  murderers,  and  criminals  of  all  kinds,  had  multiplied  to 
an  enormous  degree  during  the  public  convulsions,  and  were  openly  protected 
by  the  powerful  barons,  who  made  use  of  them  against  their  enemies,  the  king 
set  himself  seriously  to  remedy  the  evil,  after  exacting  from  the  peers  a  solemn 
promise  in  parliament,  that  they  would  break  off  all  connexion  with  such 
malefactors. (2)  The  ministers  of  justice,  animated  by  his  example,  employed 
the  utmost  diligence  in  discovering,  pursuing,  and  punishing  criminals  :  and 
the  disorder  was  by  degrees  corrected. 

In  proportion  as  the  go'vernment  acquired  authority  at  home,  it  became 
formidable  to  the  neighbouring  nations ;  and  the  ambitious  spirit  of  Edward 
sought  and  soon  found  an  occasion  of  exerting  itself.  The  wise  and  valiant 
Robert  Bruce,  king  of  Scotland,  who  had  recovered  by  arms  the  independency 
of  his  country,  and  fixed  it  by  treaty,  was  now  dead,  and  had  left  David 
his  son  a  minor,  under  the  guardianship  of  Randolph  earl  of  Murray,  the 
companion  of  his  victories.  About  this  time  Edward  Baliol  son  of  John, 
formerly  crowned  king  of  Scotland,  was  discovered  in  a  French  prison  by 
lord  Beaumont,  an  English  baron,  who,  in  the  right  of  his  wife,  claimed  the 
earldom  of  Buchan  in  Scotland ;  and  deeming  Baliol  a  proper  instrument  for 
his  purpose,  procured  him  his  liberty,  and  induced  him  to  revive  his  claim  to 
the  Scottish  crown. 

Many  other  English  noblemen,  who  had  obtained  estates  during  the  sub- 
jection of  Scotland,  were  in  the  same  situation  with  Beaumont.  They  also 
saw  the  utility  of  Baliol,  and  began  to  think  of  recovering  their  possessions 
by^arms :  and  they  applied  to  Edward  for  his  concurrence  and  assistance. 
Edward  was  ashamed  to  avow  their  enterprise.  He  was  afraid  that  violence 
and  injustice  would  every  where  be  imputed  to  him,  if  he  attacked  with 
superior  force  a  minor  king,  and  a  brother-in-law,  whose  independent  title 
had  been  so  lately  acknowledged  by  solemn  treaty;  but  he  secretly  en- 
couraged Baliol  in  his  claim,  connived  at  his  assembling  forces  in  the  North, 
and  gave  countenance  to  the  nobles  who  were  disposed  to  join  him.  A  force 
of  near  three  thousand  men  was  assembled,  with  which  Baliol  and  his  adhe- 
rents landed  on  the  coast  of  Fife. 

Scotland  was  now  in  a  very  different  situation  from  that  in  which  it  had 
appeared  under  the  victorious  Robert.  Besides  the  loss  of  that  great  monarch, 
whose  genius  and  authority  preserved  entire  the  whole  political  fabric,  and 
maintained  union  among  the  unruly  barons,  lord  Douglas,  impatient  of  rest, 
had  gone  over  to  Spain  in  a  crusade  against  the  Moors,  and  there  perished  in 

i  n  Knygliton.    Walsingham.  (2)  Cotton's  Abridgment 


LKT.  XL/I  MODERN   EUROPE.  241 

battle.  The  earl  of  Murray,  long  declining  through  years  and  infirmities, 
had  lately  died,  and  been  succeeded  in  the  regency  by  Donald  earl  of  Mnr, 
a  man  much  inferior  in  talents :  so  that  the  military  spirit  of  the  Scots,  though 
still  unbroken,  was  left  without  a  guide.  Baliol  had  valour  and  activity,  and 
^is  followers,  being  firmly  united  by  their  common  object,  drove  back  the 
Scots  who  opposed  his  landing.  He  marched  into  the  heart  of  the  country 
and  with  his  small  party  defeated  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men,  under  the 
;arl  of  Mar,  of  whom  twelve  thousand  are  said  to  have  been  slain. 

Baliol,  soon  after  this  victory,  made  himself  master  of  Perth,  and  was 
crowned  at  Scone;  while  young  Bruce,  his  competitor,  was  sent  over  to 
France  with  his  betrothed  wife  Jane,  sister  to  king  Edward.  Scotland  was 
subdued  by  a  handful  of  men ;  but  Baliol  lost  the  kingdom  by  a  revolution 
as  sudden  as  that  by  which  he  had  acquired  it.  His  imprudence,  or  his 
necessities,  making  him  dismiss  part  of  his  English  followers,  he  was  unex- 
pectedly attacked  near  Annan  by  sir  Archibald  Douglas,  and  other  chieftains 
of  Bruce's  party.  He  was  routed :  his  brother  John  Baliol  was  slain ;  and 
he  himself  was  chased  into  England  in  a  miserable  plight.(l) 

In  this  extremity,  Baliol  had  again  recourse  to  the  English  monarch,  with- 
out whose  assistance  he  was  now  become  sensible  he  could  neither  recover 
nor  keep  possession  of  his  throne.  He  offered  to  acknowledge  Edward's 
superiority;  to  renew  the  homage  for  Scotland;  and  to  espouse  the  princess 
Jane,  if  the  pope's  consent  could  be  obtained  for  dissolving  her  former  mar- 
riage, which  was  not  yet  consummated.  Ambitious  of  retrieving  that  im- 
portant superiority  relinquished  by  Mortimer  during  his  minority,  Edward 
willingly  accepted  the  offer,  and  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army, 
in  order  to  reinstate  Baliol  in  his  throne.  The  Scots  met  him  with  an  army 
more  numerous,  but  less  united,  and  worse  supplied  with  arms  and  provisions. 
A  battle  was  fought  at  Halidown-hill,  a  little  north  of  Berwick ;  where  about 
thirty  thosaund  of  the  Scots  fell,  and  all  the  chief  nobility  were  either  killed 
or  taken  prisoners.  (2) 

After  this  fatal  blow,  the  Scottish  nobles  had  no  resource  but  in  submission. 
Baliol  was  acknowledged  king  by  a  parliament  assembled  at  Edinburgh;  the 
superiority  of  England  was  again  recognised ;  many  of  the  Scottish  nobility 
swore  fealty  to  Edward ;  who,  leaving  a  considerable  body  of  troops  with 
Baliol  to  complete  the  conquest  of  the  kingdom,  returned  to  England  with 
the  remainder  of  his  army.  But  the  English  forces  were  no  sooner  with- 
drawn than  the  Scots  revolted  against  Baliol,  and  returned  to  their  former 
allegiance  under  Bruce.  Edward  was  again  obliged  to  assemble  an  army, 
and  to  march  into  Scotland.  The  Scots,  taught  by  experience,  withdrew 
into  their  hills  and  fastnesses.  He  destroyed  the  houses,  and  ravaged  the 
estates,  of  those  whom  he  called  rebels.  But  this  severity  only  confirmed 
them  more  in  their  obstinate  antipathy  to  England  and  to  Baliol ;  and  being 
now  rendered  desperate,  they  soon  reconquered  their  country  from  the  Eng- 
lish. Edward  made  anew  his  appearance  in  Scotland,  and  with  like  success. 
He  found  every  thing  hostile  in  the  kingdom,  except  the  spot  on  which  he 
was  encamped ;  and  although  he  marched  uncontrolled  over  the  low  coun- 
tries, the  nation  itself  was  farther  than  ever  from  being  broken  or  subdued. 
Besides- being  supported  by  their  pride  or  anger,  passions  difficult  to  tame, 
the  Scots  were  encouraged  amid  all  their  calamities  with  daily  promises  of 
relief  from  France ;  and  as  a  war  was  now  likely  to  break  out  between  that 
kingdom  and  England,  they  had  reason  to  expect  a  division  of  the  force  which 
had  so  long  overwhelmed  and  oppressed  them.(3) 

These  transactions  naturally  bring  us  back  to  Edward's  claim  to  the  crown 
of  France ;  on  which  depended  the  most  memorable  events,  not  only  of  this 
long  and  active  reign,  but  of  the  whole  English  and  French  history,  during 
more  than  a  century.  A  notion  weaker  or  worse  grounded  than  that  claim 
cannot  well  be  imagined.  He  admitted  the  general  principle,  that  females 

(1)  Hemming.    Knyghton.    Walsingham.    Buchanan.    Fordun  (2)  Ibid. 

(3)  Rymer,  vol.  iv.    Leland's  Collect,  vol.  ii.    W.  Hemming.    T.  Walsingham. 
VOL.  I.— Q  11 


242  THE   HIS     DRY   OF  [PART!. 

could  not  inherit  the  crown  of  France.  But,  in  so  doing,  he  only  set  aside 
his  mother's  right,  to  establish  his  own ;  for  although  he  acknowledged 
females  incapable  of  inheriting,  he  asserted  that  males  descending  from  females 
were  liable  to  no  such  objection,  but  might  claim  by  right  of  propinquity. 
This  plea,  however,  was  not  only  more  favourable  to  Charles  king  of  Navarre, 
descended  from  a  daughter  of  Lewis  X.,  but  contrary  to  the  established  rules 
of  succession  in  every  European  country.  Edward's  claim  was  therefore 
disregarded,  and  the  title  of  Philip  of  Valois  universally  recognised  and 
acknowledged.(l) 

But  although  the  youthful  and  ambitious  mind  of  Edward  had  rashly 
entertained  this  false  idea,  he  did  not  carry  his  pretensions  so  far  as  to  engage 
in  hostilities  with  so  powerful  a  monarch  as  Philip  VI.  On  the  contrary,  he 
went  over  to  Amiens,  and  did  homage  for  Guienne.(2)  By  that  compliance 
he  indirectly  acknowledged  Philip's  title  to  the  crown  of  France.  His  own 
claim  indeed  was  so  unreasonable,  and  so  thoroughly  disavowed  by  the  whole 
French  nation,  that  to  insist  on  it  was  no  better  than  to  pretend  to  the  violent 
conquest  of  the  kingdom ;  and  it  probably  would  never  have  been  further 
thought  of,  had  it  not  been  for  some  incidents  which  afterward  excited  an 
animosity  between  the  two  monarchs. 

Robert  of  Artois,  a  prince  of  great  talents  and  credit,  who  had  married 
Philip's  sister,  had  fallen  into  disgrace  at  the  court  of  France.  His  brother- 
in-law  not  only  abandoned  him,  but  prosecuted  him  with  violence.  He  came 
over  to  England,  and  was  favourably  received  by  Edward.  Now  resigning 
himself  to  all  the  movements  of  rage  and  revenge,  Robert  endeavoured  to 
revive  in  the  mind  of  the  English  monarch  his  supposed  title  to  the  crown 
of  France ;  and  even  flattered  him  that  it  was  not  impossible  for  a  prince  of 
his  valour  and  abilities  to  render  this  claim  effectual ;  "  I  made  Philip  de  Valois 
king  of  France,"  added  he :  "  and,  with  your  assistance,  I  will  depose  him 
for  his  ingratitude."(3) 

Edward  was  the  more  disposed  to  listen  to  such  suggestions,  as  he  had 
reason  to  complain  of  Philip's  conduct  with  regard  to  Guienne,  and  because 
that  monarch  had  both  given  protection  to  the  exiled  David  Bruce,  and 
encouraged  the  Scots  in  their  struggles  for  independency.  Resentment 
gradually  rilled  the  breasts  of  both  monarchs,  and  made  them  incapable  of 
hearkening  to  any  terms  of  accommodation.  Philip  thought  he  should  be 
wanting  to  the  first  principles  of  policy,  if  he  abandoned  Scotland :  and 
Edward  pretended  that  he  must  renounce  all  claim  to  generosity,  if  he  with- 
drew his  protection  from  Robert  of  Artois.  Alliances  were  formed  on  both 
sides,  and  great  preparations  were  made  for  war. 

On  the  side  of  England  was  the  count  of  Hainault,  the  king's  father-in-law, 
the  duke  of  Brabant,  the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  the  duke  of  Guelder,  the 
marquis  of  Juliers,  and  the  count  of  Namur.  These  princes  could  supply, 
either  from  their  own  states,  or  from  the  bordering  countries,  great  numbers 
of  warlike  troops :  and  nothing  was  wanting  to  make  Edward's  alliance  on 
that  quarter  truly  formidable  but  the  accession  of  Flanders,  which  he  obtained 
by  means  somewhat  extraordinary. 

The  Flemings,  the  first  people  in  the  north  of  Europe  that  successfully 
cultivated  arts  and  manufactures,  began  now  to  emerge  from  that  s,tate  of 
vassalage,  or  rather  slavery,  into  which  the  common  people  had  been  univer- 
sally thrown  by  the  abuses  of  the  feudal  polity ;  and  the  lower  class  of  men 
among  them  had  risen  to  a  degree  of  riches  unknown  elsewhere  to  those  of 
their  station  in  that  comparatively  barbarous  age.  It  was  impossible  for 
such  men  not  to  resent  anyyict  of  tyranny ;  and  acts  of  tyranny  were  likely 
to  be  practised  by  a  sovereign  and  nobility  accustomed  to  domineer.  They 
had  risen  in  tumults :  they  had  insulted  the  nobles,  and  driven  their  earl  into 
France.  (4) 

In  every  such  revolution  there  is  always  some  leader  or  demagogue,  to 
whose  guidance  the  people  blindly  deliver  themselves :  and  on  his  character 

(1)  Froissard,  torn.  i.    D.  Specileg,  torn.  iii.  (2)  Rymer,  vol.  iv. 

(31  Froissard,  liv.  L    Mm.  de  Robert  d'Artoia  (4)  Froissard.  liv.  i 


LET.  XL.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  343 

entirely  depends  the  happiness  or  misery  of  those  who  have  put  themselves 
under  his  care  ;  for  every  such  man  has  it  in  his  power  to  be  a  despot :  so 
narrow  are  the  boundaries  between  liberty  and  slavery.  The  present  leader 
of  the  Flemings  was  James  d'Arteville,  a  brewer  of  Ghent,  who  governed 
them  with  a  more  absolute  sway  than  had  ever  been  assumed  by  any  of  their 
lawful  sovereigns.  He  placed  and  displaced  the  magistrates  at  pleasure. 
He  was  constantly  attended  by  a  guard,  who,  on  the  least  signal  from  him, 
instantly  assassinated  any  man  that  happened  to  fall  under  his  displeasure. 
All  the  cities  of  Flanders  were  full  of  his  spies;  and  it  was  immediate  death 
to  give  him  the  smallest  umbrage.  This  was  the  man  to  whom  Edward 
addressed  himself  for  bringing  over  the  Flemings  to  his  interests. (1 ) 

Proud  of  advances  from  so  great  a  prince,  and  sensible  that  the  Flemings 
were  naturally  inclined  to  maintain  connexions  with  the  English,  on  account 
of  the  advantages  of  trade,  their  demagogue  embraced  the  cause  of  Edward, 
and  invited  him  over  to  the  Low  Countries.  Edward  repaired  to  Flanders, 
attended  by  several  of  his  nobility,  and  a  body  of  English  forces :  but  before 
the  Flemings,  who  were  vassals  of  France,  would  take  up  arms  against  their 
liege  lord,  Edward  was  obliged  to  assume  the  title  of  king  of  France,  and  tc 
challenge  their  assistance  for  dethroning  Philip  de  Valois,  the  usurper  of  his 
kingdom.(2)  This  step,  which  was  taken  by  the  advice  of  d'Arteville,  as  he 
knew  it  would  produce  an  irreconcilable  breach  between  the  two  monarchs 
(a  further  motive  for  joining  the  cause  of  Edward),  gave  rise  to  that  animo- 
sity which  the  English  and  French  nations,  but  more  especially  the  former, 
have  ever  since  borne  against  each  other — an  animosity  which  had,  for  some 
centuries,  so  visible  an  influence  on  all  their  transactions,  and  which  still 
continues  to  inflame  the  heart  of  many  an  honest  Englishman. 

Let  philosophers  blame  this  prejudice  as  inconsistent  with  the  liberality  of 
the  human  mind ;  let  moralists  mourn  its  severity,  and  weak  politicians  lament 
its  destructive  rage — you,  my  dear  Philip,  as  a  lover  of  your  country,  will 
ever,  I  hope,  revere  a  passion  that  has  so  often  given  victory  to  the  arms  of 
England,  and  humbled  her  haughty  rival ;  which  has  preserved,  and  continues 
to  preserve,  the  independency  of  Great  Britain ! 

The  French  monarch  made  great  preparations  against  the  attack  from  the 
English ;  and  his  foreign  alliances  were  both  more  natural  and  powerful  than 
those  which  were  formed  by  his  antagonist.  The  king  of  Navarre,  the  duke 
of  Britanny,  the  count  of  Bar,  were  entirely  in  the  interests  of  Philip ;  and  on 
the  side  of  Germany,  the  king  of  Bohemia,  the  palatine  of  the  Rhine,  the 
dukes  of  Lorraine  and  Austria,  the  bishop  of  Liege,  the  counts  of  Deuxponts, 
Vaudemont,  and  Geneva.  A  mighty  army  was  brought  into  the  field  on  both 
sides.  Conferences  and  mutual  defiances,  however,  were  all  that  the  first 
campaign  produced ;  and  Edward,  distressed  for  want  of  money,  was  obliged 
to  disband  his  army,  and  return  to  England. (3) 

But  this  illustrious  prince  had  too  much  spirit  to  be  discouraged  by  the 
first  difficulties  of  an  undertaking.  He  was  anxious  to  retrieve  his  honour 
by  more  successful  and  more  gallant  enterprises ;  and  next  season  proved 
somewhat  more  fortunate.  The  English,  under  the  command  of  Edward, 
gained  an  important  advantage  over  the  French  by  sea.  Two  hundred  and 
thirty  French  ships  were  taken,  thirty  thousand  Frenchmen  were  killed,  with 
two  of  their  admirals.  The  lustre  of  this  victory  increased  the  king's  repu- 
tation among  his  allies,  who  assembled  their  forces  with  expedition,  and 
joined  the  English  army ;  and  Edward  marched  to  the  frontiers  of  France  at 
the  head  of  above  one  hundred  thousand  men.  The  French  monarch  had 
collected  an  army  still  more  numerous :  yet  he  continued  to  adhere  to  the 
prudent  resolution  he  had  formed  of  putting  nothing  to  hazard,  hoping  by 
that  means  to  weary  out  the  enemy.  This  conduct  had  in  some  measure  the 
desired  effect.  Edward,  fatigued  with  fruitless  sieges,  and  irritated  at  the 
disagreeable  prospect  that  lay  before  him,  challenged  Philip  to  decide  their 
claims  to  the  crown  of  France  by  single  combat ;  by  an  action  of  one  hundred 

(1)  Froissard,  liv.  i.  (2)  W.  Hemming.    T.  Wal-iicham     Rymer,  vol.  v 

<3)  Froissard,  ubi  sup.    W.  Hemming.    T  Walsingham. 

Q.  2 


244  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

against  one  hundred,  or  by  a  general  engagement.  Philip  replied  with  his 
usual  coolness,  that  it  did  not  become  a  vassal  to  challenge  his  liege  lord  \ 
and  Edward  found  it  necessary  to  conclude  a  truce  for  one  year.(l) 

This  truce  would  in  all  likelihood  have  been  converted  into  a  solid  peace, 
and  Edward  would  have  dropped  his  claim,  had  not  an  unexpected  circum- 
stance opened  to  him  more  promising  views,  and  given  his  enterprising  genius 
full  opportunity  to  display  itself.  The  count  de  Mountfort,  the  heir  male  of 
Brittany,  had  seized  that  dutchy  in  opposition  to  Charles  of  Blois,  the  French 
king's  nephew,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  the  late  duke.  Sensible 
that  he  could  expect  no  favour  from  Philip,  Mountfort  made  a  voyage  to 
England,  under  pretence  of  soliciting  his  claim  to  the  earldom  of  Richmond, 
which  had  devolved  to  him  by  his  brother's  death;  and  then  offering  to  do 
homage  to  Edward,  as  king  of  France,  for  the  dutchy  of  Brittany,  he  pro- 
posed a  strict  alliance  for  the  support  of  each  other's  pretensions. 

Little  negotiation  was  necessary  to  conclude  a  treaty  between  two  princes 
connected  by  their  immediate  interests.  But  the  captivity  of  the  count  de 
Mountfort,  which  happened  soon  after,  seemed  to  put  an  end  to  all  the  advan- 
tages naturally  to  be  expected  from  such  an  alliance.  The  affairs  of  Brittany, 
however,  were  unexpectedly  retrieved  by  Jane  of  Flanders,  countess  of 
Mountfort,  the  most  extraordinary  woman  of  her  time.  Roused  by  the  cap- 
tivity of  her  husband  from  those  domestic  cares  to  which  she  had  hitherto 
confined  herself,  she  boldly  undertook  to  support  the  fallen  fortunes  of  her 
family.  She  went  from  place  to  place,  encouraging  the  garrisons,  providing 
them  with  every  thing  necessary  for  .subsistence,  and  concerting  the  proper 
plans  of  defence ;  and  after  having  put  the  whole  province  in  a  good  posture, 
she  shut  herself  up  in  Hennebone,  where  she  waited  with  impatience  the 
arrival  of  those  succours  which  Edward  had  promised  her. 

Charles  of  Blois,  anxious  to  make  himself  master  of  this  important  fortress, 
and  still  more  to  get  possession  of  the  person  of  the  countess,  sat  down  before 
the  place  with  a  great  army,  and  conducted  the  attack  with  indefatigable 
industry.  The  defence  was  no  less  vigorous.  The  besiegers  were  repulsed 
in  every  assault.  Frequent  sallies  were  made  by  the  garrison ;  and  the  countess 
herself  being  the  most  forward  on  all  occasions,  every  one  was  ashamed  not 
to  exert  himself  to  the  utmost.  The  reiterated  attacks  of  the  besiegers, 
however,  had  at  length  made  several  breaches  in  the  walls;  and  it  was  appre- 
hended that  a  general  assault,  which  was  dreaded  every  hour,  might  bear 
down  the  garrison.  It  became  necessary  to  treat  of  a  capitulation  :  and  the 
bishop  of  Laon  was  already  engaged  in  a  conference  on  that  subject  with 
Charles  of  Blois,  when  the  countess,  who  had  mounted  a  high  tower,  and  was 
anxiously  looking  towards  the  sea  for  relief,  descried  some  sails  at  a  distance. 
"Behold  the  succours!"  exclaimed  she; — "the  English  succours'. — No  capi- 
tulation." They  consisted  of  six  thousand  archers,  and  some  cavalry,  under 
the  command  of  sir  Walter  Manny,  one  of  the  bravest  captains  of  England ; 
and  having  entered  the  harbour,  and  inspired  fresh  courage  into  the  garrison, 
immediately  sallied  forth,  beat  the  besiegers  from  their  posts,  and  obliged 
them  to  decamp.  (2) 

Notwithstanding  this  success,  the  troops  under  sir  Walter  Manny  were 
found  insufficient  for  the  support  of  the  countess  of  Mountfort,  who  was  still 
ready  to  be  overpowered  by  numbers.  Edward  therefore  sent  over  a  rein- 
forcement under  Robert  of  Artois,  and  afterward  went  to  her  assistance  in 
person.  Robert  was  killed  in  the  defence  of  Vannes ;  and  Edward  concluded 
a  truce  of  three  years,  on  honourable  terms,  for  himself  and  the  countess. 

This  truce,  however,  was  of  much  shorter  duration  than  the  terms  specified 
in  the  articles,  and  each  monarch  endeavoured  to  throw  on  the  other  the 
blame  of  its  infraction.  The  English  parliament  entered  warmly  into  the 
quarrel,  advised  the  king  not  to  be  amused  by  a  fraudulent  truce,  and  granted 
him  supplies  for  the  renewal  of  hostilities.  The  earl  of  Derby  was  sent  over 
for  the  protection  of  Guienne,  where  he  behaved  with  great  gallantry ;  and 

tt)  Frotowrd,  ubi  tup.    W.  Hemming.    T.  Walsingham.  (21  Froissard,  liv  I 


LET.  XL.]  MODERNEUROPE.  245 

Edward  invaded  Normandy  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men.  He  took 
several  towns,  and  ravaged  the  whole  province,  carrying  his  incursions  even 
to  the  gates  of  Paris.  At  length  Philip  advanced  against  him  at  the  head 
of  a  hundred  thousand  men :  and  Edward,  afraid  of  being  surrounded  in  the 
country,  retreated  towards  Flanders.(l) 

In  this  retreat  happened  the  famous  passage  of  the  Somme,  which  was> 
followed  by  the  still  more  celebrated  battle  of  Cressy.  When  Edward 
approached  the  Somme,  he  found  all  the  bridges  either  broken  down  or  strongly 
guarded.  An  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  under  the  command  of  Goda- 
mar  de  Faye,  was  stationed  on  the  opposite  bank ;  and  Philip  was  advancing 
on  him,  at  the  same  time,  from  behind.  In  this  extremity  he  was  informed 
of  a  place  that  was  fordable :  he  hastened  thither,  but  saw  de  Faye  ready  to 
obstruct  his  passage.  A  man  of  less  resolution,  or  more  coolness,  would  have 
hesitated:  Edward  deliberated  not  a  moment,  but  threw  himself  into  the 
river  sword  in  hand,  at  the  head  of  his  troops  ;  drove  the  enemy  from  their 
station,  and  pursued  them  to  a  distance  on  the  plain.  Philip  and  his  forces 
arrived  at  the  ford  when  the  rear-guard  of  the  English  army  was  passing ; 
and  the  rising  of  the  tide  only  prevented  that  incensed  monarch  from  follow- 
ing them.  On  the  lapse  of  so  few  moments  depended  the  fate  of  Edward ! — 
and  these,  by  his  celerity,  were  turned  from  ruin  into  victory !  Yet  if  he  had 
been  unfortunate  in  his  passage,  or  if  the  French  army  had  arrived  somewhat 
sooner,  how  many  pretended  philosophers  would  have  told  us  that  he  was  an 
inconsiderate  prince,  and  the  attempt  would  have  been  branded  as  absurd !— - 
So  much,  my  dear  Philip,  does  the  reputation  of  events  depend  on  success, 
and  the  characters  of  men  on  the  situations  in  which  they  are  engaged. 

Edward  by  his  fortunate  passage  gained  some  ground  of  the  enemy,  as 
Philip  was  obliged  to  take  his  route  by  the  bridge  of  Abbeville ;  but  he  still 
saw  the  danger  of  precipitating  his  march  over  the  plains  of  Picardy,  and  of 
exposing  his  rear  to  the  insults  of  the  numerous  cavalry,  in  which  the  Frencli 
camp  abounded.  He  therefore  embraced  the  prudent  resolution  of  waiting 
the  arrival  of  the  enemy,  and  chose  his  ground  advantageously  near  the 
village  of  Cressy,  where  he  drew  up  his  army  in  excellent  order,  and  divided 
into  three  lines.  The  first  line  was  commanded  by  the  prince'  of  Wales, 
commonly  called  the  Black  Prince,  from  the  colour  of  his  armour ;  the  second 
by  the  earls  of  Arundel  and  Northampton:  and  the  king  himself  took  the 
direction  of  the  third,  which  was  intended  as  an  auxiliary  force.  The  French 
army,  which  now  consisted  of  above  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men, 
was  also  formed  into  three  lines ;  but  as  Philip  had  made  a  hasty  and  con- 
fused march  from  Abbeville,  the  troops  were  fatigued  and  disordered.  The 
first  line,  consisting  of  fifteen  thousand  Genoese  cross-bow  men,  was  com- 
manded by  Anthony  Doria  and  Charles  Grimaldi :  the  second  was  led  by  the 
count  d'Alen§on ;  and  the  king  in  person  was  at  the  head  of  the  third.  The 
battle  began  about  three  o'clock,  and  continued  till  towards  evening ;  when 
the  whole  French  army  took  to  flight,  and  was  followed  and  put  to  the  sword 
with  great  slaughter,  till  the  darkness  of  night  put  an  end  to  the  pursuit. 
Almost  forty  thousand  of  the  French  were  slain,  among  whom  were  many  of 
the  principal  nobility,  twelve  hundred  knights,  and  fourteen  hundred  gentle- 
men. On  his  return  to  the  camp,  Edward  flew  into  the  arms  of  the  prince  of 
Wales,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  a  remarkable  manner.  "  My  brave 
son !"  cried  he,  "  persevere  in  your  honourable  course.  You  are  my  son ;  for 
valiantly  have  you  acquitted  yourself  to-day.  You  have  shown  yourself 
worthy  of  empire."(2) 

This  victory  is  partly  ascribed  to  some  pieces  of  artillery,  which  Edward 
is  said  to  have  planted  in  his  front,  and  which  gave  great  alarm  to  the  enemy  ;(3) 
but  we  cannot  suppose  they  did  much  execution.  The  invention  was  yet 
in  its  infancy;  and  cannon  were  at  first  so  clumsy,  and  of  such  difficult 
management,  that  they  were  rather  incumbrances  than  those  terrible  instru- 
ments of  desolation  which  we  now  behold  them.  They  had  never  before 

(1)  R.  de  Averburg.    Froissard,  ubi  sup. 

IS)  Froissard,  lib.  L    Walsingham.    Knyghton.    Averburg.  (3)  Villani,  lib.  ziL 


246  THE   HISTORY    OF  [PART  I, 

been  made  use  of  on  any  memorable  occasion  in  Europe.  This  may,  there- 
fore, be  regarded  as  the  era  of  one  of  the  most  important  discoveries  that 
has  been  made  among  men :  a  discovery  which  changed  by  degrees  the  whole 
military  science,  and  of  course  many  circumstances  in  the  political  govern- 
ment of  Europe ;  which  has  brought  nations  more  on  a  level ;  has  made  suc- 
cess in  war  a  matter  of  calculation ;  and  though  seemingly  contrived  for  the 
destruction  of  mankind,  arid  the  overthrow  of  empires,  has  in  the  issue  ren- 
dered battles  less  bloody,  and  conquest  less  frequent,  by  giving  greater 
security  to  states,  and  interesting  the  passions  of  men  less  in  the  struggle  for 
victory. 

A  weak  mind  is  elated  with  the  smallest  success ;  a  great  spirit  is  little 
affected  by  any  turn  of  fortune.  Edward,  instead  of  expecting  that  the  vic- 
tory of  Cressy  Avould  be  immediately  followed  by  the  total  subjection  of  the 
disputed  kingdom,  seemed  rather  to  moderate  his  views.  He  prudently 
limited  his  ambition  to  the  conquest  of  Calais ;  by  which  he  hoped  to  secure 
such  an  easy  entrance  into  France,  as  might  afterward  open  the  way  to  more 
considerable  advantages.  He  therefore  marched  thither  with  his  victorious 
army,  and  presented  himself  before  the  place. 

In  the  mean  time,  David  Bruce  king  of  Scotland,  whom  his  countrymen 
had  recalled,  was  strongly  solicited  by  his  ally,  Philip,  to  invade  the  northern 
counties  of  England.  He  accordingly  assembled  a  great  army,  and  carried 
his  ravages  as  far  as  Durham.  He  was  there  met  by  queen  Philippa,  at  the 
head  of  a  body  of  twelve  thousand  men,  which  she  committed  to  the  command 
of  lord  Percy.  A  fierce  engagement  ensued ;  and  the  Scots  were  broken  and 
chased  off  the  field  with  great  slaughter.  Fifteen  thousand  of  them  were 
slain,  among  whom  was  the  chancellor  and  earl  marshal.  The  king  himself 
was  taken  prisoner,  together  with  many  of  the  principal  nobility. (1) 

As  soon  as  Philippa  had  secured  her  royal  prisoner,  she  crossed  the  sea  at 
Dover,  and  was  received  in  the  English  camp  before  Calais  with  all  the  eclat 
due  to  her  rank,  her  merit,  and  her  success.  This  was  the  age  of  chivalry 
and  gallantry.  Edward's  courtiers  excelled  in  these  accomplishments  no  less 
than  in  policy  and  war ;  and  the  extraordinary  qualities  of  the  women  of 
those  times,  the  necessary  consequence  of  respectful  admiration,  form  the 
best  apology  for  the  superstitious  devotion  which  was  then  paid  to  the  softer 
sex.  Calais  was  taken,  after  an  obstinate  siege  of  almost  twelve  months 
The  inhabitants  were  expelled :  and  it  was  peopled  anew  with  English  sub- 
jects, and  made  the  staple  of  wool,  leather,  tin,  and  lead ;  the  four  chief  com 
modities  of  England,  and  the  only  ones  for  which  there  was  yet  any  demand 
in  foreign  markets.  A  truce  was  soon  afterward  concluded  with  France, 
through  the  mediation  of  the  pope's  legate,  and  Edward  returned  in  triumph 
to  England.  (2) 

Here  a  few  observations  seem  necessary.  The  great  success  of  Edward 
in  his  foreign  wars  had  excited  a  strong  emulation  among  the  English  nobi- 
lity ;  and  their  animosity  against  France,  and  respect  to  their  prince,  had 
given  a  new  and  more  useful  direction  to  that  ambition,  which  had  so  often 
been  turned  by  those  turbulent  barons  against  the  crown,  or  which  discharged 
its  fury  on  their  fellow-subjects.  This  prevailing  spirit  was  further  promoted 
by  the  institution  of  the  military  Order  of  the  Garter,  in  emulation  of  some 
orders  of  knighthood,  of  a  like  nature,  which  had  been  established  in  different 
parts  of  Europe. — A  story  prevails,  though  not  supported  by  ancient  authority, 
that  Edward's  mistress,  commonly  supposed  to  be  the  countess  of  Salisbury, 
dropped  her  garter  at  a  court  ball :  that  the  king  stooped,  and  took  it  up : 
when,  observing  some  of  his  courtiers  to  smile  as  if  they  had  suspected 
another  intention,  he  held  up  the  trophy,  and  called  out,  Horn  soil  qm  mal  y 
pense :  "  Evil  to  him  that  evil  thinks." — And  as  every  incident  of  gallantry 
in  those  times  was  magnified  into  a  matter  of  importance,  he  instituted  the 
Order  of  the  Garter  in  commemoration  of  this  event,  though  not  without 
political  views,  and  gave  these  words  as  the  motto  of  the  order.  Frivolous 

•1 1  Averlmtg.    Knyghtnn.  Froiseard,  ubi  sup  (3)  Id.  ibid 


LET.  XL.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  247 

as  such  an  origin  may  seem,  it  is  perfectly  suitable  to  the  manners  of  that 
age ;  and,  as  a  profound  historian  remarks,  it  is  difficult  by  any  other  means 
to  account  either  for  the  seemingly  unmeaning  terms  of  the  motto,  or  the 
peculiar  badge  of  the  garter,  which  appears  to  have  no  reference  to  any  pur- 
pose either  of  military  use  or  ornament.(l) 

A  damp,  however,  was  suddenly  thrown  over  the  triumphant  festivity  of 
the  English  court,  by  a  destructive  pestilence,  which  about  this  time  invaded 
Britain,  after  having  desolated  the  greatest  part  of  the  earth.  It  made  its 
appearance  first  in  the  north  of  Asia ;  encircled  all  that  vast  continent ;  visited 
Africa;  made  its  progress  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other;  and  is  com- 
puted to  have  swept  away  near  a  third  of  the  inhabitants  in  every  country 
through  which  it  passed.  Above  fifty  thousand  persons  are  said  to  have 
perished  by  it  in  London  alone.  This  grievous^  calamity,  more  than  the 
pacific  disposition  of  the  princes,  served  to  prolong  the  truce  between  Eng- 
land and  France. 

During  this  truce  Philip  de  Yalois  died,  without  being  able  to  re-establish 
the  affairs  of  France,  which  his  unsuccessful  war  with  England  had  thrown 
into  much  disorder.  This  monarch  had,  during  the  first  years  of  his  reign, 
obtained  the  appellation  of  Fortunate,  and  acquired  the  character  of  Prudent  • 
but  he  ill  maintained  either  the  one  or  the  other ;  less  indeed  from  his  own 
fault,  than  because  he  was  overmatched  by  the  superior  fortune  and  superior 
genius  of  Edward.  But  the  incidents  in  the  reign  of  his  son  John  gave  the 
French  cause  to  lament  even  the  calamitous  times  of  Philip.  John  was 
distinguished  by  many  virtues,  but  particularly  by  a  scrupulous  honour  and 
fidelity.  He  was  not  deficient  in  personal  courage ;  but  as  he  wanted  that 
masterly  prudence  and  foresight  which  his  difficult  situation  required,  his 
kingdom  was  at  the  same  time  disturbed  by  intestine  commotions,  and  op- 
pressed by  foreign  wars. 

The  principal  author  of  these  calamities  was  Charles  king  of  Navarre,  sur- 
named  the  Bad,  and  whose  conduct  fully  entitled  him  to  that  appellation. 
He  was  descended  from  males  of  the  blood  royal  of  France.  His  mother  was 
daughter  of  Lewis  X.,  and  he  had  himself  married  a  daughter  of  the  reigning 
king ;  but  all  these  ties,  which  ought  to  have  connected  him  with  the  throne, 
gave  him  only  greater  power  to  shake  and  overthrow  it.  He  secretly  entered 
into  a  correspondence  with  the  king  of  England;  and  he  seduced,  by  his 
address,  Charles,  afterward  surname!  the  Wise,  the  king  of  France's  eldest 
son,  and  the  first  who  bore  the  title  of  Dauphin,  by  the  reunion  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Dauphiny  to  the  crown.  This  young  prince,  however,  made  sensi- 
ble of  the  danger  and  folly  of  such  connexions,  promised  to  make  atonement 
for  the  offence  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  associates.  In  concert  with  his  father, 
ne  accordingly  invited  the  king  of  Navarre,  and  other  noblemen  of  the  party, 
to  a  feast  at  Rouen,  where  they  were  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  John.  Some 
of  the  most  obnoxious  were  immediately  led  to  execution,  and  the  king  of 
Navarre  was  thrown  into  prison.  But  this  stroke  of  severity  in  the  French 
monarch,  and  of  treachery  in  the  Dauphin,  was  far  from  proving  decisive  in 
restoring  the  royal  authority.  Philip  of  Navarre,  brother  to  Charles  the  Bad, 
and  Geoffrey  d'Harcourt,  put  all  the  towns  and  castles  belonging  to  that 
prince  in  a  posture  of  defence ;  and  they  had  immediate  recourse  to  England 
in  this  desperate  extremity.  (2) 

The  truce  between  the  two  kingdoms,  which  had  always  been  ill  observed 
on  both  sides,  was  now  expired ;  so  that  Edward  was  at  liberty  to  support 
the  French  malecontents.  The  war  was  again  renewed;  and  after  a  variety 
of  fortunes,  but  chiefly  in  favour  of  the  English,  an  event  happened  which 
nearly  proved  fatal  to  the  French  monarchy. 

The  prince  of  Wales,  encouraged  by  the  success  of  the  first  campaign, 
took  the  field  with  an  army  of  only  twelve  thousand  men ;  and  with  that 
small  body  he  ventured  to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  France.  King  John 
provoked  at  the  insult  offered  him  by  this  incursion,  collected  an  army  of 

(1)  Hume,  Hist.  England,  chap.  xv.  (2)  Froissard,  liv  i 


248  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

sixty  thousand  combatants,  and  advanced  by  hasty  marches  to  intercept  his 
enemy.  The  prince,  not  aware  of  John's  near  approach,  lost  some  days,  on 
his  march,  before  the  castle  of  Remorantin,  and  thereby  gave  the  French 
monarch  an  opportunity  of  overtaking  him.  The  pursuers  came  within  sight 
at  Maupertuis,  near  Poictiers ;  and  young  Edward,  sensible  that  his  retreat 
was  now  become  impracticable,  prepared  for  battle  with  all  the  courage  of  a 
hero,  imd  all  the  prudence  of  an  experienced  general.  No  degree  of  prudence 
or  courage,  however,  could  have  saved  him,  had  the  king  of  France  known 
how  to  make  use  of  his  present  advantages.  John's  superiority  in  numbers 
enabled  him  to  surround  the  English  camp,  and,  by  intercepting  all  provisions, 
to  reduce  the  prince  to  the  necessity  of  surrendering  at  discretion.  But  the 
impatient  ardour  of  the  French  nobility  prevented  this  idea  from  striking  any 
of  the  commanders ;  so  that  they  immediately  took  measures  for  the  assault, 
with  full  assurance  of  victor}'.  But  they  found  themselves  miserably  mis- 
taken. The  English  adventurers  received  them  with  desperate  valour,  put 
their  army  to  flight,  and  took  their  king  prisoner. 

The  Black  Prince,  who  had  been  carried  away  in  pursuit  of  the  flying 
enemy,  finding  the  field  entirely  clear  on  his  return,  had  ordered  a  tent  to  be 
pitched,  and  was  reposing  himself  after  the  toils  of  battle,  when  informed  of 
the  fate  of  the  French  monarch.  John  had  long  refused  to  surrender  him- 
self to  any  one  but  his  "cousin  the  prince  of  Wales."(l)  Here  commences 
the  real  and  unexampled  heroism  of  young  Edward — the  triumph  of  humanity 
and  moderation  over  insolence  and  pride,  in  the  heart  of  a  young  warrior, 
elated  by  as  extraordinary  and  as  unexpected  success  as  had  ever  crowned 
the  arms  of  any  commander.  He  came  forth  to  meet  the  captive  king  with 
all  the  marks  of  regard  and  sympathy;  administered  comfort  to  him  amid 
his  misfortunes ;  paid  him  the  tribute  of  praise  due  to  his  valour ;  and 
ascribed  his  own  victory  merely  to  the  blind  chance  of  war,  or  to  a  superior 
Providence,  which  controls  all  the  efforts  of  human  force  and  prudence.  He 
ordered  a  repast  to  be  prepared  in  his  tent  for  the  royal  prisoner ;  and  he 
himself  served  at  the  captive's  table,  as  if  he  had  been  one  of  his  retinue. 
All  his  father's  pretensions  to  the  crown  of  France  were  now  buried  in  obli- 
vion. John  in  captivity  received  the  honours  of  a  king,  which  were  refused 
him  when  seated  on  the  throne  of  Clovis.  His  misfortunes,  not  his  right,  were 
respected ;  and  the  French  prisoners,  conquered  by  this  elevation  of  mind, 
more  than  by  the  English  arms,  burst  into  tears  of  admiration ;  which  were 
only  checked  by  the  reflection,  that  suqh  exalted  heroism  in  an  enemy  must 
make  him  doubly  dangerous  to  the  independency  of  their  native  country.(2) 

The  prince  of  Wales  conducted  his  royal  prisoner  to  Bourdeaux;  and, 
after  concluding  a  truce  for  two  years,  brought  him  over  to  England.  Here 
the  king  of  France,  besides  the  generous  treatment  which  he  met  with,  ha.d 
the  melancholy  consolation  of  meeting  a  brother  in  affliction.  The  king  of 
Scotland  had  been  for  eleven  years  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  Edward,  whose 
superior  genius  and  fortune  had  reduced  at  once  the  two  neighbouring  poten- 
tates, with  whom  he  was  engaged  in  war,  to  the  condition  of  prisoners  in  his 
capital.  Finding,  however,  that  the  conquest  of  Scotland  was  nowise 
advanced  by  the  captivity  of  its  sovereign,  Edward  consented  to  restore 
David  Bruce  to  his  liberty,  for  the  ransom  of  one  hundred  thousand  marks 
sterling;  and  that  prince  delivered  the  sons  of  all  his  principal  nobility  as 
hostages  for  the  payment.  (3) 

Meanwhile  the  captivity  of  the  French  monarch,  joined  to  the  preceding 
disorders  of  the  kingdom,  had  produced  an  almost  total  dissolution  of  civil 
authority,  and  occasioned  the  most  horrible  and  destructive  violences  ever 
experienced  in  any  age  or  country.  The  Dauphin,  now  above  nineteen  years 
M  age,  naturally  assumed  the  reins  of  government  during  his  father's  cap- 
tivity; but  although  endowed  with  an  excellent  judgment,  even  in  such  early 
years,  he  possessed  neither  experience  nor  ability  sufficient  to  remedy  the 
prevailing  evils.  In  order  to  obtain  supplies,  he  assembled  the  states  of  the 

(1)  Ryraer,  vol.  vi.    FroisBard,  liv.i.  f21  Ibid,  ubi  sup.  (3)  Rymer,  vol  i 


LET.  XL.]  M  O  D  K  ic  N    i  i     It  O  P  E.  249 

kingdom.  But  that  national  assembly,  instead  of  supporting  his  administra- 
tion, were  themselves  seized  with  the  spirit  of  licentiousness ;  and  laid  hold 
of  the  present  opportunity  to  demand  limitations  of  the  regal  power,  the 
punishment  of  past  malversations,  and  the  liberty  of  the  king  of  Navarre. 
Marcel,  provost  of  the  merchants  of  Paris,  and  first  magistrate  of  that  city, 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  unruly  populace;  and,  from  the  violence  and 
temerity  of  his  character,  pushed  them  to  commit  the  most  criminal  outrages 
against  the  royal  authority.  They  detained  the  Dauphin  in  a  kind  of  cap- 
tivity :  they  murdered  in  his  presence  Robert  de  Clermont,  and  John  de  Con- 
flans,  mareschals  of  France ;  they  threatened  all  the  other  ministers  with  the 
like  fate ;  and  when  Charles,  who  had  been  obliged  to  temporize  and  dis- 
semble, made  his  escape  from  their  hands,  they  levied  war  against  him,  and 
openly  erected  the  standard  of  rebellion.  The  other  cities  of  the  kingdom, 
in  imitation  of  the  capital,  shook  off  the  Dauphin's  authority ;  took  the 
government  into  their  own  hands,  and  spread  the  contagion  into  every  pro- 
vince. The  wild  state  of  nature  seemed  to  be  renewed  in  the  bosom  of 
society ;  every  man  was  thrown  loose  and  independent  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

The  nobles,  whose  inclinations  led  them  to  adhere  to  the  crown,  and  were 
naturally  disposed  to  check  these  tumults,  had  lost  all  their  influence.  The 
troops,  who  could  no  longer  be  retained  in  discipline,  by  reason  of  the  want 
of  pay,  throwing  off  all  regard  to  their  officers,  sought  the  means  of  subsist- 
ence by  pillage  and  robbery,  and  associating  with  them  all  the  disorderly 
people,  with  whom  that  age  abounded,  infested  every  quarter  of  the  kingdom 
in  numerous  bodies.  They  desolated  the  open  country,  burned  and  plundered 
the  villages ;  and,  by  cutting  off  all  means  of  communication  or  subsistence, 
reduced  to  necessity  even  the  inhabitants  of  the  fortified  towns. 

The  peasants,  formerly  oppressed  and  now  left  unprotected  by  their  mas- 
ters, became  desperate  from  their  present  misery ;  and,  rising  everywhere  in 
arms,  carried  to  the  last  extremity  those  disorders  which  were  derived  from 
the  sedition  of  the  citizens  and  disbanded  soldiers.  The  gentry,  hated  for 
their  tyranny,  were  everywhere  exposed  to  the  violence  of  popular  rage ;  and, 
instead  of  meeting  with  the  respect  due  to  their  rank,  became  only,  on  that 
account,  the  object  of  more  wanton  insult  to  the  mutinous  rustics.  They 
were  hunted  like  wild  beasts,  and  put  to  the  sword  without  mercy.  Their 
castles  were  consumed  with  fire,  and  levelled  with  the  ground ;  while  their 
wives  and  daughters  were  subject  to  violation,  and  then  murdered. 

A  body  of  nine  thousand  of  these  savage  boors  broke  into  Meaux,  where 
the  wife  of  the  Dauphin,  the  dutchess  of  Orleans,  and  above  three  hundred 
other  ladies,  had  taken  shelter.  The  most  brutal  treatment  and  fatal  conse- 
quences were  apprehended  by  this  fair  and  helpless  company ;  when  the  count 
de  Foix  and  the  captal  de  Buche,  with  the  assistance  of  only  sixty  knights, 
animated  with  the  true  spirit  of  chivalry,  flew  to  the  rescue  of  the  ladies,  and 
beat  off  the  brutal  and  rapacious  peasants  with  great  slaughter.(l) 

Amid  these  disorders,  the  king  of  Navarre  made  his  escape  from  prison 
and  presented  a  dangerous  leader  to  the  furious  malecontents.  He  revived  his 
pretensions  to  the  crown  of  France ;  but  in  all  his  operations  he  acted  more 
like  a  captain  of  banditti,  than  one  who  aspired  to  be  the  head  of  a  regular 
government,  and  who  was  engaged  by  his  station  to  endeavour  the  re-esta- 
blishment of  order  in  the  community.  All  the  French,  therefore,  who  wished 
to  restore  peace  to  their  desolated  country,  turned  their  eyes  towards  the 
Dauphin ;  who,  though  not  remarkable  for  his  military  talents,  daily  gained, 
by  his  prudence  and  vigilance,  the  ascendant  over  his  enemies.  Marcel,  the 
seditious  provost  of  Paris,  was  slain  in  attempting  to  deliver  that  city  to  the 
king  of  Navarre.  The  capital  immediately  returned  to  its  duty ;  the  most 
considerable  bodies  of  the  mutinous  peasants  were  dispersed,  or  put  to  the 
sword ;  some  bands  of  military  robbers  undenvent  the  same  fate,  and  France 
began  once  more  to  assume  the  appearance  of  civil  government. (2) 

Edward  appeared  to  have  a  favourable  opportunity  of  pushing  his  con- 

(1)  Froissard,  liv.  i.    St.  Pelaye  sur  r Ancient  Chivalrie.  '2)  Froissard,  ubi  sup 


aw)  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

quests,  during  the  confusion  in  the  Dauphin's  affairs ;  but  his  hands  were 
tied  by  the  truce,  and  the  state  of  the  English  finances  made  a  cessation  of 
arms  necessary.  The  truce,  however,  no  sooner  expired,  than  he  invaded 
France  anew  with  the  whole  military  force  of  England.  He  ravaged  the 
country  without  opposition,  pillaged  many  towns,  and  levied  contributions 
upon  others ;  but  finding  that  he  could  not  subsist  his  army  in  a  kingdom 
wasted  by  foreign  and  domestic  enemies,  he  prudently  concluded  the  peace 
of  Bretigni,  which  seemed  to  secure  essential  advantages  to  his  crown.  By 
this  peace,  it  was  stipulated,  that  John  should  pay  three  millions  of  crowns 
of  gold  for  his  ransom ;  that  Edward  should  for  ever  renounce  all  claim  to 
the  crown  of  France,  and  to  the  provinces  of  Normandy,  Maine,  Touraine, 
and  Anjou,  possessed  by  his  ancestors ;  in  exchange  for  which,  he  should 
receive  the  provinces  of  Poitou,  Xaintonge,  1'Angenois,  Perigord,  the  Limou- 
sin, Quercy,  Rovergue,  1'Angoumois,  and  other  districts  in  that  quarter, 
together  with  Calais,  Guisnes,  Montreuil,  and  the  county  of  Ponthieu,  on  the 
other  side  of  France ;  that  the  full  sovereignty  of  these  provinces,  as  well  as 
of  Guienne,  should  be  vested  in  the  crown  of  England;  and  that  France 
should  renounce  all  title  to  feudal  jurisdiction,  homage,  or  appeal  from 
them.(l) 

In  consequence  of  this  treaty,  the  king  of  France  was  restored  to  his 
liberty ;  but  many  difficulties  arising  with  respect  to  the  execution  of  some 
of  the  articles,  he  took  the  honourable  resolution  of  coming  over  to  England 
in  person,  in  order  to  adjust  them.  His  council  endeavoured  to  dissuade  him 
from  this  design,  which  they  represented  as  rash  and  impolitic  ;  and  insinu- 
ated, that  he  ought  to  elude,  as  far  as  possible,  the  execution  of  so  disad- 
vantageous a  treaty.  "  Though  justice  and  good  faith,"  replied  John,  "  were 
banished  from  the  rest  of  the  earth,  they  ought  still  to  retain  their  habitation 
in  the  breasts  of  princes !"  And  he  accordingly  came  over  to  his  former 
lodgings  in  the  Savoy;  where  he  soon  after  sickened  and  died.(2) 

John  was  succeeded  in  the  throne  of  France  by  his  son  Charles  V.,  a  prince 
educated  in  the  school  of  adversity,  and  well  qualified,  by  his  prudence  and 
experience,  to  repair  the  losses  which  the  kingdom  had  sustained  from  the 
errors  of  his  predecessors.  Contrary  to  the  practice  of  all  the  great  princes 
of  those  times,  who  held  nothing  in  estimation  but  military  courage,  he  seems 
to  have  laid  it  down  as  a  maxim,  never  to  appear  at  the  head  of  his  armies. 
He  was  the  first  European  monarch  that  showed  the  advantage  of  policy  and 
foresight  over  a  rash  and  precipitate  valour. 

Before  Charles  could  think  of  counterbalancing  so  great  a  power  as  Eng- 
land, it  was  necessary  for  him  to  remedy  the  many  disorders  to  which  his 
own  kingdom  was  exposed.  He  accordingly  turned  his  arms  against  the 
king  of  Navarre,  the  great  disturber  of  France  during  that  age ;  and  he  de- 
feated that  prince,  and  reduced  him  to  terms,  by  the  valour  and  conduct  of 
Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  one  of  the  most  accomplished  captains  of  those 
times,  whom  Charles  had  the  discernment  to  choose  as  the  instrument  of 
his  victories.  He  also  settled  the  affairs  of  Brittany,  by  acknowledging  the 
title  of  Mountfort,  and  receiving  homage  for  Ins  dominions.  But  much  was 
yet  to  do. 

On  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  of  Bretigni,  a  multitude  of  military  adven- 
turers, who  had  followed  the  prosperous  fortunes  of  Edward,  being  dispersed 
into  the  several  provinces  of  France,  and  possessed  of  strong  holds,  refused 
to  lay  down  their  arms,  or  relinquish  a  course  of  life  to  which  they  were  now 
accustomed,  and  by  which  alone  they  could  earn  a  subsistence.  They  there- 
fore associated  themselves  with  the  banditti,  who  were  already  inured  to  the 
habits  of  rapine  and  violence,  and,  under  the  name  of  Companies  and  Com- 
panions, became  a  terror  to  the  peaceable  inhabitants.  Some  English  and 
Gascon  gentlemen  of  character  were  not  ashamed  to  take  the  command  of 
these  ruffians,  whose  number  amounted  to  near  forty  thousand,  and  who  bore 
the  appearance  of  regular  armies,  rather  than  bands  of  robbers.  (3)  As  Charles 

•     (1)  Bymer,  vol.  vi.  (9)  Froissard,  ubi  sup.  (3)  Id.  ibid. 


LE-J    XL.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  251 

was  not  able  by  force  to  redress  so  enormous  a  grievance,  h<5  was  led  by  ne- 
cessity, and  by  the  turn  of  his  character,  to  correct  it  by  policy ;  to  discover 
some  method  of  discharging  into  foreign  countries  this  dangerous  and  intes- 
tine evil.  And  an  occasion  now  offered. 

Alphonso  XI.  king  of  Castile,  who  took  the  city  of  Algezira  from  the 
Moors,  after  a  famous  siege  of  two  years,  had  been  succeeded,  in  1350,  by  his 
son  Peter  I.  surnamed  the  Cruel;  a  prince  equally  perfidious,  debauched, 
and  bloody.  He  began  his  reign  with  the  murder  of  his  father's  mistress, 
Leonora  de  Gusman :  his  nobles  fell  every  day  the  victims  of  his  severity : 
he  put  to  death  his  cousin,  and  one  of  his  natural  brothers,  from  groundless 
jealousy ;  and  he  caused  his  queen,  Blanche  de  Bourbon,  of  the  blood  royal 
of  France,  to  be  thrown  into  prison,  and  afterward  poisoned,  that  he  might 
enjoy  in  quiet  the  embraces  of  Mary  de  Padella,  with  whom  he  was  violently 
enamoured. 

Henry,  count  of  Trastamara,  the  king  of  Spain's  natural  brother,  alarmed 
at  the  fate  of  his  family,  and  dreading  his  own,  took  arms  against  the  tyrant ; 
but  having  failed  in  the  attempt,  he  fled  into  France,  where  he  found  the 
minds  of  men  inflamed  against  Peter,  on  account  of  the  murder  of  the  French 
princess.  He  asked  permission  of  Charles  to  enlist  the  Companies  in  his 
service,  and  to  lead  them  into  Castile  against  his  brother.  The  French 
monarch,  charmed  with  the  project,  employed  du  Guesclin  in  negotiating  with 
the  leaders  of  these  banditti.  The  treaty  was  soon  concluded ;  and  du  Gues- 
clin, having  completed  his  levies,  led  the  army  first  to  Avignon,  where  the 
pope  then  resided,  and  demanded,  sword  in  hand,  absolution  for  his  ruffian 
soldiers,  who  had  been  excommunicated,  and  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand livres  for  their  subsistence.  The  first  was  readily  promised  him ;  but 
some  difficulty  being  made  with  respect  to  the  second,  du  Guesclin  replied. 
"  My  fellows,  I  believe,  may  make  a  shift  to  do  without  your  absolution :  but 
the  money  is  absolutely  necessary."  His  holiness  now  extorted  from  the 
inhabitants  of  the  city  and  its  neighbourhood,  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand livres,  and  offered  it  to  Guesclin.  "  It  is  not  my  purpose,"  said  that 
generous  warrior,  "  to  oppress  the  innocent  people.  The  pope  and  his  car- 
dinals can  spare  me  double  the  sum  from  their  own  pockets.  I  therefore 
insist  that  this  money  be  restored  to  the  owners :  and  if  I  hear  they  are  de- 
frauded of  it,  I  will  myself  return  from  the  other  side  of  the  Pyrenees,  and 
oblige  you  to  make  them  restitution."  The  pope  found  the  necessity  of  sub- 
mitting, and  paid  from  his  own  treasury  the  sum  demanded.(l)  Thus  hal- 
lowed by  the  blessings  and  enriched  by  the  spoils  of  the  church,  du  Guesclin 
and  his  army  proceeded  on  their  expedition. 

A  body  of  experienced  and  hardy  soldiers,  conducted  by  so  able  a  general, 
easily  prevailed  over  the  king  of  Castile,  whose  subjects  were  ready  to  join 
the  enemy  against  their  oppressor.  Peter  fled  from  his  dominions,  took 
shelter  in  Guienne,  and  craved  the  protection  of  the  Black  Prince,  whom  the 
king  of  England  had  invested  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  ceded  provinces, 
under  the  title  of  the  principality  of  Aquitaine.  The  prince  promised  his 
assistance  to  the  dethroned  monarch ;  and  having  obtained  his  father's  consent, 
he  levied  an  army,  and  set  out  on  his  enterprise. 

The  first  loss  which  Henry  of  Trastamara  suffered  from  the  interposition 
of  the  prince  of  Wales,  was  the  recalling  of  the  Companies  from  his  service : 
and  so  much  reverence  did  they  pay  to  the  name  of  Edward,  that  great 
numbers  of  them  immediately  withdrew  from  Spain,  and  enlisted  under  his 
standard.  Henry,  however,  beloved  by  his  new  subjects,  and  supported  by 
the  king  of  Arragon,  was  able  to  meet  the  enemy  with  an  army  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  three  times  the  number  of  those  commanded  by  the 
Black  Prince ;  yet  du  Guesclin,  and  all  his  experienced  officers,  advised  him 
to  delay  a  decisive  action ;  so  high  was  their  opinion  of  the  valour  and  con- 
duct of  the  English  hero ! — But  Henry,  trusting  to  his  numbers,  ventured  to 
give  Edward  battle  on  the  banks  of  the  Ebro,  between  Najara  and  Navarette ; 

(1}  Hist,  de  Gucsdia. 


252  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  I. 

where  the  French  and  Spaniards  were  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  above  twenty 
thousand  men,  and  du  Guesclin  and  other  officers  of  distinction  taken  pri- 
soners. All  Castile  submitted  to  the  victor :  Peter  was  restored  to  the  throne ; 
and  Edward  returned  to  Guienne  with  his  usual  glory ;  having  not  only  over- 
come the  greatest  general  of  his  age,  but  restrained  the  most  blood-thirsty 
tyrant  from  executing  vengeance  on  his  prisoners.(l) 

But  this  gallant  warrior  had  soon  reason  to  repent  his  connexions  with  a 
prince  like  Peter,  lost  to  all  sense  of  virtue  and  honour.  That  ungrateful 
monster  refused  the  stipulated  pay  to  the  English  forces.  Edward  abandoned 
him.  He  treated  his  subjects  with  the  utmost  barbarity:  their  animosity 
was  roused  against  him;  and  du  Guesclin,  having  obtained  his  ransom, 
returned  to  Castile  with  the  count  of  Trastamara,  and  some  forces  levied 
anew  in  France.  They  were  joined  by  the  Spanish  malecontents ;  and  having 
no  longer  the  superior  genius,  and  the  superior  fortune,  of  the  Black  Prince 
to  encounter,  they  gained  a  complete  victory  over  Peter,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Toledo.  The  tyrant  now  took  refuge  in  a  castle  where  he  was  soon 
after  besieged  by  the  victors,  and  taken  prisoner  in  endeavouring  to  make 
his  escape.  He  was  conducted  to  his  brother  Henry ;  against  whom  he  is 
said  to  have  rushed,  in  a  transport  of  rage,  disarmed  as  he  was.  Henry  slew 
him  with  his  own  hand,  in  resentment  of  his  cruelties  ;  and,  though  a  bastard, 
was  honoured  with  the  crown  of  Castile,  which  he  transmitted  to  his  pos- 
terity. (2) 

In  the  mean  time  the  affairs  of  the  Black  Prince  were  fallen  into  some  dis- 
order. He  had  involved  himself  so  much  in  debt  by  his  Spanish  expedition, 
that  he  found  it  necessary,  on  his  return,  to  impose  on  his  foreign  principa- 
lity a  new  tax,  which  some  of  the  nobility  paid  with  extreme  reluctance,  and 
to  which  others  absolutely  refused  to  submit.  They  carried  their  complaints 
to  the  king  of  France,  as  their  lord  paramount;  and,  as  the  renunciations 
agreed  to  in  the  treaty  of  Bretigni  had  never  been  made,  Charles  seized  this 
opportunity  to  renew  his  claim  of  superiority  over  the  English  provinces.  (3) 
In  this  resolution  he  was  encouraged  by  the  declining  years  of  Edward  III., 
and  the  languishing  state  of  the  prince  of  Wales's  health :  he  therefore  sent 
the  prince  a  summons  to  appear  in  his  court  at  Paris,  and  justify  his  conduct 
towards  his  vassals.  The  prince  replied,  that  he  would  come  to  Paris,  but  it 
should  be  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  men.  War  was  renewed  between 
France  and  England,  and  with  singular  reverse  of  fortune.  The  low  state 
of  the  prince  of  Wales's  health,  not  permitting  him  to  exert  his  usual  acti- 
vity, the  French  were  victorious  in  almost  every  action ;  and  when  he  was 
obliged,  by  his  increasing  infirmities,  to  throw  up  the  command,  and  return 
to  his  native  country,  the  affairs  of  the  English  went  to  total  ruin  on  the 
continent.  They  were  stripped  in  a  few  years  of  all  their  ancient  possessions 
in  France,  except  Bourdeaux  and  Bayonne;  and  of  all  their  conquests,  except 
Calais.(4) 

These  misfortunes  abroad  were  followed  by  the  decay  of  the  king's  autho- 
rity at  home.  This  was  chiefly  occasioned  by  his  extravagant  attachment  to 
Alice  Pierce,  a  young  lady  of  wit  and  beauty,  whose  influence  over  him  had 
given  such  general  disgust,  as  to  become  the  object  of  parliamentary  remon- 
strance. The  indolence  naturally  attendant  on  years  and  infirmities,  had 
also  made  Edward  resign  the  administration  into  the  hands  of  his  son,  the 
duke  of  Lancaster,  whose  unpopular  manners  and  proceedings  weakened 
extremely  the  affections  of  the  English  to  their  sovereign.  Meanwhile  the 
prince  of  Wales  died ;  leaving  behind  him  a  character  adorned  with  every 
eminent  virtue,  and  which  would  throw  lustre  on  the  most  shining  period  of 
ancient  or  modern  history.  The  king  survived  that  melancholy  incident  only 
about  twelve  months.  He  expired  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  and  the 
fifty-first  of  his  reign ;  one  of  the  longest  and  most  glorious  in  the  English 
annals.  His  latter  days  were,  indeed,  somewhat  obscured  by  the  infirmities 

(1)  FroissariV  Hv.  i.  (2)  Id.  ibid. 

(3)  T.  Walsingham.    Froissard,  ubi  sup.  (4)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  XLL]  MODERNEUROPE.  253 

and  the  follies  of  old  age ;  but  he  was  no  sooner  dead,  than  the  people  of 
England  were  sensible  of  their  irreparable  loss,  and  posterity  considers  him 
as  the  greatest  and  most  accomplished  prince  of  his  time. 

The  domestic  government  of  Edward  was  even  more  worthy  of  admiration 
than  his  foreign  victories.  By  the  prudence  and  vigour  of  his  administra- 
tion, England  enjoyed  a  longer  time  of  interior  peace  and  tranquillity,  than 
it  had  been  blessed  with  in  any  former  period,  or  than  it  experienced  for  many 
ages  after.  He  gained  the  affections  of  the  great,  yet  curbed  their  licen- 
tiousness. His  affable  and  obliging  behaviour,  his  munificence  and  generosity, 
made  them  submit  with  pleasure  to  his  dominion:  his  valour  and  conduct 
made  them  successful  in  most  military  enterprises ;  and  their  unquiet  spirits, 
directed  against  a  public  enemy,  had  no  leisure  to  bleed  those  private  feuds 
to  which  they  were  naturally  so  much  disposed.  This  internal  tranquillity 
was  the  chief  benefit  that  England  derived  from  Edward's  continental  expe- 
ditions :  and  the  miseries  of  the  reign  of  his  successor  made  the  nation  fully 
sensible  of  the  value  of  the  blessing. 

But  before  I  speak  of  the  administration  of  Richard  II.,  the  unhappy  son 
of  the  Black  Prince,  I  must  carry  forward  the  affairs  of  the  German  empire,. 
At  present,  however,  it  will  be  proper  to  observe,  that  the  French  monarch, 
Charles  V.,  whose  prudent  conduct  had  acquired  him  the  surname  of  Wise, 
died  soon  after  Edward  III.,  while  he  was  attempting  to  expel  the  English 
from  the  few  places  which  they  still  retained  in  France,  and  left  his  kingdom 
to  a  minor  son  of  the  same  name,  Charles  VI. ;  so  that  England  and  France 
were  now  both  under  the  government  of  minors.  And  both  experienced  the 
misfortunes  of  a  turbulent  and  divided  regency. 


LETTER  XLL 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Italian  States,  jrom 
the  Election  of  Lewis  of'  Bavaria,  to  the  Death  of  Charles  IV. 

WE  now,  my  dear  Philip,  approach  to  that  era  in  the  history  of  the  Gernaar 
empire,  when  the  famous  constitution,  called  the  Golden  Bull,  was  established , 
which,  among  other  things,  settled  the  number  and  the  rights  of  the  electors, 
as  yet  uncertain,  and  productive  of  many  disorders. 

Henry  VII.,  as  you  have  already  seen,  struggled  hard  to  recover  the  sove 
reignty  of  Italy ;  but  he  died  before  he  was  able  to  accomplish  his  purpose 
His  death  was  followed  by  an  interregnum  of  fourteen  months,  which  were 
employed  in  the  intrigues  of  Lewis  of  Bavaria,  and  of  Frederic  the  Handsome, 
duke  of  Austria.  Lewis  was  elected  by  the  greater  number  of  the  princes 
but  Frederic  being  chosen  and  supported  by  a  faction,  disputed  the  empin 
with  him.  A  furious  civil  war,  which  long  desolated  both  Italy  and  Germany 
was  the  consequence  of  this  opposition.  At  last  the  two  competitors  mei 
near  Muldorf,  and  agreed  to  decide  their  important  dispute  by  thirty  cham 
pions,  fifteen  against  fifteen.  The  champions  accordingly  engaged  in  pre 
sence  of  both  armies,  and  fought  with  such  fury,  that  in  a  short  time  not  one 
of  them  was  left  alive.  A  general  action  followed,  in  which  the  Austrians 
were  worsted.  But  this  victory  was  not  decisive.  Frederic  soon  repaired 
his  loss,  and  even  ravaged  Bavaria.  The  Bavarian  assembled  a  powerful 
army,  in  order  to  oppose  his  rival ;  and  the  battle  of  Vechivis,  in  which  the 
duke  of  Austria  was  taken  prisoner,  fixed  the  imperial  crown  on  the  head  ol 
Lewis  V.(l) 

During  the  course  of  these  struggles,  was  fought,  between  the  Swiss  and 
Austrians,  the  memorable  battle  of  Morgart ;  which  established  the  liberty 
of  Swisserland,  as  the  victory  of  Marathon  had  formerly  done  that  of  Greece 
and  Attic  eloquence  only  was  wanting  to  render  it  equally  famous.    Sixteei 

(1)  Avent.  Annul.  Boior.  lib.  vii 


254  Til  K    H  i  S  T  O  k  Y   OF  [PART  -I. 

hundred  Swiss,  from  the  cantons  of  Uri,  Schwitz,  and  Underwald,  defeated 
an  army  of  twenty  thousand  Austrians,  in  passing  the  mountains  near  Mor- 
gart,  in  1315,  and  drove  them  out  of  the  country  with  terrible  slaughter. 
The  alliance  which  these  three  cantons  had  entered  into  for  the  term  of  ten 
years,  was  now  converted  into  a  perpetual  league ;  and  the  other  cantons 
occasionally  joined  in  it.(l) 

Lewis  V.  had  no  sooner  humbled  the  duke  of  Austria,  than  a  new  anta- 
gonist started  up : — he  had  the  pope  to  encounter.  The  reigning  pontiff  at 
that  time  was  John  XXII.,  who  had  been  elected  at  Lyons  in  1315,  by  the 
influence  of  Philip  the  Long,  king  of  France.  John  was  the  son  of  a  cobbler, 
and  one  of  those  men  who,  raised  to  power  by  chance  or  merit,  are  haughty 
in  proportion  to  the  meanness  of  their  birth.  He  had  not  hitherto,  however, 
interfered  in  the  affairs  of  the  empire;  but  now,  all  at  once,  he  set  himself 
up  as  its  judge  and  master.  He  declared  the  election  of  Lewis  void :  he 
maintained .  that  it  was  the  right  of  the  sovereign  pontiff  to  examine  and 
confirm  the  election  of  emperors ;  that  the  government,  during  a  vacancy, 
belonged  to  him  :  and  he  commanded  the  emperor,  by  virtue  of  his  apostolic 
power,  to  lay  aside  the  imperial  ensigns,  until  he  should  receive  permission 
from  the  Holy  See  to  reassume  them.  (2) 

Several  attempts  were  made  by  Lewis  towards  a  reconciliation  with  his 
holiness,  but  in  vain :  the  proud  pontiff  was  inflexible,  and  would  listen  to  no 
reasonable  conditions.  The  emperor  therefore,  jealous  of  the  independency 
of  his  crown,  endeavoured  to  strengthen  his  interest  both  in  Italy  and  Ger- 
many. He  continued  the  government  of  Milan  in  the  family  of  the  Visconti, 
who  were  rather  masters  than  magistrates  of  that  city;  and  he  conferred  the 
government  of  Lucca  on  Castruccio  Castruccani,  a  celebrated  captain,  whose 
life  is  pompously  written  by  Machiavel.  The  German  princes  were  mostly 
in  his  interest,  and  no  less  jealous  than  he  of  the  dignity  of  the  empire. 

Enraged  at  such  firmness,  pope  John  excommunicated  and  deposed  the 
emperor  Lewis,  and  endeavoured  to  get  Charles  the  Fair,  king  of  France, 
elected  in  his  room.  But  this  attempt  miscarried.  None  of  the  German 
princes,  except  Leopold  of  Austria,  came  to  the  place  appointed  for  an  inter- 
view with  the  French  monarch ;  and  the  imprudent  and  ambitious  Charles 
returned  chagrined  and  disappointed  into  his  own  dominions. (3) 

Thus  freed  from  a  dangerous  rival,  the  emperor  marched  into  Italy,  in 
order  to  establish  his  authority  in  that  country.  He  was  crowned  at  Milan, 
and  afterward  at  Rome ;  where  he  ordered  the  following  proclamation  to  be 
made  three  times  by  an  Augustine  friar :  "  Is  there  any  one  who  will  defend 
the  cause  of  the  priest  of  Cahors,  who  calls  himself  pope  John  ?" — And 
no  person  appearing,  sentence  was  immediately  pronounced  against  his  holi- 
ness. Lewis  declared  him  convicted  of  heresy,  deprived  him  of  all  his  dig- 
nities and  benefices,  and  delivered  him  over  to  the  secular  power,  in  order  to 
suffer  the  punishment  of  fire  ;  and  Peter  Rainaucci,  a  Neapolitan  Cordelier, 
was  created  pope  under  the  name  of  Nicholas  V.(4) 

But  Lewis,  notwithstanding  this  mighty  parade,  was  soon  obliged,  like  his 
predecessors,  to  quit  Italy,  in  order  to  quell  the  troubles  of  Germany ;  and 
pope  John,  though  a  refugee  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  recovered  his  au 
thority  in  Rome.  The  imperialists  were  expelled  the  city  ;  and  Nicholas  V. 
the  emperor's  pope,  was  carried  to  Avignon,  where,  with  a  rope  about  his 
neck,  he  publicly  implored  forgiveness  of  his  rival,  and  ended  his  days  in  a 
prison.  (5) 

The  emperor,  in  the  mean  time,  remained  in  peace  at  Munich,  having 
settled  the  affairs  of  Germany.  But  he  still  lay  under  the  censures  of  the 
church,  and  the  pope  continued  to  solicit  the  princes  of  the  empire  to  revolt 
against  him.  Lewis  was  preparing  to  assemble  a  general  council,  in  order  to 
depose  his  holiness  a  second  time,  when  the  death  of  John  made  such  a  mea- 
sure unnecessary,  and  relieved  the  emperor  from  all  dread  of  the  spiritual 

(1)  Simler,  de  Repub.  Helvetic.  (2)  Steph.  Baluzii.  fit.  Pontif.  Aveiiion.  vol.  i. 

(3)  Villani,  lib.  ix.  (4)  Baluzii,  ubi  sup.  (5)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  XLIJ  MODERN    EUROPE.  256 

thunder.  This  turbulent  pope,  who  first  invented  the  taxes  for  dispensations 
and  mortal  sins,  died  immensely  rich.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  papacy  by 
James  Fournier,  surnamed  the  White  Cardinal,  who  assumed  the  name  of 
Benedict  XII.(l) 

The  new  pope,  who  seemed  desirous  to  tread  in  the  steps  of  his  predeces- 
sor, confirmed  all  the  bulls  which  had  been  issued  by  John  against  the  em- 
peror But  Lewis  had  now  affairs  of  more  importance  to  engage  his  atten- 
tion, than  those  important  fulminations.  John  of  Luxemburg,  second  son  of 
the  king  of  Bohemia,  had  married  Margaret,  surnamed  Great  Mouth,  heiress 
of  Carinthia ;  and  that  princess,  accusing  her  husband  of  impotency,  a  bishop 
of  Frisingen  dissolved  the  marriage,  and  she  espoused  the  margrave  of  Bran- 
denburg, son  of  the  emperor  Lewis,  who  readily  consented  to  a  match  that 
added  Tyrol  and  Carinthia  to  the  possessions  of  his  family.  This  marriage 
produced  a  war  between  the  houses  of  Bavaria  and  Bohemia,  which  lasted 
only  one  year,  but  occasioned  abundance  of  bloodshed ;  and  the  parties  came 
to  a  very  singular  accommodation.  John  of  Luxemburg  confessed  that  his 
wife  had  reason  to  forsake  him,  renounced  all  claim  to  her,  and  ratified  her 
marriage  with  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg.(S) 

This  affair  being  settled,  Lewis  exerted  all  his  endeavours  to  appease  the 
domestic  troubles  of  the  empire,  which  were  still  kept  alive  by  the  intrigues 
of  the  pope ;  and,  notwithstanding  all  the  injuries  and  insults  he  had  sus- 
tained, he  made  several  attempts  towards  an  accommodation  with  the  Holy 
See.  But  these  negotiations  being  rendered  ineffectual  by  the  influence  of 
France,  the  princes  of  the  empire,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  secular,  assembled 
a*t  Frankfort,  and  established  that  famous  constitution,  by  which  it  was  irre- 
coverably fixed,  "  That  the  plurality  of  the  suffrages  of  the  electoral  college 
confers  the  empire,  without  the  consent  of  the  Holy  See:  that  the  pope 
has  no  superiority  over  the  emperor  of  Germany,  nor  any  right  to  approve  or 
reject  his  election  ;  and  that  to  maintain  the  contrary  is  high-treason."  They* 
also  refuted  the  absurd  claim  of  the  popes  to  the  government  of  the  empire 
during  a  vacancy;  ahd  declared,  that  this  right  appertains,  by  ancient  custom, 
to  the  count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine.(3) 

Germany  now  enjoyed  for  some  years  what  it  had  seldom  known,  the  bless- 
ings of  peace,  which  was  again  interrupted  by  the  court  of  Avignon.  Bene- 
dict XII.  was  succeeded  in  the  papacy  by  Clement  VI.,  a  native  of  France, 
and  so  haughty  and  enterprising  as  to  affirm,  that  his  "  predecessors  did  not 
know  what  it  was  to  be  popes."  He  began  his  pontificate  with  renewing  all 
"the  bulls  issued  against  Lewis ;  with  naming  a  vicar-general  of  the  empire 
in  Lombardy,  and  endeavouring  to  make  all  Italy  shake  off  the  emperor's 
authority. 

Lewis,  still  desirous  of  an  accommodation  with  the  Holy  See,  amidst  all 
these  acts  of  enmity,  sent  ambassadors  to  the  court  of  Avignon.  But  the 
conditions  prescribed  by  his  holiness  were  so  unreasonable,  that  they  were 
rejected  with  disdain  by  a  diet  of  the  empire,  as  an  insult  upon  the  imperial 
dignity.  Clement,  more  incensed  than  ever  at  this  instance  of  diregard, 
fulminated  new  excommunications  against  the  emperor.  "  May  the  wrath  of 
God,"  says  the  enraged  pontiff  in  one  of  his  bulls,  "  and  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  crush  him  in  this  world,  and  that  which  is  to  come  !  May  the  earth 
open  and  swallow  him  alive ;  may  his  memory  perish,  and  all  the  elements  be 
his  enejnies  ;  and  may  his  children  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  adversaries,  even 
in  the  sight  of  their  father  !"(4) 

Clement  issued  another  bull  for  the  election  of  a  new  emperor;  and 
Charles  of  Luxemburg,  margrave  of  Moravia,  afterward  known  by  the  name 
of  Charles  IV.  son  and  heir  of  John,  king  of  Bohemia,  having  made  the  ne- 
cessary concessions  to  his  holiness,  was  elected  king  of  the  Romans  by  a 
faction.  Lewis,  however,  maintained  his  authority  till  his  death,  which  hap- 
pened soon  after  the  election  of  his  rival ;  when  Charles,  rather  by  his  mo- 
ney than  his  valour,  got  possession  of  the  imperial  throne. 

(1)  Baluzii.  Vit.  Pontif.  dvenion.  (2)  Hist,  de  Luxembourg.  (3)  Ileiss,  Hv.  ii.  chap.  96. 

(4;  .Innal.  de  I'Emp.  torn,  ii. 


856  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PxR-t  1 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Germany,  a  singular  scene  vus 
exhibited  in  Italy.  Nicholas  Rienzi,  a  private  citizen  of  Rome,  but  an  c  o- 
quent,  bold,  enterprising  man,  and  a  patriot,  seeing  that  city  abandoned  ?v 
the  emperors  and  the  popes,  set  himself  up  as  the  restorer  of  the  Romar. 
liberty  and  the  Roman  power.  Proclaimed  tribune  by  the  people,  and  put 
in  possession  of  the  Capitol,  he  declared  all  the  inhabitants  of  Italy  free,  and 
denizens  of  Rome  But  these  convulsive  struggles  of  long-expiring  freedom, 
like  many  others,  proved  ineffectual.  Rienzi,  who  styled  himself  "  the  severe 
though  merciful  Deliverer  of  Rome,  the  zealous  Asserter  of  the  Liberties  of 
Italyt  and  the  Lover  of  all  Mankind,"  as  he  attempted  to  imitate  the  Gracchi, 
met  the  same  fate,  being  murdered  by  the  patrician  faction. (1) 

A  scene  no  less  extraordinary  was  about  this  time  exhibited  at  Naples. 
The  kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily  still  continued  to  be  ruled  by  foreigners. 
Naples  was  governed  by  the  house  of  France,  and  Sicily  by  that  of  Arragon. 
Robert  of  Anjou,  son  of  Charles  the  Lame,  though  he  had  failed  in  his  attempt 
to  recover  possession  of  Sicily,  had  made  Naples  a  flourishing  kingdom.  He 
died  1343,  and  left  his  crown  to  Joan  his  granddaughter,  who  had  married 
her  relation  Andrew,  brother  to  Lewis  of  Anjou,  elected  king  of  Hungary ; 
a  match  which  seemed  to  cement  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  that  house, 
but  proved  the  source  of  all  its  misfortunes.  Andrew  pretended  to  reign  in 
his  own  right ;  and  Joan,  though  but  eighteen  years  of  age,  insisted  that  he 
should  only  be  considered  as  the  queen's  husband.  A  Franciscan  friar,  called 
Brother  Robert,  by  whose  advice  Andrew  was  wholly  governed,  lighted  up 
the  flames  of  hatred  and  discord  between  the  royal  pair ;  and  the  Hungarians, 
of  whom  Andrew's  court  was  chiefly  composed,  excited  the  jealousy  of  the 
Neapolitans,  who  considered  them  as  Barbarians.  It  was  therefore  resolved, 
in  a  council  of  the  queen's  favourites,  to  put  Andrew  to  death.  He  was  ac- 
cordingly strangled  in  his  wife's  antichamber :  and  Joan  married  the  prince 
t»f  Tarentum,  who  had  been  publicly  accused  of  the  murder  of  her  husband, 
and  was  well  known  to  have  been  concerned  in  that  bloody  deed.  How  strong 
a  presumption  of  her  own  guilt ! 

In  the  mean  time  Lewis  king  of  Hungary,  brother  to  the  murdered  Andrew, 
wrote  to  Joan,  that  he  would  revenge  the  death  of  that  unfortunate  prince 
on  her  and  her  accomplices.  He  accordingly  set  out  for  Naples  by  the  way 
of  Venice  and  Rome.  At  Rome  he  publicly  accused  Joan,  before  the  tribune 
Rienzi ;  who,  during  the  existence  of  his  transitory  power,  beheld  several 
kings  appealing  to  his  tribunal,  as  was  customary  in  the  times  of  the  ancient 
republic.  Rienzi,  however,  declined  giving  his  decision ;  a  moderation  by 
which  he  at  least  gave  one  example  of  his  prudence :  and  Lewis  advanced 
towards  Naples,  carrying  along  with  him  a  black  standard,  on  which  were 
painted  the  most  striking  circumstances  of  Andrew's  murder.  He  ordered 
a  prince  of  the  blood,  and  one  of  the  accomplices  in  the  regicide  to  be  be- 
headed. Joan  and  her  husband  fled  into  Provence ;  where,  finding  herself 
utterly  abandoned  by  her  subjects,  she  waited  on  pope  Clement  VI.  at  Avig- 
non, a  city  of  which  she  was  sovereign,  as  countess  of  Provence,  and  which 
she  sold  to  that  pontiff,  together  with  its  territories,  for  eighty  thousand 
florins  of  gold,  which  a  celebrated  historian  tells  us  were  never  paid.  Here 
she  pleaded  her  cause  in  person  before  the  pope,  and  was  acquitted.  But 
perhaps  the  desire  of  possessing  Avignon  had  some  influence  upon  the  judg- 
ment of  his  holiness. 

Clement's  kindness  did  not  stop  here.  In  order  to  engage  the  king  of 
Hungary  to  quit  Naples,  he  proposed  that  Joan  should  pay  him  a  sum  ol 
money;  but  as  ambition  or  avarice  had  no  share  in  Lewis's  enterprise,  lie 
generously  replied,  "  I  am  not  come  hither  to  sell  my  brother's  blood,  but  to 
revenge  it !"  and  as  he  had  partly  effected  his  purpose  he  went  away  satisfied, 
though  the  kingdom  6f  Naples  was  in  his  power.  (2)  Joan  recovered  her 
dominions,  but  only  to  become  more  wretched.  Of  her  unhappy  fate  I  sha3 
afterward  have  occasion  to  speak. 

1    Jlnnal  de  VEmp.  torn.  ii.  (<T)  VUlanl,  lib.  xii. 


lET.XLL]  MODERN   EUROPE.  357 

We  must  now  return  to  the  affairs  of  the  emperor  Charles  IV.  This  prince 
who  was  equally  distinguished  by  his  weakness  and  pride,  had  no  sooner 
settled  the  affairs  of  Germany  than  he  went  to  receive  the  imperial  crown  at 
Rome,  where  he  behaved  in  a  manner  more  pusillanimous  than  any  of  his 
predecessors.  The  coronation  ceremony  was  no  sooner  performed  than  he 
retired  without  the  walls,  in  consequence  of  an  agreement  which  he  had 
inade  with  the  pope;  though  the  Romans  came  to  offer  him  the  government 
of  their  city,  as  his  hereditary  right,  and  entreated  him  to  re-establish  their 
ancient  liberty.  He  told  the  deputies  he  would  deliberate  on  the  proposal. 
But,  being  apprehensive  of  some  treachery,  he  sneaked  off  in  the  evening, 
under  pretence  of  going  to  take  the  diversion  of  hunting.  And  he  afterward 
ratified  and  confirmed  many  promises  extorted  from  him  by  Clement  VI., 
very  much  to  the  prejudice  of  the  empire  in  Italy.(l) 

The  poet  Petrarch,  so  highly  celebrated  for  his  love-verses,  wrote  a  letter 
to  Charles  upon  this  occasion,  in  which  are  found  these  spirited  words: 
"  You  have  then  promised  upon  oath  never  to  return  to  Rome ! — What  shame- 
ful conduct  in  an  emperor,  to  be  compelled  by  a  priest  to  content  himself 
with  the  bare  title  of  Cesar,  and  to  exile  himself  for  ever  from  the  habitation 
of  the  Cesars !  to  be  crowned  emperor,  and  then  prohibited  reignin°-,  or 
acting  as  head  of  the  empire ! — What  an  insult  upon  him  who  ought  to  com- 
mand the  universe,  to  be  no  longer  master  of  himself,  but  reduced  to  obev 
his  own  vassal  !"(2) 

This  emperor  seemed  to  have  renounced  entirely  the  politics  of  his  prede- 
cessors ;  for  he  not  only  discouraged  and  rejected  the  proffers  of  the  Ghibel- 
lines,  but  affected  to  treat  them  as  enemies  to  religion,  and  actually  supported 
the  Guelphs.  By  these  means  he  procured  the  favour  of  the  pope  and  his 
dependants,  who  flattered  him  with  the  most  fulsome  adulation;  but  the 
Italians  in  general  viewed  him  with  contempt,  and  the  greatest  part  of  the 
towns  attached  to  the  empire  shut  their  gates  against  him.  At  Cremona  he 
was  obliged  to  wait  two  hours  without  the  walls  before  he  received  the 
answer  of  the  magistrates ;  who,  at  last,  only  permitted  him  to  enter  as  a 
simple  stranger,  without  arms  or  retinue.(3) 

Charles  IV.  made  a  more  respectable  figure  after  his  return  to  Germany. 
The  number  of  electorates  had  been  fixed  since  the  time  of  Henry  VII.,  more 
by  custom  than  by  laws,  but  not  the  number  of  electors.  The  duke  of 
fiavaria  presumed  he  had  a  right  to  elect  as  well  as  the  count  Palatine,  the 
elder  branch  of  their  family;  and  the  younger  brothers  of  the  house  of 
Saxony  believed  themselves  entitled  to  vote  as  well  as  the  elder.  The 
emperor  therefore  resolved  to  settle  these  points,  that  due  subordination 
might  take  place,  and  future  elections  be  conducted  without  confusion  or 
disorder.  For  this  purpose  he  ordered  a  diet  to  be  assembled  at  Nuremburg, 
where  the  famous  constitution  called  the  Golden  Bull  was  established  in  the 
presence  and  with  the  consent  of  all  the  princes,  bishops,  abbots,  and  the 
deputies  of  the  imperial  cities. 

The  style  of  that  celebrated  charter  partakes  strongly  of  the  spirit  of  the 
times.  It  begins  with  an  apostrophe  to  Satan,  anger,  pride,  luxury ;  and  it 
says,  that  it  is  necessary  the  number  of  electors  should  be  Seven,  in  order  to 
oppose  the  Seven  mortal  sins.  It  speaks  of  the  fall  of  all  the  angels,  of  a 
heavenly  paradise,  of  Pompey,  and  of  Caesar;  and  it  asserts,  that  the 
government  of  Germany  is  founded  on  the  three  theological  virtues,  as  on 
the  Trinity.  The  seven  electors  were,  as  formerly  premised,  the  archbishops 
of  Mentz,  Cologne,  and  Triers,  the  king  of  Bohemia,  the  count  Palatine,  the 
duke^of  Saxony,  and  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg. 

Tile  imperial  dignity,  which  of  itself  then  conferred  little  real  power,  never 
showed  more  of  that  lustre  which  dazzles  the  eyes  of  the  people  than  on  the 
publication  of  this  famous  edict.  The  three  ecclesiastical  electors,  all  three 
arch-chancellors,  appeared  in  the  procession  with  the  seals  of  the  empire ; 

(1)  Fleury  torn.  xx.  Hv.  96.  (2)  De  nt.  Sotit.  lib  ii 

(3)  Barre,  torn.  ii.    Spond.  Contin.    Baron,  torn.  i. 

VOL.  I.— R 


258  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PART! 

the  archbishop  of  Mentz  carried  that  of  Germany,  the  archbishop  of  Cologne 
that  of  Italy,  and  the  archbishop  of  Triers  that  of  Gaul ;  though  the  empire 
now  possessed  nothing  in  Gaul,  except  a  claim  to  empty  homage  for  the 
remains  of  the  kingdoms  of  Aries,  Provence,  and  Dauphine.  How  little 
power  Charles  had  in  Italy,  we  have  already  seen.  Besides  granting  to  the 
pope  all  the  lands  claimed  by  the  Holy  See,  he  left  the  family  of  Visconti  in 
the  quiet  possession  of  Milan  arid  Lombardy,  which  they  had  usurped  from 
him,  and  the  Venetians  in  that  of  Padua,  Vicenza,  and  Verona.(l)  I  must 
now  return  to  the  ceremonial. 

The  duke  of  Luxemburg  and  Brabant,  who  represented  the  king  of  Bo- 
hemia, as  great  cup-bearer,  presented  the  emperor  with  his  drink,  poured  from 
a  golden  flagon  into  a  cup  of  the  same  metal ;  the  duke  of  Saxony,  as  grand 
marshal,  appeared  with  a  silver  measure  rilled  with  oats;  the  elector  of 
Brandenburg  presented  the  emperor  and  empress  with  water  to  wash,  in  a 
golden  ewer,  placed  in  a  golden  basin ;  and  the  count  Palatine  served  up  the 
victuals  in  golden  dishes,  in  presence  of  all  the  great  officers  of  the  empire.(2) 

The  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles  IV.  was  distinguished  by  no  remark- 
able transaction  except  the  sale  of  the  imperial  jurisdictions  in  Italy ;  which 
were  again  resumed  and  again  sold.  Charles,  who  was  reputed  a  good 
prince,  but  a  weak  emperor,  was  succeeded  in  all  his  possessions  and  dignities 
by^his  son  Winceslaus,  whom  I  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  mention. — 
We  must  now  proceed  to  the  affairs  of  England ;  remarking  by  the  way, 
that  Charles  IV.  was  an  encourager  of  letters,  and  founded  the  university  nf 
Prague. 


LETTER  XLII. 

England,  from  the  Death  of  Edward  III.  to  the  Accession  of  Henry  V.,  -with  some 
Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland  during  that  Period. 

AFTER  seeing  England  victorious  over  France  and  Spain,  you  have  seen  her, 
my  dear  Philip,  stripped  almost  of  all  her  possessions  on  the  continent,  and 
Edward  III.  expiring  with  much  less  glory  than  had  distinguished  the  more 
early  periods  of  his  reign.  His  successor,  Richard  II.,  son  of  the  Black 
Prince,  was  little  able  to  recover  what  had  been  lost  through  the  indisposition 
of  his  father,  and  the  dotage  of  his  grandfather.  Happy  had  it  been  for  him, 
and  for  his  people,  could  he  have  ruled  his  own  kingdom  with  judgment. 

Richard  was  certainly  a  weak  prince,  but  his  weakness  was  not  imme- 
diately perceived  or  felt  by  the  nation.  He  was  only  at  his  accession  a  boy  of 
eleven  years  of  age,  from  whom  consequently  little  could  be  expected.  The 
habits  of  order  and  obedience,  which  the  nobility  had  been  taught  by  the 
third  Edward,  still  influenced  them;  and  the  authority  of  Richard's  three 
uncles,  the  dukes  of  Lancaster,  York,  and  Gloucester,  sufficed  to  repress  for 
a  time  that  turbulent  spirit  to  which  the  great  barons  were  so  often  subject 
during  a  weak  reign.  The  different  characters  of  those  three  princes 
rendered  them  also  a  counterpoise  to  each  other ;  so  that  there  appeared  no 
new  circumstance  in  the  domestic  situation  of  England  which  could  endanger 
the  public  peace,  or  give  any  immediate  apprehensions  to  the  lovers  of  their 
country. 

But  this  flattering  prospect  proved  delusive.  Discontents  and  dissensions 
soon  took  place  among  all  orders  of  men.  The  first  tumult  was  of  the  popular 
kind.  War  had  been  carried  on  between  France  and  England;  after  the 
death  of  Edward  III.,  but  in  so  languid  a  manner  as  served  only  to  exhaust 
the  finances  of  both  kingdoms.  In  order  to  repair  the  expenses  of  these 
fruitless  armaments,  the  English  parliament  found  it  necessary  to  impose  a 
poll-tax,  of  three  groats  a  head,  on  every  person,  male  and  female,  above 

(11  Barre,  torn.  ii.    Spond.  Contin.     Baron,  torn.  i.  (2)  Heiss,  liv.  ii.  chap.  27. 


LET.  XL1L]  MODERN  EUROPE.  259 

fifteen  years  of  age.  The  inequality  and  injustice  of  this  tax  was  obvious  to 
the  meanest  capacity,  and  the  rigorous  manner  in  which  it  was  levied  made 
it  yet  more  grievous.  The  great  body  of  the  people,  many  of  whom  were 
still  in  a  state  of  slavery,  became  severely  sensible  of  the  unequal  lot  which 
fortune  had  assigned  them  in  the  distribution  of  her  favours.  They  looked 
up  to  the  first  origin  of  mankind  from  one  common  stock,  their  equal  right 
»o  liberty,  and  to  all  the  benefits  of  nature.  Nor  did  they  fail  to  reflect  on  the 
tyranny  of  artificial  distinctions,  the  abuses  which  had  arisen  from  the  degra- 
dation of  the  more  considerable  part  of  the  species,  and  the  aggrandizement 
jf  a  few  individuals. (1) 

"  When  Adam  delv'd,  and  Eve  span, 
Where  was  then  the  gentleman  ?" 

vas  their  favourite  distich :  and  although  these  verses,  when  misapplied,  strike 
*t  the  foundation  of  all  society,  they  contain  a  sentiment  so  flattering  to  that 
sense  of  primitive  equality,  engraved  in  the  hearts  of  all  men,  as  never  to  be 
repeated  without  some  degree  of  approbation. 

When  the  discontents  of  the  populace  Avere  thus  prepared,  the  insolence  of 
a  tax-gatherer,  and  the  spirit  of  a  blacksmith,  blew  them  into  a  flame. 
While  the  blacksmith  was  at  work,  in  a  village  of  Essex,  the  tax-gatherer 
came  into  his  shop,  and  demanded  payment  for  his  daughter.  The  father 
replied,  thaS;  she  was  below  the  age  prescribed  by  the  statute :  the  tax-gatherer 
affirmed  she  was  a  full-grown  woman,  and  in  proof  of  his  assertion  attempted 
an  indecency,  which  incensed  the  blacksmith  to  such  a  degree  that  he  knocked 
the  ruffian  dead  with  his  forge-hammer.  The  by-standers  applauded  the 
action,  and  exclaimed  that  it  was  full  time  for  the  people  to  take  vengeance 
on  their  tyrants,  and  assert  their  native  rights.  They  flew  to  arms :  the 
flame  of  sedition  spread  from  county  to  county ;  and  before  the  government 
had  the  least  intimation  of  the  danger,  the  disorder  had  grown  beyond  all 
control  or  opposition. 

These  mutinous  peasants,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  thousand,  assem- 
bled on  Blackheath  under  their  leader,  Wat  Tyler ;  and  sent  a  message  to 
the  king,  who  had  taken  shelter  in  the  Tower,  that  they  desired  a  conference 
with  him.  Richard  sailed  down  the  river  in  a  barge  for  that  purpose :  but, 
on  approaching  the  shore,  he  discovered  such  symptoms  of  tumult  and  inso- 
lence that  he  judged  it  prudent  to  return.  Finding,  however,  that  the  Tower 
would  be  no  security  against  the  lawless  multitude,  and  afflicted  at  the 
ravages  and  cruelties  of  the  rioters,  who  had  broken  into  the  city  of  London, 
plundered  the  merchants,  and  cut  off  the  heads  of  all  the  gentlemen  they 
could  seize;  the  young  king  found  it  necessary  to  go  out  and  ask  their 
demands.  They  required  a  general  pardon ;  the  abolition  of  slavery ;  freedom 
of  commerce  in  market-towns,  without  toll  or  impost ;  and  a  fixed  rent  op 
lands,  instead  of  the  services  due  by  villanage.  These  requests  were  highly 
reasonable ;  but  the  behaviour  of  Wat  Tyler,  their  leader,  who,  in  making 
his  demands,  frequently  brandished  his  sword  in  a  menacing  manner,  so 
incensed  William  Walworth,  lord  mayor  of  London,  that  he  lifted  up  his 
mace,  or,  as  others  say,  his  spear,  and  struck  Tyler  a  violent  blow  which 
brought  him  to  the  ground,  where  he  was  instantly  run  through  the  body  by 
another  of  the  king's  train.  The  mutineers,  seeing  their  leader  fall,  pre- 
pared themselves  for  revenge ;  and  the  king  and  his  whole  company  must 
have  perished  on  the  spot,  had  not  Richard  discovered  an  extraordinary  pre- 
sence of  mind  in  that  extremity.  He  ordered  his  attendants  to  stop 
advanced  alone  towards  the  enraged  multitude,  and,  accosting  them  with  an 
'affable  and  intrepid  countenance,  "What,  my  good  people,"  said  he,  "is  the 
meaning  of  this  commotion  1 — Be  not  concerned  for  the  loss  of  your  leader. 
I  am  your  king :  I  will  become  your  leader :  follow  me  into  the  field,  and  you 
shall  have  whatever  you  desire."  Overawed  by  the  royal  presence,  they 

11  Froissard,  liv.  ii     Walsingham.    Knyghton. 

an 


260  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PARTI. 

implicitly  followed  him :  and  he  peaceably  dismissed  them,  after  granting 
them  their  demands. (1) 

Richard's  conduct  on  this  occasion,  considering  that  he  was  only  sixteen 
years  of  age,  raised  great  expectations  in  the  nation ;  but  in  proportion  as  he 
advanced  in  years  they  gradually  vanished,  and  his  want  of  capacity,  or  at 
least  of  solid  judgment,  appeared  in  every  measure  which  he  adopted.  Hi& 
first  expedition  was  against  Scotland,  into  which  he  marched  at  the  head  of 
an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men.  The  Scots  did  not  pretend  to  make  resist- 
ance against  so  great  a  force  :  they  abandoned,  without  scruple,  their  rugged 
territory  to  be  pillaged  and  laid  waste  by  the  enemy,  and  made  an  incursion 
into  the  more  fertile  provinces  of  England,  where  they  collected  a  rich  booty, 
and  returned  in  tranquillity  to  their  own  country.  The  English  monarch, 
however,  wandered  over  great  part  of  the  comparatively  barren  kingdom  of 
Scotland,  and  led  his  army  back  into  England,  without  taking  vengeance  on 
the  enemy  for  their  devastations. (2)  His  impatience  to  return  and  enjoy  his 
usual  pleasures  and  amusements  overbalanced  eveiy  higher  consideration, 
and  made  even  revenge  a  motive  too  feeble  to  detain  him. 

Richard,  like  most  weak  princes,  now  resigned  himself  wholly  to  the  direc 
tion  of  a  favourite,  Robert  de  Vere,  earl  of  Oxford,  a  young  nobleman  of  dis 
solute  manners,  whom  he  loaded  with  riches,  with  titles,  and  with  dignities. 
He  first  created  him  marquis  of  Dublin,  and  afterward  duke  of  Ireland,  with 
a  parliamentary  grant  of  the  sovereignty  of  that  kingdom  for  life.  The  usual 
and  but  too  often  just  complaints  against  the  insolence  of  favourites  were 
soon  loudly  echoed  and  greedily  received  in  all  parts  of  England.  A  civil 
war  was  the  consequence :  the  royal  party  was  defeated ;  and  Richard  was 
obliged  to  resign  the  government  into  the  hands  of  a  council  of  fourteen, 
appointed  by  the  parliament.  The  duke  of  Gloucester,  who  had  been  at  the 
head  of  this  insurrection,  next  entered  an  accusation  against  five  of  the  king's 
ministers,  who  were  declared  guilty  of  high  treason ;  and  as  many  of  them 
as  could  be  seized  were  executed.  The  duke  of  Ireland  made  his  escape 
beyond  sea,  as  did  Michael  de  la  Pole,  earl  of  Suffolk,  who  had  discharged 
the  office  of  lord  high  chancellor.  Both  died  abroad. 

It  might  naturally  be  expected  that  Richard,  thus  reduced  to  a  state  of 
slavery  by  his  subjects,  and  unable  to  defend  his  servants  from  the  resentment 
of  his  uncles,  would  remain  long  in  subjection,  and  never  recover  the  royal 
power  without  the  most  violent  struggles;  but  the  event  proved  otherwise. 
In  less  than  twelve  months  he  was  entirely  reconciled  to  his  uncles,  and 
exercised  the  regal  authority  in  its  full  extent. 

After  these  domestic  disturbances  were  composed,  and  the  government 
restored  to  its  natural  state,  there  passed  an  interval  of  eight  years,  distin 
guished  by  no  remarkable  event ;  but  during  which  the  king  brought  himseli 
into  the  lowest  degree  of  personal  contempt,  even  while  his  governmen' 
appeared  in  a  great  measure  unexceptionable.  Addicted  to  vulgar  pleasures 
he  spent  his  whole  time  in  feasting  and  jollity ;  and  dissipated  in  idle  show 
or  lavished  upon  favourites  of  no  reputation,  that  revenue  which  the  peopli 
expected  to  see  him  employ  in  undertakings  for  the  public  honour  and  ad 
vantage. 

The  duke  of  Gloucester  soon  perceived  the  opportunities  which  this  disso 
lute  conduct  of  his  nephew  afforded  him  of  insinuating  himself  into  the 
affections  of  the  nation ;  and  he  determined  to  aspire  at  popularity  as  the 
ladder  to  the  throne.  He  seldom  appeared  at  court  or  in  the  council:  ht 
never  declared  his  opinion  but  in  order  to  disapprove  of  the  measures  em- 
braced by  the  king  and  his  favourites ;  and  he  courted  the  friendship  of  every 
man  whom  disappointment  or  private  resentment  had  rendered  an  enemy  to 
the  administration.  Richard,  however,  got  intelligence  of  his  designs,  and 
ordered  him  unexpectedly  to  be  arrested,  and  carried  over  to  Calais ;  the  only 
place  where  he  could  safely  be  detained  in  custody,  by  reason  of  his  nume- 
rous partisans,  and  where  he  was  soon  after  murdered.  The  royal  vengeance 

.1)  Frolmard,  llv.  H.    WaUinghara.    Knygliton.  (2)  T.  Walsingham.    FroissarcJ,  ubi  *up. 


LET.  XLII.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  261 

fell  also,  though  with  different  degrees  of  severity,  on  the  earls  of  Arundel 
and  Warwick,  the  supposed  accomplices  of  Gloucester,  and  on  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  Arundel's  brother,  who  was  banished  the  kingdom.  Arundel 
himself  was  beheaded,  and  Warwick  was  doomed  to  perpetual  confinement  in 
the  Isle  of  Man.(l) 

The  destruction  of  the  duke  of  Gloucester  and  the  supporters  of  his  party 
was  followed  by  a  misunderstanding  among  those  noblemen  who  had  joined 
in  the  prosecution;  and  the  duke  of  Hereford,  in  particular,  went  so  far  as 
to  accuse  the  duke  of  Norfolk  in  parliament  of  having  spoken  "  many  slan- 
dorous  words  of  the  king."  Norfolk  denied  the*  charge ;  gave  Hereford  the 
lie,  and  offered  to  prove  his  innocence  by  duel.  The  challenge  was  accepted ; 
the  time  and  place  of  the  combat  were  appointed,  and  the  whole  nation  was 
held  in  suspense  with  regard  to  the  event.  But  when  the  two  champions 
appeared  in  the  field,  accoutred  for  the  fight,  the  king  interposed,  to  prevent 
both  the  present  effusion  of  blood  and  the  future  consequences  of  the  quarrel. 
He  stopped  the  duel,  by  the  advice  and  authority  of  the  parliamentary  com- 
missioners appointed  to  regulate  the  combat;  and,  by  the  same  authority,  he 
ordered  both  the  combatants  to  leave  the  kingdom. (2)  Hereford  was  ban- 
ished for  ten  years,  and  Norfolk  for  life. 

The  sentence  pronounced  upon  these  two  noblemen  appears  to  have  been 
impartial,  but  it  surely  was  not  equitable.  The  one  was  condemned  without 
being  charged  with  any  offence ;  the  other  without  being  convicted  of  any 
crime.  It  was  also  unpopular.  Richard's  conduct  in  this  affair  was  considered 
as  a  mark  of  the  pusillanimity  of  his  temper:  and  the  weakness  and  fluctua- 
tion of  his  councils,  at  least,  appear  on  no  occasion  more  evident.  Henry 
duke  of  Hereford,  being  a  man  of  great  prudence  and  self-command,  behaved 
himself  with  so  much  humility  after  his  condemnation,  that  the  king  pro- 
mised to  shorten  the  term  of  his  exile  four  years ;  and  also  granted  him  letters 
patent,  empowering  him,  in  case  any  inheritance  should  accrue  to  him  during 
the  interval,  to  enter  into  immediate  possession.  But  "Hereford,  who  was  son 
to  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  had  no  sooner  left  the  kingdom  than  Richard's 
jealousy  of  the  power  and  riches  of  that  family  revived ;  and  he  grew  sen- 
sible, that  by  Gloucester's  death  he  had  only  removed  a  counterpoise  to  the 
Lancastrian  interest,  which  was  now  become  formidable  to  the  throne.  He 
therefore  took  every  method  to  sully  abroad  the  reputation  of  Henry  duke 
of  Hereford,  and  to  obstruct  his  alliances,  by  representing  him  as  guilty  of 
treasonable  practices ;  and  when  the  duke  of  Lancaster  died,  he  revoked  his 
letters  patent  to  Henry,  and  retained  possession  of  the  family  estate. (3) 

These  instances  of  rapacity  and  severity,  and  the  circumstances  with  which 
they  were  accompanied,  threw  upon  Richard  the  universal  odium  of  the 
people.  Hereford,  now  duke  of  Lancaster,  had  formerly  acquired  the  esteem 
of  the  public  by  his  valour  and  abilities.  He  was  connected  with  most  of  the 
principal  nobility  by  blood,  alliance,  or  friendship;  his  misfortunes  added 
double  lustre  to  his  merit ;  all  men  made  his  case  their  own :  they  entered 
into  his  resentment ;  and  they  turned  their  eyes  towards  him  as  the  only 
person  who  could  retrieve  the  lost  honour  of  the  nation,  or  reform  the  abuses 
of  government. 

While  the  minds  of  men  were  thus  disposed,  Richard  went  over  to  quell  an 
insurrection  in  Ireland,  and  thereby  imprudently  afforded  his  exiled  cousin 
an  opportunity  of  gratifying  the  wishes  of  the  nation.  Henry  landed  at  Ra- 
venspur,  in  Yorkshire,  accompanied  only  by  sixty  persons ;  but  he  was  sud- 
denly joined  by  the  earls  of  Northumberland  and  Westmoreland,  two  of  thr> 
most  potent  barons  in  England,  and  the  malecontents  in  all  quarters  flew  to 
arms.  He  solemnly  declared  that  he  had  no  other  purpose  in  this  invasion 
than  to  recover  the  dutchy  of  Lancaster,  unjustly  detained  from  him:  and  he 
entreated  his  uncle,  the  duke  of  York,  who  had  been  left  guardian  of  the 
kingdom,  not  to  oppose  a  loyal  and  humble  supplicant  in  the  recovery  of  his 

(1)  T.  Walsingham.    Froissard.liv.  iv     Eyraer,  vol.  vii.          (2)  T.  Walsingham.  Part.  Hist,  vol  i 
13}  Tvrrel,  vol.  .iii.  from  the  Records. 


KS  THE   HISTORY    OF  [PART  1. 

legal  patrimony.    His  entreaties  had  the  desired  effect.     The  guardian  em- 
braced his  cause,  and  he  immediately  found  himself  master  of  England. 

Richard  no  sooner  received  intelligence  of  this  invasion  than  he  hastened 
over  from  Ireland,  and  landed  at  Milford-Haven-with  a  body  of  twenty  thou- 
sand men.  But  even  that  small  army  was  seized  with  the  spirit  of  disaffec- 
tion, and  the  king  found  himself  almost  entirely  deserted.  In  this  extremity 
he  fled  to  the  Isle  of  Anglesea,  where  he  proposed  to  embark  for  France,  and 
there  wait  the  return  of  his  subjects  to  a  sense  of  their  duty.  But  before  he 
had  an  opportunity  of  carrying  his  design  into  execution,  the  earl  of  North 
umberland  waited  upon  him  from  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  with  the  strongest 
professions  of  loyalty  and  submission ;  and  Richard  was  so  credulous  as  to 
put  himself  in  the  power  of  his  enemy.  He  was  carried  about  in  an  abject 
manner,  exposed  to  the  insults  of  the  populace ;  deposed,  confined  in  prison, 
and  afterward  murdered.(l)  And  the  duke  of  Lancaster  was  proclaimed 
king,  under  the  name  of  Henry  IV. 

The  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  as  may  naturally  be  expected 
from  the  manner  in  which  he  obtained  the  throne,  was  stained  by  many  acts 
of  blood  and  violence.  All  who  opposed  his  title  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  rigid 
policy,  and  superstition  was  called  in  to  swell  by  new  crimes  the  horrid  cata- 
logue. While  a  subject,  Henry  was  believed  to  have  strongly  imbibed  the 
principles  of  Wickliffe,  a  secular  priest  educated  at  Oxford,  who,  during  the 
reigns  of  Edward  III.  and  Richard  II.,  preached  the  doctrine  of  reformation; 
hut  finding  himself  possessed  of  the  throne  by  so  precarious  a  title,  this 
politic  prince  thought  superstition  a  necessary  engine  of  public  authority. 
There  had  Hitherto  been  no  penal  laws  enacted  against  heresy  in  England : 
Henry,  therefore,  who  made  nothing  of  sacrificing  his  principles  to  his 
interest,  understanding  that  the  clergy  called  loudly  for  the  punishment  of 
the  disciples  of  Wickliffe,  whose  learning  and  genius  had  in  ome  measure 
broken  the  fetters  of  prejudice,  resolved  to  procure  the  favour  of  the  church 
by  the  most  effectual  of  all  methods,  by  gratifying  her  vengeance  on  those 
who  presumed  to  dispute  her  infallibility.  A  law  was  accordingly  enacted, 
that  when  any  heretic,  who  relapsed,  or  refused  to  abjure  his  opinions,  was 
delivered  over  to  the  secular  arm  by  the  bishop  or  his  commissaries,  he  should 
be  committed  to  the  flames  by  the  civil  magistrate,  before  the  whole  people. (2) 
This  weapon  did  not  long  remain  unemployed  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy. 
William  Sautre,  a  clergyman  in  London,  had  been  condemned  by  the  convo- 
cation at  Canterbury :  his  sentence  was  ratified  by  the  house  of  peers ;  and 
the  unhappy  sectary  suffered  the  punishment  of  fire,  because  he  could  not 
think  as  the  church  directed. — What  a  fatal  prelude  to  future  horrors,  pro- 
ceeding from  the  same  source ! 

But  all  the  prudence  and  precaution  of  Henry  could  not  shield  him  from 
numerous  alarms.  He  was  threatened  from  France  with  an  invasion,  which 
was  only  prevented  by  the  disorders  in  that  country ;  and  the  revolution  in 
England  was  speedily  followed  by  an  insurrection  in  Wales.  Owen  Glendour, 
descended  from  the  ancient  princes  of  that  country,  had  become  obnoxious 
on  account  of  his  attachment  to  Richard ;  and  Reginald,  lord  Grey  of  Ruthyn, 
who  was  closely  connected  with  the  new  king,  and  who  enjoyed  a  great  for- 
tune in  the  Marches  of  Wales,  thought  the  o\  portunity  favourable  for  op- 
pressing his  neighbour,  and  taking  possession  of  his  estate.  Glendour,  pro- 
voked at  the  injustice,  and  still  more  at  the  indignity,  recovered  possession 
by  the  sword.  Henry  sent  assistance  to  Grey,  the  Welch  took  part  with 
Glendour :  a  tedious  and  troublesome  war  was  kindled,  which  Glendour  long 
sustained  by  his  valour  and  activity,  aided  by  the  natural  strength  of  the 
country  and  the  untamed  spirit  of  the  inhabitants. 

The  Scots  also  were  tempted  by  these  disorders  to  make  incursions  into 
England ;  and  Henry,  desirous  of  taking  revenge  upon  them,  conducted  an 
army  as  far  north  as  Edinburgh.  But  finding  that  the  Scots  would  neithet 
submit  nor  give  him  battle,  he  returned  without  effecting-  any  thing  of  con 

(1)  T.  Walsinghnm     Froiesard,  ubi  sup  (2)  2  Hen.  IV.  c.  7 


LET.  XLII.l  MODERN    EUROPE.  263 

sequence.  Next  season,  however,  Archibald  earl  of  Douglas,  who,  at  the 
head  of  twelve  thousand  men,  attended  by  many  of  the  principal  nobility  of 
Scotland,  had  made  an  irruption  into  the  northern  counties,  was  overtaken 
by  the  Percies  of  Northumberland  on  his  return,  at  Homeldon,  on  the  borders 
of  England,  where  a  fierce  battle  ensued,  and  the  Scots  were  totally  routed. 
Douglas  himself  was  taken  prisoner ;  as  were  the  earls  of  Angus,  Murray. 
Orkney,  and  many  others  of  the  Scottish  nobility  and  gentry.(l) 

When  Henry  received  intelligence  of  this  victory,  he  sent  the  earl  of 
Northumberland  orders  not  to  ransom  his  prisoners  :  a  privilege  which  that 
nobleman  regarded  as  his  right  by  the  then  received  laws  of  war.  The  king 
intended  to  detain  them,  that  he  might  be  able,  by  their  means,  to  make  an 
advantageous  peace  with  Scotland.  But  by  this  selfish  policy  he  gave  fresh 
disgust  to  the  powerful  family  of  Northumberland.  The  impatient  spirit  of 
Harry  Percy,  commonly  known  by  the  name  of  Hotspur,  and  factious  dis- 
position of  the  earl  of  Worcester,  younger  brother  of  the  earl  of  Northum- 
berland, inflamed  the  discontents  of  that  nobleman;  and  the  precarious  title 
of  Henry  tempted  Northumberland  to  seek  revenge,  by  overturning  that 
throne  which  he  had  at  first  established.  He  entered  into  a  correspondence 
with  Glendour :  he  set  the  earl  of  Douglas  at  liberty,  and  made  an  alliance 
with  that  martial  chieftain.  But  when  war  was  ready  to  break  out,  the  earl 
of  Northumberland  was  unfortunately  seized  with  a  sudden  illness  at  Ber- 
wick ;  and  young  Percy,  taking  the  command  of  the  troops,  marched  towards 
Shrewsbury,  in  order  to  join  his  forces  with  those  of  Glendour. 

The  king  had  happily  a  small  army  on  foot  with  which  he  intended  to  act 
against  the  Scots ;  and  knowing  the  importance  of  celerity  in  all  civil  wars, 
ne  instantly  hurried  down,  in  order  to  giye  battle  to  the  rebels.  He  ap- 
proached Percy  near  Shrewsbury,  before  that  nobleman  was  joined  by  Glen- 
dour ;  and  the  policy  of  one  leader,  and  impatience  of  the  other,  made  them 
hasten  to  a  general  engagement.  The  armies  were  nearly  equal  in  number, 
consisting  of  about  twelve  thousand  men  each ;  and  we  scarcely  find  any 
battle  in  those  ages  where  the  shock  was  more  terrible  or  more  constant. 
Henry  exposed  his  person  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight ;  and  the  prince  of 
Wales,  his  gallant  son,  whose  military  achievements  became  afterward  so 
famous,  and  who  here  performed  his  noviciate  in  arms,  signalized  himself  in 
a  remarkable  manner.  Percy  supported  that  renown  which  he  had  acquired 
in  many  a  bloody  combat ;  and  Douglas,  his  ancient  enemy,  and  now  his 
friend,  still  appeared  his  rival  amid  the  horror  and  confusion  of  the  fight. 
This  nobleman  performed  feats  of  valour  which  are  almost  incredible.  He 
seemed  determined  the  king  of  England  should  fall  that  day  by  his  arm.  He 
sought  him  all  over  the  field ;  and  as  Henry  had  accoutred  several  captains 
in  the  royal  garb,  in  order  to  encourage  his  troops,  the  sword  of  Douglas 
rendered  that  honour  fatal  to  many.  But  while  the  armies  were  contending 
in  this  furious  manner,  the  death  of  Hotspur,  accomplished  by  an  unknown 
hand,  decided  the  victory ;  the  royalists  prevailed.  There  are  said  to  have 
fallen  on  both  sides  near  two  thousand  three  hundred  gentlemen. 

The  earl  of  Northumberland,  having  recovered  from  his  sickness,  had 
levied  a  fresh  army,  and  was  on  his  march  to  join  his  son ;  but  being  op- 
posed by  the  earl  of  Westmoreland,  and  hearing  of  the  defeat  at  Shrewsbury, 
he  dismissed  his  forces,  and  came  with  a  small  retinue  to  the  king  at  York. 
He  pretended  that  his  sole  intention  in  arming  was  to  mediate  between  the 
parties.  Henry  thought  proper  to  admit  the  apology,  and  even  granted  him 
a  pardon  for  his  offence.  All  the  other  rebels  were  treated  with  equal  lenity : 
and,  except  the  earl  of  Worcester  and  sir  Richard  Vernon,  who  were  re- 
garded as  the  chief  authors  of  the  insurrection,  no  person  engaged  in  that 
dangerous  conspiracy  seems  to  have  perished  by  the  hands  of  the  execu- 
tioner.(2) 

This  rebellion  was  no  sooner  quelled  than  another  wag«ready  to  break  out, 
nupported  by  the  earl  of  Nottingham  and  the  archbishop  of  York.  But  it 

0)  Watoingham,  Hall,  Otterbourne.  (2)  Walsingham,  Hall,  Otterbournc,  Rymer,  vol  viii 


264  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  1. 

was  discovered  before  it  was  ripe  for  execution,  and  the  earl  and  the  arch- 
bishop were  both  beheaded.  Northumberland  also  was  concerned  in  this 
second  rebellion,  but  made  his  escape  into  Scotland ;  whence  returning  to 
commit  new  disorders,  he  was  slain  at  Bramham,  along  with  lord  Bardolf.(l) 
The  defeat  of  Glendour,  and  the  submission  of  the  Welch,  which  happened 
soon  after,  freed  Henry  from  all  his  domestic  enemies  ;  and  a  fortunate  event 
which  had  thrown  the  heir  to  the  crown  of  Scotland  into  his  hands  made 
him  also  secure  on  that  quarter. 

Robert  III.  king  of  Scotland,  though  a  prince  of  slender  capacity,  was 
extremely  innocent  and  inoffensive  in  his  conduct.  But  Scotland,  at  that 
time,  was  still  less  fitted  than  England  for  cherishing  a  sovereign  of  such  a 
character.  The  duke  of  Albany,  Robert's  brother,  a  prince  of  a  boisterous 
and  violent  disposition,  had  assumed  the  government  of  the  state ;  and  not 
satisfied  with  present  authority,  he  entertained  the  criminal  purpose  of  ex- 
tirpating his  brother's  children,  and  of  acquiring  the  crown  to  his  own  family. 
He  threw  into  prison  David,  his  eldest  nephew,  who  there  perished  by  hunger; 
so  that  James,  the  younger  brother  of  David,  alone  stood  between  the  tyrant 
and  the  throne.  Robert,  therefore,  sensible  of  his  son's  danger,  embarked 
him  on  board  a  ship,  with  a  view  of  sending  him  into  France,  and  of  trusting 
him  to  the  protection  of  that  friendly  power.  Unfortunately,  however,  the 
vessel  was  taken  by  the  English :  and  although  there  subsisted  at  that  time  a 
truce  between  the  two  kingdoms,  Henry  refused  to  restore  the  young  prince 
to  his  liberty. (2)  But  he  made  ample  amends  for  this  want  of  generosity  by 
bestowing  on  James  an  excellent  education,  which  afterward  qualified  him, 
when  he  mounted  the 'throne,  to  reform,  in  some  measure,  the  rude  and  bar- 
barous manners  of  his  native  country. 

The  remaining  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  was  chiefly  spent  in  regu- 
lating the  affairs  of  his  kingdom ;  which  he  at  length  brought  into  much  order, 
by  his  valour,  prudence,  and  address.  In  his  latter  years,  however,  he  began 
to  turn  his  eyes  towards  those  bright  projects  which  his  more  fortunate  son 
conducted  so  successfully  against  the  French  monarchy ;  but  his  declining 
health  prevented  him  from  attempting  to  put  any  of  them  in  execution.  Af- 
flicted for  some  years  with  violent  fits,  which  frequently  deprived  him  of  all 
sensation,  and  threatened  his  existence,  he  was  carried  off  by  one  of  them  at 
Westminster,  in  thev  forty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  thirteenth  of  his 
reign.  (3)  He  left  behind  him  the  reputation  of  a  wise  prince,  a  prudent 
king,  but  a  bad  man ;  and  yet,  if  we  consider  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
was  involved,  we  can  hardly  conceive  any  person  to  carry  his  ambition  to  the 
same  height,  and  transmit  a  throne  to  his  posterity,  with  less  violence  to 
humanity.  t 

We  should  now  examine  the  affairs  of  France  under  Charles  VI.  as  an 
introduction  to  the  reign  of  Henry  V.  of  England,  who  became  sovereign  of 
both  kingdoms ;  but  we  must  first  carry  forward  the  history  of  the  empire 
and  the  church. 


LETTER  XLIII. 

T-*  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome  and  the  Italian  States,  from 
the  Accession  of  Winceslaus  to  the  Death  of  Sigismund. 

THE  history  of  the  German  empire,  my  dear  Philip,  becomes  always  more 
important  to  us,  in  proportion  as  we  advance  in  the  narration,  though  the 
empire  itself  grew  daily  less  consequential.  We  now  approach  two  principal 
events*  in  the  histqjy  of  the  church :  the  Great  Schism  in  the  West  and  the 
Council  of  Constance. 

(1)  T  Walsingham.  (2)  Buchanan,  lib.  10.  Scotichronicon  Ub.  xv. 

(3)  Wnlsingham.    Otterbourne. 


LET.  XLIII.]  M  O  D  E  R  N   E  U  R  O  P  E.  2C5 

Winceslaus,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  succeeded  his  father,  Charles  IV.,  in 
the  government  of  the  empire,  and  on  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  when  the  church 
was  divided  by  one  of  those  violent  contests  so  disgraceful  to  Christianity. 
The  Italians  had  raised  to  the  pontificate  Urban  VI.,  who  confirmed  the  elec- 
tion of  the  new  emperor,  and  the  French  had  chosen  Clement  VII.  During 
these  troubles  Winceslaus  appointed  Ja'doc,  marquis  of  Moravia,  his  vicar- 
general  in  Italy ;  laid  injunctions  on  him  to  inquire  which  of  the  two  persons 
chosen  was  the  true  pope ;  to  acknowledge  and  protect  him  whom  he  should 
find  to  be  canonic-ally  elected,  and  to  expel  by  force  the  other,  who  had 
intruded  himself  into  the  chair.  He  likewise  held  a  diet  at  Nuremburg,  and 
afterward  one  at  Frankfort ;  where  the  affair  of  the  popes  being  examined, 
Urban  VI.  was  acknowledged  by  the  German  bishops  and  archbishops, 
and  Winceslaus  and  the  princes  of  the  empire  engaged  to  protect  him  in 
the  papacy.  (1) 

After  the  diet  of  Frankfort,  the  emperor  repaired  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where 
he  resided  some  time,  because  the  plague  raged  in  Bohemia ;  and  here  he  gave 
himself  up  to  all  manner  of  debauchery,  neglecting  the  affairs  of  the  empire 
to  such  a  degree,  that  the  princes  and  towns  of  Germany  were  obliged  to 
enter  into  associations  for  their  mutual  defence.  At  the  same  time  Italy 
was  torn  in  pieces  by  the  schism  in  the  church.  Clement,  who  had  taken 
Rome  from  his  rival,  was  expelled  in  his  turn  by  the  citizens,  and  afterward 
settled  at  Avignon,  the  former  residence  of  the  French  pontiffs.  Urban  used 
his  victory  like  a  tyrant.  But  all  priests  in  power,  it  has  been  said,  are  tyrants. 
The  famous  Joan,  queen  of  Naples,  of  whom  I  have  already  had  occasion 
to  speak,  first  experienced  the  effects  of  Urban's  vengeance. 

This  princess,  who  had  imprudently  espoused  the  cause  of  Clement,  had 
been  several  times  married,  but  had  no  children  by  any  of  her  husbands ;  she 
therefore  adopted  Charles  de  Durazzo,  the  natural  heir  to  her  kingdom,  and 
the  only  remaining  descendant  of  the  house  of  Anjou  in  Naples.  But  Du- 
razzo, unwilling  to  wait  for  the  crown  till  the  natural  death  of  his  adoptive 
mother,  associated  himself  with  pope  Urban,  who  crowned  him  king  of  Naples 
at  Rome,  on  condition  that  he  should  bestow  the  principality  of  Capua  on 
Francis  Prignano,  nephew  to  his  holiness.  Urban  also  deposed  queen  Joan, 
and  declared  her  guilty  of  heresy  and  high  treason. 

These  steps  being  taken,  the  pope  and  Durazzo  marched  towards  Naples. 
The  church  plate  and  church  lands  were  sold,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  con- 
quest. Joan,  meanwhile,  was  destitute  of  both  money  and  troops.  In  this 
extremity,  she  invited  to  her  assistance  Lewis  of  Anjou,  brother  to  Charles 
V.  of  France.  But  Lewis,  whom  she  had  adopted  in  the  room  of  the  un- 
grateful Durazzo,  arrived  too  late  to  defend  his  benefactress,  or  dispute  the 
kingdom  with  his  competitor.  The  pope  and  Durazzo  entered  Naples,  aftei 
having  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  Otho  of  Brunswick,  the  queen's  husband. 
All  resistance  now  appeared  to  be  in  vain,  and  flight  alone  seemed  prac- 
ticable. But  even  in  this  the  unfortunate  Joan  failed :  she  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  usurper ;  who,  in  order  to  give  some  colour  to  his  barbarity, 
declared  himself  the  avenger  of  the  murder  of  her  first  husband.  Lewis 
king  of  Hungary  was  consulted  in  regard  to  the  fate  of  the  unhappy  queen. 
He  replied  that  she  must  suffer  the  same  death  which  she  had  inflicted  on 
his  brother  and  her  husband,  Andrew :  and  Durazzo  ordered  her  to  be  smo- 
thered between  two  mattresses.  (2)  Thus  perished  the  famous  Joan  I 
queen  of  Naples,  who  was  celebrated  by  Petrarch  and  Boccace ;  and  whose 
life,  character,  and  catastrophe,  have  a  singular  resemblance  to  those  of  the 
unfortunate  Mary  Stuart,  queen  of  Scotland,  whom  I  shall  afterward  have 
occasion  to  mention. 

While  one  gallant  woman  thus  sunk  beneath  the  arm  of  power,  another 
rose  superior  to  all  resistance.  On  the  death  of  Olaus,  king  of  Denmark, 
his  mother  Margaret  ascended  the  throne,  with  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 

(1)  Du  Puy,  Hist.  Gen.  du  Schisme,  &c.     Mairabourg,  Hist,  du  grand  Sckismc  d'Occidei 
2)  Giannone,  Hist,  di  Nap.  10 


366  THEHISTORYOF  [PART!. 

people ;  and  even  recommended  herself  so  strongly  to  the  Swedes,  who  were 
oppressed  by  their  own  king  Albert,  that  they  renounced  their  allegiance  to 
that  prince,  and  made  her  a  solemn  tender  of  their  crown.  She  accepted  the 
offer ;  marched  to  their  assistance,  and  defeated  Albert,  who  was  deposed, 
and  obliged  to  retire  into  the  dominions  of  his  brother  the  Duke  of  Mecklen- 
burg. On  this  revolution  in  Swederi,  Margaret  assumed  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment, and  was  distinguished  by  the  appellation  of  the  Semiramis  of  the 
North.(l) 

Meantime  Winceslaus  continued  immersed  in  debauchery,  and  seemed 
industrious  in  acquiring  the  implacable  hatred  of  his  subjects  by  the  extraor- 
dinary taxes  he  imposed,  and  the  cruelties  which  he  exercised  upon  people  of 
all  ranks.  In  order  to  familiarize  himself  to  blood  and  carnage,  he  descended 
so  low  as  to  contract  an  intimacy  with  the  public  executioner,  whom  he  dis- 
tinguished by  the  appellation  of  his  gossip ;  and  in  one  of  his  fits  of  intoxica- 
tion, he  is  said  to  have  ordered  his  cook  to  be  roasted  alive. (2) 

On  account  of  these  irregularities,  and  of  selling  the  rights  of  the  empire, 
both  in  Italy  and  Germany,  the  electors  assembled  at  the  castle  of  Laenstein 
on  the  Rhine,  deposed  Winceslaus,  and  raised  to  the  imperial  dignity  Frederic 
duke  of  Brunswick  and  Lunenburg;  but  he  being  basely  murdered  by  count 
Waldeck  before  his  coronation,  they  elected  in  his  stead  Rupert  or  Robert 
count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine. 

Winceslaus  was  so  little  mortified  at  the  news  of  his  deposition,  that  he  is 
reported  to  have  said,  when  he  received  the  intelligence,  "  We  are  overjoyed 
to  be  delivered  from  the  burden  of  the  empire ;  because  we  shall  have  more 
leisure  to  apply  ourselves  to  the  government  of  our  own  kingdom ;"  and  it  must 
be  owned  that,  during  the  nineteen  years  which  he  afterward  reigned  in 
Bohemia,  his  conduct  was  much  less  exceptionable.  But  although  the  indo- 
lent Winceslaus  was  so  little  concerned  at  the  loss  of  the  empire,  he  appears 
to  have  been  sensibly  affected  by  some  of  its  probable  consequences,  though 
seemingly  of  less  moment-;  for  he  is  said  to  have  desired  as  a  last  mark  of 
the  fidelity  of  the  imperial  cities,  that  they  would  send  him  "  some  butts  of 
their  best  wine."(3) 

The  first  expedition  of  the  new  emperor  was  against  Galeazo  Visconti, 
whom  Winceslaus  had  created  duke  of  Milan,  and  who,  not  contented  with 
this  promotion,  proposed  by  force  of  arms  to  make  himself  master  of  Flo- 
rence, Mantua,  Bologna,  and  other  tOAvns  and  countries,  to  be  incorporated 
with  his  dutchy.  In  order  to  preserve  these  territories,  and  recover  the  im- 
perial authority  in  Italy,  Robert  marched  into  the  dutchy  of  Milan,  and  en- 
camped before  the  city  of  Brixen.  But  Galeazo  was  so  well  provided  with 
troops  and  military  stores,  that  the  emperor  was  obliged  to  return  to  Germany 
without  being  able  to  effect  any  thing  of  importance. (4) 

The  retreat  of  Robert  left  the  field  open  to  Galeazo,  who  now  projected 
nothing  less  than  the  conquest  of  the  whole  kingdom  of  Italy :  and  fortune 
at  first  seemed  to  second  his  views.  He  made  himself  master  of  the  city  of 
Bologna,  and  had  almost  reduced  Florence,  when  he  was  attacked  by  a  malig- 
nant fever,  which  at  once  put  an  end  to  his  life  and  his  projects.  As  he 
left  only  one  daughter,  who  was  not  of  age,  a  favourable  opportunity  was 
offered  Robert  of  retrieving  the  affairs  of  the  empire  in  Italy.  But  the  Ger- 
man princes  were  so  little  pleased  with  his  first  expedition,  that  they  would 
not  grant  him  supplies  for  a  second.  He  therefore  employed  himself  in 
appeasing  the  troubles  of  Germany,  and  aggrandizing  his  own  electorate ;  to 
which  he  added  the  fiefs  of  Gegenbach,  Ortemberg,  Offenburg,  Zell,  Her- 
manbach,  and  several  other  lordships  of  Alsace,  purchased  of  the  bishop  oJ 
Strasburg.(5) 

In  the  mean  time  Bohemia  was  involved  in  new  disorders  by  the  preaching 
of  John  Huss,  professor  of  divinity  in  the  university  of  Prague,  who  had 
embraced  the  opinions  of  Wickliffe,  and  was  excommunicated  by  the  pope. 

(1)  Nuitfel.  Hist.  Dan.  torn.  iv.  (2)  Duhrav.  lib.  xxiii.    Jlnnal.  de  VEmp.  torn,  ii 

'3)  Barre,  torn.  vii.  (4)  Hei*s,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxviii.  (5)  Barre,  torn  vto 


LET.  XLIII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  267 

The  publication  of  this  sentence  was  followed  by  troubles  and  seditions. 
Winceslaus  shut  himself  up  in  the  fortress  of  Visigrade,  and  John  Huss 
retired  to  Hussinet,  the  place  of  his  nativity;  where  he  appealed  from  the 
judgment  of  the  pope  to  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  wrote  to  the  cardinals,  offering 
to  give  an  account  of  his  faith,  even  at  the  hazard  of  fire,  before  the  univer- 
sity of  Prague,  and  in  the  presence  of  those  who  had  attended  his  lectures 
and  sermons.(l) 

The  Roman  church  not  only  suffered  from  these  innovations,  but  also  con- 
tinued in  a  state  of  distraction  from  the  schism  which  still  remained,  and 
which  the  emperor  attempted  in  vain  to  cement.  Gregory  XII.,  who  was  ac- 
knowledged pope  in  Italy,  convened  a  council  at  Aquileia,  to  which  he  invited 
Robert,  and  other  Christian  princes,  in  order  to  consider  this  matter.  Bene- 
dict XIII.,  who  was  owned  in  France,  held  another  council  at  Catalonia:  the 
cardinals  convoked  a  third  at  Pisa,  and  the  emperor  appointed  a  diet  for  the 
same  purpose  at  Frankfort ;  where,  after  long  debates,  the  opinions  of  the 
assembly  were  divided  between  the  two  popes.  The  greater  part  of  the  arch- 
bishops, prelates,  and  princes,  espoused  the  cause  of  the  cardinals ;  but  the 
emperor,  the  archbishop  of  Triers,  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  and  some  others, 
declared  for  Gregory,  who  proposed  that  a  council  should  be  held  at  Udina, 
in  Friuli,  under  the  direction  of  Robert,  by  whose  decision  he  promised  to 
abide.  The  emperor  therefore  sent  an  archbishop,  two  bishops,  two  doctors, 
and  his  chancellor,  as  ambassadors  to  Pisa,  to  prove  by  learned  arguments 
that  the  cardinals  ought  not  to  depose  Gregory.  But  these  ambassadors,  find- 
ing they  could  make  no  converts  to  their  opinion,  and  that  the  cardinals, 
attached  to  Winceslaus,  would  not  even  acknowledge  their  master  as  emperor, 
appealed  from  the  council  of  Pisa  to  an  ecumenical  council,  and  retired  with- 
out taking  leave.  The  cardinals,  however,  proceeded  to  the  deposition  of 
the  two  popes,  and  raised  to  the  apostolic  chair  Alexander  V.  By  this 
measure  the  schism  was  increased,  there  being  now  three  popes  instead  of 
two.  (2) 

Robert  died  soon  after  this  pious  negotiation,  and  before  he  was  able  to 
settle  the  affairs  of  the  Holy  See.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  empire,  after  a 
disputed  election,  by  Sigismund,  brother  to  the  deposed  Winceslaus,  and  king 
of  Hungary ;  a  prince  of  experience  and  abilities,  and  whose  first  care  was  to 
heal  the  wounds  of  the  church.  For  that  purpose,  he  convoked  a  genera] 
council  at  Constance,  with  the  concurrence  of  pope  John  XXIII.,  successoi 
to  Alexander  V. 

At  this  council,  where  Sigismund  appeared  in  all  his  glory,  were  present  a 
prodigious  number  of  cardinals,  prelates,  doctors ;  more  than  a  hundred  sove- 
reign princes ;  one  hundred  and  eight  counts ;  two  hundred  barons ;  and 
twenty-seven  ambassadors  from  the  several  European  courts :  who  all  vied 
with  each  other  in  luxury  and  magnificence.  There  were  also  five  hundred 
players  on  instruments,  called  in  those  times  minstrels ;  and  seven  hundred 
and  eighteen  courtezans,  who  were  protected  by  the  magistracy. (3) 

In  the  first  session,  the  fathers  of  the  council  concluded  that  nothing  could 
so  effectually  contribute  to  re-establish  the  union  of  the  church  as  the  resig- 
nation of  the  competitors  for  the  papacy.  John  XXIII.,  who  presided  in  the 
council,  assented  to  this  opinion,  and  promised  to  renounce  his  title,  provided 
Angelo  Corrario,  who  had  assumed  the  name  of  Gregory  XII.,  and  Peter  de 
Luna,  distinguished  by  that  of  Benedict  XIII.,  would  imitate  him  in  that  act 
of  self-denial.  This  declaration  was  no  sooner  made  than  the  emperor  rose 
from  his  chair,  and  ran  and  embraced  the  feet  of  his  holiness,  applauding  his 
Christian  resignation.  He  was  also  solemnly  thanked  by  the  patriarch  of 
Antioch,  in  the  name  of  the  whole  council.  But  John  afterward  repented  of 
this  condescension ;  and,  by  the  assistance  of  Frederic  duke  of  Austria,  fled 
from  Constance  in  the  night,  disguised  in  the  habit  of  a  postillion.  (4) 

This  unexpected  retreat  at  first  disconcerted  the  council,  which  John 

(1)  Mosheim,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  iii.  et.  Auct.  cit.  in  loc.         (2)  Id.  ibid. 

C3)  Anr.u.1.  de  VEmp.  torn.  ii.  (4)  Thod.  de  Niem.  in  Fit.  Jo.  XXIII 


268  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

declared  to  be  dissolved  in  consequence  of  his  secession.  But  the  fathers  at 
length  agreed,  after  many  learned  arguments,  that  a  council  is  superior  to 
the  pope;  confirmed  the  sentence  of  John's  deposition;  decreed  that  no 
other  pope  should  be  chosen  without  the  consent  of  the  council ;  and  that 
John,  together  with  his  competitors,  Angelo  Corrario  and  Peter  de  Luna, 
should  be  for  ever  excluded  from  the  papacy.  Finding  them  thus  determined, 
John  thought  proper  to  yield  to  the  torrent  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  worse 
fortune  in  attempting  to  oppose  it.  He  quietly  acquiesced  in  the  sentence  of 
the  council,  and  freely  renounced  the  pontificate,  the  ensigns  of  which  he 
immediately  laid  aside.(l)  Soon  after  this  resignation,  Gregory  XII.  sent  a 
legate  to  the  emperor  and  council  to  renounce  his  title  in  the  same  manner ; 
but  the  proud  Spaniard,  Peter  de  Luna,  would  not  yield :  he  remained  obsti- 
nate to  the  last. 

The  affair  of  John  Huss  came  next  upon  the  carpet.  John,  as  has  been 
already  observed,  had  imbibed  the  opinions  of  Wickliffe,  and  converted  to 
his  own  way  of  thinking  an  infinite  number  of  people  of  all  ranks.  Among 
others,  his  doctrine  was  embraced  by  Jerome  of  Prague,  a  man  of  learning, 
whom  he  engaged  as  his  colleague,  and  who  propagated  the  new  religion 
with  great  warmth.  They  had  been  summoned  to  appear  before  the  court 
of  Rome,  but  refused  to  obey  the  citation.  They  condescended,  however,  to 
attend  the  council  of  Constance,  in  order  to  justify  the  doctrine  they  pro- 
fessed; and  Huss,  being  provided  with  a  safe-conduct  from  the  emperor, 
boldly  attempted  to  defend  the  articles  of  his  faith  before  the  fathers  of  the 
council.  That  venerable  body,  however,  seemed  inclined  to  condemn  him 
unheard,  when  the  emperor  desired  them  to  listen  to  what  Huss  had  to  say 
in  his  own  defence.  He  was  accordingly  questioned  in  presence  of  Sigismund, 
and  accused  of  heresy  in  thirty-nine  articles.  Part  of  these  lie  denied,  and 
part  he  offered  to  defend.  But  his  voice  was  drowned  by  the  noise  purposely 
made  by  the  cardinals  ;  and  on  his  refusing  to  abjure  all  the  thirty-nine  arti- 
cles, he  was  immediately  declared  a  sower  of  sedition,  a  hardened  heretic,  a 
disciple  and  defender  of  Wickliffe.  As  such  he  was  degraded  by  four  bishops, 
stripped  of  his  sacerdotal  habit,  and  clothed  in  a  lay  dress.  His  hair  was  cut 
in  the  form  of  a  cross :  upon  his  head  was  put  a  paper  mitre,  painted  with 
the  representation  of  three  devils  ;  and  he  was  delivered  over  to  the  secular 
judge,  who  condemned  him  and  his  writings  to  the  flames,  and  fixed  the  day 
of  his  execution.  (2)  He  died  with  great  constancy. 

After  the  execution  of  John  Huss,  the  council  resumed  the  affair  of  Peter 
de  Luna,  who  still  obstinately  refused  to  quit  his  pretensions  to  the  papacy. 
On  this  occasion  Sigismund  offered  to  go  into  Spain  in  person,  and  engage 
the  mediation  of  Ferdinand  king  of  Arragon,  with  whom  Peter  had  taken 
refuge.  By  such  a  journey  the  emperor  hoped  to  obtain  a  voluntary  renun- 
ciation, like  that  of  the  other  two,  before  the  council  should  proceed  to 
extremity.  He  set  out  accordingly  for  Spain,  accompanied  by  twelve  deputies 
from  the  council;  and  on  his  arrival  at  Perpignan,  he  entered  into  a  negotia- 
tion with  Benedict,  otherwise  Peter  de  Luna,  the  result  of  which  was  sent  to 
the  council,  though  by  no  means  answerable  to  his  expectations.  The  obsti- 
nacy of  Benedict  was  insurmountable,  and  incensed  the  emperor  to  such  a 
•  degree,  that  he  threatened  to  obtain  by  force  that  assent  which  the  pope 
refused  to  grant  by  fair  means;  and  Benedict,  in  consequence  of  these 
menaces,  retired  to  the  fortress  of  Paniscola,  where  he  resolved  to  preserve 
his  pontifical  dignity  to  his  latest  breath.  This  unexpected  flight  deprived 
him  of  all  his  partisans.  The  king  of  Arragon,  with  all  the  princes  and  bishops 
of  his  party,  sent  deputies  to  the  emperor  at  Narbonne ;  where  it  was  agreed, 
that  the  council  should  invite  all  the  former  adherents  of  Benedict  to  come 
to  Constance,  and  join  their  endeavours  for  re-establishing  the  peace  of  the 
church ;  and  that,  on  their  arrival,  a  new  pope  should  be  chosen.(S) 

During  the  absence  of  Sigismund,  the  trial  of  Jerome  of  Prague  engaged 

(1)  Thod.  de  Niem.  in  Vit.  Jo.  XXIII. 

(i2)  Laur.  Byzin.     Diar.  Hustitic.     Chron.  Mag-deb.     Biblioth.  •/?**' 

/3)  Thod.  deJViem.  ubi  sup.    Heiss,  lib.  ii.  cap.  30. 


LET.  XLIIL]  MODERNEUROPE.  269 

the  attention  of  the  council.  This  man  had  repaired  to  Constance,  with  a 
design  to  assist  John  Huss  in  making  his  defence ;  but  perceiving  he  had 
nothing  to  hope  from  the  clemency  of  the  fathers,  he  resolved  to  retire  with 
all  expedition  into  Bohemia.  Being  apprehended,  however,  upon  the  road, 
he  was  loaded  with  chains,  and  brought  back  to  Constance ;  where,  in  order 
to  avoid  the  punishment  of  fire,  he  solemnly  abjured  the  opinions  of  Wickliffe 
and  Huss.  But  ashamed  to  survive  his  master,  who  had  encountered  death 
with  so  much  firmness,  or  not  deriving  the  advantages  he  expected  from  his 
submission,  he  professed  anew  the  same  doctrines ;  was  condemned  to  the 
flames  as  a  wicked  apostate,  and  suffered  with  great  fortitude.(l) 

Poggio  the  Florentine,  secretary  to  pope  John,  and  one  of  the  first  restorers 
of  letters,  who  was  present  on  this  occasion,  says  he  never  heard  any  thing 
that  approached  so  nearly  to  the  eloquence  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans, 
as  the  speech  which  Jerome  made  to  the  judges.  "He  spoke,"  exclaims 
Poggio,  "  like  Socrates ;  and  walked  to  the  stake  with  as  much  cheerfulness 
as  that  great  philosopher  drank  the  cup  of  hemlock  !" 

After  the  return  of  Sigismund,  the  council  proceeded  against  Benedict  for 
contumacy,  when  the  definitive  sentence  of  his  deposition  was  pronounced. 
Their  next  care  was  the  election  of  a  new  pope :  and  Otho  Colonna,  who 
possessed  the  accomplishments  of  a  prince  and  the  virtues  of  a  prelate,  was 
unanimously  chosen  on  St.  Martin's  day,  whence  he  took  the  name  of 
Martin  V.  Never  was  the  inauguration  of  any  pontiff  attended  with  greatei 
pomp.  He  rode  in  procession  to  the  cathedral,  mounted  on  a  white  horse ; 
the  emperor  and  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  on  foot,  leading  it  by  the  reins.  A 
numerous  crowd  of  princes,  the  ambassadors  of  all  the  kings,  and  the  fathers 
of  the  council,  closed  the  train.  When  he  entered  the  cathedral,  the  triple 
crown  was  placed  upon  his  head,  and  he  returned  in  the  same  august  manner.  (2) 

The  important  affair  of  the  schism  being  thus  concluded,  every  thing  else 
was  regulated  by  the  council,  which  broke  up  in  its  forty-fifth  session.  The 
disputes  about  religion,  however,  still  raged  with  greater  violence  than  ever. 
The  Hussites  in  Prague  were  so  much  offended  at  being  prohibited  the  cup 
in  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist  (contrary,  as  they  affirmed,  to  the  express 
words  of  our  Saviour,  who  says,  "  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  son  of  man, 
and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you !")  that  they  raised  a  furious 
tumult,  forced  the  town-house,  and  murdered  the  magistrates  who  were  con- 
cerned in  publishing  the  order.  (3) 

The  news  of  this  massacre  filled  the  court  of  Winceslaus  with  the  utmost 
consternation,  and  made  so  strong  an  impression  on  that  pusillanimous  prince, 
that  he  was  seized  with  an  apoplexy,  of  which  he  died  in  a  few  days.  He 
was  succeeded  in  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  by  his  brother  Sigismund,  already 
emperor,  and  king  of  Hungary;  yet  this  powerful  prince  was  several  times 
defeated  by  Ziska,  then  general  of  the  Hussites,  who  revenged  the  death  of 
their  apostle  by  the  most  terrible  outrages. 

A  particular  account  of  the  war  between  the  emperor  and  the  Hussites 
would  interfere  with  more  important  matters,  without  answering  any  valuable 
purpose:  I  shall  therefore  only  observe,  that  Ziska  continued  master  of 
Bohemia  till  his  death,  when  he  ordered  a  drum  to  be  made  of  his  skin, 
which  was  long  the  symbol  of  victory.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  command 
by  Procopius  surnamed  the  Shaven,  because  he  had  been  a  priest,  and  who 
supported  his  party  with  no  less  valour  than  his  predecessor.  He  boldly 
defended  their  cause  in  the  council  of  Basil,  where  many  things  were  dis- 
puted which  it  is  of  little  consequence  to  know :  and  although  he  was  unsuc- 
cessful in  that  negotiation,  and  also  in  a  battle  with  the  Catholics,  in  which 
he  was  mortally  wounded,  yet  the  Hussites,  even  in  this  extremity,  obtained 
a  general  amnesty,  the  confirmation  of  their  privileges,  and  the  right  of  using 
the  cup  in  the  communion;  a  concession  which,  to  them,  was  a  kind  of 
triumph.  (4) 

f 

(1)  Mosheim,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  Hi.    Spend.  Contin.  torn.  ii. 

(2)  Barre,  torn.  vii.    Aunal.  de  CEmp.  torn.  ii. 

(3)  Byzinii  Diarium  Hussiticmn.    Mosheim  ubi  supra.  (4)  Mosheim,  ubi  supii 


270  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART!. 

After  this  pacification,  Sigismund  enlisted  the  Hussites  in  his  army,  and 
led  them  against  the  Turks,  who  had  made  an  irruption  into  Hungary,  and 
were  defeated  with  great  slaughter  by  these  hardy  veterans.  But  although 
Sigismund  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  regain  the  affections  of  the  Bohemians, 
he  lost  it  anew  by  attempting  to  tyrawiize  over  their  consciences  ;  and  death 
only  saved  him  from  a  second  revolt.  He  nominated  as  his  successor,  in  the 
kingdoms  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  Albert,  duke  of  Austria,  his  son-in-law, 
who  was  recognised  by  these  states,  and  also  raised  to  the  empire.  The 
house  of  Austria  has  ever  since  held  the  imperial  throne. 

Sigismund,  with  many  respectable  qualities,  Avas  a  narrow-minded  bigot ; 
\nd,  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  sound  policy  as  well  as  of  humanity,  was 
guilty  of  the  most  detestable  of  all  tyranny,  that  of  violence  on  the  will. 
His  wife  Barbara,  is  said  to  have  been  a  person  of  a  more  enlarged  way  of 
thinking,  though  not  more  to  her  honour.  She  denied  a  future  state,  and 
held  the  supreme  good  to  consist  in  sensual  delight.  Conformably  to  this 
opinion,  she  set  no  bounds  to  her  licentious  amours  after  the  death  of  the 
emperor.  And  when  a  certain  lady  of  reputation  mentioned  to  her  the 
example  of  the  turtle,  which,  after  having  lost  its  mate  never  chooses 
another,  "  Why,"  cried  she,  "  instance  a  bird  that  lives  in  perpetual  solitude, 
far  from  the  habitations  of  men,  and  of  which  we  know  little  ?  Is  the  ex- 
ample more  forcible,  or  more  fit  for  imitation,  than  that  of  the  pigeon  and  the 
sparrow,  birds  always  in  our  view,  and  whose  loves  and  joys  are  in  continual 
succession  ?"(!) 

The  affairs  of  France  now  claim  our  attention. 


LETTER  XLIV. 

France,  from  the  Death  of  Charles  V.  in  1380,  to  the  Invasion  of  that  Kingdom 
by  Henry  V.  of  England,  in  1415. 

THE  death  of  Charles  V.  of  France,  my  dear  Philip,  which  happened,  as  I 
have  already  observed,  soon  after  that  of  Edward  III.  of  England,  and  the 
youth  of  his  son  Charles  VI.,  put  the  two  kingdoms  in  a  similar  situation. 
Both  were  under  the  government  of  minors :  and  the  jealousies  between  the 
three  uncles  of  Charles  VI.,  the  dukes  of  Anjou,  Berri,  and  Burgundy,  dis- 
tracted the  affairs  of  France  even  more  than  the  rivalry  between  the  dukes 
of  Lancaster,  York,  and  Gloucester,  the  three  uncles  of  Richard  II. Disordered 
those  of  England.  But  a  particular  account  of  these  distractions  would  be 
inconsistent  with  my  present  purpose,  which  is  only  to  delineate  the  great 
line  of  history,  and  make  you  acquainted  with  the  more  remarkable  events, 
or  such  as  have  had  a  particular  influence  upon  government  and  manners. 
In  the  reign  of  Charles  VI.  no  enterprise  of  consequence  was  undertaken, 
and  government  and  manners,  properly  speaking,  were  equally  unknown.  I 
shall,  therefore,  consider  the  history  of  France,  during  this  distracted  period, 
as  only  an  introduction  to  the  invasion  of  that  kingdom  by  Henry  V.  of 
England. 

In  proportion  as  the  king  advanced  in  years,  the  factions  were  composed. 
His  uncle,  the  duke  of  Anjou,  died ;  and  Charles  himself,  assuming  the  reins 
of  government,  discovered  symptoms  of  genius  and  spirit  which  revived  the 
drooping  hopes  of  his  countrymen.  But  this  promising  state  of  things  was 
of  short  duration.  The  unhappy  Charles  fell  suddenly  into  a  fit  of  frenzy, 
which  rendered  him  incapable  of  exercising  his  authority ;  and  although  lie 
partly  recovered  from  that  disorder,  he  was  subject  to  such  frequent  relapses, 
that  his  judgment  was  gradually  impaired,  and  he  became  incapable  of  pur- 
suing dny  steady  plan  of  government.  (2) 

The  kirg's  first  relapse  is  said  to  have  been  occasioned  by  the  following 

(i)  JEa.  P/lv.  cap.  xxxiii     Dubrav.  lib.  xxviii  (2)  Hist.  Anonym,  de  Charles  ff 


LET.XLIV.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  .  271 

accident.  The  queen  having  married  one  of  her  maids  of  honour  to  a  person 
of  distinction,  the  nuptials  were  intended  to  be  celebrated  with  great  pomp 
at  the  palace  of  the  queen-dowager,  relict  of  Philip  of  Valois.  Among  other 
amusements,  there  was  to  be  a  masquerade — a  circumstance  which  furnished 
five  young  noblemen  with  the  extravagant  idea  of  appearing  as  naked  savages ; 
and  such  was  the  indelicacy  of  the  times,  that  the  king  made  one  of  the  party. 
Their  dress,  contrived  to  sit  close  to  their  bodies,  was  of  linen,  covered  with 
rosin ;  which,  while  hot,  had  been  powdered  with  fur.  And  the  secret  was 
so  well  kept,  that,  when  they  appeared,  they  were  not  known;  but  their 
whim  was  highly  applauded.  The  dutchess  of  Berri  laid  hold  of  the  king, 
seeing  him  robust  and  well  made,  and  told  him  she  would  not  let  him  go  till 
she  knew  who  he  was.  In  the  mean  time,  the  rest  began  to  dance  ;  when  the 
duke  of  Orleans,  out  of  levity,  making  a  feint  of  running  a  lighted  torch 
against  one  of  the  savages,  set  his  combustible  habit  on  fire.  The  flame  Avas 
quickly  communicated  to  the  rest,  and  this  scene  of  wanton  mirth  was 
instantly  changed  into  sorrow  and  distress.  But  in  the  midst  of  their  tor- 
ments the  masks  cried  out  continually,  "Save  the  king!  save  the  king!" 
And  the  dutchess  of  Berri,  suddenly  recollecting  that  he  must  be  the  mask 
that  stood  next  her,  immediately  threw  her  robes  over  him,  and,  wrapping 
them  close  about  him,  put  out  the  fire.  One  of  the  masks,  by  jumping  into 
a  cistern  of  water,  saved  his  life  ;  the  other  four  were  so  terribly  burned  that 
they  died  in  two  days ;  and  the  king  was  so  much  affected  with  the  fright, 
that  it  occasioned  a  return  of  his  disorder,  which  afterward  generally  attacked 
him  four  or  five  times  a  year  to  the  end  of  his  life.(l) 

History  scarce  affords  any  parallel  of  a  court  or  country  more  corrupt,  and 
at  the  same  time  more  miserable,  than  that  of  this  unfortunate  monarch  and 
his  subjects,  in  consequence  of  his  infirmity.  The  administration  fell  again 
into  the  hands  of  the  dukes  of  Berri  and  Burgundy,  who  excluded  the  duke 
of  Orleans,  the  king's  brother,  under  pretence  of  his  youth,  from  any  share 
in  the  government,  and  even  from  the  shadow  of  authority.  The  case,  how- 
ever, was  very  different  in  regard  to  the  dutchess  of  Orleans.  Young,  beau 
tiful,  and  insinuating,  she  acquired  such  an  ascendant  over  the  king  that  she 
governed  him  at  her  pleasure.  Nay,  what  is  yet  more  extraordinary,  it  was 
she  only  that  could  govern  him ;  for  in  the  time  of  his  malady  he  knew 
nobody  else,  not  even  the  queen.  Hence  it  was  rumoured  by  the  dutchess  of 
Burgundy,  who  envied  the  influence  of  the  dutchess  of  Orleans,  that  sjie  had 
bewitched  the  king ;  and,  in  order  to  heighten  the  odium,  it  was  insinuated 
that  the  duke  of  Orleans  had  also  bewitched  the  queen.(2)  That  both  were 
under  the  influence  of  enchantment  is  not  to  be  doubted :  but  it  was  only 
that  of  youth,  wit,  and  beauty,  whose  assiduities  so  often  fascinate  the  sus- 
ceptible heart ;  and,  when  unrestrained  by  principle  or  sentiment,  lead  it  in 
the  chains  of  loose  desire. (3) 

While  things  were  in  this  situation,  the  duke  of  Burgundy  died.  He  was 
succeeded  in  the  dutchy  by  his  son  John,  count  of  Nevers,  who  disputed  the 
administration  with  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and  hoped  to  govern  France  as  his 
father  had  done.  Propinquity  to  the  crown  pleaded  in  favour  of  the  latter ; 
the  former  derived  consequence  from  his  superior  power,  the  death  of  his 
mother  having  added  the  county  of  Flanders  to  his  father's  extensive  domi- 
nions. The  people  were  divided  between  these  contending  princes,  and  the 
king,  now  resuming  and  now  dropping  his  authority,  kept  the  victory  unde- 
cided, and  prevented  any  regular  settlement  of  the  state  by  the  final  preva- 
lence of  either  party. 

But  at  length  the  dukes  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy,  seemingly  moved  by 
the  cries  of  the  nation,  and  swayed  by  the  interposition  of  common  friends, 
agreed  to  bury  all  past  quarrels  in  oblivion,  and  entered  into  a  league  of  mu- 
tual amity.  They  swore  before  the  altar  to  the  sincerity  of  this  friendship ; 
the  priest  administered  the  sacrament  to  both  of  them ;  and  they  gave  to 

(1)  Juv.  des  Urs.    Hist.  Anonym.  &c.  (2)  Juv.  des  Ursins.    Du  Tillet.    Le  Gcr.dre. 

(3)  Isabella  of  Bavaria,  queen  of  France,  and  Valentinia  of  Milan,  dutchess  of  Orleans,  were  Imth 
remarkably  handsome  and  accomplished  ;  and  the  duke  was  alike  amorous  and  ambitions. 


272.  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  1. 

each  other  every  pledge  that  could  be  deemed  sacred  among  men.  All  this 
solemn  preparation,  however,  appears  to  have  been  only  a  cover  for  the  basest 
treachery,  deliberately  premeditated  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  He  had  hired 
ruffians,  who  assassinated  his  rival  in  the  streets  of  Paris. (l)  The  author  of 
the  crime  was  for  some  days  unknown,  as  the  assassins  escaped,  and  the  duke 

.  endeavoured  to  conceal  the  part  which  he  had  taken  in  it ;  but  being  detected, 
he  embraced  a  resolution  still  more  criminal,  and  more  dangerous  to  society. 
He  openly  avowed  and  justified  the  action. 

'  '  This  cause  was  brought  before  the.  parliament  of  Paris ;  and  that  august 
tribunal  of  justice  heard  the  .karangues  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy's  advocate 
in  defence  of  assassination,  which  he  denominated  tyrannicide,  without  pro- 
nouncing any  sentence  or  condemnation  against  the  detestable  doctrine.  The 
same  question  was  afterward  agitated  before  the  council  of  Constance ;  and 
it  was.with  difficulty  that  a  feeble  decision  in  favour  of  the  contrary  opinion 
was  ob'tained  from  those  fathers  of  the  church,  the  ministers  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace.(2) 

But  the  mischievous  effects  of  that  tenet,  had  they  been  before  anywise 
/loubtful,  appeared  sufficiently  from  the  subsequent  incidents.  The  commis- 
sion of  this  crime,  which  destroyed  all  trust  and  security,  rendered  the  war 
implacable  between  the  French  parties,  and  cut  off  every  means  of  peace  and 
accommodation.  Th,e  princes  of  the  blood,  combining  with  the  young  duke 
of  Orleans  and  his  brothers,  made  violent  war  on  the  duke  of  Burgundy ; 
and  the  unhappy  king,  seized  sometimes  by  one  party,  sometimes  by  an- 

«,  other,  transferred  alternately  to  each  of  them  the  appearance  of  legal  autlio- 

'  rity.     The  provinces  were  laid  waste  by  mutual  depredations :  assassinations 

were  every  where  committed,  from  the  animosity  of  the  several  leaders ;  or, 

what  was  equally  terrible,  executions  were  ordered,  without  any  legal  trial. 

by  pretended  courts  of  judicature. 

The  whole  kingdom  was  distinguished  into  two  parties,  the  Burgundians 
gpid  the  Armagnacs  ;  for  so  the  adherents  of  the  young  duke  of  Orleans  were 
called,  from  the  count  of  Armagnac,  father-in-law  to  that  prince.  The  city 
of  Paris,  distracted  between  them,  but  inclining  more  to  the  Burgundians, 
was  a  peVpetual  scene  of  blood  and  violence.  The  king  and  royal  family 
were  often  Detained  captives  in  the  hands  of  the  populace  :  their  ministers 
were  butchered  or  imprisoned  before  their  eyes  ;  and  it  was  dangerous  for 
any  nrnn,  amid  these  enraged  factions,  to  be  distinguished  by  a  strict  adhe- 
rence to  the  principles  of  probity  and  honour. 

During  this  scene  of  general  violence,  there  arose  into  some  consideration 
a  body  of  men,  which  usually  makes  no  figure  in  public  transactions,  even 
during  the  most  peaceful  times  ;  namely,  the  heads  of  the  university  of  Paris, 
whose  opinion  was  sometimes  demanded,  and  more  frequently  offered,  in  the 
multiplied  disputes  between  the  parties.  This  schism,  by  which  the  church 
was  at  that  time  divided,  and  which  occasioned  frequent  controversies  in  the 
university,  had  raised  the  professors  to  an  unusual  degree  of  importance ; 
and  this  connexion  between  literature  and  religion,  had  bestowed  on  the 
former  a  consequence  which  reason  and  knowledge  have  seldom  been  able  to 
obtain  among  men.  But  there  was  another  society,  whose  sentiments  were 
still  more  decisive  at  Paris,  the  fraternity  of  butchers ;  who,  under  the  di- 
rection of  their  ringleaders,  had  declared  for  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  and 
committed  the  most  violent  outrages  against  the  opposite  party.  In  order 
to  counterbalance  this  power,  the  Armagnacs  made  interest  with  the  fraternity 
of  carpenters  :  the  populace  ranged  themselves  on  the  one  side  or  the  other ; 
and  the  fate  of  the  capital  depended  on  the  prevalence  of  either  party.  ( 


MODERN   EUROPE.  273 

1  he  advantage  which  might  be  taken  of  these  confusions  was  easily  per- 
ceived in  England;  and  according  to  the  maxims  which  usually  prevail 
among  nations,  it  Avas  determined  to  lay  hold  of  the  favourable  opportunity. 
Henry  IV.,  who  was  courted  by  both  the  French  parties,  fomented  the  quar- 
rel, by  alternately  sending  assistance  to  each  ;  and  his  son,  Henry  V.,  im- 
pelled by  the  vigour  of  youth,  and  the  ardour  of  ambition,  determined  to 
push  his  advantages  to  a  greater  length,  and  to  carry  war  into  the  heart  of 
France.  In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  he  assembled  a  great  fleet  and 
army  at  Southampton,  and  invited  ^11  the  military  men  in  the  kingdom  to 
attend  him.  But  before  I  speak  of  the  success  of  that  enterprise,  I  musf 
say  a  few  words  of  the  reign  of  Henry  V.  prior  to  this  period. 


LETTER  XLV. 

Kngland  and  France,  from  the  Invasion  of  the  latter  Kingdom  by  Henry  P;  to 
the  Death  of  Charles  VL 

THE  precarious  situation  of  Henry  IV.,  with  whose  character,  my  dear 
Philip,  you  are  already  well  acquainted,  had  so  much  infected  his  temper  with 
jealousy,  that  he  entertained  unreasonable  suspicions  with  regard  to  the  loyalty 
of  his  eldest  son  :  and,  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  he  excluded  that 
prince  from  all  share  in  public  business.  The  active  spirit  of  young  Henry, 
restrained  from  its  proper  exercise,  broke  out  in  extravagancies  of  every  kind. 
The  riot  of  pleasure,  the  frolic  of  debauchery,  and  the  outrage  of  intoxica- 
tion, filled  the  vacancies  of  a  mind  better  adapted  to  the  pursuits  of  ambition 
and  the  cares  of  government.  Such  a  course  of  life  naturally  threw  him 
among  companions  very  unbecoming  his  rank,  but  whose  irregularities,  if 
accompanied  with  gallantly  and  humour,  he  seconded  and  indulged.  And 
he  was  detected  in  many  sallies,  which,  to  severer  eyes,  appeared  totally  un- 
worthy of  his  station.  (1) 

But  the  nation,  in  general,  considered  the  young  prince  with  more  indul- 
gence. They  observed  so  many  gleams  of  generosity,  spirit,  and  magnani- 
mity, breaking  continually  through  the  cloud,  which  a  wild  conduct  threw 
over  his  character,  that  they  never  ceased  hoping  for  his  amendment.  And 
the  first  steps  taken  by  young  Henry,  after  the  death  of  his  father,  confirmed 
all  those  prepossessions  entertained  in  his  favour.  He  called  together  his 
former  companions ;  acquainted  them  with  his  intended  reformation ;  ex- 
horted them  to  imitate  his  example  ;  but  strictly  prohibited  them,  until  they 
had  given  proofs  of  their  amendment,  from  appearing  any  more  in  his  pre- 
sence :  while  the  wise  ministers  of  his  father,  who  had  checked  his  riots, 
were  received  with  all  the  marks  of  favour  and  confidence.  They  found  that 
they  had  unknowingly  been  paying  the  highest  court  to  him.  (2)  The  satis- 
factions of  those  who  feared  an  opposite  conduct,  was  augmented  by  their 
surprise  ;  so  that  the  character  of  the  young  king  appeared  brighter  than  if 
it  had  never  been  shaded  by  any  errors. 

Henry's  first  care  was  to  banish,  as  much  as  possible,  all  party  distinctions. 
The  instruments  of  the  violences  of  the  preceding  reign,  who  had  been  ad- 
vanced from  their  blind  zeal  for  the  Lancastrian  interest,  more  than  from 
their  integrity  or  abilities,  gave  place  every  where  to  men  of  more  honour- 
able characters ;  and  virtue  and  talents  seemed  now  to  have  a  spacious  field,' 
in  which  they  might  display  themselves  to  advantage.  One  party  distinc- 
tion, however,  remained,  which  the  popularity  of  Henry  was  not  able  to 
overcome.  The  Lollards,  or  disciples  of  Wickliffe,  fast  increasing  in  the 
kingdom,  were  become  a  formidable  body,  which  appeared  dangerous  to  the 
church,  and  even  to  the  civil  power. 

The  head  of  this  sect  was  sir  John  Oldcastle,  Lord  Cobham,  a  nobleman 

(1)  Walsinglmm.    Hall.    Holingshed. 

(2)  Hall.    Holingshed.    Hume,  chap.  xix.    Godwin,  Life  of  Hen.  V. 
Vot.  T S 


274  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART! 

who  had  distinguished  himself  by  his  military  talents,  and  who  had,  on  many 
occasions,  acquired  the  esteem  both  of  the  late  and  of  the  present  king.  His 
high  character,  and  zeal  for  the  new  sect,  pointed  him  out  to  Arundel,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  as  the  proper  victim  of  ecclesiastical  severity.  The 
primate  accordingly  applied  to  the  king  for  permission  to  indict  lord  Cobham. 
The  generous  nature  of  Henry  was  averse  from  such  sanguinary  methods  oi 
conversion ;  but  after  trying  all  gentle  means  in  vain,  and  finding  that  noble- 
man obstinate  in  his  opinions,  he  gave  ful}  reins  to  priestly  vengeance  against 
the  inflexible  sectary.  Cobham  was  condemned  to  the  flames,  but  made  his 
escape  from  the  Tower  before  the  day  appointed  for  his  execution.  Provoked 
oy  persecution,  and  stimulated  by  zeal,  he  was  now  incited  to  attempt  those 
criminal  measures  formerly  imputed  to  him.  The  king  was  informed  of  his 
designs :  his  followers  were  every  where  persecuted ;  and  he  himself,  after 
a  variety  of  distresses,  was  seized'  and  hanged  as  a  traitor,  and  his  body  was 
burned  on  the  gibbet,  in  consequence  of  the  sentence  pronounced  against  him 
as  a  heretic.(l) 

The  Lollards  being  thus  suppressed,  Henry  had  leisure  to  consider  the 
dying  injunction  of  his  father,  not  to  let  the  English  remain  long  in  peace, 
which  was  apt  to  breed  intestine  commotions,  but  to  employ  them  in  'foreign 
expeditions;  by  which  the  prince  might  acquire  honour,  the  nobility,  in 
sharing  his  dangers,  attach  themselves  to  his  person,  and  all  the  restless 
spirits  find  occupation  for  their  inquietude.  The  natural  disposition  of  Henry 
sufficiently  inclined  him  to  follow  this  advice,  arid  the  civil  disorders  of  France, 
as  you  have  already  seen,  opened  a  full  career  for  his  ambition.  He  accord- 
ingly set  sail  from  Southampton,  the  place  of  general  rendezvous,  and  landed 
near  Harfleur,  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  six  thousand  men  at  arms,  and 
twenty-four  thousand  foot,  mostly  archers. 

The  king  of  England,  on  landing,  immediately  invested  Harfleur;  which 
was  taken  by  assault,  after  a  siege  of  six  weeks,  and -the  garrison  put  to  the 
sword.  The  fatigue  of  this  siege,  however,  and  the  unusual  heat  of  the 
season,  had  so  much  wasted  the  English  army,  that  Henry  could  enter  on  no 
further  enterprise,  and  was  obliged  to  think  of  returning  to  England.  He 
had  dismissed  his  transports,  which  could  not  safely  anchor  in  an  open  road 
upon  the  enemy's  coast ;  so  that  he  lay  under  the  necessity  of  marching  by 
land  to  Calais,  before  he  could  reach  a  place  of  safety.  Nor  was  this  all.  A 
French  army  of  fourteen  thousand  men  at  arms,  and  forty  thousand  foot, 
was  already  assembled  in  Normandy  under  the  constable  d' Albert ;  a  force, 
rightly  managed,  sufficient  either  to  trample  down  the  English  in  the  open 
field,  or  to  harass  and  reduce  to  nothing  their  small  body,  before  they  could 
finish  so  long  and  difficult  a  march.  Henry,  therefore,  prudently  offered  to 
sacrifice  his  conquest  of  Harfleur,  for  a  safe  passage  to  Calais ;  but  his  pro- 
posal being  rejected  by  the  French  court,  he  determined  to  make  his  way  by 
valour  and  policy  through  all  the  opposition  of  the  enemy.  And  that  he 
might  not  discourage  his  army  by  the  appearance  of  flight,  or  expose  them  to 
those  hazards  which  naturally  attend  precipitate  marches,  he  made  slow  and 
deliberate  journeys. (2) 

But  notwithstanding  these  precautions,  the  English  monarch  was  continu 
ally  harassed  on  his  march,  by  flying  parties  of  the  enemy ;  and  when  he 
approached  the  Somme,  he  saw  bodies  of  troops  on  the  opposite  bank  ready 
to  obstruct  his  passage.  His  provisions  were  cut  off;  his  soldiers  languished 
,under  sickness  and  fatigue ;  and  his  situation  seemed  altogether  desperate. 
In  this  extremity,  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  seize  an  unguarded  ford,  ovei 
which  he  safely  carried  his  army,  and  bent  his  march  towards  Calais.  But 
he  was  still  exposed  to  great  and  imminent  danger  from  the  enemy  who  had 
also  passed  the  Somme,  and  threw  themselves  full  in  his  way,  with  a  design 
of  intercepting  his  retreat.  The  whole  French  army  was  drawn  up  in  the 
plains  of  Azincour,  or  Agincourt,  and  posted  in  such  a  manner,  that  it  was 
impossible  for  the  king  of  England  to  proceed  on  his  march  without  coming 
to  an  engagement. 

I    Walsingham     Ouerbiirnc.     nuliupslii.-d.  (2)  L,.-  I,:tboureux.    T.  T/ivii.    T.  Walsingham. 


LET.  XLV.]  M  O  DE  RN  E  UR  OP  E.  275 

Nothing  in  appearance  could  be  more  unequal  than  the  battle,  upon  which 
the  safety  and  fortune  of  Henry  now  depended.  The  English  army  consisted 
of  little  more  than  half  the  number  which  had  disembarked  at  Harfleur:  and 
the  troops  laboured  under  every  discouragement  and  necessity.  The  enemy 
was  four  times  more  numerous,  headed  by  the  dauphin  and  all  the  princes  of 
the  blood,  and  plentifully  supplied  with  provisions.  Henry's  situation  was 
exactly  similar  to  that  of  Edward  III.  at  the  battle  of  Cressy,  and  of  the 
Black  Prince  at  that  of  Poictiers ;  and  the  memory  of  these  great  events 
inspired  the  English  with  courage  and  made  them  hope  for  a  like  deliverance 
from  their  present  difficulties.  The  king  also  observed  the  same  prudent 
conduct  which  had  been  followed  by  those  great  commanders.  He  drew  up 
his  army  on  a  narrow  ground,  between  two  woods  which  guarded  each  flank ; 
Hiid  in  that  posture  he  patiently  waited  the  attack  of  the  enemy. 

Had  the  French  commander  been  able  to  reason  justly  on  the  circumstances 
of  the  two  armies,  or  to  profit  by  past  experience,  he  would  have  declined  a 
'•ombat,  and  have  waited  till  necessity  had  obliged  the  English  to  advance, 
ind  relinquish  the  advantages  of  their  situation;  but  the  impetuous  valour  of 
ilie  French  nobility,  and  a  vain  confidence  in  superior  numbers,  made  him 
hazard  an  action,  which  proved  the  source  of  infinite  calamities  to  his  coun- 
;  !y .  The  French  archers  on  horseback,  and  their  men  at  arms,  advanced 
precipitantly  on  the  English  archers,  who  had  fixed  palisades  in  their  front 
to  break  the  impression  of  the  enemy,  and  who  safely  plied  them,  from  behind 
that  defence,  with  a  shower  of  arrows  which  nothing  could  resist.  The 
clayey  soil,  moistened  by  rain,  proved  another  obstruction  to  the  force  of  the 
French  cavalry.  The  wounded  men  and  horses  discomposed  their  ranks ; 
the  narrow  compass  in  which  they  were  pent  prevented  them  from  recovering 
any  order;  the  whole  army  was  a  scene  of  confusion,  terror,  and  dismay; 
when  Henry,  perceiving  his  advantage,  ordered  the  English  archers,  who 
were  light  and  unencumbered,  to  advance  upon  the  enemy,  and  seize  the  mo- 
ment of  victory.  They  accordingly  fell  with  their  battle-axes  upon  the  French, 
who  were  now  incapable  of  either  flying  or  defending  themselves,  and  hewed 
them  in  pieces  without  obstruction.  Seconded  by  the  men  at  arms,  who  also 
pushed  on  against  the  enemy,  they  covered  the  field  with  the  killed,  wounded, 
dismounted,  and  overthrown.  Every  appearance  of  opposition  being  now 
over,  the  English  had  leisure  to  make  prisoners ;  but  having  advanced  to  the 
open  plain,  they  there  saw  the  remains  of  the  French  rear-guard,  which  still 
maintained  the  form  of  a  line  of  battle.  At  the  same  time  they  heard  an 
alarm  from  behind.  Some  gentlemen  of  Picardy  having  collected  about  six 
hundred  peasants,  had  fallen  upon  the  English  baggage,  and  were  doing  exe- 
cution on  the  unarmed  followers  of  the  camp,  who  fled  before  them.  On  this 
alarm,  Henry  began  to  entertain  apprehensions  from  his  prisoners,  and  he 
thought  it  necessary  to  issue  general  orders  for  putting  them  to  death;  but  on 
discovering  the  truth,  he  stopped  the  slaughter,  and  great  numbers  of  those 
unhappy  men  were  saved.(l) 

No  victory  was  ever  more  honourable  or  more  complete  than  this  of  Azin- 
cour.  The  loss  of  the  French  was  incredibly  great.  The  constable  d' Albert 
and  seven  princes  of  the  blood  were  slain:  five  princes  were  taken  prisoners, 
together  with  fourteen  thousand  persons  of  different  ranks ;  and  above  ten 
thousand  Frenchmen  were  left  dead  on  the  field  of  battle. (2)  Yet  this  vic- 
tory, so  fatal  to  France,  was  more  ostentatious  than  useful  to  the  conquerors, 
though  their  loss  was  very  inconsiderable.  Henry  was  obliged  to  return  to 
England,  in  order  to  raise  a  fresh  supply  of  men  and  money ;  and  it  was  not 
till  after  an  interval  of  two  years,  that  any  body  of  English  troops  appeared 
again  in  France. 

In  the  mean  time,  France  was  exposed  to  all  the  furies  of  civil  war ;  and 
the  several  parties  became  every  day  more  enraged  against  each  other.  .  The 
duke  of  Burgundy,  who  had  been  worsted  by  his  antagonists,  attempted  to 
reinstate  himself  in  possession  of  the  government,  as  well  as  of  the  person 

fj)  T.Elmham.    T.Livii.    T.  Walsingham.  (2)  Ibid 

S3 


276  THE  HISTORY  OF  f PART  I 

of  the  king ;  and  some  quarrels  in  the  royal  family  enabled  him  to  carry  his 
scheme  into  execution.  Louis  Bois  Bourdon,  favourite  to  queen  Isabella, 
after  the  death  of  the  elder  duke  of  Orleans,  having-  been  accused  by  the 
count  d' Armagnac  of  a  commerce  of  gallantry  with  that  princess,  had  been 
put  to  the  torture,  and  afterward  thrown  into  the  Seine,  in  consequence  of 
his  forced  but  indiscreet  confession.  The  queen  herself  was  sent  to  Tours, 
and  confined  under  a  guard.  After  suffering  these  multiplied  insults,  she  no 
longer  scrupled  to  enter  into  a  correspondence  with  the  duke  of-  Burgundy, 
though  hitherto  an  enemy  to  that  prince;  and  as  her  son  Charles,  the  dauphin, 
was  entirely  governed  by  the  faction  of  Armagnac,  she  extended  her  animo- 
sity even  to  him,  and  sought  his  destruction  with  the  most  unrelenting  hatred.(l) 
She  had  soon  an  opportunity  of  rendering  her  unnatural  purpose  in  some 
measure  effectual. 

The  duke  of  Burgundy  entered  France  at  the  head  of  a  great  army  of 
Flemings ;  overran  most  part  of  the  kingdom,  and  relieved  the  queen  from 
her  confinement.  At  the  same  time  the  duke's  partisans  raised  a  commotion 
in  Paris,  which  always  inclined  to  the  Burgundian  faction ;  the  person  of  the 
king  was  seized ;  the  dauphin  made  his  escape  with  difficulty ;  great  num 
bers  of  the  Armagnac  faction  were  instantly  butchered ;  the  count  himself, 
and  many  persons  of  note  were  thrown  into  prison;  and  the  populace, 
deeming  the  course  of  public  justice  too  dilatory,  broke  open  the  prisons, 
and  put  to  death  that  nobleman  and  all  the  other  noblemen  who  were  there 
confined.  (2) 

While  France  was  thus  rent  in  pieces  by  civil  dissensions,  Henry  V., 
having  recruited  his  forces  and  finance,  landed  in  Normandy  at  the  head  of 
twenty-five  thousand  men,  and  carried  every  thing  before  him.  When  the 
pope's  legate  attempted  to  incline  him  towards  peace,  he  replied,  "  Do  you 
not  see,  that  God  has  led  me  hither  as  by  the  hand  1  France  has  no  sove- 
reign :  I  have  just  pretensions  to  that  kingdom  :  every  thing  here  is  in  the 
utmost  confusion :  no  one  thinks  of  resisting  me.  Can  I  have  a  more  sen- 
sible proof,  that  the  Being  who  disposes  of  empires,  has  determined  to  put 
the  crown  of  France  upon  my  head  ?"(3)  Such  has  ever  been  the  language 
of  force ;  to  which  weakness,  crawling  in  the  dust,  has  too  often  listened 
with  an  ear  of  credulity.  Hence  conquerors,  while  alive,  have  been  con- 
sidered as  the  sons  of  gods,  and  the  delegates  of  heaven ;  and,  after  being 
consigned  to  that  earth  which  they  had  desolated,  have  themselves  been 
exalted  into  divinities. 

But  although  Henry  seemed  so  fully  assured  of  the  conquest  of  France, 
he  was  induced,  by  prudential  motives,  to  negotiate  with  his  enemies.  He 
made  at  the  same  time  offers  of  peace  to  both  the  French  parties ;  to  the 
queen  and  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  on  the  one  hand,  who,  having  possession 
of s  the  king's  person,  carried  the  appearance  of  legal  authority ;  and  to  the 
dauphin  on  the  other,  who,  being  the  rightful  heir  of  the  monarchy,  was 
adhered  to  by  all  men  who  paid  any  regard  to  the  true  interests  of  their 
country.  These  two  parties  also  carried  on  a  continual  negotiation  with 
each  other ;  and  all  things  seemed  settled  to  their  mutual  satisfaction,  when 
the  duke  of  Burgundy  was  slain  by  the  dauphin's  party,  during  an  interview 
at  Monterau. 

In  consequence  of  this  act  of  barbarity,  and  the  progress  of  Henry's  arms, 
the  queen  and  the  new  duke  of  Burgundy,  breathing  vengeance  for  the 
murder  of  his  father,  concluded  the  famous  treaty  of  Troye,  by  which  the 
crown  of  France  was  transferred  to  the  house  of  Lancaster.  The  principal 
articles  were,  that  the  king  of  England  should  espouse  the  princess  Catha- 
rine ;  that  her  father,  Charles  VI.,  should  enjoy,  during  his  lifetime,  the  title 
and  dignity  of  king  of  France;  that  Henry  V.  should  be  declared  and 
acknowledged  heir  of  the  monarchy,  and  be  intrusted  with  the  present 
administration  of  the  government ;  that  all  the  princes,  peers,  vassals,  and 
communities  of  France,  should  swear,  that  they  would  both  adhere  to  the 

.'!)  SL  Remi.    Mon»ir«|pi.  (2>  Id.  ibid.  i3)  Juv  des  Ursins 


LET.  XLV.l  MODERN    E  UROPE.  277 

future  succession  of  Henry,  and  pay  him  present  obedience  as  regent ;  and 
that  this  prince  should  unite  his  arms  to  those  of  the  French  king  and  the 
duke  of  Burgundy,  in  order  to  subdue  the  adherents  of  Charles  the  pretended 
dauphin.(l) 

A  few  days  after  the  signing  of  this  treaty,  Henry  espoused  the  princess 
Catharine.  He  carried  his  father-in-law  to  Paris ;  he  put  himself  in  pos- 
session of  that  capital,  and  he  obtained  from  the  parliament  and  the  three 
estates,  a  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Troye.  He  supported  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy in  procuring  a  sentence  against  the  murderers  of  his  father ;  and  he 
turned  his  arms  with  success  against  the  adherents  of  the  dauphin ;  who,  as 
soon  as  he  heard  of  the  treaty  of  Troye,  took  on  him  the  style  and  authority 
of  regent,  and  appealed  to  God  and  his  sword  for  the  maintenance  of  his 
title.  But,  notwithstanding  the  bravery  and  fidelity  of  his  officers,  Charles 
saw  himself  unequal  to  his  enemies  in  the  field ;  and  found  it  necessary  to 
temporize,  and  avoid  all  hazardous  actions,  with  a  rival  who  had  acquired1  so 
manifest  a  superiority. 

To  crown  all  the  other  prosperities  of  Henry,  his  queen  was  delivered  of  a 
son,  who  was  called  by  his  father's  name,  and  whose  birth  was  celebrated  by 
rejoicings  no  less  pompous,  or  less  sincere,  at  Paris  than  at  London.  The 
infant  prince  seemed  to  be  universally  regarded  as  the  heir  of  both  mon- 
archies. But  the  glory  of  Henry,  when  near  its  height,  was  suddenly  restrained 
by  the  hand  of  nature,  and  all  his  towering  projects  vanished  into  air.  He 
was  seized  with  a  malady  which  the  surgeons  of  that  age  wanted  skill  to  treat 
with  judgment,  namely,  a  fistula,  which  proved  mortal.  When  he  found  his 
end  approaching,  he  sent  for  his  brother  the  duke  of  Bedford,  the  earl  of 
Warwick,  and  a  few  more  noblemen,  whom  he  had  honoured  with  his  con- 
fidence. To  them  he  delivered,  in  great  composure,  his  last  will  with  regard 
to  the  government  of  his  kingdom  and  family.  He  left  the  regency  of  France 
to  his  eldest  brother,  the  duke  of  Bedford ;  that  of  England  to  his  younger 
brother,  the  duke  of  Gloucester ;  and  the  care  of  his  son's  person  to  the  earl 
of  Warwick.(2) 

Henry  V.  possessed  many  eminent  virtues,  and  his  abilities  were  equally 
conspicuous  in  the  cabinet  and  the  field.  The  boldness  of  his  plans  was  no 
less  remarkable  than  his  personal  valour  in  carrying  them  into  execution. 
He  had  the  talent  of  attaching  his  friends  by  affability,  and  of  gaining  his 
enemies  by  address  and  clemency.  His  exterior  figure,  as  well  as  his 
deportment,  was  engaging ;  his  stature  somewhat  above  the  middle  size ;  his 
countenance  beautiful,  his  proportions  elegant ;  and  he  excelled  in  all  warlike 
and  manly  exercises. (3) 

In  less  than  two  months  after  Henry's  death,  his  father-in-law,  Charles  VI. 
of  France,  terminated  his  unhappy  life.  He  had  for  many  years  possessed 
only  the  shadow  of  royalty ;  yet  was  this  mere  appearance  of  considerable 
advantage  to  the  English :  it  divided  the  duty  and  affections  of  the  French 
between  the  king  and  the  dauphin,  who  was  now  crowned  at  Poictiers,  under 
the  name  of  Charles  VII.  Rheims,  the  usual  place  of  such  ceremony,  being 
then  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

Catharine  of  France,  widow  of  Henry  V.  married  soon  after  his  death  sir 
Owen  Tudor,  a  gentleman  of  Wales,  said  to  be  descended  from  the  ancient 
princes  of  that  country.  She  bore  him  two  sons ;  the  eldest  of  whom  was 
created  earl  of  Richmond,  the  second  earl  of  Pembroke.  The  family  of 
Tudor,  first  raised  to  distinction  by  this  alliance,  afterward  mounted,  as  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  see,  the  throne  of  England. 

(1)  Ryiner,  vol.  ix.    St  Remi.    Monstrelet  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  T.  Lnrii. 


378  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 


LETTER  XLVI. 

The  Affairs  of  France  and  England  continued,  from  the  Accession  of  Charles  Vtt 
to  the  Expulsion  of  the  English  from  their  Continental  Territories,  in  1453. 

IN  considering,  with  a  superficial  eye,  the  state  of  affairs  between  France 
and  England,  at  the  accession  of  Charles  VII.,  every  advantage  seems  to  lie 
on  the  side  of  the  latter  kingdom ;  and  the  total  expulsion  of  Charles  appears 
an  event  which  might  naturally  be  expected  from  the  superior  power  of  hio 
competitor.  Though  Henry  VI.  was  yet  in  his  infancy,  the  duke  of  Bedford, 
the  most  accomplished  prince  of  his  age,  was  intrusted  with  the  administra 
tion.  And  the  experience,  prudence,  valour,  and  generosity,  of  the  regent 
qualified  him  for  his  high  office,  and  enabled  him  both  to  maintain  union 
among  his  friends,  and  to  gain  the  confidence  of  his  enemies.  But  Charles 
VII.,  notwithstanding  the  present  inferiority  of  his  power,  possessed  some 
advantages  which  promised  him  success.  As  he  was  the  true  and  undoubted 
heir  of  the  monarchy,  all  Frenchmen,  who  knew  the  interests  or  desired  the 
independency  of  their  native  country,  turned  their  eyes  towards  him  as  its 
sole  resource :  and  Charles  himself  was  of  a  character  well  calculated  to 
become  the  object  of  these  benevolent  sentiments.  He  was  a  prince  of  the 
most  friendly  and  benign  disposition  ;  of  easy  and  familiar  manners ;  and  of 
a  just  and  sound,  though  not  a  very  vigorous,  understanding.  Sincere,  gene- 
rous, affable,  he  engaged  from  affection  the  services  of  his  followers,  even 
while  his  low  fortune  might  have  made  it  their  interest  to  desert  him ;  and 
the  lenity  of  his  temper  could  pardon  those  sallies  of  discontent  to  which 
princes  in  his  situation  are  naturally  exposed.  The  love  of  pleasure  often 
seduced  him  into  indolence ;  but,  amid  all  his  irregularities,  the  goodness  of 
his  heart  still  shone  forth :  and  by  exerting,  at  intervals,  his  courage  and 
activity,  he  proved  that  his  general  remissness  proceeded  neither  from  the 
want  of  ambition,  nor  of  personal  valour. (1) 

Sensible  of  these  advantages  on  the  side  of  Charles,  the  duke  of  Bedford 
took  care  to  strengthen  the  English  interest  by  fresh  alliances  with  the  dukes 
of  Burgundy  and  Brittany ;  and  observing  the  ardour  of  the  Scots  to  serve 
in  France,  where  Charles  treated  them  with  great  honour  and  distinction,  he 
persuaded  the  English  council  to  form  an  alliance  with  James  I.,  their  pri- 
soner ;  to  free  that  prince  from  his  long  captivity,  and  to  connect  him  with 
England,  by  marrying  him  to  a  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Somerset,  and  cousin 
to  the  young  king.  The  alliance  was  accordingly  formed:  James  was 
restored  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors ;  and  proved,  during  his  short  reign, 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  princes  that  had  ever  swayed  the  Scottish  sceptre. 
His  affections,  inclined  to  the  party  of  France;  but  the  English  had  never 
reason,  while  he  lived,  to  complain  of  any  breach  of  the  neutrality  by  Scot- 
land. He  was  murdered  by  his  traitorous  kinsman,  the  earl  of  Athol,  in  1437. 

Bedford,  however,  was  not  so  much  employed  in  negotiations  as  to  neglect 
the  operations  of  war.  He  reduced  almost  every  fortress  on  this  side  of  the 
Loire;  and  the  battle  of  Verneuil,  in  which  the  Scots  and  French  were 
defeated,  threatened  Charles  with  the  total  loss  of  his  kingdom,  when  a  train 
of  singular  circumstances  saved  him  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  and  lost  the  Eng- 
lish such  an  opportunity  of  completing  their  conquests,  as  they  were  never 
afterward  able  to  recall. 

Instead  of  taking  any  possible  advantage  of  the  victory  gained  at  Verneuil, 
or  those  which  he  wished,  and  could  not  fail  to  see,  the  duke  of  Bedford  was 
obliged  to  go  over  to  England,  in  order  to  compose  some  dissensions  among 
the  ministry,  and  to  endeavour  to  moderate  the  measures  of  his  brother,  the 
duke  of  Gloucester,  who  had  inconsiderately  kindled  a  war  in  the  Low  Coun- 

(I    P.  Xm».    DuTilet.     LeG«ndre. 


LBT.  XLM.j  MODERN    EUROPE.  279 

tries,  and  carried  thither  the  troops  destined  for  ihe  reinforcement  of  the 
English  army  in  France.  The  affections  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy  were 
alienated,  and  his  forces  diverted  by  the  same  war.  The  duke  of  Brittany 
returned  to  his  allegiance  under  Charles  VII.  The  French  had  leisure  to 
re-collect  themselves,  and  gained  some  inconsiderable  advantages.  But  the 
regent,  soon  after  his  return,  retrieved  the  reputation  of  the  English  arms, 
by  humbling  the  duke  of  Brittany,  and  resolved  on  an  undertaking  which  he 
Hoped  would  prepare  the  way  for  the  final  conquest  of  France. 

The  city  of  Orleans  was  so  situated  between  the  provinces  commanded 
by  Henry  and  those  possessed  by  Charles,  that  it  opened  an  easy  entrance  to 
either ;  and  as  the  duke  of  Bedford  intended  to  make  a  great  effort  for  pene- 
trating into  the  south  of  France,  it  was  necessary  to  begin  with  the  siege  of 
this  place,  now  become  the  most  important  in  the  kingdom.  The  French 
king  used  every  expedient  to  supply  the  city  with  a  garrison  and  provisions, 
and  the  English  left  no  method  unemployed  for  reducing  it.  The  eyes  of  all 
Europe  were  turned  towards  this  scene  of  action,  where  it  was  reasonably 
supposed  the  French  were  to  make  their  last  stand  for  maintaining  the  inde- 
pendency of  their  monarchy,  and  the  rights  of  their  sovereign.  After  num- 
berless feats  of  valour,  performed  by  the  besiegers  and  the  besieged,  the 
attack  was  so  vigorously  pushed  by  the  English,  although  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy had  withdrawn  his  troops  in  disgust,  that  Charles  gave  over  the  city 
for  lost;  and  even  entertained  thoughts  of  retiring  into  Languedoc  and  Dau- 
phiny  with  the  remains  of  his  forces,  which  were  insufficient  to  attempt  the 
enemy's  intrenchments,  and  of  defending  himself  as  long  as  possible  in  these 
remote  provinces.  (1) 

But  it  was  fortunate  for  that  gay  prince,  who  lay  entirely  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  softer  sex,  that  the  women  whom  he  consulted  on  this  occa- 
sion, had  the  spirit  to  support  his  sinking  resolution.  Mary  of  Anjou,  his 
queen,  a  princess  of  great  merit  and  prudence,  vehemently  opposed  such  a 
measure,  which  she  foresaw  would  discourage  all  his  partisans,  and  serve  as 
a  general  signal  for  deserting  a  prince  who  seemed  himself  to  despair  of  suc- 
cess. His  mistress,  too,  the  fair  Agnes  Soreille,  who  lived  in  perfect  amity 
with  the  queen,  seconded  all  her  remonstrances,  and  threatened  if  he  thus 
pusillanimously  threw  away  the  sceptre  of  France,  that  she  would  seek  in  the 
coiljof  England  a  fortune  more  correspondent  to  her  wishes.  Love  was 
able  to  rouse,  in  the  breast  of  Charles,  that  courage  which  ambition  had  failed 
to  excite.  He  resolved  to  dispute  every  inch  of  ground  with  an  imperious 
enemy:  to  perish  with  honour,  in  the*midst  of  his  friends,  rather  than  yield 
ingloriously  to  his  bad  fortune. (2)  And  this  resolution  was  no  sooner  formed, 
than  relief  was  unexpectedly  brought  him  by  another  female  of  a  very  different 
character. 

In  the  village  of  Domremi  near  Vaucouleurs,  on  the  borders  of  Lonrain, 
lived  a  country  girl,  whose  name  was  Joan  d'Arc :  and  who,  in  the  humble 
station  of  servant  at  an  inn,  had  been  accustomed  to  tend  the  horses  of  the 
guests ;  to  ride  them  without  a  saddle  to  the  watering-place,  and  to  perform 
other  offices  which  commonly  fall  to  the  share  of  men-servants.  This  girl, 
inflamed  by  the  frequent  accounts  of  the  rencounters  at  the  siege  of  Orleans, 
and  affected  with  the  distresses  of  her  country,  but  more  especially  with  those 
of  the  youthful  monarch,  whose  gallantry  made  him  the  idol  of  the  whole 
sex,  was  seized  with  a  wild  desire  of  bringing  relief  to  her  sovereign  in  his 
present  unhappy  circumstances.  Her  inexperienced  mind,  working  day  and 
night  on  this  favourite  object,  mistook  the  impulses  of  passion  for  heavenly 
inspirations ;  and  she  fancied  that  she  saw  visions,  and  heard  voices  exhort- 
ing her  to  re-establish  the  throne  of  France,  and  expel  the  foreign  invaders. 
An  uncommon  intrepidity  of  spirit  made  her  overlook  all  the  dangers  which 
might  attend  her  in  such  a  path ;  and  the  apprehension  of  her  divine  mis- 
sion, dispelled  all  that  bashfulness  so  natural  to  her  sex,  her  years,  and  her 
low  condition.  She  went  to  Vaucouleurs,  procured  admission  to  Baudri- 

(1)  Monstrelet.    Polyd.  Virg.    Stow.    Hall.    Holingshed.  (2)  Id  'birt. 


880  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PARTI. 

court  the  governor,  and  informed  him  of  her  inspirations  and  intentions. 
Baudri court  observed  something  extraordinary  in  the  maid,  or  saw  the  use 
that  might  be  made  of  such  an  engine,  and  sent  her  to  the  French  court,  which 
then  resided  at  Chinon.(l) 

Joan  was  no  sooner  introduced  to  the  king,  than  she  offered,  in  the  name 
of  the  Supreme  Creator,  to  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans,  and  conduct  him  to 
Rheims,  to  be  there  crowned  and  anointed :  and  she  demanded,  as  the  instru- 
ment of  her  future  victories,  a  particular  sword  which  was  kept  in  the  church 
of  St.  Catharine  de  Fierbois.  The  more  the  king  and  his  ministers  were 
determined  to  give  into  the  illusion,  the  more  scruples  they  pretended.  An 
assembly  of  grave  and  learned  divines  was  appointed  to  examine  Joan's 
mission,  and  pronounced  it  undoubted  and  supernatural ;  the  parliament  also 
attested  her  inspiration;  and  a  jury  of  matrons  declared  her  an  unspotted 
virgin.  Her  requests  were  now  granted.  She  was  armed  cap-a-pie,  mounted 
on  horseback,  and  shown  in  that  martial  habiliment  to  the  whole  people. 
Her  dexterity  in  managing  her  steed,  though  acquired  in  her  former  station, 
was  regarded  as  a  fresh  proof  of  her  mission ;  her  former  occupation  was 
even  denied ;  she  was  converted  into  a  shepherdess,  an  employment  more 
agreeable  to  the  imagination  than  that  of  an  ostler-wench.  Some  years  were 
subtracted  from  her  age,  in  order  to  excite  still  more  admiration ;  and  she 
was  received  with  the  loudest  acclamations,  by  persons  of  all  ranks. (2)  A 
ray  of  hope  began  to  break  through  that  cloud  of  despair  in  which  the  minds 
of  men  were  involved.  Heaven  had  now  declared  itself  in  favour  of  France, 
and  laid  bare  its  outstretched  arm  to  take  vengeance  on  her  invaders. 

The  English  at  first  affected  to  speak  with  derision  of  the  Maid  and  hei 
heavenly  commission ;  but  their  imagination  was  secretly  struck  with  the 
strong  persuasion  which  prevailed  in  all  around  them.  They  found  theii 
courage  daunted  by  degrees,  and  thence  began  to  infer  a  Divine  vengeance 
hanging  over  them.  A  silent  astonishment  reigned  among  those  troops, 
formerly  so  elated  with  victory,  and  so  fierce  for  the  combat.  The  Maid 
entered  the  city  of  Orleans  at  the  head  of  a  convoy,  arrayed  in  her  military 
garb,  and  displaying  her  consecrated  standard.  She  was  received  as  a  celes- 
tial deliverer  by  the  garrison  and  inhabitants;  and  by  the  instructions  of 
count  Dunois,  commonly  called  the  Bastard  of  Orleans,  who  command^!  in 
the  place,  she  actually  obliged  the  English  to  raise  the  siege  of  that  cityjfc"ter 
driving  them  from  their  intrenchments,  and  defeating  them  in  several  des- 
perate attacks.  (3) 

The  raising  of  the  siege  of  Orleans  was  one  part  of  the  Maid's  promise  to 
Charles ;  the  crowning  him  at  Rheims  was  the  other :  and  she  now  vehe- 
mently insisted,  that  he  should  set  out  immediately  on  that  journey.  A  few 
weeks  before,  such  a  proposal  would  have  appeared  altogether  extravagant. 
Rheims  lay  in  a  distant  quarter  of  the  kingdom  ;  was  then  in  the  hands  of  a 
victorious  enemy;  the  whole  road  that  led  to  it  was  occupied  by  their  garri- 
sons :  and  no  imagination  could  have  been  so  sanguine  as  to  hope  that  such 
an  attempt  could  possibly  be  carried  into  execution.  But  as  things  had  now 
taken  a  turn,  and  it  was  extremely  the  interest  of  the  king  of  France  to 
maintain  the  belief  of  something  extraordinary  and  divine  in  these  events, 
he  resolved  to  follow  the  exhortations  of  his  warlike  prophetess,  and  avail 
himself  of  the  present  consternation  of  the  English.  He  accordingly  set  out 
for  Rheims,  at  the  head  of  twelve  thousand  men,  and  scarcely  perceived,  as 
he  passed  along,  that  he  was  marching  through  an  enemy's  country.  Every 
place  opened  its  gates  to  him :  Rheims  sent  him  its  keys ;  and  the  ceremony 
of  his  inauguration  was  performed  with  the  holy  oil,  which  a  pigeon  is  said  to 
have  brought  from  heaven  to  Clovis,  on  the  first  establishment  of  the  French 
monarchy.  (4) 

Charles,  thus  crowned  and  anointed,  became  more  respectable  in  the  eyes 
of  all  his  subjects  ;  and  he  seemed  to  derive,  from  a  heavenly  commission,  a 
uew  title  to  their  allegiance.  Many  places  submitted  to  him  immediatelv 

'!)  Hall.    Monitrelet.  ;•>)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Monstrelet.    Villar.  (4)  Id.  ibid 


LET.  XLVI.]  MODERN  E  UROPE.  281 

after  his  coronation,  and  the  whole  nation  was  disposed  to  give  him  the  most 
zealous  testimonies  of  duty  and  affection. 

The  duke  of  Bedford,  in  this  dangerous  crisis,  employed  every  resource 
which  fortune  had  yet  left  him.  He  acted  with  so  much  prudence  and  address 
as  to  renew  his  alliance  with  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  who  had  been  long 
wavering  in  his  fidelity.  He  seemed  present  every  where,  by  his  vigilance 
and  foresight;  and  although  his  supplies  from  England  were  very  inconsider- 
able, he  attempted  to  restore  the  courage  of  his  troops  by  boldly  advancing 
to  face  the  enemy.  But  he  chose  his  posts  with  so  much  caution  as  always 
to  decline  a  combat,  and  to  render  it  impossible  for  the  French  monarch  to 
attack  him.  He  still  attended  that  prince  in  all  his  movements,  covered  his 
own  towns  and  garrisons,  and  kept  himself  in  a  posture  to  reap  advantage 
from  every  imprudent  or  false  step  of  the  enemy.  He  also  endeavoured  to 
revive  the  declining  state  of  his  affairs,  by  bringing  over  the  young  king  of 
England,  and  having  him  crowned  and  anointed  at  Paris.  All  the  vassals  of 
the  crown,  who  lived  within  the  provinces  possessed  by  the  English,  swore 
anew  allegiance,  and  did  homage  to  Henry  VI.(l)  But  this  ceremony  was 
cold  and  insipid,  in  comparison  with  the  coronation  of  Charles  at  Rheims,  and 
the  duke  of  Bedford  expected  more  effect  from  an  incident  which  put  into 
his  hands  the  author  of  all  his  misfortunes. 

The  Maid  of  Orleans,  as  she  is  called,  declared,  after  the  coronation  of 
Charles,  that  her  mission  was  now  accomplished,  and  expressed  her  inclina- 
tion to  retire  to  the  occupations  and  course  of  life  which  became  her  sex. 
But  Dunois,  sensible  of  the  great  advantages  which  might  still  be  reaped  from 
her  presence  in  the  army,  exhorted  her  to  persevere  till  the  final  expulsion  of 
the  English.  In  pursuance  of  this  advice,  she  threw  herself  into  the  town 
of  Compeigne,  at  that  time  besieged  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  assisted  by 
the  earls  of  Arundel  and  Suffolk.  The  garrison  on  her  appearance  'believed 
themselves  invincible.  But  their  joy  was  of  short  duration.  The  Maid  was 
taken  prisoner  in  a  sally ;  and  the  duke  of  Bedford,  resolved  upon  her  ruin, 
ordered  her  to  be  tried  by  an  ecclesiastical  court  for  sorcery,  impiety,  idolatry, 
and  magic.  She  was  found  guilty,  by  her  ignorant  or  iniquitous  judges,  of 
all  these  crimes,  aggravated  by  heresy;  her  revelations  were  declared  to  be 
inventions  of  the  devil  to  delude  the  people ;  and  this  admirable  heroine  was 
cruelly  delivered  over  alive  to  the  flames,  and  expiated  by  the  punishment  of 
fire  the  signal  services  which  she  had  rendered  to  her  prince  and  her  native 
country. (2) 

The  English  affairs,  however,  instead  of  being  advanced  by  this  act  of 
cruelty,  went  every  day  more  and  more  to  decay.  The  great  abilities  of  the 
regent  was  unable  to  restrain  the  strong  inclination  which  had  seized  the 
French  of  returning  under  the  obedience  of  their  rightful  sovereign.  The 
duke  of  Burgundy  deserted  the  English  interest,  and  formed  an  alliance  with 
the  French  king ;  the  duke  of  Bedford  died  soon  after ;  and  the  violent  fac- 
tions which  prevailed  in  the  court  of  England,  between  the  duke  of  Gloucester 
and  the  cardinal  of  Winchester,  prevented  the  nation  from  taking  proper 
measures  for  repairing  these  signal  losses. 

In  proportion  as  Henry  advanced  in  years,  his  feeble  character  became 
more  fully  known  in  the  court,  and  was  no  longer  ambiguous  to  either  fac- 
tion. Of  the  most  harmless,  inoffensive,  simple  manners,  but  of  the  most 
slender  capacity,  he  was  fitted,  both  by  the  softness  of  his  temper,  and  the 
weakness  of  his  understanding,  to  be  perpetually  governed  by  those  who 
surrounded  him  ;  and  it  was  easy  to  foresee  that  his  reign  would  prove  a  per- 
petual minority.  As  he  had  now  reached  the  age  of  manhood,  it  was  natural 
to  think  of  choosing  him  a  queen :  and  each  party  was  ambitious  of  making 
him  receive  one  from  their  hand,  as  it  was  probable  this  circumstance  would 
decide  for  ever  the  victory  between  them.  The  cardinal  of  Winchester 
proved  successful ;  and  Henry  was  contracted  to  Margaret  of  Anjou,  daughter 
of  Regnicr,  titular  king  of  Sicily,  Naples,  and  Jerusalem,  descended  from  a 

(1)  Ryraer,  vol.  x.  &)  Polyd.  Virg.    Monstrelel 


382  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  I 

count  of  Anjou,  who  had  left  these  magnificent  titles  to  his  posterity,  without 
any  real  power  or  possessions.  She  was  the  most  accomplished  princess  of 
that  age  both  in  body  and  mind,  and  seemed  to  possess  those  qualities  which 
would  enable  her  to  acquire  an  ascendant  over  Henry,  and  to  supply  all  his 
defects  and  weaknesses.  The  treaty  of  marriage  was  ratified  in  England : 
and  Margaret,  on  her  arrival,  fell  immediately  into  close  connexions  with  the 
cardinal  and  his  party;  who,  fortified  by  her  powerful  patronage,  resolved  on 
the  final  ruin  of  the  duke  of  Gloucester.(l) 

This  generous  prince,  worsted  in  all  court  intrigues,  for  which  his  temper 
was  not  suited,  but  possessing  in  an  eminent  degree  the  favour  of  the  public, 
had  already  received  from  his  rivals  a  cruel  mortification,  which  it  was  impos- 
sible a  person  of  his  spirit  could  ever  forgive,  although  he  had  hitherto  borne 
it  without  violating  public  peace.  His  dutchess,  the  daughter  of  Richard  lord 
Cobham,  had  been  accused  of  the  crime  of  witchcraft ;  and  it  was  pretended, 
that  there  was  found  in  her  possession  a  waxen  figure  of  the  king,  which  she 
and  her  associates,  Sir  Roger  Bolingbroke,  a  priest,  and  one  Mary  Jordan  of 
Eye,  melted  in  a  magical  manner  before  a  slow  fire,  with  an  intention  of 
making  Henry's  force  and  vigour  waste  away  by  the  like  insensible  degrees. 
The  nature  of  this  crime,  as  the  philosophic  Hume  ingeniously  observes,  so 
opposite  to  all  common  sense,  seems  always  to  exempt  the  accusers  from 
observing  the  rules  of  common  sense  in  their  evidence.  The  prisoners  were 
pronounced  guilty :  the  dutchess  was  condemned  to  do  public  penance,  and  to 
suffer  perpetual  imprisonment ;  and  her  supposed  accomplices  were  executed. 
But  the  people,  contrary  to  their  usual  practice  on  such  marvellous  trials, 
acquitted  the  unhappy  sufferers,  and  ascribed  these  violent  proceedings  solely 
to  the  malice  of  the  duke's  enemies.  The  cardinal  of  Winchester  and  his 
party,  therefore,  became  sensible  that  it  was  necessary  to  destroy  a  man 
whose  popularity  made  him  dangerous,  and  whose  resentment  they  had  so 
much  cause  to  apprehend.  He  was  accused  of  treason,  and  thrown  into  pri- 
son, where  he  was  soon  after  found  dead  in  bed ;  and  although  his  body  bore 
no  marks  of  outward  violence,  no  one  doubted  but  he  had  fallen  a  victim  to 
the  vengeance  of  his  enemies. (2) 

While  England  was  thus  a  prey  to  faction,  the  king  of  France  employed 
himself,  with  great  industry  and  judgment,  in  removing  those  numberless  ills 
to  which  France  had  been  so  long  exposed  from  the  continuance  of  wars  both 
foreign  and  domestic.  He  restored  the  regular  course  of  public  justice;  he 
introduced  order  into  the  finances ;  he  established  discipline  among  his 
troops ;  he  repressed  faction  in  his  court ;  he  revived  the  languid  state  of 
agriculture  and  the  arts ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  rendered  his  king- 
dom flourishing  within  itself,  and  formidable  to  his  neighbours.  The  English 
were  expelled  from  all  their  possessions  on  the  continent,  except  Calais ;  and 
although  no  peace  or  truce  was  yet  concluded  between  the  two  nations,  the 
war  was  in  a  manner  at  an  end.(3)  England,  torn  in  pieces  by  civil  dissen- 
sions, made  but  one  more  feeble  effort  for  the  recovery  of  Guienne.  And 
Charles,  occupied  at  home  in  regulating  the  government  of  his  kingdom,  and 
fencing  against  the  intrigues  of  his  son  Lewis,  scarcely  ever  attempted  to 
avail  himself  of  her  intestine  broils.  The  affairs  of  the  two  kingdoms  there- 
fore became  for  a  while  distinct.  But  before  I  carry  farther  the  history  of 
either,  we  must  take  a  view  of  the  state  of  the  German  empire,  from  the  dealt 
of  Sigismund  to  the  accession  of  Maximilian. 

(1)  Grafton.    Holingshed.  (2)  Grafton.    Stowe.    Holingshed. 

(3)  Monstrelet    Henault.    Grafton.    Holingshed. 


LET.  XLVII.]  MODERN   EUROPE. 


LETTER  XLVII. 

The  German  Empire  and  its  Dependencies,  Rome,  and  the  Italian  States,  from 
the  Death  of  Sigismund  to  the  Accession  of  Maximilian. 

SIGISMUND,  my  dear  Philip,  was  succeeded  in  the  kingdoms  of  Hungary  and 
Bohemia,  and  also  in  the  empire,  as  I  have  already  observed,  by  his  son-in- 
law,  Albert  II.  duke  of  Austria.  The  only  enterprise  of  moment,  in  which 
this  prince  was  engaged  during  his  short  reign,  was  an  expedition  against 
the  Turks  in  Bulgaria,  where  he  was  seized  with  a  violent  dysentery,  before 
any  action  took  place,  and  died  at  the  village  of  Long,  in  his  return  to 
Vienna.(l) 

Albert  was  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne  by  his  cousin  Frederic  of  Aus- 
tria, the  third  emperor  of  that  name.  The  kingdoms  of  Hungary  and  Bohe- 
mia were  settled  on  Ladislaus,  Albert's  infant  son,  who  was  committed  to  the 
guardianship  of  Frederic. 

The  emperor's  first  care  was  to  heal  a  schism,  which  had  rent  anew  the 
church.  With  this  view  he  set  out  for  Basil,  where  a  council  was  assembled 
for  "  the  reformation  of  the  church  universal,  both  in  its  head  and  its  mem- 
bers," conformable  to  a  resolution  of  the  council  of  Constance;  and  that 
council  had  raised  to  the  papacy  Amadeus  duke  of  Savoy,  under  the  name  of 
Felix  V.,  in  opposition  to  Eugenius  IV.,  who  had  attempted  to  defeat  the 
purpose  of  their  meeting.  Frederic  exhorted  the  fathers  to  concord,  and  an 
accommodation  with  Eugenius.  He  had  also  an  interview  with  Felix,  whom 
he  refused  to  acknowledge  for  pope,  though  tempted  by  an  offer  of  his 
daughter,  a  young  princess  of  exquisite  beauty,  and  two  hundred  thousand 
ducats  as  her  portion.  "  This  man,"  said  Frederic  to  one  of  his  courtiers,  in 
a  contemptuous  tone,  "  would  fain  purchase  holiness,  if  he  could  find  a  seller." 
The  schism  was  at  length,  however,  happily  closed  by  the  resignation  of 
Felix,  who  was  prevailed  upon  by  the  emperor  to  abdicate  the  apostolic  chair 
on  certain  conditions,  which  were  confirmed  by  Nicholas  V.,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Eugenius. (2) 

The  peace  of  the  church  being  thus  restored,  and  the  affairs  of  Germany 
in  tolerable  order,  Frederic  began  to  turn  his  eyes  towards  Italy,  where  the 
imperial  authority  was  gone  to  utter  decay.  Alphonso  of  Arragon  reigned 
at  that  time  in  Naples,  and  joined  the  emperor,  because  he  feared  the  power  of 
the  Venetians,  who  were  masters  of  Ravenna,  Bergamo,  Brescia,  and  Cre- 
mona. Milan  was  in  the  hands  of  Francis  Sforza,  a  peasant's  son,  but  one 
of  the  greatest  warriors  of  his  age,  and  now  become  the  most  powerful  man 
in  Italy.  He  had  married  Blanche  Maria,  natural  daughter  of  Philip  Maria 
Galeazo,  duke  of  Milan,  by  whom  he  was  adopted.  Florence  was  in  league 
with  the  pope  against  Sforza :  the  Holy  See  had  recovered  Bologna ;  and  all 
the  other  principalities  belonging  to  different  sovereigns,  who  had  mastered 
them. (3)  In  this  situation  were  the  affairs  of  Italy,  when  the  emperor  resolved 
upon  a  journey  to  Rome,  in  order  to  be  crowned  by  the  pope,  together  with 
Eleanora,  sister  of  the  king  of  Portugal,  to  whom  he  was  contracted  in  mar- 
riage, and  whom  he  promised  to  meet  at  Sienna. 

As  soon  as  Frederic  had  crossed  the  Alps,  he  was  met  by  the  Venetian  am- 
bassadors, who  conducted  him  to  their  city,  where  he  made  his  public  entry 
with  great  magnificence.  He  thence  repaired  to  Ferrara,  where  he  found 
ambassadors  from  Francis  Sforza,  duke  of  Milan,  inviting  him  to  return  by 
that  city,  where  he  should  receive  the  iron  crown ;  and  here  he  also  received 
deputies  from  Florence  and  Bologna,  craving  the  honour  of  entertaining  him 
at  their  respective  cities,  which  he  accordingly  visited.(4)  From  Florence 

(1)  Heiss,  liv.  iii.  chap.  i. 

(2)  Georgii,  Pit.  Jfichol.  V.     Mosheim,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  iii.    ^En.  Sylv.  Vit.  Fred.  III. 
(31  jinnaldcrf'.-np.  toin.  ii.  (4)  Machiavel.  Hist.  Flor.  lib.  ri. 


S84  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

the  emperor  look  the  route  of  Sienna,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  princess 
Eleanora.  And  in  that  city  he  gave  audience  to  the  pope's  legates,  who 
represented  to  him,  that,  by  ancient  custom,  the  emperors  always  took  an 
oath  to  the  pope  before  they  entered  the  territories  of  St.  Peter's  patrimony ; 
and  requested  that  he  would  conform  to  the  same  usage. 

Frederic,  in  this  particular,  complied  with  the  desire  of  his  holiness.  The 
oath  which  he  took  was  'conceived  in  these  terms  :  "  I,  Frederic,  king  of  the 
Romans,  promise  and  swear,  by  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  by  the 
wood  of  the  vivifying  cross,  and  by  these  relics  of  saints,  that  if,  by  permission 
of  the  Lord,  I  shall  come  to  Rome,  I  will  exalt  the  holy  Roman  church,  and 
his  holiness,  who  presides  over  it,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power.  Neither  shall 
he  lose  life,  limb,  or  honour,  by  my  counsel,  consent,  or  exhortation.  Nor 
will  I,  in  the  city  of  Rome,  make  any  law  or  decree  touching  those  things 
which  belong  to  his  holiness  or  the  Romans,  without  the  advice  of  our  most 
holy  lord  Nicholas.  Whatever  part  of  St.  Peter's  patrimony  shall  fall  into 
our  hands,  we  will  restore  it  to  his  holiness ;  and  he,  to  whom  we  shall  com- 
mit the  administration  of  our  kingdom  of  Italy,  shall  swear  to  assist  his 
holiness  in  defending  St.  Peter's  patrimony  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  So 
help  me  God,  and  his  holy  Evangelists !"(!) 

The  emperor  now  proceeded  to  Viterbo,  where  he  was  in  danger  of  his  life 
from  a  tumult  of  the  populace ;  so  indifferently  attended  was  this  successor 
of  Charlemagne  ! — From  Viterbo  he  repaired  to  Rome,  where  he  was  met  by 
the  whole  college  of  cardinals ;  and  as  it  had  been  customary  for  the  late 
emperor,  who  went,  thither  to  be  crowned,  to  continue  some  time  without  the 
walls,  Frederic  ordered  tents  to  be  pitched,  and  there  passed  one  night.  He 
made  his  public  entry  next  day,  Avhen  he  was  crowned  king  of  Lombardy, 
notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  the  deputies  of  Milan ;  he  not  choosing 
to  put  himself  in  the  power  of  Sforza,  who  was  master  of  that  city,  and  which 
properly  belonged  to  the  empire,  the  last  duke  having  died  without  legitimate 
issue.  Three  days  after  this  ceremony  he  was  married  to  Eleanora,  and 
together  with  her  received  the  imperial  crown.  The  emperor  and  the  pope 
next  ratified  the  Concordata  of  the  German  nation,  touching  the  collation  to 
prelacies  and  other  benefices,  which  had  some  years  before  been  agreed  to  by 
cardinal  Carvajal,  Nicholas's  legate  at  the  imperial  court.(2) 

Having  thus  transacted  matters  at  Rome,  Frederic  set  out  on  his  return  to 
Germany ;  and  in  his  passage  through  Ferrara  was  waited  upon  by  Borsi, 
marquis  of  Este,  a  prince  of  extraordinary  merit,  whom  he  created  duke  of 
Modena  and  Reggio.(3)  On  his  arrival  in  Austria,  he  found  himself  involved 
in  a  number  of  difficulties,  out  of  which  he  was  never  able  fully  to  extricate 
himself. 

The  Hungarians  had  often  entreated  Frederic  to  send  home  their  king 
Ladislaus,  whom  h.e  still  detained  at  the  imperial  court,  under  pretext  of  being 
guardian  to  that  young  prince :  and  they  had,  by  the  most  earnest  and  repeated 
instances,  besought  him  to  restore  their  crown  and  regalia,  which  were  in  his 
custody.  But  he  found  means,  under  various  pretences,  to  postpone  his  com- 
pliance with  these  demands.  The  Austrians,  joined  by  a  number  of  Bohe- 
mians, and  encouraged  by  several  princes  of  the  empire,  also  sent  a  deputa- 
tion to  expostulate  with  Frederic  on  the  same  subject ;  and  as  he  lent  a  deaf 
ear  to  their  request  likewise,  and  amused  them  with  fresh  evasions,  they  had 
recourse  to  arms,  and  compelled  him  to  sign  an  accommodation,  ft  was 
agreed,  that  Ladislaus,  being  yet  of  too  tender  years  to  take  upon  himself  the 
government  of  his  kingdoms,  should  be  put  under  the  tuition  of  Ulric,  count 
Celley,  his  uncle  by  the  mother's  side,  and  that  the  dispute  touching  the 
wardship  of  the  emperor  should  be  determined  at  Vienna.(4) 

Count  Celley's  ambition  was  elated  by  the  power  which  he  derived  from 
being  tutor  to  Ladislaus.  He  attempted  to  make  himself  absolute  master  in 
Austria :  he  secured  the  principal  fortresses,  by  giving  the  command  of  them 

(1)  Fugger.  lib.  v.  (2)  Barre,  torn.  vii.    Neucler.  sub.  ann. 

O    W.  ibid.  (4)  JEa.  Sylv.  Hist.  Been. 


LET.  XLVII.J  MODERN  EUROPE.  285 

to  his  creatures  ;  and  he  gradually  removed  Elsinger,  a  Bohemian  gentleman 
who*had  headed  the  insurrection,  and  the  Austrian  nobility,  from  all  offices 
of  importance.  His  friends  and  favourites  only  were  trusted.  The  people 
were  incensed  at  such  proceedings  ;  and  Elsinger,  profiting  by  their  discon- 
tent, roused  their  resentment  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  count  was  obliged  to 
retire  into  Hungary,  after  having  delivered  up  the  person  of  Ladislaus,  who 
consented  to  take  the  oath  imposed  upon  him  by  the  Bohemians,  and  was 
crowned  with  great  solemnity  at  Prague.(l) 

During  these  contests  the  city  of  Constantinople  was  taken  by  the  Turks, 
after  they  had  subdued  the  rest  of  Greece ;  and  by  this  blow  the  Roman 
empire  in  the  East  was  utterly  annihilated,  as  shall  be  related  more  at  length 
in  its  proper  place.  Here  it  is  only  necessary  to  observe,  that  the  progress 
of  the  Mahometans  alarmed  all  the  princes  of  Christendom,  and  made  them 
think  of  uniting,  though  too  late,  in  order  to  oppose  the  common  enemy.  A 
dirt  was  convoked  at  Ratisbon  on  this  subject,  and  the  members  unanimously 
agreed,  that  there  was  a  necessity  for  taking  some  speedy  measures  to  stop 
the  progress  of  the  Infidels.  But  what  these  measures  should  be,  was  a  con- 
sideration referred  to  another  diet  assembled  at  Frankfort :  where,  although 
there  was  a  vast  concourse  of  princes,  and  great  appearance  of  zeal,  very 
little  was  done  for  the  common  cause.  Other  diets  were  afterward  held  for 
the  same  purpose,  but  with  no  better  success  ;  a  backwardness  which  was 
chiefly  owing  to  the  timid  and  slothful  disposition  of  the  emperor,  who  would 
never  heartily  embark  in  the  undertaking.  (2) 

The  German  princes,  however,  at  the  solicitation  of  Carvajal,  the  pope's 
legate,  sent  a  body  of  troops  to  the  assistance  of  John  Hunniades,  a  famous 
Hungarian  general,  who  had  long  gallantly  defended  his  country  against  the 
Turks,  and  gained  several  advantages  over  them.  Hunniades,  thus  rein- 
forced, marched  to  the  relief  of  Belgrade,  which  was  besieged  by  Mahomet  II. 
the  conqueror  of  Constantinople,  and  the  terror  of  Christendom  :  and  com- 
pelled the  sultan,  after  an  obstinate  engagement,  to  raise  the  siege,  and 
retreat  with  the  loss  of  four  thousand  men,  left  dead  on  the  spot. (3)  But  the 
death  of  Hunniades,  which  happened  a  few  days  after  the  battle,  prevented 
the  Christian  army  from  making  any  progress  against  the  Infidels.  The 
fruits  of  their  victory,  and  their  future  projects,  perished  with  their  illustrious 
leader. 

In  the  mean  time,  Ladislaus,  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  died,  and 
various  competitors  arose  for  those  crowns,  as  well  as  for  the  dominions  of 
Upper  Austria,  which  belonged  to  that  prince.  Among  these  was  the  emperor 
Frederic  III.,  who  reaped  nothing  but  damage  and  disgrace  from  a  civil  war 
which  desolated  Germany  for  many  years,  but  which  was  productive  of  no 
event  that  merits  attention.  His  son  Maximilian  was  more  fortunate,  and 
better  deserved  success. 

This  young  prince,  who  was  as  active  and  enterprising  as  his  father  was 
indolent  and  timid,  married,  at  twenty  years  of  age,  the  only  daughter  of 
Charles  the  Bold,  duke  of  Burgundy.  She  brought  him  Flanders,  Franche- 
Comte,  and  all  the  Low  Countries.  "  Lewis  XL,  who  disputed  some  of  these 
territories,  and  who,  on  the  death  of  the  duke,  had  seized  Burgundy,  Picardy, 
Ponthieu,  and  Artois,  as  fiefs  of  France,  which  could  not  be  possessed  by  a 
woman,  was  defeated  by  Maximilian  at  Guinegaste;  and  Charles  VIII., 
who  renewed  the  same  claims,  was  obliged  to  conclude  a  disadvantageous 
peace.(4) 

About  this  time  died  Casimir  IV.  king  of  Poland,  and  father  of  Uladislaus, 
who  now  reigned  over  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  The  death  of  the  Polish 
monarch  had  been  preceded  by  that  of  pope  Innocent  VIII.  who  was  succeeded 
in  the  papacy  by  Roderick  Borgia,  under  the  name  of  Alexander  VI.  Nor  did 
the  emperor  Frederic  III.  long  survive  these  alterations.  He  died  in  the 
seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  fifty-fourth  of  his  reign.  No  emperor 
had  ever  reigned  longer,  and  none  less  gloriously. 

(1)  JEn.  Sylv.  Hist.  Boem.  (2)  JEn.  Sylv.  Europ. 

(31  Id.  ibid.  (4)  Mezeray,  Chronol.  Abreg.  torn,  ii 


286  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

The  reign  of  Maximilian,  already  elected  king  of  the  Romans,  introduces 
a  more  interesting  period  than  that  over  which  we  have  now  travelled,  and 
opens  a  vista  into  some  of  the  grandest  scenes  of  history.  But  a  variety  of 
objects,  my  dear  Philip,  must  occupy  your  attention  before  I  2arry  further  the 
affairs  of  the  empire. 


LETTER  XLVIII. 

England  during  the  Contest  between  the  Houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  and  hi 
its  final  Extinction  in  the  Accession  oj  the  House  of  Tudor. 

I  HAVE  already  had  occasion  to  notice  the  weakness  of  Henry  VI.  His 
incapacity  appeared  every  da}7  in  a  stronger  light.  The  more  he  was  known, 
the  more  his  authority  was  despised;  and  as  the  English  had  abandoned  their 
dominions  in  France,  and  were  now  engaged  in  no  foreign  wars,  men  of  rest 
less  and  ambitious  spirits  took  occasion  to  disturb  his  government,  and  tear 
with  intestine  commotions  the  bowels  of  their  native  country. 

But  the  miseries  of  Henry  and  of  England  did  not  arise  solely  from  these 
causes :  a  pretender  to  the  crown  appeared ;  and  a  title  which  had  never  been 
disputed  during  the  prosperous  reign  of  Henry  V.  was  now  called  in  question 
under  his  feeble  successor.  This  competitor  was  Richard  duke  of  York, 
descended  by  his  mother  from  Philippa,  only  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Clarence, 
second  son  of  Edward  III.,  and  consequently  stood  in  the  order  of  succession 
before  the  king,  who  derived  his  descent  from  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  third 
son  of  that  monarch. 

Such  a  claim  could  not,  in  many  respects,  have  fallen  into  more  dangerous 
hands.  The  duke  of  York  was  a  man  of  valour  and  abilities,  which  he  had 
found  frequent  opportunities  of  displaying.  In  the  right  of  his  father,  the 
earl  of  Cambridge,  he  bore  the  rank  of  first  prince  of  the  blood :  he  possessed 
an  immense  fortune ;  and  was  allied  by  marriage,  and  otherwise,  to  most  of 
the  principal  families  in  the  kingdom.  He  was  generally  beloved  by  the 
people ;  whose  discontents,  at  this  time,  rendered  every  combination  of  the 
great  more  dangerous  to  the  throne. 

The  administration  of  government  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  queen  and 
the  earl  of  Suffolk,  who  had  attracted  universal  odium.  Margaret  was  still 
regarded  as  a  Frenchwoman,  and  a  latent  enemy  to  the  kingdom,  who  had 
betrayed  the  interests  of  England,  in  favour  of  her  family  and  her  country. 
Suffolk  was  considered  as  her  accomplice ;  and  the  murder  of  the  duke  of 
Gloucester,  in  which  both  were  known  to  have  been  concerned,  rendered 
them  yet  more  obnoxious  to  the  nation. 

The  partisans  of  the  duke  of  York  took  advantage  of  these  causes  of  po- 
pular discontent  to  impeach  the  earl  of  Suffolk  in  parliament  of  various  crimes 
and  misdemeanours ;  and  the  king,  in  order  to  save  his  minister,  banished 
him  the  kingdom  for  five  years.  But  his  enemies,  sensible  that  he  still  pos- 
sessed the  queen's  confidence,  and  would  be  recalled  on  the  first  favourable 
opportunity,  employed  a  captain  of  a  ship  to  intercept  him  in  his  passasre  to 
France.  He  was  accordingly  seized  near  Dover ;  his  head  was  struck  off  on 
the  side  of  a  long-boat,  and  his  body  thrown  into  the  sea.(l) 

The  duke  of  Somerset  succeeded  to  Suffolk's  power  in  the  administration 
and  credit  with  the  queen :  and  as  he  was  the  person  under  whose  govern- 
ment the  French  provinces  had  been  lost,  the  people,  who  always  judge  by 
events,  soon  made  him  equally  the  object  of  their  animosity.  In  consequence 
of  these  discontents,  the  house  of  commons  presented  a  petition  to  the  king, 
praying  him  to  remove  the  duke  of  Somerset  for  ever  from  his  person  and 
counsels ;  and  as  Henry  fell  about  this  time  into  a  distemper  which  increased 
his  natural  imbecility,  the  queen  and  the  council,  unable  to  resist  the  popular 

a)  Hall.    Slavic.    Contln.  Hist.  Croyland. 


LET.  XLVIII.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  29? 

party,  were  obliged  to  yield  to  the  torrent.  They  sent  Somerset  to  the  tower, 
and  appointed  the  duke  of  York  lieutenant  of  the  kingdom,  with  powers  to 
hold  and  open  a  session  of  parliament :  and  that  assembly  created  him  Pro- 
tector during  pleasure.(l) 

In  the  mean  time,  Henry  recovering  from  his  distemper  so  far  as  to  be  able 
to  maintain  the  appearance  of  royal  authority,  his  friends  urged  him  to  resume 
the  government ;  and  to  annul  the  regency  of  Richard,  to  release  Somerset 
from  the  tower,  and  to  commit  the  administration  into  the  hands  of  that  no- 
bleman. The  duke  of  York,  sensible  of  his  danger,  levied  an  army,  in  order 
to  support  his  parliamentary  commission,  but  without  advancing  any  preten- 
sions to  the  crown,  though  his  title  was  generally  acknowledged.  A  battle 
was  fought  near  St.  Albans,  where  the  Lancastrians  were  routed,  and  the 
dukes  of  Somerset  and  Northumberland  slain.  The  king  himself  was  made 
prisoner  by  the  duke  of  York,  who  treated  him  with  great  tenderness :  and 
Henry  was  obliged  to  resign  (what  he  valued  little)  the  whole  authority  of 
the  crown  into  the  hands  of  his  rival. (2) 

Richard,  however,  did  not  yet  lay  claim  to  the  royalty;  he  was  still  content 
with  the  title  of  Protector ;  and  an  outward  reconciliation  took  place  between 
the  parties.  A  solemn  procession  to  St.  Paul's  was  appointed,  in  order  to 
make  known  this  amity  to  the  people.  The  duke  of  York  led  queen  Marga- 
ret ;  and  a  chieftain  of  one  party  marched  hand  in  hand  with  a  chieftain  of 
the  opposite.  But  a  contest  for  a  crown  could  not  be  thus  peaceably  accom- 
modated. Each  party  watched  only  for  an  opportunity  of  subverting  the 
other ;  and  the  smallest  incident,  without  any  formed  design,  was  sufficient 
to  dissolve  the  seeming  harmony.  Two  servants  of  the  rival  houses  quar- 
relled ;  their  companions  took  part  in  the  fray ;  a  fierce  combat  ensued ;  and 
both  parties,  in  every  county  in  England,  openly  made  preparations  for  de- 
ciding the  contest  by  arms. (3) 

A  battle  was  fought  at  Blore-heath,  on  the  borders  of  Staffordshire ;  where 
the  Lancastrians  were  defeated,  and  chased  off  the  field  with  considerable 
loss.  But  that  victory  was  not  sufficient  to  decide  the  fate  of  England ;  and 
fortune  soon  shifted  sides.  When  the  two  armies  approached  each  other 
near  Ludlow,  and  a  general  action  was  every  hour  expected,  Sir  Andrew 
Trollop,  who  commanded  a  choice  body  of  veterans,  deserted  to  the  king; 
and  the  Yorkists  were  so  much  dismayed  at  that  instance  of  treachery,  which 
made  every  man  suspicious  of  his  fellow,  that  they  separated  without  striking 
a  blow.  (4) 

In  this  extremity  the  duke  of  York  fled  to  Ireland,  where  he  had  formerly 
acquired  much  popularity ;  and  his  partisans  in  England  kept  themselves  every 
where  in  readiness  to  rise  on  the  first  summons  from  their  leaders.  That 
summons  was  given  by  the  earl  of  Warwick,  governor  of  Calais,  the  most 
extraordinary  man  of  his  time ;  and,  from  the  subsequent  events,  commonly 
known  by  the  appellation  of  the  King-maker.  He  landed  in  Kent,  where  he 
was  joined  by  several  persons  of  distinction :  and  as  the  people  bore  him  an 
unlimited  affection,  his  army  increased  every  day.  He  entered  London  amid 
the  acclamations  of  the  populace :  he  advanced  to  meet  the  royal  army,  which 
hastened  from  Coventry  to  attack  him ;  and  a  battle  was  fought  at  Northampton, 
where  the  Lancastrians  were  totally  routed.  Henry  himself,  that  empty 
shadow  of  a  king,  was  again  made  prisoner,  and  once  more  carried  in  triumph 
to  his  capital.  (5) 

A  parliament  was  now  summoned  at  Westminster,  where  the  duke*>f  York 
soon'appeared  from  Ireland,  and  put  in  his  claim  to  the  crown.  He  advanced 
towards  the  throne ;  and,  addressing  himself  to  the  house  of  peers,  pleaded 
his  cause  before  them  as  his  natural  and  legal  judges.  He  gave  them  a  deduc- 
tion of  his  title  by  descent;  mentioned  the  cruelties  by  which  the  house  of 
Lancaster  had  paved  its  way  to  sovereign  power ;  insisted  on  the  calamities 
which  had  attended  the  government  of  Henry ;  and  exhorted  them  to  returr 

(1)  Par/.  Hint.  voL  ii.    Rymer,  vol.  si.  (2)  Stowe.    Hall.    Hollingshed. 

(3)  Fabian.  Oiron.    See  also  Grafton.  (4)  Grafton.    Hall.    HoUingahed. 

15;  Id.  ibid 


288  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

to  the  right  path,  by  doing  justice  to  the  lineal  heir;  then  respectfully  left  the 
house,  as  no  one  desired  him  to  seat  himself  on  the  throne. 

Such  a  degree  of  moderation  is  not  perhaps  to  be  paralleled  in  history;  and 
was  little  to  be  expected  in  those  violent  and  licentious  times,  from  a  prince 
who  had  a  victorious  army  at  his  command.  The  peers,  on  their  part,  dis- 
covered an  equal  share  of  firmness  and  composure.  They  called  in  some  of 
the  most  considerable  members  among  the  commons  to  assist  in  their  deli- 
berations :  and,  after  having  heard,  for  several  successive  days,  the  reasons 
alleged  for  the  duke  of  York,  they  declared  his  title  certain  and  indefeasible ; 
but,  in  consideration  that  Henry  had  enjoyed  the  crown,  without  dispute  or 
controversy,  during  a  course  of  years,  they  determined  that  he  should  con- 
tinue to  possess  the  title  and  dignity  of  king  during  the  remainder  of  his  life : 
that  the  administration  of  government,  in  the  mean  while,  should  remain  with 
Richard,  and  that  he  should  be  acknowledged  the  true  and  lawful  heir  of  the 
monarchy.  The  duke  acquiesced  in  this  decision;  and  Henry  himself,  being 
a  prisoner,  could  not  well  oppose  it.(l) 

The  duke  of  York,  however,  enjoyed  but  a  short  while  the  honour  of  this 
new  settlement,  and  never  attained  the  envied  title  of  king.  After  the  unfor- 
tunate battle  of  Northampton,  queen  Margaret  had  fled  with  her  infant  son 
to  Durham,  and  thence  to  Scotland ;  but  soon  returning,  she  applied  to  the 
northern  barons,  and  employed  every  argument  to  procure  their  assistance. 
Her  affability,  insinuation,  and  address,  talents  in  which  she  excelled,  aided 
by  caresses  and  promises,  wrought  a  powerful  effect  on  all  who  approached 
her.  The  admiration  of  her  great  qualities  Avas  succeeded  by  compassion 
towards  her  helpless  condition.  The  nobility  of  that  quarter  entered  warmly 
into  her  cause ;  and  she  soon  found  herself  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  men,  collected  with  a  celerity  which  was  neither  expected  by  her 
ffiends  nor  apprehended  by  her  enemies. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  duke  of  York  hastened  northward  with  a  body  of  five 
thousand  men,  to  suppress,  as  he  imagined,  the  beginnings  of  an  insurrection. 
He  met  the  queen  near  Wakefield ;  and  though  he  found  himself  so  much 
outnumbered  by  the  enemy,  his  pride  would  not  permit  him  to  fly  before  a 
woman.  He  gave  battle,  was  killed  in  the  action ;  and  his  body  being  found 
among  the  slain,  his  head  was  cut  off  by  Margaret's  orders,  and  fixed  on  the 
gates  of  York,  with  a  paper  crown  upon  it,  in  derision  of  his  pretended  title. 
His  second  son,  the  earl  of  Rutland,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  barbarously 
murdered  in  cool  blood  by  lord  Clifford,  in  revenge  of  the  death  of  his  father, 
who  had  fallen  in  the  battle  of  St.  Alban's.  The  earl  of  Salisbury  also  was 
taken  prisoner,  and  immediately  beheaded,  with  several  other  persons  of  dis- 
tinction. (2)  This  inhuman  practice,  thus  begun,  was  continued  by  both 
parties,  from  a  vindictive  spirit,  which  affected  to  conceal  its  enormity  under 
the  pretence  of  retaliation. 

Immediately  after  this  important  victory  queen  Margaret  marched  towards 
London,  where  the  earl  of  Warwick  was  left  with  the  command  of  the  York- 
ists. On  the  approach  of  the  Lancastrians,  that  nobleman  led  out  his  army 
reinforced  by  a  strong  body  of  Londoners,  and  gave  battle  to  the  queen  at  St. 
Alban's.  Margaret  was  again  victorious,  by  the  treachery  of  one  Lovelace, 
who  commanded  a  considerable  body  of  the  Yorkists,  and  withdrew  from  the 
combat.  She  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  formidable  Warwick  fly  before 
her,  and  of  rescuing  the  king  her  husband  from  captivity. 

But  Margaret's  triumph,  though  glorious,  was  of  short  duration,  and  not 
altogether  complete.  Warwick  was  still  in  possession  of  London,  on  which 
she  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt ;  and  Edward  earl  of  Marche,  eldest  son 
of  the  late  duke  of  York,  having  gained  an  advantage  over  the  Lancastrians 
at  Mortimer's  Cross,  near  Hertford,  advanced  upon  her  from  the  other  side, 
and  was  soon  in  a  condition  to  give  her  battle  with  superior  forces.  She  was 

(1)  Par/.  Hint.  vol.  ii.  Cotton.  Grnftnn.  Hullingslied.  The  account  of  this  revolution  as  here  given, 
and  generally  received,  is  contradicted  in  some  particulars  by  J.  Wethamatede,  abbot  of  St.  Alban's.  But 
a  single  authority,  how  respectable  soever,  is  not  sufficient  to  overthrow  universal  testimony. 

IS)  Polyd.  Virg!     Hollingslied.    Stowe.    Contin.  Hit  I.  Croyland. 


LET.  XLVUL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  289 

sensible  of  her  danger,  in  such  a  situation,  and  retreated  with  her  army  to 
the  north ;  while  Edward  entered  the  capital  amid  the  acclamations  of  the 
citizens,  and  immediately  opened  a  new  scene  to  his  party. 

This  young  prince,  who  was  remarkable  for  tfle  beauty  of  his  person,  foi 
his  bravery,  his  activity,  his  affability,  and  every  popular  quality,  found  him- 
self so  high  in  public  favour,  that  he  resolved  no  longer  to  confine  himself 
within  those  narrow  limits  which  had  been  found  by  experience  so  prejudicial 
to  his  father's  cause.  He  determined  to  assume  the  name  and  dignity  of 
king ;  to  insist  openly  on  his  claim ;  and  thenceforth  to  treat  the  opposite  party 
as  traitors  and  rebels  to  his  lawful  authority.  But  a  national  consent,  or  the 
appearance  of  it  at  least,  seemed  necessary  to  precede  so  bold  a  measure 
and  for  this  purpose,  instead  of  convening  a  parliament,  which  might  have 
been  attended  with,  dangerous  consequences,  the  populace  were  assembled 
in  St.  John's  Fields.  An  harangue  was  pronounced  to  this  mixed  multitude 
by  Warwick,  setting  forth  the  title  of  Edward,  and  inveighing  against  the 
tyranny  and  usurpation  of  the  house  of  Lancaster ;  after  which  the  people 
were  asked,  whether  they  would  have  Henry  or  Edward  for  their  king  1  They 
universally  exclaimed,  "  Edward  of  York !"  This  popular  election  was  ratified 
by  an  assembly  of  lords  and  bishops,  and  the  new  king  was  proclaimed  under 
the  title  of  Edward  IV.(l) 

Young  Edward,  now  in  his  twentieth  year,  was  of  a  temper  well  fluted  to 
make  his  way  through  such  a  scene  of  war,  havoc,  and  devastation,  as  was 
presented  before  him.  He  was  not  only  bold,  active,  and  enterprising,  but 
his  hardness  of  heart,  and  severity  of  character,  rendered  him  impregnable  to 
all  those  movements  of  compassion  which  might  relax  his  vigour  in  the  pro- 
secution of  the  most  bloody  designs  upon  his  enemies.  Hence  the  scaffold, 
as  well  as  the  field,  during  this  reign,  incessantly  smoked  with  the  noblest 
blood  of  England.  The  animosity  between  the  two  contending  families  was 
now  become  implacable ;  and  the  nation,  divided  in  its  affections,  took  different 
symbols  of  party.  The  adherents  of  the  house  of  Lancaster  chose,  as  their 
mark  of  distinction,  the  Red  Rose ;  those  of  York  assumed  the  White ;  and 
these  civil  wars  were  thus  known  over  Europe  by  the  name  of  the  "Quarrel 
between  the  Two  Roses." 

Queen  Margaret,  as  I  have  observed,  had  retired  to  the  north.  There 
great  multitudes  flocked  to  her  standard ;  and  she  was  able,  in  a  few  weeks, 
to  assemble  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men.  The  king  and  the  earl  of  War- 
wick hastened  with  an  army  of  forty  thousand,  to  check  her  progress.  The 
two  armies  met  at  Towton,  and  a  fierce  and  bloody  battle  ensued.  The  bow, 
then  commonly  in  use,  was  soon  laid  aside,  and  the  sword  decided  the  com- 
bat, which  terminated  in  a  total  victory  on  the  side  of  the  Yorkists.  Edward 
issued  orders  to  give  no  quarter,  and  the  routed  army  was  pursued  as  far  as 
Tadcaster,  with  great  bloodshed  and  confusion.  Above  thirty-six  thousand 
men  are  said  to  have  fallen  in  the  battle  and  pursuit.  Henry  and  Margaret 
had  remained  at  York  during  the  action ;  but  learning  the  defeat  of  their  army, 
and  being  sensible  that  no  place  in  England  could  now  afford  them  shelter, 
they  fled  with  great  precipitation  into  Scotland. (2) 

I  must  here  say  a  few  words  of  the  state  of  that  country.  The  Scots,  not- 
withstanding the  animosity  between  the  two  nations,  had  never  made  any 
vigorous  attempts  to  take  advantage  either  of  the  wars  which  England  car- 
ried on  with  France,  or  of  the  civil  commotions  which  arose  from  the  com- 
petition for  the  crown.  James  I.,  who  had  been  long  a  prisoner  in  England, 
and  had  received  his  education  there,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  notice,  avoided 
all  hostilities  with  foreign  nations.  He  was  more  laudably  employed  in 
civilizing  his  subjects,  and  training  them  to  the  salutary  restraints  of  law  and 
justice.  After  the  murder  of  this  excellent  prince,  whose  maxims  and  manners 
were  too  refined  for  the  people  whom  he  had  to  govern,  the  minority  of  his 
son  and  successor  James  II.  and  the  distractions  incident  on  it,  prevented  the 
Scots  from  molesting  England.  But  when  the  quarrel  between  the  rival 

(r>  Wethamstede.    Hall.    Stowe-  (2)  Id.  ibid. 

VOL.  I.— T  13 


290  T  H  E   II I  S  T  O  R  Y   0  P  [PART  L 

houses  of  Vork  and  Lancaster  \vas  become  incurable,  unless  by  the  total 
extinction  of  one  of  the  parties,  James  II.,  who  had  now  risen  to  man's  estate, 
was  tempted  to  make  use  of  that  opportunity,  in  hopes  of  recovering  those 
places  which  the  English  l&d  conquered  from  his  ancestors.  He  invested  the 
castle  of  Roxburgh,  and  had  provided  himself  with  some  pieces  of  cannon  in 
order  to  forward  the  siege  ;  but  one  of  them  unhappily  bursting,  as  he  was 
firing  it,  put  an  end  at  onoe  to  his  life  and  his  undertaking.  His  son  and  suc- 
cessor James  III.  was  yet  a  minor;  and  the  disturbances  common  to  minori- 
ties ensued  in  the  government.  The  queen  dowager,  Anne  of  Guelders, 
aspired  to  the  regency ;  the  house  of  Douglas  opposed  her  pretensions  :(l)  so 
that  the  queen  of  England,  when  she  arrived  in  Scotland,  found  there  a  people 
little  less  divided  by  faction  than  those  from  whom  she  had  fled. 

The  Scottish  council,  however,  agreed  to  assist  Margaret,  on  her  offering 
to  deliver  up  to  them  the  important  fortress  of  Berwick,  and  to  contract  her 
son  ;n  marriage  with  a  sister  of  James  their  king.  And  Margaret  with  her 
northern  auxiliaries,  and  some  succours  from  France,  ventured  once  more  to 
take  the  field,  and  to  make  an  inroad  into  England.  But  she  was  able  to 
penetrate  no  further  than  Hexham.  There  she  was  attacked  by  Lord  Mon- 
tague, brother  to  the  earl  of  Warwick,  and  warden  of  the  Marches,  who 
totally  routed  her  motley  army.(2)  All  who  were  spared  in  the  field  suffered 
on  the  scaffold. 

The  fate  of  the  unfortunate  royal  family,  after  this  overthrow,  was  equally 
singular  and  affecting.  Margaret  fled  with  her  son  into  a  forest,  Avhere  she 
endeavoured  to  conceal  herself,  but  was  beset  during  the  darkness  of  the 
night  by  robbers,  who  despoiled  her  of  her  jewels,  and  treated  her  with  the 
utmost  indignity.  She  made  her  escape,  however,  while  they  were  quarrelling 
about  the  booty ;  and  wandered  some  time  with  her  son  in  the  most  unfre- 
quented thickets,  spent  with  hunger  and  fatigue,  and  ready  to  sink  beneath 
the  load  of  terror  and  affliction.  In  this  wretched  condition  she  was  met  by 
a  robber  with  his  sword  naked  in  his  hand ;  and  seeing  no  means  of  escape, 
she  suddenly  embraced  the  bold  resolution  of  trusting  entirely  to  his  faith 
and  generosity.  "  Approach,  my  friend !" — cried  she,  presenting  to  him  the 
young  prince  ; — "  to  you  I  commit  the  safety  of  your  king's  sow."  Struck 
with  the  singularity  of  the  event,  and  charmed  with  the  confidence  reposed 
in  him,  the  robber  became  her  protector.  By  his  favour  she  dwelt  concealed 
in  the  forest,  till  she  found  an  opportunity  to  make  her  escape  into  Flanders ; 
whence  she  passed  to  her  father  in  France,  where  she  lived  several  years 
in  privacy  and  retirement. (3)  Henry  was  less  fortunate  in  finding  the  means 
of  escape.  He  lay  concealed  during  twelve  months  in  Lancashire ;  but  was 
at  last  detected,  delivered  up  to  Edward,  and  thrown  into  the  tower.(4) 

The  youthful  monarch,  thus  rid  of  all  his  enemies,  resigned  himself  freely 
to  those  pleasures  and  amusements  which  his  rank,  his  time  of  life,  and  his 
natural  temper,  no  less  turned  for  love  than  war,  invited  him  to  enjoy.  The 
cruel  and  unrelenting  Edward  lived  in  the  most  familiar  and  social  manner 
with  his  subjects.  He  was  the  peculiar  favourite  of  the  young  and  gay  of 
both  sexes ;  and  the  beauty  of  his  person  as  well  as  the  gallantry  of  his 
address,  which  even  in  the  humblest  condition  would  have  rendered  him 
acceptable  to  the  fair,  facilitated  all  his  applications  for  their  favour.  But  it 
is  difficult  to  confine  the  ruling  passion  within  the  bounds  of  prudence.  The 
ardent  temperament  of  Edward  led  him  into  a  share,  which  proved  fatal  to 
his  repose,  and  to  the  stability  of  his  throne. 

This  young  king,  while  in  the  height  of  dissipation,  had  resolved  to  marry, 
in  order  to  secure  his  throne  by  issue,  as  well  as  by  alliances ;  and  he  had 
cast  his  eyes  on  Bona  of  Savoy,  sister  to  the  queen  of  France.  The  negotia- 
tion was  committed  to  the  earl  of  Warwick,  who  went  over  to  Paris,  where 
the  princess  then  resided :  his  proposals  were  accepted,  and  the  treaty  was 
fully  concluded.  Nothing  remained  but  the  ratification  of  the  terms  agreed 
on,  and  the  bringing  of  the  princess  over  to  England.  Meanwhile  the  charms 

(1)  Hall.    Cotton.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Monstrelet,  torn.  iii.  (4)  Hall.    Hol'ingslied 


LET.  XLVIII.J  MOD  E  RN  E  UROP  E.  291 

of  lady  Elizabeth  Gray,  one  of  the  finest  and  most  accomplished  women  of 
her  time,  had  inflamed  the  amorous  heart  of  Edward.  Her  husband,  sir  John 
Gray  of  Groby,  had  been  slain  in  the  second  battle  of  St.  Alban's,  fighting  on 
tne  side  of  Lancaster,  and  his  estate  confiscated ;  and  when  the  king  came 
accidentally,  after  a  hunting  party,  to  the  house  of  her  father,  sir  Richard 
Wideville,  to  whom  she  had  retired,  she  threw  herself  at  his  feet,  and  entreated 
him  to  take  pity  on  her  impoverished  and  helpless  children. 

The  sight  of  so  much  beauty  in  distress  strongly  affected  the  suscejitible 
Edward.  Love  insensibly  stole  into  his  heart,  under  the  disguise  of  compas. 
sion.  He  raised  the  fair  supplicant  from  the  ground  with  assurances  oi 
favour;  and  as  his  passion  was  increased  by  the  winning  conversation  oi 
Elizabeth,  he  soon  found  himself  reduced  to  that  posture  and  style  of  solici- 
tation which  had  been  so  lately  hers.  But  all  his  solicitations  were  in  vain : 
she  obstinately  refused  to  gratify  his  passion ;  and  the  young  and  gallant 
monarch  found  for  once  a  virtue  which  his  fondest  assiduities  could  not  bend. 
Inflamed  by  opposition,  and  filled  with  veneration  for  such  honourable  senti- 
ments, Edward  lost  sight  of  all  but  love.  He  offered  to  share  his  throne,  as 
well  as  his  heart,  with  the  woman  whose  beauty  of  person,  and  dignity  of 
character,  seemed  so  well  to  entitle  her  to  both ;  and  the  marriage  was  pri- 
vately celebrated  at  her  father's  seat  in  Northamptonshire. (1) 

Warwick,  who  was  still  at  Paris,  no  sooner  received  intelligence  of  the 
king's  marriage  than  he  returned  to  England,  flaming  with  rage  and  indigna- 
tion, as  being  employed  in  a  deceitful  treaty,  and  kept  a  stranger  to  the  inten- 
tions of  the  prince,  who  owed  every  thing  to  his  friendship.  The  king  was 
sensible  that  Warwick  had  been  ill  used ;  but  his  pride,  or  false  shame,  pre- 
vented him  from  making  an  apology :  and  that  nobleman  was  permitted  to 
depart  the  court  in  the  same  hot  temper  that  he  came.  The  advancement  of 
the  queen's  relations  into  offices  of  power  and  trust,  to  the  exclusion  of  those 
of  Warwick,  whom  she  regarded  as  her  mortal  enemy,  heightened  his  dis- 
content, and  made  him  resolve  to  ruin  the  king  he  had  made. 

In  order  to  effect  his  purpose,  Warwick  drew  over  to  his  interest  the  duke 
of  Clarence,  the  king's  second  brother,  by  offering  him  in  marriage  his  eldest 
daughter,  and  co-heiress  of  his  immense  fortune.  Many  of  the  ancient 
nobility  envied  the  sudden  growth  of  the  Widevilles.  They  associated  them- 
selves with  Warwick ;  who,  finding  his  own  name  insufficient,  and  being  chased 
to  France,  after  some  unsuccessful  struggles,  entered  into  a  league  with  queen 
Margaret,  his  inveterate  enemy.  On  his  return  to  England,  he  was  joined  by 
the  whole  body  of  Lancastrians.  Both  parties  now  prepared  for  a  general 
decision  by  arms ;  and  a  decisive  action  was  every  moment  expected,  when 
Edward,  finding  himself  betrayed  by  the  marquis  of  Montague,  and  suspi- 
cious of  his  other  commanders,  suddenly  abandoned  his  arrny,  and  fled  to 
Holland.  Henry  VI.  was  taken  from  his  confinement  in  the  tower,  and 
placed  once  more  upon  the  English  throne ;  and  a  parliament,  called  under 
the  influence  of  Warwick,  declared  Edward  IV.  a  usurper. (2) 

But  this  revolution  was  only  the  effect  of  the  giddiness  of  faction.  War- 
wick was  no  sooner  at  the  helm  of  government  than  his  popularity  began  to 
decline,  though  he  appears  to  have  been  guilty  of  no  unpopular  act ;  so  fugi- 
tive a  thing  is  public  favour !— The  young  king  was  emboldened  to  return. 
He  landed  at  Ravenspur,  as  Henry  IV.  had  formerly  done,  upon  a  like  occa- 
sion ;  and  although  he  brought  with  him  only  two  thousand  men,  he  soon 
found  himself  in  a  condition  to  face  the  earl  of  Warwick,  who  had  taken 
post  at  Barnet.  The  city  of  London  opened  its  gates  to  Edward ;  who  thus 
became  at  once  master  of  his  capital,  and  of  the  person  of  his  rival  Henry, 
doomed  to  be  the  perpetual  sport  of  fortune.  The  arrival  of  queen  Marga- 
ret, whose  presence  would  have  been  of  infinite  service  to  her  party,  was 
every  day  expected.  In  the  mean  time,  the  duke  of  Clarence,  Warwick's 
son-in-law,  deserted  to  the  king,  and  carried  along  with  him  a  body  of  twelve 
thousand  men.  But  Warwick  was  now  too  far  advanced  to  retreat ;  and  as 

(1)  Hall.    Grafton.  (2)  Stowe     HalL 

T2 


892  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

he  rejected  with  disdain  all  terms  of  peace  offered  him  by  Edward  and  Cla- 
rence, he  was  obliged  to  hazard  a  general  engagement.  The  battle  was  fought 
with  great  obstinacy  on  both  sides.  The  two  armies,  in  imitation  of  their 
leaders,  displayed  uncommon  acts  of  valour,  and  the  contest  for  victory 
remained  long  undecided;  but  an  accident  threw  at  last  the  balance  on  the 
side  of  the  Yorkists.  Edward's  cognizance  was  a  sun,  Warwick's  a  star 
with  rays  j  and  the  mistiness  of  the  morning  rendering  it  difficult  to  distin- 
guish them,  a  body  of  the  Lancastrians  were  attacked  by  their  friends,  and 
driven  off  the  field.  Warwick  did  all  that  experience,  conduct,  or  valour 
could  suggest,  to  retrieve  the  mistake,  but  in  vain.  He  had  engaged  on  foot 
that  day,  contrary  to  his  usual  practice,  in  order  to  show  his  troops  that  he 
was  resolved  to  share  every  danger  with  them ;  and  now,  sensible  that  all 
was  lost,  unless  a  reverse  of  fortune  could  be  wrought  by  some  extraordinary 
effort,  he  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  engagement,  and  fell,  covered  with 
a  multitude  ef  wounds.  His  brother,  the  marquis  of  Montague,  underwent 
the  same  fate ;  and  as  Edward  had  issued  orders  to  give  no  quarter,  a  great 
and  undistinguished  slaughter  was  made  in  the  pursuit.(l) 

Queen  Margaret  and  her  son  prince  Edward,  now  about  eighteen  years  of 
age,  landed  from  France  the  same  day  on  which  that  decisive  battle  was 
fought.  She  had  hitherto  sustained  the  shocks  of  fortune  with  surprising 
fortitude ;  but  when  she  received  intelligence  of  her  husband's  captivity,  and 
of  the  defeat  and  death  of  the  earl  of  Warwick,  her  courage  failed  her,  and 
she  took  sanctuary  in  the  abbey  of  Beaulieu,  in  Hampshire. 

Encouraged,  however,  by  the  appearance  of  Tudor,  earl  of  Pembroke,  and 
several  other  noblemen,  who  exhorted  her  still  to  hope  for  success,  she 
resumed  her  former  spirit,  and  determined  to  assert,  to  the  last,  her  claim 
to  the  crown  of  England.  She  accordingly  put  herself  once  more  at  the  head 
of  the  army,  which  increased  in  every  day's  march,  and  advanced  through 
the  counties  of  Devon,  Somerset,  and  Gloucester.  But  the  ardent  and 
expeditious  Edward  overtook  her  at  Tewksbury,  on  the  banks  of  the  Severn, 
where  the  Lancastrians  were  totally  routed  and  dispersed.  Margaret  and 
her  son  were  taken  prisoners,  and  brought  to  the  king,  who  asked  the  prince, 
in  an  imperious  tone,  how  he  dared  to  invade  his  dominions  1  "I  came 
hither,"  replied  the  undaunted  youth,  more  mindful  of  his  high  birth  than 
his  present  fortune,  "  to  revenge  my  father's  wrongs,  and  rescue  my  just  in- 
heritance out  of  your  hands."  Incensed  at  his  freedom,  instead  of  admiring 
the  boldness  of  his  spirit,  the  ungenerous  Edward  barbarously  struck  him  on 
the  face  with  his  gauntlet ;  and  the  dukes  of  Clarence  and  Gloucester,  lord 
Hastings,  and  sir  Thomas  Gray,  taking  this  blow  as  a  signal  for  further 
violence,  hurried  the  prince  aside,  and  instantly  despatched  him  with  their 
daggers.  Margaret  was  thrown  into  the  tower,  where  her  husband  Henry 
had  just  expired.  Whether  he  died  a  natural  or  violent  death  is  uncertain ; 
though  it  is  generally  believed  that  the  duke  of  Gloucester  killed  him  with 
his  own  hand.(2) 

The  hopes  of  the  house  of  Lancaster  being  thus  extinguished,  by  the  death 
of  every  legitimate  prince  of  that  family,  Edward,  who  had  no  longer  any 
enemy  that  could  give  him  anxiety  or  alarm,  was  encouraged  once  more  to 
indulge  himself  in  pleasure  and  amusement ;  and  he  recovered,  by  his  gay 
humour,  and  his  easy,  familiar  manners,  that  popularity  which  must  have 
been  in  some  degree  impaired  by  the  cruelties  exercised  upon  his  enemies. 
The  example  also  of  his  jovial  festivity  served  to  abate  the  acrimony  oi 
faction  among  his  subjects,  and  to  restore  the  social  disposition  which  had 
been  so  long  interrupted  between  the  opposite  parties.  But  although  Edward 
was  fond  of  pleasure,  he  was  not  deaf  to  the  calls  of  ambition ;  and  a  pro- 
jected invasion  of  France,  in  order  to  recover  the  dominions  lost  under  his1 
predecessor,  tended  still  further  to  increase  his  popularity. 

The  prospect  of  a  French  war  has  always  proved  a  sure  means  of  uniting 
the  people  of  England,  and  of  making  the  members  of  parliament  open  theij 

U)  Grafton.    Hall     Contin.  Hist.  Oroj/land.    Phil,  de  Comities,  liv.  iii  (2)  Stowe.    Hall 


LET.  XLVIIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  •  293 

purses.  Edward  received  a  considerable  supply,  and  passed  over  to  Calais 
with  an  army  of  fifteen  hundred  men  at  arms,  and  fifteen  thousand  archers. 
He  was  attended  by  all  his  chief  nobility,  who,  animated  by  former  successes, 
were  eager  to  appear  once  more  on  the  theatre  of  honour.  But  their  ardour 
was  damped  when  the}*  found,  on  entering1  the  French  territories,  that  their 
ally,  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  did  not  bring  them  the  smallest  assistance. 
Transported  by  his  fervid  temper,  that  prince  had  carried  his  troops  to  the 
frontier  of  Germany,  where  they  were  employed  in  hostilities  against  the 
duke  of  Lorrain.  Lewis  XI.,  however,  alarmed  at  the  presence  of  so  warlike 
and  powerful  a  monarch  as  Edward,  proposed  an  accommodation;  and  a 
truce  was  concluded  on  terms  by  no  means  honourable  to  France.  Lewis 
stipulated  to  pay  the  king  of  England  immediately  seventy-five  thousand 
crowns,  in  order  to  defray  the  expense  of  his  armament,  on  condition  that  he 
should  quietly  withdraw  his  troops,  and  fifty  thousand  crowns  a  year  during 
their  joint  lives. (1) 

This  treaty  reflected  little  honour  on  either  of  the  monarchs;  It  disco- 
vered the  imprudence  of  the  one,  and  the  pusillanimity  of  the  other.  But 
is  Lewis  made  interest  the  sole  test  of  his  honour,  he  thought  he  had  over- 
reached Edward,  by  sending  him  out  of  France  on  such  easy  terms.  The 
most  honourable  article  on  the  side  of  Lewis  was  the  stipulation  for  the 
'iberty  of  queen  Margaret,  who  was  still  detained  in  custody  by  Edward. 
Lewis  paid  fifty  thousand  crowns  for  her  ransom ;  and  this  princess,  who,  in 
active  scenes  of  life,  had  experienced  so  remarkably  the  vicissitudes  of  for- 
tune, passed  the  remainder  of  her  days  in  tranquillity  and  privacy.  Margaret 
seems  neither  to  have  possessed  the  virtues,  nor  been  subject  to  the  weak- 
nesses, of  her  sex :  and  she  was  as  much  tainted  with  the  ferocity,  as  endowed 
with  the  courage,  of  the  age  in  which  she  lived 

The  dark  and  unrelenting  disposition  of  Richard,  duke  of  Gloucester,  the 
future  scourge  of  England,  began  more  particularly  to  discover  itself  after 
Edward's  return  from  France.  The  duke  of  Clarence,  by  all  his  services  in 
deserting  Warwick,  had  never  been  able  to  regain  the  king's  friendship, 
which  he  had  forfeited  by  his  former  confederacy  with  that  nobleman.  He 
had  also  the  misfortune  to  offend  his  brother  Gloucester,  who  secretly  con- 
spired his  ruin.  Several  of  his  friends  were  accused  and  executed,  under 
frivolous  pretences,  in  hopes  that  his  resentment  would  betray  him  into 
measures  which  might  furnish  matter  for  an  impeachment.  He  fell  into  the 
snare.  Instead  of  securing  his  own  life  against  the  present  danger  by  silence 
and  reserve,  he  was  open  and  loud  in  asserting  the  innocence  of  his  friends, 
and  in  exclaiming  against  the  iniquity  of  their  prosecutors.  The  king 
ordered  him  to  be  committed  to  the  tower ;  and  he  was  sentenced  to  die  by 
the  house  of  peers,  the  supreme  tribunal  of  the  nation,  for  arraigning  public 
justice,  by  maintaining  the  innocence  of  men  who  had  been  condemned  in 
courts  of  judicature.  The  only  favour  which  the  king  granted  him  was  the 
choice  of  his  death ;  and  he  was  privately  drowned  in  a  butt  of  malmsey  ;(2) 
a  whimsical  choice,  which  leads  us  to  suppose  that  he  was  passionately  fond 
of  that  liquor. 

The  remaining  part  of  Edward's  reign  was  distinguished  by  no  remarkable 
event.  He  sunk  again  into  indolence  and  pleasure,  from  which  he  was  once 
more  roused  by  the  prospect  of  a  French  war.  While  making  preparations 
with  that  view,  he  was  seized  with  a  violent  distemper,  of  which  he  died,  hi 
the  forty-second  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  prince  of  more  vigour  than  pru- 
dence ;  and  consequently  less  fitted  to  prevent  ills  by  wise  precautions,  than 
to  remedy  them  after  they  took  place.  As  a  man,  he  possessed  many  accom 
olishments:  his  virtues  were  few,  his  vices  a  numerous  catalogue. 

Edward  IV.  left  two  sons ;  the  prince  of  Wales,  now  Edward  V.,  in  his 
thirteenth  year;  and  Richard  duke  of  York,  in  his  ninth.  The  duke  of 
Gloucester,  their  uncle,  whose  sanguinary  disposition  I  have  had  occasion  to 
aotice,  was  appointed  regent  by  Edward's  desire,  and  chosen  protestor  by 

\1,  Rymer,  vol.  xii.    Phil,  de  Comines,  liv.  iv.  (2)  Fabian     Stawe.    Hall.    Hollingshed 


294  THE    HISTORx    OF  [PART  L 

his  own  artifices.  He  had  already  got  the  two  young  princes  into  his  pos- 
session, contrary  to  the  inclination  of  their  mother,  who  seemed  struck  with 
a  kind  of  presage  of  their  future  fate ;  and  his  eye  was  fixed  upon  the  throne, 
though  not  only  the  sons  of  Edward,  but  those  of  the  duke  of  Clarence, 
stood  between  him  and  it. 

An  attempt  to  exclude  or  destroy  so  many  persons  possessed  c  f  a  prefer- 
able right,  may  seem  equally  imprudent  and  impracticable.  But  a  man  like 
Gloucester,  who  had  abandoned  all  principles  of  honour  and  humanity,  was 
soon  carried,  by  his  predominant  passion,  beyond  the  reach  of  fear  or  pre- 
caution :  and  having  so  far  succeeded  in  his  views,  he  no  longer  hesitated  in 
removing  the  other  obstructions  in  his  way.  He  ordered  earl  Rivers,  the 
queen's  brother,  sir  Richard  Gray,  her  son  by  her  former  husband,  and  sir 
Thomas  Vaughan,  who  possessed  a  considerable  place  in  the  young  king's 
household,  and  was  firmly  attached  to  his  person,  to  be  thrown  into  prison, 
and  executed  without  any  form  of  trial.  His  next  step  was  to  draw  into  his 
views  the  duke  of  Buckingham  and  lord  Hastings.  With  the  first  he  suc- 
ceeded; but  the  last  remained  firm  in  his  allegiance  to  the  children  of 
Edward,  who  had  ever  honoured  him  with  his  friendship.  His  death  was 
therefore  resolved  upon,  and  for  that  purpose  a  council  was  summoned  in 
the  tower,  whither  that  nobleman,  suspecting  no  harm,  repaired  without 
hesitation. 

Gloucester,  on  taking  his  place  at  the  council  board,  appeared  in  the  easiest 
and  most  facetious  homour  imaginable ;  but  making  a  pretence  soon  after  to 
retire,  as  if  called  away  by  urgent  business,  he  returned,  knitting  his  brows, 
grinding  his  teeth,  and  exhibiting,  by  frequent  change  of  countenance,  symp- 
toms of  inward  perturbation.  A  general  silence  ensued :  every  one  dread- 
ing some  terrible  catastrophe,  and  all  gazing  with  looks  of  doubt  and  anxiety 
upon  each  other.  Richard  at  last  relieved  them  from  their  awful  suspense. 
"  What  punishment  do  they  deserve,"  said  he,  "  who  have  conspired  against 
my  life  ?" — "  The  death  of  traitors !"  replied  lord  Hastings.  "  These  trai- 
tors," cried  Richard,  "  are  the  sorceress,  my  brother's  wife,  and  that  witch 
Shore,  his  mistress,  with  others  their  associates.  See  to  what  a  condition 
they  have  reduced  me  by  their  spells  and  incantations !"  laying  bare  his  arm, 
all  shrivelled  and  decayed.  The  amazement  of  the  council  was  increased, 
it  being  well  known  this  infirmity  had  attended  him  from  his  childhood ;  and 
lord  Hastings,  who,  since  Edward's  death,  engaged  in  an  intrigue  with  Jane 
Shore,  was  naturally  alarmed  at  such  an  accusation.  "  Certainly,  my  lord," 
said  he,  with  some  hesitation,  "if  they  are  guilty  of  such  a  crime,  they 
deserve  punishment." — "And  do  you,"  exclaimed  Richard,  "reply  to  me 
with  your  ifs  ?  You  know  their  guilt :  you  are  yourself  a  traitor,  and  the 
chief  abettor  of  the  witch  Shore ;  and  I  swear  by  St.  Paul,  that  I  will  not 
dine  until  your  head  is  brought  me !"  He  struck  the  table  with  his  hand  : 
armed  men  rushed  in  at  the  signal :  Hastings  was  seized,  hurried  away,  and 
instantly  beheaded  on  a  log  of  wood,  which  accidentally  lay  in  the  court-yard 
of  the  tower.  (1) 

Richard  having  thus  got  rid  of  the  man  lie  most  feared,  and  of  all  who 
were  most  likely  to  oppose  his  views,  ordered  lord  Stanley,  the  archbishop 
of  York,  the  bishop  of  Ely,  and  other  counsellors  of  whom  he  was  sus- 
picious, to  be  committed  prisoners  to  the  tower ;  and  in  order  to  carry  on 
the  farce  of  accusations,  he  commanded  the  goods  of  Jane  Shore  to  be 
seized,  and  summoned  her  to  answer  before  the  council  for  sorcery  and 
witchcraft.  But  as  beauty  was  her  only  witchcraft,  and  conversation  her 
most  dangerous  spell,  no  proofs  were  produced  against  her  which  could  be 
received  even  in  that  ignorant  age.  Her  persecution,  however,  did  not  end 
here.  Though  framed  for  virtue,  she  had  proved  unable  to  resist  temptation, 
and  had  left  her  husband,  a  goldsmith  in  Lombard  street,  to  live  with  Edward, 
who  solicited  hei  favours.  But  while  seduced  from  her  fidelity  by  this  gay 
and  amorous  monarch,  she  still  made  herself  respectable  by  her  other  virtues. 

(11  Conlin.  Hiit.  Croyland.    Sir  T.  More. 


LET.  XLVIIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  295 

She  never  sold  her  influence.  Her  good  offices,  the  genuine  dictates  of  her 
heart,  waited  not  the  solicitation  of  presents,  or  the  hopes  of  reciprocal 
benefit ;  to  protect  the  oppressed,  and  relieve  the  indigent,  were  her  highest 
pleasures.  Yet  all  her  amiable  qualities  could  not  save  her  from  the  bitter- 
ness of  shame,  cruelly  imposed  upon  her  by  a  barbarous  tyrant.  Richard 
ordered  her  to  be  tried  in  the  spiritual  court  for  adultery.  The  charge  was 
too  notorious  to  be  denied.  She  pleaded  guilty,  and  was  condemned  to  do 
public  penance  in  a  white  sheet  at  St.  Paul's,  after  walking  barefooted  through 
the  city.  Her  future  life  was  long  and  wretched.  She  experienced,  in  old 
age  and  poverty,  the  ingratitude  of  those  courtiers  whom  she  had  raised  into 
favour.  Not  one  of  all  the  multitudes  she  had  obliged,  had  the  humanity  to 
bring  her  consolation  or  relief.  Her  frailties,  as  a  woman,  amid  a  court 
inured  to  the  most  atrocious  crimes,  were  thought  sufficient  to  justify  all 
violations  of  friendship  towards  her,  and  all  neglect  of  former  obligations ; 
and  she  was  permitted  to  languish  out  her  days  in  solitude  and  want.(l) 

So  rr .any  acts  of  violence,  exercised  against  all  the  nearest  relations  of  the 
late  k  ng,  prognosticated  the  severest  fate  to  his  defenceless  children ;  and, 
after  the  murder  of  Hastings,  Richard  no  longer  made  a  secret  of  his  inten- 
tion to  usurp  the  crown.  As  a  colour  to  his  pretensions,  he  not  only  main- 
tained, that  his  two  nephews  were  illegitimate,  but  also  his  two  brothers, 
Edward  IV.,  and  the  duke  of  Clarence ;  that  his  mother  had  admitted  differ- 
ent lovers  into  her  bed,  who  were  the  fathers  of  these  children ;  that  their 
resemblance  to  those  gallants  was  a  sufficient  proof  of  their  spurious  birth 
and  that  he  alone  of  all  her  sons,  as  appeared  by  his  features,  was  the  true 
offspring  of  the  duke  of  York.  The  place  chosen  for  promulgating  this  foul 
and  impudent  assertion  was  the  pulpit,  before  a  large  congregation,  and  in 
Richard's  presence.  Dr.  Shaw,  a  sycophant  entirely  at  his  devotion,  was 
appointed  to  preach  in  St.  Paul's ;  and  having  chosen  for  his  text,  from  Scrip- 
ture, "Bastard  slips  shall  not  thrive !"  he  enlarged  on  every  circumstance 
that  could  discredit  the  birth  of  Edward  IV.,  the  duke  of  Clarence,  and  of  all 
their  children.  He  then  broke  out  into  a  panegyric  on  the  duke  of  Glou- 
cester, exclaiming,  "  It  is  he  who  carries  in  his  face,  in  his  soul,  the  image 
of  virtue,  and  the  marks  of  a  true  descent !"  And  it  was  expected,  as  soon 
as  the  doctor  had  pronounced  these  words,  that  the  audience  would  cry  out, 
"God  save  king  Richard!" — a  salutation  which  would  immediately  have 
been  laid  hold  of  as  a  popular  consent,  and  interpreted  to  be  the  voice  of  the 
nation.  But  the  audience  kept  a  profound  silence,  and  disappointed  both  the 
protector  and  his  preacher.  (2) 

Richard,  however,  had  gone  too  far  to  recede  from  his  criminal  and  ambi- 
tious purpose.  Another  place  was  chosen  for  a  popular  harangue :  a  place 
where  a  popular  speaker  never  fails  to  persuade,  and  where  a  voice  may  be 
obtained  for  any  measure,  however  atrocious  or  absurd.  The  citizens  of 
London,  with  the  rabble  at  their  heels,  were  assembled  in  Guildhall,  where 
the  duke  of  Buckingham  addressed  them  in  an  eloquent  harangue,  setting 
forth  the  title  and  virtues  of  the  protector,  and  "  God  save  king  Richard !" 
was  at  last  returned  by  the  mob.  The  sentiments  of  the  nation  were  now 
thought  sufficiently  declared.  The  voice  of  the  people  was  the  voice  of  God ! 
Richard  was  prevailed  upon,  though  with  seeming  reluctance,  to  accept  of 
the  crown;  and  he  thenceforth  acted  as  legitimate  and  lawful  sovereign. (3) 

This  ridiculous  farce  was  soon  followed  by  a  scene  truly  tragical— the  mur- 
der of  the  two  young  princes.  Richard  gave  orders  to  sir  Robert  Brakenbury, 
constable  of  the  tower,  to  put  his  nephews  to  death;  but  that  gentleman 
refused  to  bear  any  part  in  the  infamous  office.  The  usurper  then  sent 
for  sir  James  Tyrrell,  who  promised  obedience,  and  the  government  of  the 
tower  was  given  him  for  one  night.  He  chose  three  associates,  whom  he 
employed  to  execute  his  barbarous  commission,  and  conducted  them,  about 
midnight,  to  the  door  of  the  chamber  where  the  princes  were  lodged.  They 
were  in  bed,  and  fallen  into  a  profound  sleep.  The  ruffians  suffocated  them 

1)  Contin.  Hist.  Croylcmd.    Sir  T.  More.  (2)  Si-  T.  More.  (J)  Id.  ibid. 


296  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PART  1. 

with  bolsters  and  pillows,  and  afterward  showed  their  naked  bodies  to  Tyr- 
rell, who  ordered  them  to  be  buried  at  the  foot  of  the  stair-case,  under  a  heap 
of  stones. (1)  These  circumstances  were  confessed  by  the  perpetrators,  in 
the  following  reign. 

Richard,  having  thus  extirpated  all  whom  he  feared  might  disturb  his 
government,  endeavoured  to  gain  by  favours  those  whom  he  thought  could 
give  stability  to  his  throne.  Several  noblemen  received  new  honours ;  and 
lord  Stanley  was  set  at  liberty,  and  made  steward  of  the  household.  But 
Richard's  danger  arose  from  a  quarter  where  he  least  expected  it.  The  duke 
of  Buckingham  did  not  think  himself  sufficiently  rewarded  for  his  services  in 
promoting  the  usurpation :  he  observed  the  general  detestation  of  Richard ; 
and,  by  the  advice  of  Morton,  bishop  of  Ely,  he  turned  his  eye  towards  the 
young  earl  of  Richmond,  now  an  exile  in  Brittany,  as  the  only  person  capable 
of  freeing  the  nation  from  the  tyranny  under  which  it  groaned. 

Henry,  earl  of  Richmond,  was  grandson  of  sir  Owen  Tudor  and  Catharine 
of  France,  relic  of  Henry  V.  By  his  mother  he  was  descended  from  John  of 
Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster,  son  of  Edward  III.,  and  was  the  only  remaining 
branch  of  that  family,  which  had  so  long  contended  for  the  crown.  In  order 
to  strengthen  his  interest,  a  match  was  concerted  between  him  and  Elizabeth, 
eldest  daughter  of  Edward  IV.  Money  was  sent  over  to  him,  for  the  purpose 
of  levying  foreign  troops ;  and  the  queen-dowager  promised  to  join  him,  on 
his  first  appearance,  with  all  the  friends  and  partizans  of  her  family. 

But  so  extensive  a  conspiracy,  though  laid  on  the  solid  foundations  of  good 
sense  and  sound  policy,  could  not  escape  the  jealous  and  vigilant  eye  of 
Richard.  He  soon  received  intelligence  that  his  enemies,  headed  by  the  duke 
of  Buckingham,  were  forming  some  designs  against  him.  The  duke,  unable 
to  resist  the  force  of  Richard,  was  obliged  to  seek  safety  in  retreat ;  he  was 
discovered,  condemned,  and  executed;  and  the  other  conspirators,  who  had 
taken  arms  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  when  informed  of  this  misfor 
tune,  despaired  of  success,  and  immediately  separated  themselves. (2)  Mean- 
time the  earl  of  Richmond  appeared  on  the  coast  of  England,  with  a  body  of 
five  thousand  men ;  but  hearing  of  the  fate  of  Buckingham,  and  the  dispersion 
of  his  friends,  he  returned  to  the  coast  of  Brittany. 

Richard,  thus  triumphant  in  every  quarter,  arid  fortified  by  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  dethrone  him,  ventured  at  last  to  summon  a  parliament ;  a  mea- 
sure which  his  multiplied  crimes,  and  flagrant  usurpation,  had  hitherto  induced 
him  to  decline.  The  parliament  had  no  choice  left  but  to  recognise  his 
authority,  and  acknowledge  his  right  to  the  crown.  His  son  Edward,  a  youth 
of  twelve  years  of  age,  was  created  prince  of  Wales :  and  the  king  passed 
some  popular  laws  in  order  to  reconcile  the  nation  to  his  government. 

All  Richard's  other  measures  tended  to  the  same  object.  His  queen  being 
now  dead,  he  proposed,  by  means  of  a  papal  dispensation,  to  marry  the  princess 
Elizabeth,  the  true  heiress  of  the  crown,  and  intended  for  the  earl  of  Rich- 
mond, if  his  enterprise  had  succeeded.  And,  strange  as  it  may  sound  in 
civilized  ears,  the  queen-dowager  neither  scrupled  this  alliance,  which  was 
very  unusual  in  England,  and  regarded  as  incestuous,  nor  felt  any  horror  at 

(1)  Sir  T.  More.  An  attemprtias  lately  been  made  by  an  ingenious  but  whimsical  writer,  to  invalidate 
the  particulars  of  this  relation,  and  even  to  bring  into  question  the  fact  it  tends  to  establish.  But  in 
answer  to  the  Historic  Doubts  of  Mr.  Walpole,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  reply,  in  the  words  of  the  profound 
and  sagacious  Hume,  that  the  singular  magnanimity,  probity,  and  judgment  of  sir  Thomas  More,  make 
his  narrative  and  evidence  beyond  all  exception  ;  that  the  testimony  of  no  historian,  either  of  ancient  or 
modern  limes,  can  possibly  have  more  weight ;  that  he  may  justly  be  esteemed  a  contemporary  with  regard 
to  the  murder  of  the  two  princes :  for,  although  he  was  but  five  years  of  age  when  that  event  happened, 
e  lived  and  was  educated  among  the  persons  concerned  in  the  principal  transactions  during  the  adminis- 
ration  of  Richard  III.  And  it  is  plain  from  his  narrative  itself,  which  is  often  extremely  circumstantial, 
lat  he  had  the  particulars  from  eye-witnesses  themselves.  This  authority,  therefore,  is  irresistible,  and 


. 

ron.       .)    Comines  supports  his  accusation  with  very  strong  circumstances.    The  court  of  France, 
ne  tells  us,  was  so  much  struck  with  horror  at  Richard's  treason  and  usurpation,  that  the  English  aniba* 
sador  was  refused  an  audience.     Mem.  ubi  sup. 
«2)  Sir  T.  More.    Contin.  Hut.  Oroyland. 


LET.  XLVIII.]  MODERNEUROPE.  297 

the  thought  of  marrying  her  daughter  to  the  murderer  of  her  three  sons,  and 
of  her  brother.  But  the  earl  of  Richmond,  alarmed  at  an  alliance  which  must 
prove  fatal  to  all  his  hopes,  and  encouraged  by  the  English  exiles,  resolved 
upon  a  new  invasion.  All  men  of  probity  and  honour,  he  was  assured,  were 
desirous  to  prevent  the  sceptre  from  being  any  longer  polluted  by  that  bloody 
and  faithless  hand  which  held  it.(l)  In  consequence  of  these  representa- 
tions, he  set  sail  from  Harfleur,  in  Normandy,  with  a  retinue  of  about  two  thou- 
sand men,  and  landed  at  Milford  Haven,  in  Wales.  The  Welch,  who  con- 
sidered him  as  their  countryman,  flocked  to  his  standard ;  and  his  cause 
immediately  wore  a  favourable  aspect. 

Richard,  who  knew  not  in  what  quarter  he  might  expect  the  invader,  had 
taken  post  at  Nottingham,  in  the  centre  of  the  kingdom ;  and  having  given 
commissions  to  different  persons  in  the  several  counties,  whom  he  employed 
to  oppose  his  enemy,  he  proposed  in  person  to  haste,  on  the  first  alarm,  to 
the  place  most  exposed  to  danger.  The  Welch  governors  had  already 
deserted  to  Henry.  But  the  danger  to  which  Richard  was  chiefly  exposed, 
proceeded  not  so  much  from  the  zeal  of  his  open  enemies,  as  from  the  infi- 
delity of  his  pretended  friends.  Scarce  any  nobleman  was  sincerely  attached 
to  his  cause  except  the  duke  of  Norfolk ;  and  some,  who  had  feigned  the 
greatest  loyalty,  were  only  watching  for  an  opportunity  to  betray  and  aban- 
don him.  Among  these  was  lord  Stanley ;  who  raised  a  numerous  body  of 
his  friends  and  retainers  in  Cheshire  and  Lancashire,  but  without  openly 
declaring  himself,  his  son  being  in  the  tyrant's  power.  And  although  Henry 
had  received  secret  assurances  of  Stanley's  friendly  intentions,  the  armies  on 
both  sides  knew  not  what  to  infer  from  this  equivocal  behaviour,  when  they 
met  at  Bosworth,  near  Leicester.  Henry's  army  consisted  of  six  thousand 
men,  Richard's  of  double  that  number,  and  he  hastened  to  decide  by  arms  the 
quarrel  with  his  competitor. 

Soon  after  the  battle  began,  lord  Stanley  appeared  in  the  field,  and  declared 
for  the  earl  of  Richmond.  This  measure  had  a  proportional  effect  upon  both 
armies  :  it  inspired  unusual  courage  into  Henry's  soldiers ;  it  threw  Richard's 
into  dismay  and  confusion.  The  intrepid  tyrant,  now  sensible  of  his  desperate 
situation,  cast  his  eye  across  the  field ;  and,  descrying  his  rival  at  no  great 
distance,  attempted  to  decide  the  victory  by  a  blow.  He  killed,  with  his  own 
nand,  sir  William  Brandon,  standard-bearer  to  the  earl :  he  dismounted  sir 
John  Cheney ;  and  he  was  within  reach  of  Henry  himself,  who  declined  not 
the  combat,  when  sir  William  Stanley  broke  in  between  them,  and  sur- 
rounded Richard  with  his  troops.  Though  overwhelmed  by  numbers,  he  still 
maintained  the  combat ;  and  at  last  sunk  amid  heaps  of  slain,  who  had  fallen 
by  his  arm.(2)  A  life  so  infamous,  it  has  been  said  by  Voltaire,  and  by  Hume 
after  him,  did  not  merit  so  glorious  a  death ;  but  every  man  surely  merits 
what  his  talents  enable  him  to  earn.  Richard  was  a  blood-thirsty  tyrant ;  but 
he  was  brave,  and  he  died  as  a  brave  man  should,  with  his  sword  in  his  hand  : 
he  was  brave  to  the  last.  It  would  indeed  have  been  matter  of  regret  had  he 
died  in  his  bed,  after  disturbing  so  cruelly  the  repose  of  mankind;  but  his  death 
was  sufficiently  violent  to  prevent  his  life  from  becoming  an  object  of  imitation. 

This  battle  was  entirely  decisive;  the  king  not  only  being  slain,  but  the 
whole  royal  army  totally  routed  and  dispersed.  The  victorious  troops,  in  a 
transport  of  joy,  bestowed  on  their  general  the  appellation  of  king;  and 
"Long  live  Henry  the  Seventh!"  resounded  from  all  quarters  and  was  con- 
tinued with  repeated  acclamations.  In  order  to  give  some  kind  of  form  to 
this  military  election,  the  ornamental  crown,  which  Richard  wore  in  battle, 
was  placed  upon  Henry's  head :  his  title  was  confirmed  by  the  parliament ; 
and  his  marriage  with  the  princess  Elizabeth,  which  took  place  soon  after, 
united  the  jarring  claims  of  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster. (3)  Thus 
ended  the  race  of  the  Plantagenets,  who  had  sat  upwards  of  three  hundred 
years  upon  the  throne  of  England ;  and  thus  the  civil  wars  which  had  so 
long  desolated  the  kingdom. 

We  must  now  return  to  the  history  of  France. 

'11  Sir  T.  More.    Contin.  Hist.  Croyland.  (2)  Kennet.    Sir  T.  More.  (3)  Id.  ibid. 


THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  f 


LETTER  XLIX. 

France,  frtitn  the  Expulsion  of  the  English  by  Charles  Vll.,  to  the  Invasion  of  Italy 
by  Charles  Vlltin  1494. 

WHILE  England,  my  dear  Philip,  was  torn  in  pieces  by  civil  wars,  France 
was  increasing  both  in  power  and  dominion.  Most  of  the  great  fiefs  were 
reunited  to  the  crown :  the  authority  of  the  prince  was  raised  to  such  a 
height,  as  enabled  him  to  maintain  law  and  order ;  a  considerable  military 
force  was  established,  and  the  finances  were  able  to  support  it.  The  means 
by  which  these  changes  were  effected  require  your  particular  attention. 

Charles  VII.  no  sooner  found  himself  in  quiet  possession  of  France,  by 
the  expulsion  of  the  English,  than  he  devoted  himself  to  the  cares  of  govern- 
ment :  he  endeavoured  to  repair  the  ravages  of  war  by  promoting  the  arts  of 
peace,  and  to  secure  the  tranquillity  and  good  order  of  his  kingdom  by  wise 
regulations.  He  established  a  regular  army,  instead  of  those  troops  required 
to  be  furnished  by  the  crown  vassals,  and  levied  a  tax  for  their  support. 
Besides  that  army,  which  was  kept  in  constant  pay,  each  village  maintained 
a  free  archer,  who  was  exempted  from  the  king's  tax ;  and  it  was  in  conse- 
quence of  this  exemption,  otherwise  peculiar  to  the  nobility,  that  such  a 
number  of  persons  soon  claimed  the  title  of  gentlemen,  both  by  name  and 
arms. 

These  politic  measures  were  followed  by  the  most  important  consequences. 
A  force,  always  at  command,  gave  vigour  to  the  royal  authority ;  the  possess- 
ors of  fiefs  being  no  longer  called  upon,  had  no  longer  any  pretence  for  arm- 
ing their  followers,  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  state ;  so  that  the  feudal  polity 
went  rapidly  to  decay  in  France,  and  Charles  beheld  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  largest  and  best  regulated  kingdom  in  Europe. 

But  all  the  wisdom  and  generosity  of  this  great  monarch  could  not  secure 
to  him  that  happiness  which  he  endeavoured  to  procure  for  his  subjects.  His 
son  Lewis  revolted,  and  imbittered  his  latter  days  with  sorrow;  nay,  brought 
him  to  an  untimely  grave :  for,  being  informed  that  this  prince  intended  to 
take  him  off  by  poison,  he  abstained  from  all  food,  till  it  was  too  late  ;  and 
literally  died  of  hunger,  that  his  unnatural  son  might  not  be  guilty  of  parri- 
cide.(l) 

Lewis  XL,  so  much  celebrated  as  a  politician  and  despised  as  a  man,  now 
succeeded  to  that  crown,  which  he  had  traitorously  attempted  to  seize,  in 
prejudice  to  the  best  of  kings  and  of  fathers.  His  leading  object  was  the 
aggrandizement  of  the  monarchy,  by  depressing  the  power  of  the  nobles,  and 
reuniting  the  great  fiefs  to  the  crown.  And  as  he  knew  that  men  of  honour 
and  character  would  not  be  concerned  in  an  attempt  upon  the  rights  and 
properties  of  others,  he  immediately  dismissed  the  respectable  ministers,  who 
had  ably  and  faithfully  served  his  father,  and  selected  from  among  the  lowest 
of  the  people  men  of  a  disposition  similar  to  his  own — subtle,  deceitful,  un- 
feeling, and  cruel.  But  craft  may  sometimes  overshoot  its  aim,  especially 
when  accompanied  with  rapacity.  The  nobles  were  alarmed  ;  they  entered 
into  an  association,  and  took  arms  to  humble  their  oppressor.  The  king  also 
took  arms  and  prepared  to  face  them.  A  battle  was  fought,  which  decided 
nothing ;  and  as  Lewis  was  fonder  of  negotiating  than  fighting,  a  peace  was 
concluded  on  terms  advantageous  to  the  rebels,  but  which  the  perfidious 
tyrant  never  meant  to  fulfil.  He  took  into  favour  many  of  those  whom  he 
had  formerly  disgraced :  he  detached  from  the  confederacy  the  dukes  of 
Bourbon  and  Brittany ;  and  he  got  an  assembly  of  the  states  to  declare  those 
articles  of  the  treaty  void  which  were  most  detrimental  to  his  interest.(S) 

(1)  Monstrelet.    Du  Tillet.    Mezeray. 

(2)  Mem.  dc  Phil,  de  Comines.    Dupleix.    Mezeray.    By  exerting  all  his  power  and  address  in  infill 
dicing  the  election  of  the  representatives  l»v  bribing  or  overawing  the  members,  and  by  various  change* 


LET.  XLIX.]  M  0  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  299 

But  although  Lewis  thus  artfully  defeated  a  conspiracy  that  seemed  to 
endanger  his  throne,  his  rapacity  soon  brought  him  into  new  troubles ;  he 
became  the  dupe  of  his  own  artifice,  and  had  almost  perished  in  his  own 
snare.  Philip  the  Good,  duke  of  Burgundy,  was  succeeded  in  his  extensive 
dominions  by  his  son  Charles  the  Bold.  Charles  had  an  antipathy  against 
Lewis  ;  and,  what  more  alarmed  that  arch-politician,  knew  him  better  than 
any  man  in  Europe.  Both  parties  assembled  forces,  and  the  fate  of  one  ol 
them  was  expected  to  be  decided;  when  Lewis,  who  hated  coming  to  extremi- 
ties, agreed  to  pay  the  duke  thirty-six  thousand  crowns  to  defray  his  military 
expenses,  and  appointed  a  personal  interview  at  Peronne,  in  Picardy,  then  in 
possession  of  Charles.  The  proposal  was  agreed  to,  and  the  king  went  to 
the  place  of  meeting  accompanied  only  by  a  few  domestics.  By  such  an  act 
of  confidence,  he  hoped  to  throw  Charles  off  his  guard,  and  take  advantage, 
during  their  conferences,  of  that  friendly  temper  which  he  had  inspired.  As 
a  further  means  of  forwarding  his  negotiation,  he  commanded  some  of  his 
emissaries  to  enter  Liege,  and  persuade  the  inhabitants  to  revolt  against  the 
duke. 

Thus  wrapped  in  perfidy  and  deceit,  Lewis  thought  himself  sure  of  concluding 
an  advantageous  treaty.  He  was  mistaken,  however,  for  once.  The  duke 
indeed  received  him  with  all  possible  marks  of  friendship  and  respect,  and 
seemed  highly  pleased  with  so  much  confidence  in  an  adversary ;  but  the  face 
of  affairs  was  as  soon  changed.  Intelligence  arrived  that  the  people  of  Liege 
had  broken  out  into  open  rebellion  at  the  instigation  of  the  French  emissa- 
ries, and  had  cut  the  garrison  in  pieces.  Charles,  in  the  first  transports  of 
his  rage,  ordered  the  king  to  be  shut  up  in  the  castle  of  Peronne ;  posted 
double  guards  at  the  gates,  and  made  him  thoroughly  sensible  that  he  was  a 
prisoner,  and  at  the  mercy  of  his  vassal. 

In  that  wretched  condition  Lewis  had  continued  three  days,  when  he  again 
attempted  to  set  his  crooked  policy  at  work,  by  distributing  large  sums  among 
the  duke's  officers  ;  and  Charles's  anger  being  now  somewhat  abated,  he  was 
prevailed  upon  to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  his  prisoner,  or  rather  to  pre- 
scribe such  terms  as  he  thought  proper,  to  a  prince  whose  life  and  liberty  were 
in  his  power.  The  most  mortifying  of  these  conditions  was,  that  Lewis 
should  march  with  him  against  Liege,  and  be  active  in  the  reduction  of  that 
place,  which  had  revolted  at  his  own  request.  Liege  was  reduced ;  and  Lewis 
having  thus  fulfilled,  in  every  particular,  the  purpose  of  his  vassal,  was  per- 
mitted to  depart,  before  the  duke  set  fire  to  the  town,  and  massacred  the 
inhabitants. (1) — This  affair  was  treated  with  so  much  ridicule  at  Paris,  that 
all  the  magpies  and  jays  were  taught  to  cry,  "  Peronne!  Peronne !"  a  circum- 
stance that  proved  fatal  to  many  of  them  ;  for  Lewis,  after  his  return,  issued 
an  edict  for  destroying  all  those  talkative  birds,  as  unnecessary  remem- 
brancers of  his  disgrace. (2) 

The  subsequent  part  of  Lewis's  reign  was  one  continued  scene  of  execu- 
tions, wars,  and  negotiations.  He  and  his  infamous  ministers  divided  the 
possessions  of  those  whom  his  tyrannies  had  caused  to  rebel;  his  ministers 
themselves  conspired  against  him ;  and  the  bishop  of  Verdun,  and  cardinal 
Balue,  men  as  wicked  as  himself,  suffered  those  tortures  which  they  had 
invented  for  others.  His  brother  Charles,  who  had  been  always  a  thorn  in  his 
side,  was  taken  off  by  poison ;  the  constable  de  St.  Paul,  his  brother-in-law, 
the  count  of  Armagnac,  the  dukes  of  Alencon  and  Nemours,  lost  their  heads 
on  the  scaffold;  and  the  children  of  the  last  named  nobleman,  by  an  un- 
heard-of piece  of  barbarity,  were  sprinkled  with  their  father's  blood,  yet 
reeking  from  his  veins,  and  sent  in  that  condition  to  the  Bastile.(3) 

which  be  artfully  made  in  the  form  of  their  deliberations,  Lewis  XI.  acquired  such  entire  direction  of  the 
national  assemblies,  that,  from  being  the  vigilant  guardians  of  the  privileges  and  property  of  the  people, 
he  rendered  them  tamely  subservient,  in  protecting  the  most  odious  measures  of  his  reign.  (Phil,  de  Com 
torn,  i.)  He  first  taught  other  modern  princes  the  fatal  art  of  becoming  arbitrary,  by  corrupting  the  fonn 
tain  of  public  liberty. 

(1)  Phil,  de  Com.  liv.  ii.  chap.  vii. — xiv.  (2)  J.  Troyes  Hist.  Secrete  de  Lewis  XI. 

(3)  Du.  Tillet.  The  king  ordered,  says  Mezeray,  that  the  two  sons  of  the  duke  of  Nemours,  yet  infante, 
should  be  placed  beneath  the  scaflbld  on  which  he  was  executed  U»  ' llei  *  'a«her's  blood  might  fall  on  theit 
heads  Jtbrtgt  Gironol.  de  Hist  de  France. 


300  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART! 

With  the  ignominious  but  politic  treaty  of  Lewis  with  Edward  IV.,  by 
which  he  purchased  the  retreat  of  that  monarch,  you  are  already  acquainted 
He  was  always  engaged,  either  in  war  or  negotiations,  with  his  natural  enemy 
the  duke  of  Burgundy,  till  the  death  of  that  prince,  who  fell  in  an  ambitious 
and  unprovoked  attempt  upon  the  liberty  of  the  Swiss.  This  was  a  fortunate 
event  for  Lewis,  and  he  endeavoured  to  make  the  most  of  it.  The  duke 
left  no  male  issue,  and  but  one  .daughter,  the  sole  heiress  of  his  extensive 
dominions,  which  comprehended  not  only  the  dutchy  of  Burgundy,  but  Franche- 
Comte",  Artois,  Flanders,  and  almost  all  the  Netherlands.  Lewis  proposed  a 
marriage  between  this  princess  and  his  son  Charles,  the  dauphin,  a  boy  only 
seven  years  old.  In  the  mean  time,  he  seized  Burgundy,  as  a  male  fief,  and 
made  himself  master  of  Artois,  Benzan5on,  and  several  other  places,  by  the 
most  atrocious  acts  of  treachery  and  cruelty.(l)  This  was  the  way  to  make 
sure  of  something,  but  surely  not  to  bring  about  a  marriage  treaty :  the  rapa- 
city of  this  arch-politician,  notwithstanding  all  his  penetration,  once  more 
betrayed  him  The  princess  Mary  was  filled  with  diffidence,  and  her  Fle- 
mish subjects  with  detestation.  By  their  advice  she  married  the  archduke 
Maximilian,(2)  son  of  the  emperor  Frederic  III.,  and  hence  arose  new  wars, 
which  long  desolated  the  Low  Countries,  and  bred  an  implacable  hatred 
between  the  houses  of  France  and  Austria. 

Lewis,  however,  put  a  stop  to  these  wars  (as  he  did,  as  soon  as  possible,  to 
all  in  which  he  was  engaged)  by  a  truce ;  and  though  he  could  not  boast  of 
his  success  in  arms,  he  retained  Burgundy,  and  all  the  other  places  he  had 
seized.  Anjou,  Maine,  Provence,  and  Bar  were  soon  after  left  him  by  Charles 
count  du  Maine,  the  last  prince  of  the  house  of  Anjou,  who  died  without 
issue.  He  united  to  the  crown  Roussillon  and  Cerdagne,  under  pretence  of 
mortgage,  and  the  county  of  Boulogne  by  purchase.  Thus  Lewis,  amid  all 
his  crimes,  and  after  all  his  struggles,  and  all  his  blunders,  saw  his  kingdom 
much  enlarged,  his  subjects  in  obedience,  and  his  government  revered  at 
home  and  abroad.  But  he  had  only  a  glimpse  of  that  agreeable  prospect ;  for 
he  was  suddenly  seized  with  a  fit  of  the  apoplexy,  which  threw  him  into  a  lin- 
gering illness ;  and  he  expected  death  with  all  those  horrors  which  a  life  of 
such  complicated  guilt  deserved.  It  at  last  overtook  him ;  but  not  before  he 
had  suffered  more  severe  tortures  than  any  criminal  punished  during  his 
reign. (3)  r  ..•_ 

(1)  Phil,  de  Com.  liv.  v.  chap.  xv.    Du  CIos,  Hist.  Lewis  XI. 

(2)  There  is  reason  however  to  believe,  that  the  heiress  of  Burgundy  was  influenced,  in  her  choice,  by 
other  motives  than  those  of  policy ;  for  we  are  told  by  Philip  de  Comines,  that  while  her  marriage  with  the 
dauphin  was  under  deliberation.  Madame  Hallewin,  first  lady  of  the  bed-chamber  to  thai  princess,  gave 
it  as  her  opinion,  "  That  there  was  more  need  of  a  man  than  a  boy !"  (Mem.  liv.  vi.  chap,  iii.)    Admitting 
this  to  be  the  case,  and  the  marriage  with  the  dauphin  impracticable,  Lewis  might  still  have  prevented  the 
dominions  of  Burgundy  from  being  conveyed  to  a  rival  power,  by  favouring  tjje  suit  of  the  count  of  An- 
goulAme,  a  prince  of  the  blood- royal  of  France,  and  father  of  Francis  I.,  towards  a  match  with  whom  the 
princess  Mary  had  indicated  her  good-will.    (Comines,  ubi  sup.)    But  the  rapacious  disposition  and 
intriguing  spirit  of  the  French  monarch,  which  obscured  his  naturally  clear  and  sound  understanding,  with 
his  jealous  dread  of  so  highly  exalting  a  subject,  made  him  discourage  that  alliance,  and  pursue  a  line  ot 
insidious  policy,  disgraceful  even  to  Lewis  XI.,  and  which  contributed,  eventually,  to  raise  up  in  the  house 
of  Austria,  a  rival  power  that  thwarted  the  measures,  opposed  the  arms,  and  checked,  during  two  centuries, 
the  progress  of  the  successors  of  a  prince,  who  first  united  the  interior  force  of  France,  and  established  it 
on  such  a  footing  as  to  render  it  formidable  to  the  rest  of  Europe. 

(3)  Phil,  de  Com.  liv.  vi.  chap.  xxi.  xxii.    Du  Clos,  Hist.  Lewis  XL    The  picture  drawn  by  these  two 
writers,  of  the  last  scene  of  this  monarch's  life,  in  contrast  with  his  cruelties,  is  deeply  shaded  with  horror. 
He  put  to  death,  we  are  told,  more  than  four  thousand  persons,  by  different  kinds  of  torture,  and  without 
any  form  of  trial ;  that  he  was  usually  present  himself  at  their  execution,  in  beholding  which,  he  seemed 
to  enjoy  a  barbarous  satisfaction  or  triumph ;  that  many  of  the  nobility  were,  by  his  order,  confined  in  iron 
cages,  invented  by  the  ministers  of  his  tyrannies,  and  carried  about  like  wild  beasts ;  while  others  were 


excepting  his  own  son,  his  daughter,  and  his  son-in-law,  the  lord  of  Beaujeau,  afterward  duke  of  Bourbon, 
though  in  the  last  two  he  placed  more  confidence  than  in  all  the  others.    After  often  shifting  his  residence 
and  his  domestics,  under  pretence  that  nature  delights  in  change,  he  took  up  his  abode  at  the  castle  of 
ii/.-les-Tours,  which  he  ordered  to  be  encompassed  with  large  bars  of  iron,  in  the  form  of  a  grate,  with 
lour  watch-towers  of  iron  at  the  four  corners  of  the  building.    The  grates  were  without  the  wall,  on  the 
ler  side  of  the  ditch,  and  went  to  the  bottom :  spikes  of  iron,  set  as  thick  as  possible,  were  fastened 
ie  wall;  and  cross-bow  men  were  placed  in  the  ditches  and  in  the  watch-towers,  to  shoot  at  any  man 
3  dar»d  approach  the  castle  till  the  opening  of  the  gate.    The  gate  was  never  opened,  nor  the  draw- 
bridge let  down,  before  eight  in  the  morning,  when  the  courtiers  were  permitted  to  enter.    Through  the 
l»y  the  captain*  were  ordered  to  guard  their  »everal  posts,  with  a  main  guard  in  the  middle  of  the  co'urt  aa 


LET.  XLIX.J  MODERN   EUROPE.  301 

Tho  character  of  Lewis  XI.  is  one  of  the  most  complicated  in  history  He 
obtained  the  end  which  he  proposed  by  his  policy,  but  at  the  expense  of  hia 
peace  and  reputation.  His  life  was  a  jumble  of  crimes  and  contradictions, 
Absolute,  without  dignity;  popular  (because  he  humbled  the  great),  without 
geaetosity;  unjust  by  system,  yet  zealous  for  the  administration  of  justice; 
living  in  op*n  violation  of  the  first  principles  of  morals,  but  resigning  him- 
self to  the  most  ridiculous  superstitions ;  the  tyrant  of  his  subjects,  and  the 
timid  slave  of  his  physicians ;  he  debased  the  royalty  at  the  same  time  that 
he  strengthened  it.  Yet,  this  prince,  who  rendered  religion  contemptible, 
and  royalty  disgraceful,  assumed  the  title  of  Majesty  and  Most  Christian,  since 
given  to  his  successors,  and  formerly  not  claimed  by  the  kings  of  France. 

Lewis  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles  VIII.,  a  young  prince  ill  educated, 
rash,  and  incapable  of  application.  As  he  had  entered  the  fourteenth  year  of 
his  age,  he  was  no  longer  a  minor  by  the  law ;  but  he  was  still  so  by  nature : 
and  Lewis  had  wisely  intrusted  the  government,  during  the  youth  of  the 
king,  to  his  daughter  Anne,  lady  of  Beaujeau,  a  woman  of  great  spirit  and 
capacity.  The  administration,  however,  was  disputed  by  the  duke  of  Orleans, 
first  prince  of  the  blood,  and  afterward  the  celebrated  Lewis  XII.,  who, 
proving  unsuccessful  in  his  intrigues,  betook  himself  to  arms,  and  entered 
into  a  league  with  the  duke  of  Brittany,  and  the  archduke  Maximilian. 
The  Bretons  were  defeated  in  the  battle  of  St.  Aubin,  and  the  duke  of 
Orleans  was  taken  prisoner.(l) 

The  death  of  the  duke  of  Brittany,  which  happened  soon  after  this  defeat, 
threw  the  affairs  of  that  dutchy  into  the  utmost  confusion,  and  seemed  to 
threaten  the  state  with  final  subjection.  It  was  the  only  great  fief  which 
now  remained  disunited  from  the  crown  of  France ;  and  as  the  duke  had 
died  without  male  heir,  some  antiquated  claims  to  its  dominion  were  revived 
by  Charles  VIII.  But  force  is  the  best  claim  between  princes ;  of  that  Charles 
was  possessed;  and  the  conquest  of  Brittany  seemed  inevitable,  unless  pre- 
vented by  some  foreign  power. 

The  prince  to  whom  the  distressed  Bretons  looked  up  for  aid  was  Henry 
VII.  of  England,  who  was  highly  interested  in  preventing  the  reduction  of 
their  country,  as  well  as  bound  by  ties  of  gratitude  to  return  that  protection 
to  the  young  dutchess  which  had  been  generously  yielded  him  by  her  father. 
But  the  parsimonious  temper  of  Henry,  which  rendered  him  averse  to  all 
warlike  enterprises,  or  distant  expeditions,  prevented  him  from  sending  them 
any  effectual  support.  They  therefore  applied  to  Maximilian  of  Austria,  now 
king  of  the  Romans,  whose  wife,  Mary  of  Burgundy,  was  lately  dead,  and 
offered  him  their  dutchess  in  marriage.  The  proposal  was  readily  accepted ; 
the  nuptials  were  celebrated  by  proxy ;  and  the  dutchess  of  Brittany  assumed 
the  august  title  of  quSen  of  the  Romans.  But  this  honour  was  all  she  gained 
by  her  marriage  ;  for  Maximilian,  destitute  of  money  and  troops,  and  embar 
rassed  by  the  continual  revolts  of  the  Flemings,  was  able  to  send  no  succours 
to  his  consort.  The  French  made  progress  every  day :  yet  the  conquest  of 
Brittany  seemed  still  so  distant,  and  accompanied  with  so  many  difficulties, 
that  the  court  of  France  changed  its  measures,  and,  by  a  masterstroke  in 
policy,  astonished  all  Europe. 

Charles  VIII.  had  been  affianced  to  Margaret,  daughter  of  Maximilian. 
Though  too  young  for  the  nuptial  union,  she  had  been  sent  to  Paris  to  be 
educated,  and  at  this  time  bore  the  title  of  queen  of  France.  Engagements 

in  a  town  closely  besieged.  (Phil,  de  Com.  liv.  yi.  chap,  xii.)  Nor  was  this  all.  Every  secret  of  medicine, 
every  allurement  of  sensuality,  and  every  sacrifice  of  superstition,  was  exhausted,  in  order  to  protract  the 
tyrant's  miserable  existence,  and  set  at  a  distance  the  ills  he  feared.  The  pope  sent  him  the  vest  which 
St.  Peter  wore  when  he  said  mass ;  the  sacred  phial  was  brought  from  Rheims  to  reanoint  him ;  and  he 
Invited  a  holy  hermit  from  Calabria,  at  whose  feet  he  kneeled,  and  whose  intercession  with  Heaven  he 
attempted  to  buy,  by  building  him  two  convents;  the  most  beautiful  country  girls  were  procured  to  dance 
around  him  to  the  sound  of  music ;  he  paid  his  physician,  whom  he  feared,  the  enormous  sum  often  thou- 
sand crowns  a  month ;  and  the  blood  of  infants  is  said  to  have  been  spilled  in  order  to  soften  the  acrimony 
of  his  scorbutic  humours.  Phil,  de  Com.  et  Du  Cloa,  ubi  sup. 

(1)  Mezeray,  torn.  vi.  Renault,  torn.  i.  Could  the  duke  of  Orleans  have  flattered  the  passion  of  Ann* 
of  Beaujeau,  he  might,  if  we  believe  Brantome  not  only  have  escaped  this  misfortune,  but  shared  the 
administration. 


302  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  1 

so  solemnly  entered  into  could  not  easily  be  set  aside ;  but  the  marriage  of 
Charles  with  the  dutchess  of  Brittany  seemed  necessary  to  reannex  that 
important  fief  to  the  crown;  and,  as  a  yet  stronger  motive  for  such  alliance, 
the  marriage  of  Maximilian  with  this  princess  appeared  destructive  to  the 
grandeur,  and  even  to  the  security,  of  the  French  monarchy.  The  only  means 
of  obviating  every  inconveniency  was  therefore  concluded  to  be  the  disso- 
lution of  the  two  marriages,  which  had  been  celebrated  but  not  consummated, 
and  the  espousal  of  the  dutchess  of  Brittany  to  the  king1  of  France. 

The  measures  by  which  the  French  ministry  carried  this  delicate  scheme 
into  execution  were  wise  and  political.  While  they  pressed  Brittany  with 
all  the  violence  of  war,  they  secretly  negotiated  with  the  men  of  most  influence 
in  the  dutchy,  representing  to  them,  that  the  happiest  event  which  in  their 
present  situation  could  befall  the  Bretons,  would  be  a  peace  with  France, 
though  purchased  by  a  final  subjection  to  that  monarchy.  These  arguments 
had  some  weight  with  the  barons ;  but  the  grand  difficulty  was,  how  to  obtain 
the  consent  of  the  dutchess,  who  had  fixed  her  affections  on  Maximilian.  In 
order  to  subdue  her  obstinacy,  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  set  at  liberty ;  and 
though  formerly  her  suitor,  and  favoured  with  her  smile,  he  now  zealously 
employed  all  his  interest  in  favour  of  the  king.  By  his  advice,  Charles 
advanced  with  a  powerful  army  to  Rennes,  at  that  time  the  residence  of  the 
dutchess.  Finding  herself  without  resource,  she  opened  the  gates  of  the  city, 
and  agreed  "to  the  proffered  marriage ;  which  was  soon  after  solemnized,  and 
justly  considered  as  the  most  fortunate  event  that  could  have  befallen  the 
French  monarchy.(l) 

The  success  of  Charles,  in  this  negotiation,  was  the  most  sensible  morti- 
fication to  the  king  of  the  Romans.  He  was  deprived  of  a  considerable 
territory  which  he  thought  he  had  acquired,  and  an  accomplished  princess, 
whom  he  had  espoused:  he  was  affronted  in  the  person  of  his  daughter 
Margaret,  who  was  sent  back  to  him,  after  she  had  been  treated,  during  seven 
years,  as  queen  of  France ;  and  he  had  reason  to  reproach  himself  with  his 
own  supine  security,  in  neglecting  the  consummation  of  his  marriage,  which 
was  easily  practicable  for  him,  and  would  have  rendered  the  tie  indissoluble. 
The  king  of  England  had  also  reason  to  accuse  himself  of  misconduct,  in 
regard  to  this  important  transaction :  for,  although  the  affair  had  terminated 
in  a  manner  which  he  could  not  precisely  foresee,  his  negligence  in  leaving 
his  most  useful  ally  so  long  exposed  to  the  invasion  of  a  superior  power, 
could  not  but  appear,  on  reflection,  the  result  of  timid  caution,  and  narrow 
politics  ;  and,  as  Henry  valued  himself  on  his  extensive  foresight,  and  sound 
judgment,  the  ascendant  acquired  over  him,  by  such  a  youth  as  Charles, 
roused  his  indignation,  and  prompted  him  to  seek  vengeance,  after  all  remedy 
for  his  miscarriage  was  become  impracticable.  He  accordingly  entered  into 
a  league  with  the  king  of  the  Romans,  and  the  king  of  Spain,  who  also 
interested  himself  in  this  matter :  he  obtained  liberal  supplies  from  his  parlia- 
ment ;  and  he  landed  in  France  with  one  of  the  largest  and  best  appointed 
armies  that  had  ever  been  transported  from  England. (2) 

But  Charles  and  his  ministers  found  means  to  divert  the  impending  storm, 
by  dissolving  the  confederacy.  They  drew  the  king  of  Spain  into  a  separate 
treaty,  by  restoring  to  him  the  counties  of  Roussillon  and  Cerdagne  ;  and  as 
they  knew  Henry's  ruling  passion  to  be  money,  he  was  bought  off  by  the 
famous  treaty  of  Estaples,  the  particulars  of  which  I  shall  afterward  have 
occasion  to  mention.  Maximilian  now  alone  remained  of  all  those  hostile 
powers ;  and  he  was  content  to  conclude  a  peace,  on  obtaining  restitution  of 
Artois,  Franche-ComteS,  and  Carolois,  which  had  been  ceded  as  the  dowry  of 
his  daughter,  when  she  was  affianced  to  the  king  of  France. (3) 

Charles's  motives  for  purchasing  peace  at  so  high  a  price  were  neither  those 
of  indolence  nor  timidity,  but  of  ambition  and  youthful  ardour.  He  had 
determined  to  vindicate  his  title  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  supposed  to 
descend  to  him  from  the  second  house  of  Anjou,  which  ended  in  Charles  count 

fl)  Mezeray.    Henault,  ubi  sup.    Ba.con.Uiit.JIen      I*  (2)  Bacon  ubl sup 

ft)  Phil,  de  Com.  liv.  vii.  chap.  iii. 


LET.  L.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  303 

of  Maine,  who  had  bequeathed  all  his  rights  and  possessions  to  the  crown  of 
France.  This  project  had  long-  engaged  the  mind  of  Charles  ;  but,  in.  order 
to  carry  it  effectually  into  execution,  it  was  necessary  to  be  at  peace  with  his 
neighbours ;  and  that  being  now  secured,  he  set  out  for  Italy  with  as  little 
concern  as  if  it  had  been  a  mere  journey  of  pleasure.(l) 

But  before  I  speak  of  the  success  of  that  expedition,  and  the  wars  in  which 
it  involved  Europe,  several  important  matters  merit  your  attention — the 
taking  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  out 
of  Spain. 


LETTER  L. 

The  Progress  of  the  Turks,  and  the  Fall  of  the  Greek  Empire. 

You  have  already  seen,  my  dear  Philip,  the  weakness  of  the  empire  ol 
Constantinople  at  the  time  of  the  crusades  :  you  have  seen  the  imperial  city 
sacked,  and  the  government  seized  by  the  champions  of  the  cross.  The 
Greeks  recovered  their  empire  from  the  French  in  1261,  but  in  a  mangled  and 
impoverished  condition.  It  continued  in  the  same  weak  state.  The  monastic ' 
passion  seemed  to  have  obscured  the  rays  of  common  sense.  Andronicus, 
son  of  Michael  Paleologus,  who  had  restored  the  Greek  empire,  allowed  him- 
self to  be  persuaded,  that  God  being  his  protector,  all  military  force  was 
unnecessary ;  and  the  superstitious  Greeks,  regardless  of  danger,  employed 
themselves  in  disputing  about  the  transfiguration  of  Jesus  Christ,  when  they 
should  have  been  studying  the  art  of  war,  and  training  themselves  to  military 
discipline.  One  half  of  the  empire  pretended,  that  the  light  upon  Mount 
Tabor  had  been  from  all  eternity ;  and  the  other  half  affirmed,  that  it  had 
been  produced  by  God  only  for  the  purpose  of  the  transfiguration.(2) 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Turks,  whose  force  had  been  broken  by  the  Mogul 
Tartars,  were  strengthening  themselves  in  Asia  Minor,  and  soon  overran 
Thrace.  Othman,  from  whom  the  present  sultans  are  descended,  and 
to  whom  the  Ottoman  empire  owes  its  establishment,  fixed  the  seat  of  his 
government  at  Prusa,  in  Bythinia,  about  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. His  son  Orcan  advanced  as  far  as  the  borders  of  the  Propontis ;  and 
John  Cantacuzenus,  colleague  of  the  emperor  Paleologus,  was  glad  to  pur- 
chase the  friendship  of  an  infidel  and  Barbarian,  according  to  the  haughty 
language  of  the  Greeks,  by  giving  him  his  daughter  in  marriage. (3) 

Cantacuzenus,  who  had  usurped  the  imperial  dignity,  ended  his  days  in  a 
monastery  ;  and  John  Paleologus,  after  having  in  vain  implored  succours  in 
Italy,  and  humbled  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  pope,  was  obliged  to  return  and 
conclude  a  shameful  treaty  with  Amurath,  the  son  of  Orcan,  whose  tributary 
he  consented  to  become.  The  Turkish  army  had  crossed  the  straits  of  Cali 
polls,  taken  the  city  of  Adrianople,  and  marched  into  the  heart  of  Thrace 
before  the  return  of  the  emperor. (4)  Amurath  first  gave  to  the  janizaries 
that  form  under  which  they  at  present  subsist. 

In  order  to  create  a  body  of  devoted  troops  that  might  serve  as  the  imme 
diate  guards  of  his  person  and  dignity,  the  sultan  commanded  his  officers  to 
seize  annually,  as  the  imperial  property,  the  third  part  of  the  young  males 
taken  in  war.     After  being  instructed  in  the  Mahometan  religion,  inured  to 
obedience  by  severe  discipline,  and  trained  to  warlike  exercise,  these  youths 
were  formed  into  regular  bands,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  janizaries  or 
new  soldiers.     And  as  every  sentiment  which  enthusiasm  can  inspire,  and 
every  mark  of  honour  that  the  favour  of  the  prince  could  confer,  were  em 
ployed  to  animate  them  with  martial  ardour,  and  fill  them  with  a  sense  of 
their  own  pre-eminence,  the  janizaries  soon  became  the  chief  strength  and 

(1)  Phil,  de  Com.  liv.vii.  chap.  v.    Mezeray.  torn.  iv.  (2)  Pachymer 

'3)  Ducas.  (4)  Ibid. 


304  THE    HISTORY    OP  [PART 


pride  of  the  Ottoman  armies.  By  their  valour  Amurath  defeated,  in  the 
of  Cassovia,  the  united  forces  of  the  Wallachians,  Hungarians,  Dalmatians, 
and  Triballians,  under  the  conduct  of  Lascaris,  prince  of  Servia  ;  but  walk- 
ing carelessly  over  the  field  of  victory,  he  was  assassinated  by  a  Christian 
soldier,  who  had  concealed  himself  among  the  slain.  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  Bajazet,  surnamed  Ilderim,  or  the  Thunderbolt,  on  account  of  the 
rapidity  of  his  conquests.(l) 

The  Greeks,  though  surrounded  by  such  dangerous  enemies,  and  though 
their  empire  was  almost  reduced  to  the  boundaries  of  Constantinople,  were 
not  more  united  among  themselves  than  formerly.  Discord  even  reigned  in 
the  imperial  family.  John  Paleologus  had  condemned  his  son  Andronicus  to 
lose  his  eyes  :  Andronicus  revolted  against  him,  and,  by  the  assistance  of  the 
Genoese,  who  were  masters  of  the  commerce,  and  even  part  of  the  suburbs, 
of  Constantinople,  he  shut  his  father  up  in  prison.  After  two  years'  confine- 
ment, the  emperor  recovered  his  liberty  and  his  authority,  and  built  a  citadel 
in  order  to  obstruct  the  designs  of  the  Turks  ;  but  Bajazet,  the  terrible  Baja- 
zet, ordered  him  to  demolish  his  works  —  and  the  works  were  demolished  !(2) 
—  What  but  ruin,  and  that  both  sudden  and  inevitable,  could  be  expected 
from  a  people,  whose  timidity  induced  them  to  destroy  the  very  column  of 
their  security  1 

In  the  mean  time,  the  progress  of  the  Turks  in  Europe  alarming  the  Chris- 
tian princes,  Philip  the  Good,  duke  of  Burgundy,  and  the  flower  of  the  French 
nobility,  took  arms,  and  followed  the  call  of  John-without-Fear,  count  of 
Nevers.  The  main  army,  which  consisted  of  about  one  hundred  thousand 
men,  of  different  nations,  was  commanded  by  Sigismund,  king  of  Hungary, 
afterward  emperor  of  Germany.  The  Christians  besieged  Nicopolis,  upon 
the  Danube.  Bajazet  came  to  relieve  it.  He  examined  the  disposition  of 
his  enemies  :  he  tried  their  spirit  by  skirmishes,  and  found  they  had  courage, 
but  wanted  conduct  :  he  drew  them  into  an  ambuscade,  and  gained  a  com- 
plete victory  over  them.  Bajazet  has  been  justly  blamed  for  massacring  his 
prisoners  ;  but  it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  the  French  had  shown  him 
the  example,  by  putting  to  death  all  the  Turks  they  had  seized  before  the 
battle.  (3) 

Constantinople  was  immediately  threatened  by  the  conqueror.  But  Ma- 
nuel Paleologus,  the  son  and  successor  of  John,  purchased  a  seeming  peace, 
by  submitting  to  an  annual  tribute  of  six  hundred  pieces  of  gold  ;  by  obliging 
himself  to  build  a  mosque,  and  receive  into  the  city  a  cadi,  or  judge,  to  de- 
cide the  differences  between  the  Mahometans  settled  there  on  account  of 
trade.  Perceiving,  however,  a  new  storm  arising,  he  withdrew,  and  went  to 
the  several  courts  of  Europe  to  petition  assistance,  as  his  father  had  formerly 
done  :  and  with  no  better  success.  Nobody  would  stir  in  his  defence.  Few 
princes  indeed  were  in  a  condition  so  to  do,  almost  all  Christendom  being  in- 
volved in  civil  wars.  The  Turks,  meanwhile,  had  laid  siege  to  Constantino- 
ple, and  its  ruin  seemed  inevitable  ;  when  the  fatal  blow  was  diverted  for  a 
time,  by  one  of  those  great  events  that  fill  the  world  with  confusion. 

The  dominions  of  the  Mogul  Tartars,  under  Genghiz  Khan,  and  his  im- 
mediate successors,  (extended  as  we  have  had  occasion  to  see)  from  the 
Wolga  to  the  frontier  of  China,  and  as  far  east  as  the  river  Ganges.  Tamer- 
lane, or  Timur  Beck,  one  of  the  princes  of  those  Tartars,  and  a  descendant 
of  Genghiz  Khan,  by  the  female  line,  though  born  without  dominions  (in  the 
ancient  Sogdiana,  at  present  the  country  of  the  Usbecs)  subdued  almost  as 
great  an  extent  of  territory  as  his  victorious  ancestor  ;  and,  in  the  sweep  of 
his  conquests,  gave  a  blow  to  the  empire  of  the  Turks.  He  had  subjected 
Persia,  India,  and  Syria,  when  the  Greek  emperor,  and  five  Mahometan 
princes,  whom  the  sultan  had  stripped  of  their  dominions,  invited  him  into 
Asia  Minor,  as  the  only  potentate  able  to  deliver  them  from  the  tyranny  of 
Bajazet. 

Tamerlane  was  no  doubt  glad  of  an  opportunity  of  extending  his  conquests 

(1)  Cantemir,  Hist.  Oth.  Emp.  (2)  Ducas.  (3)  Cantemir,  ubi  sup. 


LET.  L.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  305 

and  his  renown ;  but  as  he  had  still  some  respect  for  the  laws  of  nations,  he 
sent  ambassadors  to  Bajazet,  before  he  commenced  hostilities,  requiring  him 
to  raise  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  and  do  justice  to  the  Mahometan  princes, 
whom  he  had  deprived  of  their  territories.  The  haughty  sultan  received 
these  proposals  with  the  highest  rage  and  indignation.  He  abandoned  his 
enterprise,  and  prepared  to  face  his  rival.  Tamerlane  continued  his  march, 
denouncing  his  vengeance.  They  met  between  Caesaria  and  Ancyra,  where 
all  the  forces  in  the  world  seemed  assembled,  and  a  great  and  terrible  battle 
was  fought.  The  dispute  was  long  and  obstinate,  but  fortune  at  length  de- 
clared for  Tamerlane;  Bajazet  himself  was  taken  prisoner,  and  had  the  afflic- 
tion to  see  one  of  his  sons  fall  by  his  side,  and  the  mortification  to  find  another 
the  companion  of  his  chains.  They  were  treated  with  great  humanity  by  the 
victor,  notwithstanding  the  vulgar  story  of  the  iron  cage,  in  which  the  captive 
sultan  is  said  to  have  been  shut  up.  Three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  men 
are  computed  to  have  fallen  on  both  sides. (1) 

In  consequence  of  this  victory,  Tamerlane  became  master  of  Prusa,  the 
seat  of  the  Turkish  empire.  He  pillaged  Nice ;  ravaged  all  the  country  as 
far  as  the  Thracian  Bosphorus,  and  took  Smyrna  by  assault,  after  one  of  the 
most  memorable  sieges  recorded  in  history.  Every  place  either  yielded  to 
the  terror  of  his  name  or  the  force  of  his  arms.  The  victorious  Tartar,  how- 
ever, soon  abandoned  his  acquisitions  in  Asia  Minor,  which  he  found  it  would 
be  difficult  to  preserve  against  so  brave  a  people  as  the  Turks,  and  went  to 
secure  those  conquests  more  likely  to  prove  durable.(2) 

Meanwhile  Manuel  Paleologus,  the  Greek  emperor,  thinking  the  Turkish 
power  entirely  broken,  destroyed  the  mosque  in  Constantinople,  and  retook 
several  places  in  its  neighbourhood.  The  civil  wars  between  the  sons  of 
Bajazet,  after  the  death  of  their  father,  and  the  departure  of  Tamerlane,  for- 
tified Manuel  in  his  ill-founded  security.  But  the  Greeks  were  in  time  made 
sensible  of  their  mistake.  On  the  death  of  Mahomet  I.,  who  had  dethroned 
and  put  to  death  his  brother  Musa,  Amurath  II.,  the  son  of  this  Mahomet, 
immediately  sat  down  before  Constantinople.  He  raised  the  siege  to  quell 
the  revolt  of  his  brother  Mustapha ;  he  took  Thessalonica  and  returned  to 
the  imperial  city,  which  was  in  more  danger  than  ever.  The  emperor 
Manuel  had  died  in  the  habit  of  a  monk ;  and  his  successor,  John  Paleolo- 
gus II.,  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  Latins.  He  hoped  to  procure  as- 
sistance from  the  West,  by  uniting  the  Greek  and  Roman  churches ;  but  he 
gained  by  this  scheme  only  the  hatred  of  his  subjects.  They  considered  him, 
and  the  bishops  of  his  train,  who  had  assisted  at  the  council  of  Florence,  as 
no  better  than  infidels.  The  bishops  were  obliged  to  retract  their  opinions ; 
and  John  was  much  less  zealous  in  maintaining  that  so  much  desired  union 
when  he  found  it  would  not  answer  his  purpose.^3) 

The  Turks,  in  the  mean  time,  were  happily  diverted  from  Constantinople 
by  their  wars  in  Hungary ;  Avhere  Amurath  found  an  antagonist  worthy  of 
himself,  in  the  celebrated  John  Hunniades,  vaivode  of  Transylvania,  and 
general  to  Ladislaus  VI.  king  of  Poland,  whom  the  Hungarians  had  raised  to 
their  throne.  This  great  commander  obliged  the  sultan  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Belgrade ;  defeated  him  in  a  general  engagement,  and  made  him  sue  for 
peace.  Amurath  and  Ladislaus  accordingly  concluded  a  solemn  truce  of  ten 
years ;  to  which  the  one  swore  upon  the  Koran,  the  other  upon  the  gospels : 
and  the  sultan,  tired  of  the  toils  of  empire,  resigned  the  sceptre  to  his  son, 
Mahomet  II.  But  an  atrocious  perfidy,  disgraceful  to  the  Christian  name, 
obliged  him  to  resume  it,  to  the  confusion  of  his  enemies. 

The  Turks,  reposing  on  the  faith  of  the  treaty,  which  they  religiously 
observed,  had  carried  their  forces  into  Asia.  This  seemed  a  favourable 
opportunity  to  attack  them  on  the  side  of  Europe :  and  cardinal  Julian  Caesa- 

(1)  Sharisod.  Hist.  Timur-Beck.    Cantemir,  Hist.  Oth.  Emp.  (2)  Sharisod,  ubi  sup. 

(3)  jEneas  Sylvius,  Europ.  Mosheim,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  iii.  Besides  acknowledging  that  the  Roman 
pontiff  was  the  supreme  judge,  the  true  head  of  the  universal  church,  the  Greek  emperor  and  his  bishops 
were  obliged  to  admit,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeded  from  the  Son,  as  well  as  from  the  Father,  and  that 
departed  souls  are  purified  in  the  infernal  regions,  by  a  certain  kind  of  fire,  before  their  introduction  to  the 
presence  or  participation  of  the  vision  of  the  Deity.  Mosheim.  ubi  sup. 

VOL.  I.— U 


306  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I, 

rini,  the  pope's  legate  in  Germany,  a  man  of  a  violent  and  deceitful  charac 
ter,  who  had  signalized  himself  in  a  crusade  against  the  Hussites,  persuaded 
Ladislaus  that  the  treaty  with  the  Turks  was  of  no  obligation,  as  it  had  been 
concluded  without  the  consent  of  his  holiness ;  and  that  it  not  only  might, 
nut  ought  to  be  violated.  The  pope  confirmed  this  opinion ;  ordered  the  truce 
to  be  broken,  and  released  Ladislaus  from  his  oath.  In  so  doing,  he  acted 
according  to  the  established  usage  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  in  conformity 
with  the  maxim,  that  "  no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with  heretics,"  and  consequently 
not  with  infidels : — one  of  the  most  pernicious  doctrines  ever  devised  by 
superstition ;  a  doctrine  which  not  only  contradicts  the  first  principles  of 
reason  and  conscience,  but  which,  if  carried  into  practice,  must  destroy  all 
moral  and  political  order.  It  would  authorize  enemies  to  sport  even  with 
oaths ;  put  an  end  to  public  faith ;  dissolve  the  links  of  society ;  and  substi- 
tute robbery  and  bloodshed,  instead  of  the  laws  of  nations  and  the  ties  of 
duty. 

The  arguments  of  the  pope  and  his  legate  however  prevailed.  All  the 
Polish  and  Hungarian  chiefs,  except  the  brave  Hunniades,  suffered  themselves 
to  be  carried  away  by  the  torrent ;  and  Ladislaus,  seduced  by  false  hopes, 
and  influenced  by  false  principles,  invaded  the  sultan's  territories.  The 
Turks,  enraged  at  such  a  breach  of  faith,  breathed  nothing  but  vengeance. 
The  janizaries  went  in  a  body  to  beg  Amurath  to  quit  his  retreat,  and  put 
himself  at  their  head,  his  son  Mahomet  being  yet  young  and  inexperienced. 
He  consented,  and  marched  in  quest  of  the  Christian  army,  which  he  found 
encamped  near  the  city  of  Varna,  in  Moldavia.  Ladislaus  was  ready  to 
receive  him,  and  both  armies  joined  battle.  Amurath  wore  in  his  bosom  the 
treaty  which  had  been  so  solemnly  sworn  to,  and  so  shamefully  violated :  he 
held  it  up  in  the  height  of  the  engagement,  when  he  found  the  vigour  of  his 
troops  beginning  to  slacken,  appealing  to  God,  as  a  witness  of  the  perjury  of 
the  Christians,  and  beseeching  him  to  avenge  the  insult  offered  to  the  laws 
of  nations.  Perjury  for  once  received  its  just  reward.  The  Christians  were 
defeated  with  great  slaughter,  after  an  obstinate  resistance.  Ladislaus  fell 
with  his  sword  in  his  hand,  all  covered  with  wounds :  cardinal  Julian  sunk 
by  his  side ;  and  ten  thousand  Poles,  who  guarded  their  monarch,  covered  with 
their  dead  bodies  nearly  the  same  ground  on  which  they  were  drawn  up.(l) 
Amurath,  thus  victorious,  resigned  once  more  the  rod  of  empire — what  a  rare 
example  of  philosophy  in  a  Turk ! — and  was  again  obliged  to  resume  it. 

The  person  who  drew  the  sultan  a  second  time  from  his  retreat  was  George 
Castriot,  surnamed  Scanderbeg,  the  son  of  a  prince  of  Albania,  formerly 
Epirus.  This  young  hero  had  been  delivered  as  a  hostage  on  the  subjection 
of  his  father's  kingdom;  had  been  educated  in  the  court  of  Amurath,  and  had 
risen  into  favour  by  his  valour  and  talents.  But  he  still  cherished  the  idea  of 
becoming  one  day  the  deliverer  of  his  country :  and  a  favourable  opportunity 
at  last  offered.  He  had  been  sent  with  the  command  of  an  army  into  Servia, 
when  he  heard  of  his  father's  death ;  and  as  he  understood  a  secretary  of  the 
Ottoman  court  was  to  pass  near  his  camp,  he  caused  him  to  be  seized,  loaded 
with  chains,  and  compelled  him  to  sign  and  put  the  sultan's  signet  to  an  order, 
enjoining  the  governor  of  Croia,  the  capital  of  Albania,  to  deliver  up  the 
town  and  citadel  to  himself.  This  false  order  had  the  desired  effect.  The 
place  was  delivered  up,  and  Scanderbeg  massacred  the  Turkish  garrison. 
The  Albanians  crowded  to  his  standard ;  and  he  made  so  good  a  use  of  the 
mountainous  situation  of  his  country,  as  to  defy  all  the  efforts  of  the  sultan's 
power.  (2) 

Amurath  was  succeeded  in  his  extensive  dominions  by  his  son  Mahomet  II., 
justly  surnamed  the  Great,  who  had  been  formerly  crowned,  and  obeyed  as 
emperor,  but  had  resigned  to  his  father  the  reins  of  government,  as  you  have 
already  seen,  on  account  of  the  exigencies  of  the  times — an  example  of  mo- 
deration no  less  extraordinary  than  the  philosophy  of  Amurath  in  retiring 
from  the  honours  of  empire  in  the  hour  of  victory,  especially  as  Mahomet 

(I)  Mat.  de  Michov.  lib.  iv.    Herbert  de  Fulatin,  lib.  xiv.    P.  Cantemir,  ubi  aup. 
(3)  P.  Cantemir.    Sir  Paul  B< 


LET.  L.1  MODERN    EUROPE.  307 

was  naturally  of  a  fiery  and  ambitious  temper.  The  character  of  this  prince 
has  been  very  differently  represented  by  historians.  Voltaire  is  his  professed 
panegyrist ;  and,  in  order  to  free  him  from  the  imputation  of  certain  cruel 
and  ferocious  actions,  has  combated  the  most  incontestible  facts.  Other 
writers  have  gone  equal  lengths  to  degrade  him :  he  has  been  painted  as  a 
rude  and  ignorant  Barbarian,  as  well  as  a  scholar  and  a  patron  of  the  liberal 
arts.  But  they  who  would  do  justice  to  the  character  of  Mahomet  must  trace 
it  by  other  lineaments.  He  was  both  a  scholar  and  a  Barbarian :  he  united 
the  knowledge  of  the  one  to  the  savage  ferocity  of  the  other.  He  was 
enlightened,  but  not  civilized.  With  some  taste  for  the  liberal  arts,  or  at 
least  some  sense  of  the  value  of  their  productions,  he  entertained  a  general 
contempt  for  their  professors :  the  Turk  always  predominated.  He  was  a 
-varrior  and  a  politician  in  the  most  extensive  meaning  of  the  words :  as  such 
ne  was  truly  great :  and  whether  we  consider  the  conception  or  the  execution 
of  his  enterprises,  we  shall  find  equal  cause  to  admire  the  extent  of  his 
understanding  and  the  vigour  of  his  spirit.  His  first  enterprise  was  against 
Constantinople,  which  had  so  long  been  the  object  of  the  ambition  of  his 
ancestors. 

The  Greek  emperor,  John  Paleologus  II.,  had  been  succeeded,  in  1449,  by 
his  son  Constantine.  This  prince  possessed  courage,  but  little  capacity. 
He  took  care,  however,  to  strengthen  the  fortifications  of  his  capital,  as  soon 
as  he  was  apprised  of  the  designs  of  Mahomet :  and  he  made  many  advances 
to  the  sultan,  in  order  to  conciliate  matters,  and  induce  him  to  lay  aside  his 
project.  But  Mahomet's  resolution  was  taken.  Though  only  twenty-one 
years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the  Ottoman  throne,  he  had  already  conceived 
the  design  of  making  Constantinople  the  seat  of  his  empire ;  and  nothing 
could  divert  him  from  his  purpose.  If  he  sometimes  seemed  to  listen  to 
terms  of  accommodation,  it  was  only  that  he  might  lull  his  enemies  into  secu- 
rity, while  he  carried  on  his  military  preparations  with  unremitted  assi- 
duity. At  last  he  cut  off  all  communication  with  the  city,  both  by  sea  and 
land,  and  laid  siege  to  it  in  form.  Though  the  garrison  was  but  small, 
the  walls  were  defended  with  great  gallantry  on  the  land  side,  the  Greeks 
being  actuated  by  the  courage  of  despair ;  and  the  Turks  were  incapable  of 
annoying  them  from  the  sea,  by  reason  of  large  chains  and  booms  which  se- 
cured the  mouth  of  the  harbour.  But  nothing  is  impossible  to  human  genius, 
when  aided  by  the  necessary  force.  In  order  to  overcome  this  difficulty, 
Mahomet  caused  a  passage  of  near  two  leagues  to  be  dug  o^er  land,  in  the 
form  of  a  ship's  cradle,  lined  with  planks,  besmeared  with  grease ;  and  by  the 
help  of  engines,  and  a  prodigious  number  of  men,  he  drew  up,  in  the  space  of 
one  night,  eighty  galleys,  and  seventy  vessels  of  smaller  size,  out  of  the 
water,  upon  these  planks,  and  launched  them  all  into  the  harbour.(l)  What 
must  have  been  the  surprise  of  the  besieged  at  morning,  to  behold  a  large 
fleet  riding  in  their  port,  and  yet  all  their  booms  secure. 

The  city  was  now  assailed  on  all  sides.  Mahomet  caused  a  bridge  of  boats 
to  be  built  across  the  harbour,  upon  which  he  raised  a  battery  of  cannon. 
And  here  I  cannot,  help  remarking,  that  the  artillery  of  the  Greeks  must 
have  been  very  indifferent,  or  very  ill  served,  otherwise  this  bridge  could 
never  have  been  built.  The  cannon  employed  by  the  Turks  are  said  to  have 
been  of  an  enormous  size,  some  of  them  carrying  balls  of  one  hundred  pounds 
weight.  With  these  great  guns  they  beat  down  the  Walls  faster  than  the 
besieged  could  repair  them :  a  body  of  janizaries  entered  the  breach,  with 
Maholnet  at  their  head,  while  another  broke  in  at  a  sally  port.  The  emperor 
Constantine,  whose  valour  merited  a  more  distinguished  fate,  was  slain  among 
the  crowd,  and  his  capital  became  a  prey  to  the  conqueror.  But  for  the 
honour  of  Mahomet  II.,  I  must  observe,  that  few  of  the  garrison  were  put  to 
the  sword.  He  arrested  the  fury  of  his  troops,  and  granted  conditions  to  the 
inhabitants,  who  had  sent  deputies  to  implore  his  clemency. (2)  They  were 
allowed  a  magistrate  to  decide  their  civil  differences,  a  patriarch,  and  the 

(1)  Ducas.    Cantemit  (2)  Cantemir.    Ricaut 

ua 


308  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  1. 

public  exercise  of  their  religion.  This  spiritual  indulgence  they  still  enjoy, 
under  certain  limitations,  and  also  their  patriarch,  and  the  benefit  of  their 
civil  magistrate. 

Here  I  might  remark,  as  has  been  remarked  by  graver  historians,  that  Con- 
stantinople (built  by  the  first  Christian  emperor,  whose  name  it  bears)  sub- 
mitted to  the  Turks  under  a  Constantine,  and  Rome  to  the  Barbarians  under 
an  Augustus ! — but  such  accidental  coincidence  of  names  and  circumstances 
is  more  worthy  the  notice  of  a  monkish  chronologer  than  an  observer  of 
human  nature. 

Mahomet  continued  to  push  his  conquests  on  all  sides,  and  with  unvaried 
fortune,  till  he  received  a  check  from  John  Hunniades,  who  obliged  him  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Belgrade.  The  knights  of  Rhodes,  at  present  of  Malta, 
opposed  him  in  their  island  with  like  success.  But  he  subdued  Albania,  after 
the  death  of  Scanderbeg ;  and  Trebisond,  where  the  family  of  Comnenus  had 
preserved  an  image  of  the  Greek  empire.  He  carried  his  arms  on  the  other 
side  as  far  as  Trieste ;  took  Otranto,  and  fixed  the  Mahometan  power  in  the 
heart  of  Calabria.(l)  He  threatened  Venice  and  Rome  itself  with  subjec- 
tion ;  hoping  to  make  himself  master  of  Italy,  as  well  as  of  Greece ;  and  then 
the  triumph  of  barbarism  would  have  been  complete.  All  Europe  trembled 
at  his  motions :  and  well  it  might ;  for  Europe,  unless  united,  must  have  sunk 
beneath  his  sword.  But  death  freed  Christendom  from  this  terrible  con- 
queror, at  an  age  when  he  might  have  executed  the  greatest  enterprises, 
being  only  in  his  fifty-first  year.  His  descendants,  however,  still  possess  the 
finest  country  in  our  quarter  of  the  globe.  Greece,  where  civil  liberty  was 
first  known,  and  where  arts  and  letters  were  first  brought  to  perfection,  con- 
tinues to  be  the  seat  of  ignorance,  barbarism,  and  despotism. 


LETTER  LI. 

Spain,  from  the  Death  of  Peter  the  Cruel,  in  1369,  till  the  Conquest  of  Granada 
by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in  1492. 

PETER  the  Cruel,  my  dear  Philip,  after  being  deserted  by  the  Black  Prince 
on  account  of  his  perfidy,  was  subdued  and  slain,  as  you  have  already  seen, 
by  his  bastard  brother  Henry  count  of  Trastamara,  who  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  Castile.  Nothing  remarkable  happened  during  the  reign  of  this 
prince,  or  under  his  descendants,  for  almost  a  century.  They  were  engaged 
in  frequent  wars  with  their  neighbours,  the  kings  of  Portugal  and  Arragon. 
But  these  wars  were  seldom  decisive ;  so  that  Spain  continued  in  nearly  the 
same  situation,  from  the  death  of  Peter  till  the  reign  Henry  IV.  of  Castile, 
whose  debaucheries  roused  the  resentment  of  his  nobles,  and  produced  a 
most  singular  insurrection,  which  led  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy. 

This  prince,  surnamed  the  Impotent,  though  continually  surrounded  with 
women,  began  his  unhappy  reign  in  1454.  He  was  totally  enervated  by  his 
pleasures ;  and  every  thing  in  his  court  conspired  to  set  the  Castilians  an 
example  of  the  most  abject  flattery,  and  most  abandoned  licentiousness. 
The  queen,  a  daughter  of  Portugal,  lived  as  openly  with  her  parasites  and  her 
gallants  as  the  king  did  with  his  minions  and  his  mistresses.  Pleasure  was 
the  only  object,  and  effeminacy  the  only  recommendation  to  favour.  The 
affairs  of  the  state  went  every  day  into  greater  disorder ;  until  the  nobility, 
with  the  archbishop  of  Toledo  at  their  head,  combined  against  the  weak  and 
flagitious  administration  of  Henry ;  arrogated  to  themselves,  as  one  of  the 
privileges  of  their  order,  the  right  of  trying  and  passing  sentence  on  their 
sovereign,  which  they  executed  in  a  manner  unprecedented  in  history. 

All  the  malecontent  nobility  was  summoned  to  meet  at  Avila.    A  spacious 

(!'•  Canteinir.    Ricaut 


LET.  LL]  MODERN   EUROPE.  309 

theatre  was  erected  in  a  plain,  without  the  walls  of  the  town ;  an  image, 
representing  the  king,  was  seated  on  the  throne,  clad  in  royal  robes,  with  a 
crown  on  its  head,  a  sceptre  in  its  hand,  and  the  sword  of  justice  by  its  side. 
The  accusation  against  Henry  was  read,  and  the  sentence  of  deposition  pro- 
nounced, in  presence  of  a  numerous  assembly.  At  the  close  of  the  first 
article  of  the  charge,  the  archbishop  of  Toledo  advanced,  and  tore  the  crown 
from  the  head  of  the  image ;  at  the  close  of  the  second,  the  Conde  de  Pla- 
centia  snatched  the  sword  of  justice  from  its  side ;  at  the  close  of  the  third, 
the  Conde  de  Benevente  wrested  the  sceptre  from  its  hand ;  and  at  the  close 
of  the  last,  Don  Diego  Lopez  de  Stuniga  tumbled  it  headlong  from  the  throne. 
At  the  same  instant,  Don  Alphonso,  Henry's  brother,  a  boy  about  twelve 
years  of  age,  was  proclaimed  king  of  Castile  and  Leon  in  his  stead.(l) 

This  extraordinary  proceeding  was  followed  by  all  the  horrors  of  civil  war, 
which  did  not  cease  till  some  time  after  the  death  of  the  young  prince,  on 
whom  the  nobles  had  bestowed  the  kingdom.  The  archbishop  and  his  party 
then  continued  to  carry  on  war  in  the  name  of  Isabella,  the  king's  sister,  to 
whom  they  gave  the  title  of  Infanta ;  and  Henry  could  not  extricate  himself 
out  of  these  troubles,  nor  remain  quiet  upon  his  throne,  till  he  had  signed 
one  of  the  most  humiliating  treaties  ever  extorted  from  a  sovereign.  He  ac- 
knowledged his  sister  Isabella  the  only  lawful  heiress  of  his  kingdom,  in  pre- 
judice to  the  rights  of  his  reputed  daughter  Joan,  whom  the  malecontents 
affirmed  to  be  the  offspring  of  an  adulterous  commerce  between  the  queen 
and  Don  la  Cueva.(2)  At  such  a  price  did  this  weak  prince  purchase  from 
his  subjects  the  empty  title  of  king ! 

The  grand  object  of  the  malecontent  party  now  was,  the  marriage  of  the 
princess  Isabella ;  upon  which,  it  was  evident,  the  security  of  the  crown  and 
the  happiness  of  the  people  must  in  a  great  measure  depend.  The  alliance 
was  sought  by  several  princes.  The  king  of  Portugal  offered  her  his  hand; 
the  king  of  France  demanded  her  for  his  brother,  and  the  king  of  Arragon 
for  his  son  Ferdinand.  The  malecontents  wisely  preferred  the  Arragonian 
prince,  and  Isabella  prudently  made  the  same  choice.  Articles  were  drawn 
up,  and  they  were  privately  married  by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo.(S) 

Henry  was  enraged  at  this  alliance,  which  he  foresaw  would  utterly  ruin 
his  authority,  by  furnishing  his  rebellious  subjects  with  the  support  of  a 
powerful  neighbouring  prince.  He  disinherited  his  sister,  and  established 
the  right  of  his  daughter.  A  furious  civil  war  desolated  the  kingdom.  The 
names  of  Joan  and  Isabella  resounded  from  every  quarter,  and  were  every 
where  the  summons  to  arms.  But  peace  was  at  length  brought  about.  Henry 
was  reconciled  to  his  sister  and  to  Ferdinand,  though  it  does  not  appear  that 
he  ever  renewed  Isabella's  right  to  the  succession ;  for  he  affirmed  in  his  last 
moments  that  he  believed  Joan  to  be  his  own  daughter.  The  queen  swore  to 
the  same  effect ;  and  Henry  left  a  testamentary  deed,  transmitting  the  crown 
to  this  princess,  who  was  proclaimed  queen  of  Castile  at  Placentia.  But  the 
superior  fortune,  and  superior  arms,  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  prevailed :  the 
king  of  Portugal  was  obliged  to  abandon  his  niece  and  intended  bride,  after 
many  ineffectual  struggles  and  several  years  of  war.  Joan  sunk  into  a  con- 
vent, when  she  hoped  to  ascend  a  throne ;  and  the  death  of  Ferdinand's  father, 
which  happened  about  this  time,  added  the  kingdoms  of  Arragon  and  Sicily  to 
those  of  Leon  and  Castile. (4) 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  persons  of  great  prudence,  and  as  sovereigns, 
nighly  worthy  of  imitation ;  but  they  did  not  seem  to  have  merited  all  the 
praises  bestowed  upon  them  by  the  Spanish  historians.  They  did  not  live  like 
man  and  wife,  having  all  things  in  common  under  the  direction  of  the  husband, 
but  like  two  princes  in  close  alliance.  They  neither  loved  nor  hated  each 
other  ;  were  seldom  in  company  together ;  had  each  a  separate  council,  and 
were  frequently  jealous  of  one  another  in  the  administration.  But  they  were 
inseoarably  united  in  their  common  interests ;  always  acting  upon  the  same 

(1)  Mariana,  lib.  xxiii.    Diego  Henriques  del  Castillo. 

(2)  Rod.  Sanctii,  Hist.  Hisp.  Ckron.  del  ReyDon  Jfenriq. 

(3)  2M.rH.  Ji*nal  Arrag.    Mariana,  ubi  sup.  (4)  Id.  ibid. 


310  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

principles,  and  forwarding  the  same  ends.  Their  first  object  was  the  regula- 
tion of  their  government,  which  the  civil  wars  had  thrown  into  the  greatest 
disorder.  Rapine,  outrage,  and  murder  were  become  so  common,  as  not  only 
to  interrupt  commerce,  but  in  a  great  measure  to  suspend  all  intercourse 
between  one  place  and  another.  These  evils  the  joint  sovereigns  suppressed 
by  their  wise  policy,  at  the  same  time  that  they  extended  the  royal  preroga- 
tive^!) 

About  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  cities  in  the  kingdom  of 
Arragon,  and,  after  their  example,  those  in  Castile,  had  formed  themselves 
into  an  association,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  Holy  Brotherhood. 
They  exacted  a  certain  contribution  from  each  of  the  associated  towns ;  they 
levied  a  considerable  body  of  troops  in  order  to  protect  travellers,  and  pursue 
criminals ;  and  they  appointed  judges  who  opened  courts  in  various  parts  oi 
the  kingdom.  Whoever  was  guilty  of  murder,  robbery,  or  any  act  that 
violated  the  public  peace,  and  was  seized  by  the  troops  of  the  Brotherhood, 
was  carried  before  their  judges  ;  who,  without  paying  any  regard  to  the  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  which  the  lord  of  the  place  might  claim,  who  was  gene- 
rally the  author  or  abettor  of  the  injustice,  tried  and  condemned  the  crimi- 
nals. The  nobles  often  murmured  against  this  salutary  institution;  they 
complained  of  it  as  an  encroachment  on  one  of  their  most  valuable  privileges, 
and  endeavoured  to  get  it  abolished.  But  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  sensible  of 
the  beneficial  effects  of  the  Brotherhood,  not  only  in  regard  to  the  police  of 
their  kingdoms,  but  in  its  tendency  to  abridge,  and  by  degrees  to  annihilate, 
the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  nobility,  countenanced  the  institution  upon 
every  occasion,  and  supported  it  with  the  whole  force  of  royal  authority. 
By  these  means  the  prompt  and  impartial  administration  of  justice  was  re- 
stored, and  with  it  tranquillity  and  order  returned. (2) 

But  at  the  same  time  their  Catholic  Majesties  (for  such  was  the  title  they 
now  bore,  conferred  on  them  by  the  pope)  were  giving  vigour  to  civil  govern- 
ment, and  securing  their  subjects  from  violence  and  oppression,  an  intempe- 
rate zeal  led  them  to  establish  an  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  equally  contrary  to 
the  natural  rights  of  mankind,  and  the  mild  spirit  of  the  Gospel — I  mean  the 
court  of  Inquisition ;  which  decides  upon  the  honour,  fortune,  and  even  life 
of  the  unhappy  wretch  who  happens  to  fall  under  the  suspicion  of  heresy,  or 
a  contempt,  of  any  thing  prescribed  by  the  church,  without  his  knowing  his 
accusers,  being  confronted  with  them,  or  permitted  either  defence  or  appeal. 
Six  thousand  persons  were  burnt  by  order  of  this  sanguinary  tribunal,  within 
four  years  after  the  appointment  of  Torquemada,  the  first  fnquisitor-general, 
and  upwards  of  one  hundred  thousand  felt  its  fury.  The  same  zeal,  however, 
which  led  to  the  depopulation,  and  the  barbarizing  of  Castile  and  Arragon, 
led  also  to  their  aggrandizement. 

The  kingdom  of  Granada  now  alone  remained  of  all  the  Mahometan  posses- 
sions in  Spain.  Princes  equally  zealous  and  ambitious,  like  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  were  naturally  disposed  to  turn  their  eyes  on  that  fertile  territory; 
and  to  think  of  increasing  their  hereditary  dominions  by  expelling  the  ene- 
mies of  Christianity,  and  extending  its  doctrines.  Every  thing  conspired  to 
favour  their  project.  The  Moorish  kingdom  was  a  prey  to  civil  wars,  when 
Ferdinand,  having  obtained  a  bull  from  Sextus  IV.  authorizing  a  crusade,  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops  and  entered  Granada.  He  continued  the 
war  with  rapid  success.  Isabella  attended  him  in  several  expeditions  :  and 
they  were  both  in  great  danger  at  the  siege  of  Malaga,  an  important  city, 
which  was  defended  with  great  courage,  and  taken  in  1487.  Baza  was  re- 
duced in  1489,  after  the  loss  of  twenty  thousand  men.  Guadix  and  Almeria 
were  delivered  up  to  them  by  the  Moorish  king  Alzagel,  who  had  at  first  de- 
throned his  brother  Alboacen,  and  afterward  been  chased  from  his  capital. 
by  his  nephew  Abdali.  That  prince,  so  blind  or  so  base  as  to  confound  the 
ruin  of  his  country  with  the  humiliation  of  his  rival,  engaged  in  the  service  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  who,  after  reducing  every  other  place  of  eminence, 

II)  Zurita.    Mariana.    Zuniga.  '«)  Id.  ibid 


LET.  L1I.J  MODERN   EUROPE.  311 

undertook  the  siege  of  Granada.  Abdali  made  a  gallant  defence ;  but  all 
communication  with  the  country  being  cut  off,  and  all  hopes  of  relief  at  an 
end,  he  capitulated,  after  a  siege  of  eight  months,  on  conditions  that  he  should 
enjoy  the  revenue  of  certain  places  in  the  fertile  mountains  of  Alpujarros ; 
that  the  inhabitants  should  retain  the  undisturbed  possession  of  their  houses, 
goods,  and  inheritances ;  the  use  of  their  laws,  and  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion.(l) 

Thus  ended  the  empire  of  the  Arabs  in  Spain,  after  it  had  continued  about 
eight  hundred  years.  They  introduced  the  arts  and  sciences  into  Europe,  at 
a  time  when  it  was  lost  in  darkness:  they  possessed  many  of  the  luxuries  of 
life,  when  they  were  not  even  known  among  the  neighbouring  nations ;  and 
they  seem  to  have  given  birth  to  that  romantic  gallantry,  which  so  eminently 
prevailed  in  the  ages  of  chivalry,  and  which,  blending  itself  with  the  venera- 
tion of  the  northern  nations  for  the  softer  sex,  still  particularly  distinguishes 
modern  from  ancient  manners.  But  the  Moors,  notwithstanding  these  ad- 
vantages, and  the  eulogies  bestowed  upon  them  by  Voltaire  and  other  writers, 
appear  to  have  been  always  destitute  of  the  essential  qualities  of  a  polished 
people — humanity,  generosity,  and  mutual  sympathy. 

The  conquest  of  Granada  was  followed  by  the  expulsion,  or  rather  the 
pillage  or  banishment,  of  the  Jews  who  had  engrossed  all  the  wealth  and  com- 
merce of  Spain.  The  inquisition  exhausted  its  rage  against  these  unhappy 
people,  many  of  whom  pretended  to  embrace  Christianity,  in  order  to  pre- 
serve their  property.  About  the  same  time  their  Catholic  Majesties  con- 
cluded an  alliance  with  the  emperor  Maximilian,  and  a  treaty  of  marriage  for 
their  daughter  Joan  with  his  son  Philip,  archduke  ftf  Austria,  and  sovereign 
of  the  Netherlands.  About  this  time  also  the  contract  was  concluded  with 
Christopher  Columbus  for  the  discovery  of  new  countries ;  and  the  counties 
of  RoHssillon  and  Cerdagne  were  agreed  to  be  restored  by  Charles  VIII.  of 
France,  before  his  expedition  into  Italy.  But  the  consequences  of  these  mea- 
sures, and  the  interest  which  Ferdinand  took  in  the  Italian  wars,  must  form 
the  subject  of  future  letters. 

I  should  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  the  great  line  of  European  history ; 
but,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  I  shall  first  make  you  acquainted  with  the 
affairs  of  England  under  Henry  VII. — as  his  son  Henry  VIII.  had  a  consi- 
derable share  in  the  continental  transactions,  and  derived  his  importance 
chiefly  from  the  prudent  policy  of  his  father. 


LETTER  LII. 

England,  during  the  Reign  of  Henry  FIT. 

HENRY  VII.,  the  first  prince  of  the  house  of  Tudor,  ascended  the  throne  of 
England,  as  you  have  already  seen,  in  consequence  of  the  victory  at  Bosworth, 
and  the  death  of  Richard  III.  His  title  was  confirmed  by  the  parliament : 
his  merit  was  known ;  and  his  marriage  with  the  princess  Elizabeth,  eldest 
daughter  of  Edward  IV.,  united  the  jarring  claims  of  the  houses  of  York  and 
Lancaster,  and  seemed  to  give  universal  satisfaction  to  the  nation.  He  had 
therefore  every  reason  to  promise  himself  peace  and  security. 

But  Henry,  although  in  many  respects  a  prudent  and  politic  prince,  had 
unhappily  imbibed  a  violent  antipathy  against  the  adherents  of  the  house  of 
York,  which  no  time  or  experience  was  ever  able  to  efface.  Instead  of  em- 
bracing the  present  favourable  opportunity  of  abolishing  party  distinctions 
by  bestowing  his  smile  indiscriminately  on  the  friends  of  both  families,  he 
carried  to  the  throne  all  the  partialities  that  belong  to  the  head  of  a  faction. 
To  exalt  the  Lancastrian  party,  and  depress  the  retainers  of  the  house  of 
York,  were  still  the  favourite  ideas  of  his  mind.  The  house  of  York  was 

(1)  Fran.  Berraud.  dc  Pedra«z«  .ttntia   K-r-cel  de  Grnnad.    Mariana     Herman  del  Pulgar. 


312  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

generally  beloved  by  the  nation ;  and  for  that  very  reason  it  became  every 
day  more  the  object  of  Henry's  hatred  and  aversion :  hence  his  amiable  consort 
was  treated  with  contempt,  his  government  grew  unpopular,  and  his  reign  was 
filled  with  plots  and  insurrections. 

The  first  insurrection  was  headed  by  the  viscount  Lovel,  sir  Humphry 
Stafford,  and  Thomas,  his  brother,  who  had  all  fought  in  the  cause  of  Richard, 
and  against  whom,  among  many  others,  the  parliament,  at  Henry's  instigation, 
had  passed  an  act  of  attainder ;  though  it  is  not  conceivable,  how  men  could 
be  guilty  of  treason  for  supporting  the  king  in  possession,  against  the  earl  of 
Richmond,  to  whom  they  had  never  sworn  allegiance,  and  who  had  not  even 
assumed  the  title  of  king.  Enraged  at  such  an  instance  of  severity,  they 
left  their  sanctuary  at  Colchester,  and  flew  to  arms.  The  king  sent  the 
duke  of  Bedford  against  them  with  a  chosen  body  of  troops,  and  a  promise 
of  pardon  to  such  as  would  return  to  their  duty.  Lovel,  afraid  of  the  fidelity 
of  his  followers,  privately  withdrew,  and  fled  to  Flanders.  His  army  sub- 
mitted to  the  king's  clemency.  The  other  rebels,  who  had  undertaken  the 
siege  of  Worcester,  immediately  dispersed  themselves.  The  two  Staffords 
took  sanctuary  in  the  church  of  Golnham,  a  village  near  Abingdon ;  but  as  it 
was  found  that  church  had  not  the  privilege  of  protecting  rebels,  they  were 
taken  thence.  The  elder  was  executed  at  Tyburn,  the  younger  obtained  a 
pardon.(l) 

This  rebellion  was  immediately  followed  by  another,  of  a  more  dangerous 
nature,  as  it  laid  deeper  hold  of  the  public  discontents.  Henry's  jealousy 
confined  in  the  tower  Edward  Plantagenet,  earl  of  Warwick,  son  of  the  duke 
of  Clarence.  This  unhappy  prince  had  been  formerly  detained,  in  a  like 
confinement,  at  Sheriff-Hutton  in  Yorkshire,  by  the  jealousy  of  his  uncle 
Richard.  A  comparison  was  drawn  between  Henry  and  that  tyrant ;  and  as 
the  tower  was  the  place  where  Edward's  children  had  been  murdered,  a  fate 
not  more  gentle  was  feared  for  Warwick.  WThile  the  compassion  of  the 
nation  was  thus  turned  towards  youth  and  innocence  exposed  to  oppression, 
a  report  was  spread  that  Warwick  had  made  his  escape.  A  general  joy  com- 
municated itself  from  face  to  face,  and  many  seemed  desirous  to  join  him. 
Such  a  favourable  opportunity  was  not  neglected  by  the  enemies  of  Henry's 
government. 

One  Richard  Simon,  a  priest  of  Oxford,  and  a  zealous  partisan  of  the  house 
of  York,  attempted  to  gratify  the  popular  wish  by  holding  up  an  impostor  to 
the  nation.  For  this  purpose  he  cast  his  eyes  upon  Lambert  Simnel,  a  baker's 
son,  who,  being  endowed  with  understanding  beyond  his  years,  and  address 
above  his  condition,  seemed  well  calculated  to  personate  a  prince  of  royal 
extraction.  Simnel  was  taught  to  assume  the  name  and  character  of  the  earl 
of  Warwick ;  and  he  soon  appeared  so  perfect  in  many  private  particulars 
relative  to  that  unfortunate  prince,  to  the  court  of  king  Edward,  and  the  royal 
family,  that  the  queen-dowager  was  supposed  to  have  given  him  a  lesson. 
But  how  apt  soever  father  Simon  might  find  his  pupil,  or  whatever  means  he 
might  take  to  procure  him  instruction,  he  was  sensible  that  the  imposture 
would  not  bear  close  inspection ;  he  therefore  determined  to  make  trial  of  it 
first  in  Ireland. 

That  island  was  zealously  attached  to  the  house  of  York,  and  bore  an  affec- 
tionate regard  to  the  memory  of  Clarence,  Warwick's  father,  who  had  resided 
there  as  lord  lieutenant :  and  Henry  had  been  so  impolitic  as  to  allow  it  to 
remain  in  the  same  condition  in  which  he  found  it.  All  the  officers  appointed 
by  his  predecessor  still  retained  their  authority ;  so  that  Simnel  no  sooner 
presented  himself  to  Thomas  earl  of  Kildare,  the  deputy,  and  claimed  his 
protection  as  the  unfortunate  Warwick,  than  that  credulous  nobleman  believed 
his  tale,  and  embraced  his  cause.  Other  noblemen,  to  whom  he  communi- 
cated the  fiction,  were  no  less  sanguine  in  their  zeal  and  belief;  the  story 
diffused  itself  among  the  people  of  inferior  condition,  naturally  more  violent 
md  credulous,  who  listened  to  it  with  still  greater  ardour ;  and  the  inhabitants 

(1)  Polycl.  Virg. 


LET.  LIL]  MODER  N    E  UROPE.  313 

of  Dublin,  with  one  consent,  tendered  their  allegiance  to  Simnel,  as  the  true 
Plantagenet.  They  lodged  the  pretended  prince  in  the  Castle  of  Dublin, 
crowned  him  with  a  diadem  taken  from  a  statue  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  and 
publicly  proclaimed  him  king,  under  the  appellation  of  Edward  VI.  The 
whole  island  followed  the  example  of  the  capital :  not  a  sword  was  drawn  in 
favour  of  Henry.(l) 

The  king  was  a  good  deal  alarmed,  when  he  received  intelligence  of  this 
revolt.  Though  determined  always  to  face  his  enemies,  he  scrupled  at  pre- 
sent to  leave  England,  where  he  suspected  the  conspiracy  had  been  framed, 
and  where  he  knew  many  persons  of  condition,  and  the  people  in  general, 
were  disposed  to  give  it  countenance.  He  therefore  held  frequent  consulta- 
tions with  his  ministers  and  counsellors  relative  to  the  measures  most  proper 
for  the  safety  of  his  kingdom,  and  the  means  of  discovering  the  origin  of  the 
imposture.  In  consequence  of  these  deliberations,  the  queen-dowager  was 
taken  into  custody,  and  confined  in  the  nunnery  of  Bermondsey  for  life.  Un- 
willing, however,  to  accuse  so  near  a  relation  of  a  conspiracy  against  him,  the 
king  alleged,  that  she  was  thus  punished  for  yielding  up  the  princess  Eliza- 
beth, now  queen,  to  the  tyrant  Richard,  after  she  had  been  secretly  promised 
to  him.  Henry's  next  step  was  no  less  deliberate.  He  ordered  Warwick  to 
be  taken  from  the  tower,  led  in  procession  through  the  streets  of  London, 
conducted  to  St.  Paul's,  and  there  exposed  to  the  view  of  the  whole  people.(2) 
This  expedient  had  its  full  effect  in  England,  but  in  Ireland  the  people  still 
persisted  in  their  revolt :  and  Henry  had  soon  reason  to  apprehend,  that  the 
attempt  to  disturb  his  government  was  not  laid  on  such  slight  foundations  as 
the  means  employed  seemed  to  indicate. 

John,  earl  of  Lincoln,  son  of  John  de  la  Pole,  duke  of  Suffolk,  and  of  Eliza- 
beth, eldest  sister  of  Edward  IV.,  was  engaged  to  take  part  in  the  conspiracy. 
This  nobleman,  alarmed  at  the  king's  jealousy  of  all  eminent  persons  of  the 
York  parly,  and  more  especially  at  his  rigour  towards  Warwick,  had  retired 
into  Flanders,  where  lord  Lovel  was  arrived  a  little  before  him.  He  resided 
some  time  in  the  court  of  his  aunt,  the  dutchess  of  Burgundy,  by  whom  he 
had  been  invited  over.  Margaret's  bosom  flamed  with  indignation  against 
the  oppressor  of  her  family:  and  she  determined  to  make  him  repent  of  his 
unreasonable  enmity.  After  consulting  with  Lincoln  and  Lovel,  she  there- 
fore hired  a  body  of  two  thousand  veteran  Germans,  under  the  command  of 
Martin  Swart,  a  brave  and  experienced  officer,  and  sent  them  over  along  with 
these  noblemen  to  join  Simnel  in  Ireland. 

The  courage  of  the  Irish  was  much  raised  by  this  accession  of  military 
force,  and  the  countenance  of  persons  of  such  high  rank ;  so  that  they  formed 
the  bold  resolution  of  invading  England,  where  they  believed  the  spirit  of 
disaffection  to  be  no  less  prevalent  than  in  Ireland.  They  accordingly  landed 
at  Foudrey  in  Lancashire,  and  were  joined  by  Sir  Thomas  Broughton,  a  man 
of  great  interest  in  that  county;  but  the  people  in  general,  averse  against 
an  association  with  Irish  and  German  invaders,  convinced  of  Simnel's  impos- 
ture, and  kept  in  awe  by  the  king's  reputation  in  arms,  either  remained  in 
tranquillity,  or  gave  assistance  to  the  royal  army,  which  was  advancing 
towards  the  enemy.  The  earl  of  Lincoln,  therefore,  who  commanded  the 
rebels,  finding  no  hopes  but  in  victory,  determined  to  bring  the  matter  to  a 
speedy  decision ;  and  Henry,  emboldened  by  his  native  courage  no  less  than 
by  the  superiority  of  his  numbers,  intrepidly  advanced  to  the  combat.  The 
two  armies  met  at  Stoke,  in  the  county  of  Nottingham,  where  a  bloody  and 
obstinate  battle  was  fought.  All  the  leaders  of  the  rebels  were  resolved  to 
conquer  or  die,  and  they  inspired  their  troops  with  the  like  resolution.  They 
were  at  last,  however,  obliged  to  give  way;  and  if  Henry's  victory  was  pur- 
chased with  loss,  it  was  entirely  decisive.  Lincoln,  Broughton,  and  Swart 
perished  in  the  field  of  battle,  together  with  four  thousand  of  their  followers. 
Lovel  is  supposed  to  have  undergone  the  same  fate,  as  he  was  never  more 
heard  of.  Simnel  and  his  tutor  Simon  were  taken  prisoners.  Simon  \raa 

(1    Polyd  Virg.  (2)  Bacon's  Ilist.  of  Henry  ni 

14 


314  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  L 

committed  to  close  custody  for  life  :  and  his  sacred  character  only  could  have 
saved  him  from  a  severer  fate.  Simnel  was  too  contemptible  either  to  excite 
apprehension  or  resentment  in  Henry:  he  was  therefore  pardoned,  and  em- 
ployed as  a  scullion  in  the  king's  kitchen;  from  which  condition  he  was 
afterward  advanced  to  the  rank  of  one  of  his  majesty's  falconers. (1) 

Henry,  having  thus  restored  tranquillity  to  his  kingdom,  and  security  to  his 
government,  had  leisure  not  only  to  regulate  his  domestic  affairs  but  also 
to  look  abroad.  From  Scotland,  the  most  contiguous  state,  he  had  nothing 
to  fear.  There  reigned  James  III.,  a  prince  of  little  industry  and  narrow 
genius.  With  him  Henry  concluded  a  treaty,  when  he  might  have  demanded 
his  crown:  so  truly  pacific  was  the  disposition  of  this  monarch! — Of  the 
states  on  the  continent  I  have  already  spoken.  They  were  fast  hastening  to 
that  situation,  in  which  they  have  rerriained,  without  any  material  alteration, 
for  near  three  centuries.  The  balance  of  power  began  to  be  understood. 
Spain  was  become  formidable  by  the  union  of  the  crowns  of  Arragon  and 
Castile,  in  the  persons  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella ;  but  these  princes  were 
employed  in  wresting  Granada  from  the  Moors.  France,  during  the  last  fifty 
years,  had  made  a  mighty  increase  in  power  and  dominion :  and  she  was  now 
attempting  to  swallow  up  Brittany,  the  last  independent  fief  of  the  monarchy. 
England  alone  was  both  enabled  by  her  power,  and  engaged  by  her  interests, 
to  support  the  independency  of  that  dutchy;  the  most  dangerous  opposition 
was  therefore  expected  from  this  quarter.  But  Henry's  parsimonious  temper 
and  narrow  politics,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  mention  in  the  history  of 
France,  prevented  him  from  yielding  the  Bretons  any  effectual  support ;  and 
Maximilian,  king  of  the  Romans,  to  whom  they  afterward  applied,  being 
unable  to  protect  them,  they  were  obliged  to  submit-  to  the  arms  of  Charles 
VIII.,  who  prudently  married  the  heiress  of  that  dutchy,  in  order  to  conciliate 
their  affections. 

Henry,  who  saw  the  importance  of  Brittany  to  France,  and  who  valued 
himself  on  his  extensive  foresight  and  sound  judgment,  was  now  ashamed  of 
having  allowed  his  most  useful  ally  to  be  crushed  by  a  superior  power.  All 
remedy  for  his  miscarriage  was  become  impracticable,  but  he  talked  loudly 
of  vengeance.  The  conquest  of  France,  in  his  language,  was  an  easy  matter : 
and  he  set  out  on  that  enterprise  at  the  head  of  a  splendid  army,  after  ob- 
taining large  supplies  from  his  parliament.  The  nobility,  who  had  credulously 
swallowed  all  the  boasis  of  the  king,  were  universally  seized  with  a  thirst  of 
military  glory:  they  dreamed  of  nothing  less  than  carrying  their  triumphant 
banners  to  the  gates  of  Paris,  and  putting  the  crown  of  France  on  the  head 
of  their  sovereign.  Henry,  in  the  mean  time,  had  nothing  less  at  heart  than 
war;  the  gratification  of  his  ruling  passion  was  the  only  purpose  of  this 
mighty  armament — avarice  being  in  him  a  more  powerful  motive  than  either 
revenge  or  glory.  Secret  advances  had  been  made  towards  peace  before  his 
invasion,  and  commissioners  had  been  appointed  to  treat  of  the  terms.  The 
demands  of  Henry  were  wholly  pecuniary;  and  the  king  of  France,  who 
deemed  the  peaceable  possession  of  Brittany  an  equivalent  for  any  sum,  and 
who  was  all  on  fire  for  his  projected  expedition  into  Italy,  readily  agreed  to 
the  proposals  made  him.  He  engaged,  by  the  treaty  of  Estaples,  concluded 
about  a  month  after  the  English  landed  in  France,  to  pay  Henry  seven  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  thousand  crowns :  partly  as  a  reimbursement  of  the  sums 
advanced  to  the  dutchess  of  Brittany,  partly  as  arrears  of  the  pension  due  to 
Edward  IV.  and  not  hitherto  discharged : — and  he  stipulated  a  yearly  pension 
to  Henry  and  his  heirs  of  twenty-five  thousand  crowns.(2) 

Thus,  as  Lord  Bacon  observes,  the  English  monarch  made  profit  upon  his 
subjects  for  the  war,  and  upon  his  enemies  for  the  peace.  But  although  the 
treaty  of  Estaples  filled  the  coffers  of  Henry,  it  did  very  little  honour  to  Eng- 
land ;  as  it  put  a  shameful  seal  to  the  subjection  of  Brittany,  which,  properly 
supported,  would  have  been  a  continual  thorn  in  the  side  of  France,  and  have 
effectually  prevented  that  monarchy  from  ever  becoming  formidable  to  the 

(1)  Polyd.  Virg.    Bacon,  ubi.  sup.  (2)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  LII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  315 

liberties  of  Europe.  The  people  however  agreed,  that  the  king  had  fulfilled 
the  promise  which  he  made  to  the  parliament  when  he  said  that  he  would 
make  the  war  maintain  itself,  and  all  ranks  of  men  seemed  now  perfectly 
satisfied  with  his  government.  He  had  every  reason  to  natter  himself  wfth 
durable  peace  and  tranquillity.  His  authority  was  fully  established  at  home, 
and  his  reputation  for  policy  was  great  abroad :  the  hopes  of  all  pretenders 
to  his  throne  were  cut  off,  as  well  by  his  marriage  as  the  issue  which  it  had 
brought  him ;  yet  at  this  height  of  his  prosperity,  his  indefatigable  enemies 
raised  against  him  an  adversary,  who  long  gave  him  inquietude,  and  some- 
times even  brought  him  into  danger. 

The  old  dutchess  of  Burgundy,  sister  of  Edward  IV.,  still  burning  with 
resentment  on  account  of  the  depression  of  her  fanjily  and  its  partisans, 
determined  to  play  off  another  impostor  upon  Henry.  With  that  view  she 
caused  a  report  to  be  propagated,  that  her  nephew,  Richard  Plantagenet,  duke 
of  York,  had  made  his  escape  from  the  tower,  when  his  elder  brother  was 
murdered,  and  that  he  was  still  alive.  Finding  this  rumour  greedily  received, 
her  next  care  was  to  provide  a  young  man  proper  to  personate  the  unfor- 
tunate prince :  and  for  that  purpose  she  fixed  upon  Perkin  Warbec,  the  son 
of  a  renegado  Jew  of  Tournay. 

This  youth  was  born  in  England,  and  by  some  believed  to  be  the  son  of 
Edward  IV.,  on  account  of  a  certain  resemblance  observable  between  him  and 
that  amorous  monarch.  A  few  years  after  the  birth  of  Perkin,  his  reputed 
father  returned  to  Tournay;  where  his  son  did  not  long  remain,  but,  by  dif- 
ferent accidents,  was  carried  from  place  to  place ;  so  that  his  parentage  and 
past  life  became  thereby  unknown,  and  difficult  to  be  traced  by  the  most  dili- 
gent inquiry.  The  variety  of  his  adventures  had  happily  favoured  the  natural 
versatility  and  sagacity  of  his  genius ;  and  he  seemed  to  be  a  youth  perfectly 
fitted  to  act  any  part,  or  assume  any  character.  In  this  light  he  had  been 
represented  to  the  dutchess  of  Burgundy,  who  immediately  desired  to  see  him, 
and  found  him  to  exceed  her  most  sanguine  expectations ;  so  comely  did  he 
appear  in  his  person !  so  graceful  in  his  air !  so  courtly  in  his  address !  so  full 
of  dignity  in  his  whole  demeanour,  and  good  sense  in  his  conversation ! 

A  young  man  of  such  quick  apprehension  soon  learned  the  lessons  neces- 
sary to  be  taught  him  in  order  to  his  personating  the  duke  of  York ;  but  as 
some  time  was  required,  before  every  thing  requisite  could  be  prepared  fo» 
this  enterprise,  Margaret  sent  him  into  Portugal,  where  he  remained  a  year 
unknown  to  all  the  world.  When  that  term  was  expired  he  landed  in  Ire 
land,  which  still  retained  its  attachment  to  the  house  of  York :  and  imme 
diately  assuming  to  himself  the  name  of  Richard  Plantagenet,  there  drew  tc 
him  many  partisans  among  that  ignorant  and  credulous  people.  The  news, 
of  this  phenomenon  reached  France ;  and  Charles  VIII.,  prompted  by  the 
secret  solicitations  of  the  dutchess  of  Burgundy,  sent  Perkin  an  invitation  tc 
visit  him  at  Paris.  The  impostor  repaired  to  the  court  of  France,  where  he 
was  received  with  all  the  marks  of  respect  due  to  the  duke  of  York.  The 
whole  kingdom  was  full  of  the  accomplishments,  as  well  as  the  singular 
adventures  and  misfortunes,  of  the  young  Plantagenet.  From  France,  the 
tide  of  admiration  and  credulity  diffused  itself  into  England ;  and  sir  George 
Nevil,  sir  John  Taylor,  and  above  a  hundred  gentlemen  more,  went  over  to 
Paris,  in  order  to  offer  their  services  to  the  supposed  duke  of  York,  and  to 
share  his  fortunes. 

Perkin  however  was  dismissed  France,  in  consequence  of  the  peace  of 
Estaples.  He  now  retired  to  the  dutchess  of  Burgundy,  craving  her  protec- 
tion, and  offering  to  exhibit  before  her  all  the  proofs  of  that  birth  to  which  he 
laid  claim.  Margaret  affected  ignorance  of  his  pretensions  ;  she  even  put  on 
the  appearance  of  distrust,  and  desired  to  be  instructed,  before  all  the  world, 
in  his  reasons  for  assuming  the  name  which  he  bore.  She  put  many  particular 
questions  to  him,  seemed  astonished  at  his  answers,  and  at  last  burst  into  joy 
and  admiration  of  his  wonderful  deliverance,  embracing  him  as  her  nephew, 
the  true  image  of  Edward,  the  sole  heir  of  the  Plantagenets,  and  the  legiti- 
mate successor  to  the  English  throne  She  assigned  him  an  equipage  suit- 


316  THEHISTORYOF  [PART!. 

able  to  his  pretended  birth,  appointed  him  a  guard,  engaged  every  one  to  pay 
court  to  him,  and  on  all  occasions  honoured  him  with  the  appellation  oil 
The  White  Rose  of  England. 

The  Flemings,  swayed  by  Margaret's  authority,  readily  adopted  the  fictioi 
of  Perkin's  royal  descent ;  and  as  no  surmise  of  his  real  birth  had  yet  beer 
given,  the  English,  from  their  frequent  communication  with  the  Low  Coun 
tries,  were  every  day  more  and  more  prepossessed  in  favour  of  the  impostor 
Not  only  the  populace,  ever  fond  of  novelty  and  desirous  of  change,  but  mec 
of  the  highest  birth  and  quality,  disgusted  at  the  severity  of  Henry's  govern 
ment,  began  to  turn  their  eyes  towards  this  new  claimant.  Their  passions 
and  prejudices  inclined  them  to  give  credit  to  Perkin's  pretensions ;  and  as 
little  opposition  had  been  made  to  the  prevailing  opinion,  a  regular  conspiracy 
was  formed  against  the  king's  authority,  and  a  correspondence  settled 
between  the  malecontents  in  Flanders  and  those  in  England.  (1) 

Henry  was  informed  of  all  these  particulars,  and  proceeded  resolutely, 
though  deliberately,  in  counter-working  the  designs  of  his  enemies.  His 
first  object  was,  to  ascertain  the  death  of  the  real  duke  of  York,  which  he  was 
able  to  do  with  a  tolerable  degree  of  certainty,  two  of  the  persons  concerned 
in  the  murder  being  yet  alive,  and  agreeing  in  the  same  story.  But  he  found 
more  difficulty,  though  in  the  end  he  was  no  less  successful,  in  discovering 
who"  the  extraordinary  person  was  that  so  boldly  advanced  pretensions  to  his 
crown.  For  this  purpose  he  dispersed  his  spies  over  all  Flanders  and  Eng- 
land :  he  engaged  many  to  pretend  that  they  had  embraced  Perkin's  party : 
he  bribed  the  young  man's  servants,  his  confidants,  and  even  his  confessor. 
By  these  means  he  was  at  last  made  acquainted  with  the  whole  plan  of  the 
conspiracy,  and  with  the  pedigree,  adventures,  life,  and  conversation  of  the 
pretended  duke  of  York. 

The  impostor's  story  was  immediately  published  for  the  satisfaction  of  the 
nation ;  and  as  soon  as  Henry's  projects  were  matured,  he  made  the  con- 
spirators feel  the  weight  of  his  resentment.  Almost  in  the  same  instant  he 
arrested  lord  Fitzwalter,  sir  Simon  Mountfort,  and  sir  Thomas  Thwaites,  who 
were  convicted  of  high  treason  for  promising  to  aid  Perkin,  and  presently 
executed.  Sir  William  Stanley,  the  lord  high  chamberlain,  was  also  arrested ; 
but  greater  and  more  solemn  preparations  were  thought  necessary  for  the  trial 
of  a  man,  whose  authority  in  the  nation,  and  whose  domestic  intimacy  with 
the  king,  as  well  as  his  former  services,  seemed  to  secure  him  against  any 
accusation  or  punishment.  Henry  however  was  determined  to  take  ven- 

feance  on  all  his  enemies.    He  therefore  won  over  sir  Robert  Clifford,  Per- 
in's  particular  confidant,  who,  returning  to  England,  on  a  promise  of  pardon, 
accused  Stanley  as  his  chief  abettor ;  and  after  six  weeks'  delay,  which  was 
interposed  in  order  to  show  the  king's  lenity  and  coolness,  the  chamberlain 
was  brought  to  his  trial,  condemned,  and  beheaded. (2) 

The  fate  of  Stanley  made  great  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  people,  and 
struck  Perkin's  adherents  with  the  deepest  dismay ;  as  they  found,  from  Clif- 
ford's desertion,  that  all  their  secrets  were  betrayed.  The  jealous  and  severe 
temper  of  the  king  kept  men  in  awe,  and  quelled  not  only  the  movements  of 
sedition,  but  the  very  murmurs  of  faction.  A  general  distrust  took  place :  all 
mutual  confidence  was  destroyed,  even  among  particular  friends.  Henry,  in 
the  mean  time,  elated  with  success,  and  little  anxious  of  dispelling  those  ter- 
rors, or  of  gaining  the  affections  of  the  nation,  gave  every  day  more  and  more 
rein  to  his  rapacious  temper,  and  employed  the  arts  of  perverted  law  and  jus- 
tice in  order  to  extort  fines  and  compositions  from  his  subjects.  His  govern- 
ment was  in  itself  highly  oppressive ;  but  it  was  so  much  the  less  burden- 
some, as  he  took  care,  like  Lewis  XL,  to  restrain  the  tyranny  of  the  nobles, 
and  permitted  nobody  to  be  guilty  of  injustice  or  oppression  but  himself. 

Perkin,  now  finding  his  correspondence  with  the  nobility  cut  off  by  Henry's 
vigilance  and  severity,  and  the  king's  authority  daily  gaining  ground  among 
the  people,  resolved  to  attempt  something  which  might  revive  the  drooping 

(I)  Polyd.  Virg.    Bacon,  Bist.  Hen.  VII.  (21  Id  ibid. 


LET.  LIL]  MODERNEUROPE.  211 

hopes  of  his  party.  With  this  view  he  gathered  together  a  band  of  outlaws, 
pirates,  robbers,  and  necessitous  persons  of  all  nations,  with  whom  he  put  to 
sea,  and  appeared  off  the  coast  of  Kent;  but  finding  the  inhabitants  deter- 
mined to  oppose  him,  he  returned  to  Flanders,  and  afterward  made  a  descent 
upon  Ireland.  The  affairs  of  Ireland,  however,  were  now  in  so  good  a  posture, 
that  he  there  met  with  little  success ;  and  being  tired  of  the  savage  life  he  was 
obliged  to  lead,  while  skulking  among  the  wild  natives,  he  bent  his  course 
towards  Scotland,  and  presented  himself  to  James  IV.,  who  then  reigned  in 
that  kingdom.  Perkin  had  been  previously  recommended  to  this  prince  by 
the  king  of  France  ;  and  the  insinuating  address,  and  plausible  behaviour  of 
the  youth  himself,  seem  further  to  have  gained  him  credit  with  James,  whom 
years  had  not  yet  taught  distrust  or  caution,  and  who  carried*  his  confidence 
so  far,  as  to  give  him  in  marriage  the  lady  Catharine  Gordon,  daughter  of  the 
earl  of  Huntley,  a  young  lady  eminent  both  for  bea'uty  and  virtue. 

The  jealousy  which  then  subsisted  between  the  courts  of  England  and 
Scotland  was  a  new  recommendation  to  Perkin ;  so  that  James,  who  had 
resolved  to  make  an  inroad  into  England,  attended  by  some  of  his  borderers, 
carried  the  impostor  along  with  him,  in  hopes  that  the  appearance  of  the 
pretended  prince  might  raise  an  insurrection  in  the  northern  counties.  But 
in  this  expectation  he  found  himself  deceived.  Perkin's  pretensions  were 
now  become  stale  even  in  the  eyes  of  the  populace ;  no  Englishman  of  any 
condition  joined  him.  James,  after  repeated  incursions,  attended  with  various 
success,  therefore,  found  it  necessary  to  conclude  a  truce  with  Henry,  Perkin 
being  privately  ordered  to  depart  the  kingdom.(l) 

Ireland  once  more  afforded  a  retreat  to  the  impostor.  There  he  hid  him- 
self for  some  time  in  the  wilds  and  fastnesses :  but  impatient  at  a  condition 
which  was  both  disagreeable  and  dangerous,  he  held  a  consultation  with  his 
followers,  Home,  Skelton,  and  Astley,  three  broken  tradesmen,  and  by  their 
advice  resolved  to  try  the  affections  of  the  Cornish  malecontents,  who  had 
lately  risen  in  rebellion  on  account  of  an  oppressive  tax,  and  whose  mutinous 
disposition  still  subsisted,  notwithstanding  the  lenity  that  had  been  shown 
them.  No  sooner  therefore  did  the  pretended  prince  appear  at  Bodmin  in 
Cornwall,  than  the  populace,  to  the  number  of  three  thousand,  flocked  to  his 
standard ;  and  Perkin,  elated  with  this  appearance  of  success,  took  on  him, 
for  the  first  time,  the  appellation  of  Richard  IV.,  king  of  England.  That  the 
expectations  of  his  followers  might  not  be  suffered  to  languish,  he  presented 
himself  before  Exeter:  and,  by  many  fair  though  fruitless  promises,  invited 
that  city  to  join  him.  The  inhabitants  shut  their  gates  against  him,  and  he 
laid  siege  to  the  place. 

Henry  was  happy  to  hear  that  the  impostor  had  landed  in  England,  and 
prepared  himself  with  alacrity  to  attack  him :  for,  as  he  usually  said,  he 
desired  only  to  see  his  enemies.  Perkin,  informed  of  the  king's  prepara- 
tions, immediately  raised  the  siege  of  Exeter;  and  although  his  followers 
now  amounted  to  the  number  of  seven  thousand,  and  seemed  still  resolute  to 
maintain  his  cause,  he  himself  despaired  of  success,  and  secretly  withdrew 
to  the  sanctuary  of  Beaulieu  in  the  New  Forest.  The  Cornish  rebels  sub- 
mitted to  the  king's  mercy,  and  found  it  was  not  yet  exhausted  in  their  behalf: 
a  few  of  their  chiefs  excepted,  they  were  dismissed  with  impunity.  Henry 
was  more  at  a  loss  how  to  proceed  with  regard  to  Perkin  himself.  Some 
counselled  him  to  make  the  privileges  of  the  church  yield  to  reasons  of  state; 
to  drag  the  impostor  from  the  sanctuary,  and  inflict  on  him  the  punishment 
due  to  his  temerity.  But  Henry  did  not  think  the  evil  so  dangerous  as  to 
require  such  a  violent  remedy.  He  therefore  employed  some  sagacious  per- 
sons to  persuade  Perkin  to  deliver  himself  into  the  king's  hands  under  pro- 
mise of  pardon.  He  did  so ;  and  Henry  conducted  him,  in  a  kind  of  mock 
triumph,  to  London. 

But  although  the  impostor's  life  was  granted  him,  he  was  still  detained  11 
Custody;  and  having  broke  from  his  keepers,  he  was  afterward  confined  in 

(1)  Bacon,  Hist.  Hen.  VII.    Polyd.  Virj. 


318  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART!. 

the  tower,  where  his  habits  of  restless  intrigue  and  enterprise  followed  him. 
He  found  means  to  open  a  correspondence  with  the  earl  of  Warwick,  who 
was  confined  in  the  same  prison ;  and  he  engaged  that  unfortunate  prince  to 
embrace  a  project  for  his  escape,  which  Perkin  offered  to  conduct,  by  mur- 
dering the  lieutenant  of  the  tower.  The  conspiracy  did  not  escape  the 
king's  vigilance ;  and  Perkin,  by  this  new  attempt,  after  so  many  enormities, 
having  rendered  himself  totally  unworthy  of  mercy,  was  arraigned,  con- 
demned, and  hanged  at  Tyburn.  Warwick  was  also  brought  to  trial,  found 
guilty,  and  executed.(l) 

This  violent  act  of  tyranny,  by  which  Henry  destroyed  the  last  remaining 
male  of  the  line  of  Plantagenet,  begat  great  discontent  among  the  people. 
They  saw,  with  concern,  an  unhappy  prince,  who  had  long  been  denied  the 
privileges  of  his  birth,  and  even  cut  off  from  the  common  benefits  of  nature, 
now  deprived  of  life  itself,  merely  for  attempting  to  shake  off  that  oppression 
under  which  "he  laboured.  But  these  "domestic  discontents  did  not  weaken 
the  king's  government ;  and  foreign  princes,  deeming  his  throne  now  per- 
fectly secure,  paid  him  rather  more  deference  and  attention. 

The  prince  whose  alliance  Henry  valued  most  was  Ferdinand  of  Spain, 
whose  vigorous  and  steady  policy,  always  attended  with  success,  had  ren- 
dered him  in  many  respects  the  most  considerable  monarch  in  Europe.  And 
the  king  of  England  hud  at  last  the  satisfaction  of  completing  a  marriage 
which  had  been  projected  and  negotiated  during  the  course  of  seven  years, 
between  Arthur  prince  of  Wales  and  the  infanta  Catharine,  fourth  daughter 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella :  he  near  sixteen  years  of  age,  she  eighteen.  But 
this  marriage  proved  unprosperous.  Prince  Arthur  died  a  few  months  after 
the  celebratioji  of  the  nuptials ;  and  the  king,  desirous  to  continue  his  alli- 
ance with  Spain,  and  also  unwilling  to  restore  Catharine's  dowry,  obliged  his 
second  son  Henry,  now  prince  of  Wales,  to  be  betrothed  to  the  infanta. 
Prince  Henry  made  all  the  opposition  of  which  a  youth  only  twelve  years 
old  could  be  supposed  capable ;  but  as  the  king  persisted  in  his  resolution, 
the  marriage  was  at  last  concluded  between  the  parties.  It  was  productive 
of  the  most  important  consequences. 

Another  marriage  was  also  celebrated  the  same  year,  which,  in  the  next 
age,  gave  birth  to  great  events — the  union  of  Margaret,  Henry's  eldest 
daughter,  with  James  IV.  of  Scotland.  When  this  alliance  was  deliberated 
on  in  the  English  council,  some  objected  that  England  might,  in  consequence 
of  such  marriage,  fall  under  the  dominion  of  Scotland.  "  No !"  replied 
Henry;  "though  Scotland  should  give  an  heir  to  the  English  crown,  that 
kingdom  will  only  become  an  accession  to  England  :"(2) — and  the  event  has 
proved  the  justice  of  the  observation. 

The  situation  of  Henry's  affairs,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  was  now  in 
every  respect  fortunate.  All  the  efforts  of  the  European  princes,  as  we  shall 
afterward  have  occasion  to  see,  were  turned  to  the  side  of  Italy;  and  the 
various  events  which  there  arose  made  Henry's  alliance  be  eagerly  courted 
by  each  party,  yet  interested  himself  so  little  as  never  to  touch  him  with 
concern  or  anxiety.  Uncontrolled  therefore  by  apprehension  or  opposition, 
he  gave  full  scope*  to  his  natural  propensity ;  and  avarice,  which  had  ever 
been  his  ruling  passion,  being  increased  by  age,  and  encouraged  by  absolute 
authority,  broke  through  all  restraints  of  shame  or  justice.  He  had  found 
two  ministers,  Empson  and  Dudley,  perfectly  qualified  to  second  his  rapacious 
and  tyrannical  inclinations,  and  to  prey  upon  his  defenceless  people.  These 
instruments  of  oppression  were  both  lawyers ;  the  first  of  mean  birth,  of 
brutal  manners,  and  of  unrelenting  temper ;  the  second  better  born,  better 
educated,  and  better  bred,  but  equally  unjust,  severe,  and  inflexible.  By 
their  knowledge  of  law,  they  were  qualified  to  pervert  the  forms  of  justice 
to  the  oppression  of  the  innocent :  and  Henry  supported  them  in  all  their  ini- 
quities. The  sole  purpose  of  the  king  and  his  ministers  was  to  amass  money 
and  bring  every  one  under  the  lash  of  their  authority. 

(1,  Bacon   Hist.  Hen.  VII.    Polyd.  Vir*  (2)  Bacon,  Hist.  Sen.  Vll 


L*T.  LII.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  319 

But  while  Henry  was  enriching  himself  with  the  spoils  of  his  oppressed 
people,  he  did  not  neglect  the  political  interests  of  the  nation.  Philip,  arch- 
duke of  Austria,  and  his  wife  Joan,  heiress  of  Castile,  being  thrown  upon  the 
English  coast  on  their  passage  to  Spain,  Henry  entertained  them  with  a  mag- 
nificence suitable  to  his  dignity,  and  at  an  expense  by  no  means  agreeable  to 
his  temper.  Bat  notwithstanding  so  much  seeming  cordiality,  interest  in 
this,  as  in  all  other  things,  was  the  only  rule  of  his  conduct.  He  resolved  to 
draw  some  advantage  from  the  involuntary  visit  paid  fcim  by  his  royal  guests ; 
and  while  he  seemed  only  intent  on  displaying  his  hospitality,  and  in  furnish- 
ing the  means  of  amusement,  he  concluded  a  treaty  of  commerce  highly 
beneficial  to  England.(l) 

Henry's  views  did  not  terminate  here :  from  the  interests  of  the  nation  he 
turned  them  to  his  own.  Edmund  de  la  Pole  earl  of  Suffolk,  nephew  to  Ed- 
ward IV.,  and  brother  to  the  earl  of  Lincoln  slain  at  the  battle  of  Stoke,  had 
retired  to  Flanders  in  disgust.  The  king  did  not  neglect  the  present  oppor- 
tunity of  complaining  to  the  archduke  of  the  reception  which  Suffolk  had 
met  with  in  his  dominions.  "I  really  thought,"  replied  Philip,  "that  your 
greatness  and  felicity  had  set  you  far  above  apprehensions  from  any  person 
of  so  little  consequence :  but  to  give  you  satisfaction,  I  shall  banish  him 
my  state." — "I  expect  that  you  will  carry  your  complaisance  further," 
said  Henry :  "  I  desire  to  have  Suffolk  put  into  my  hands,  where  alone  I 
can  depend  on  his  submission  and  obedience." — "  That  measure,"  observed 
Philip,  "  will  reflect  dishonour  upon  you,  as  well  as  myself.  You  will  be 
thought  to  have  used  me  as  a  prisoner." — "  Then,"  replied  Henry,  "  the  matter 
is  settled :  I  will  take  upon  me  that  dishonour :  and  so  your  honour  is  safe." 
Philip  found  himself  under  the  necessity  of  complying  :  but  he.  first  exacted 
a  promise  from  Henry,  that  he  would  spare  Suffolk's  life.(2) 

Henry  sur^ved  these  transactions  about  two  years,  but  nothing  memorable 
occurs  in  the  remaining  part  of  his  reign.  His  declining  health  made  him 
turn  his  thoughts  towards  that  future  state  of  existence,  which  the  severities 
of  his  government  had  rendered  a  very  dismal  prospect  to  him.  In  order  to 
allay  the  terrors  under  which  he  laboured,  he  endeavoured  to  procure  a  recon- 
ciliation witli  Heaven  by  distributing  alms,  and  founding  religious  houses. 
Remorse  even  seized  him  at  times  for  the  abuse  of  his  authority  by  Empson 
and  Dudley,  though  not  to  such  a  degree  as  to  make  him  stop  the  rapacious 
hands  of  those  oppressors,  until  death,  by  its  nearer  approaches,  appalled  him 
with  new  terrors ;  and  then  he  ordered,  by  a  general  clause  in  his  will,  that 
restitution  should  be  made  to  all  those  whom  he  had  injured.(3)  He  died  of 
a  consumption,  at  his  favourite  palace  of  Richmond,  in  the  fifty-second  year 
of  his  age,  and  the  twenty-third  of  his  reign;  whrch  was,  on  the  whole,  for- 
tunate for  his  people  at  home,  and  honourable  abroad. 

Henry  VII.  was  a  prince  of  great  talents,  both  civil  and  military.  He  put 
an  end  to  the  civil  wars  with  which  the  English  nation  had  long  been  harassed : 
he  maintained  the  most  perfect  order  in  the  state :  he  repressed  the  exorbitant 
power  of  the  barons :  and  he  indirectly  increased  the  consequence  of  the 
commons,  by  enabling  the  nobility  to  break  their  ancient  entails ;  as  the 
prodigal  were  thereby  encouraged  to  dissipate  their  fortunes  and  dismember 
their  estates,  Avhich  became  the  property  of  men  who  had  acquired  money  by 
trade  or  industry.  And  while  he  possessed  the  friendship  of  some  foreign 
princes,  he  commanded  the  respect  of  all.  Hence  his  sou,  Henry  VIII.,  as  we 
shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  see,  became  the  arbiter  of  Europe.  In  the 
mean  time,  we  must  take  a  view  of  transactions  in  which  England  had  no 
share,  and  which  introduced  the  most  important  era  in  the  history  of  modern 
Europe. 

(1)  Rymer,  vol.  xiii.  (2)  Bacon,  ubi  sup 

'3)  Bacon,  ubi  sup.    Holingshed.    Polyd.  Virg. 


32ft  THE    HISTORY  OF  [PAKT  I. 


LETTER  LIH. 

A  General  View  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  fromthe  Invasion  of  Italy  by  Charles 
Fnl.  in  1494,  till  the  League  of  Cambray,  in  1508. 

• 

1  HAVE  hitherto,  my  dear  Philip,  generally  given  you  a  separate  history  o' 
all  the  principal  European  states ;  because  each  state  depended  chiefly  on 
itself,  and  was  in  a  great  measure  distinct  from  every  other  in  its  political 
interests.  But  that  method  will,  in  future,  often  be  impracticable,  by  reason 
of  the  new  system  of  policy  which  was  adopted  about  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  in  consequence  of  which  a  union  of  interest  became 
necessary  in  order  to  form  a  balance  of  power.  This  system  took  its  rise 
from  the  political  state  of  Europe  at  that  time,  and  was  perfected  by  the  Italian 
wars,  which  commenced  with  the  expedition  of  Charles  VIII.  in  support  of 
his  claim  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 

This  prince  having  married  the  heiress  of  Brittany,  as  I  have  already  had 
occasion  to  observe,  and  purchased  peace  from  the  only  powers  able  to  molest 
him,  the  emperor  of  Germany,  and  the  kings  of  England  and  Spain,  set  out 
on  his  favourite  project,  the  conquest  of  Naples.  To  that  kingdom  he  had 
pretensions  as  heir  to  the  house  of  Anjou. 

The  army  with  which  Charles  undertook  this  great  enterprise  did  not  exceed 
twenty  thousand  men :  yet  with  these  he  was  able  to  overrun  all  Italy.  The 
Italians,  who  had  utterly  lost  the  use  of  arms,  and  who,  amid  continual  wars, 
had  become  every  day  more  unwarlike,  were  astonished  to  meet  an  enemy 
that  made  the  field  of  battle  not  a  pompous  tournament  but  a  scene  of  blood: 
they  were  terrified  at  the  aspect  of  real  war,  and  shrunk  on  its  approach.  The 
impetuosity  of  the  French  valour  appeared  to  them  irresistible.  Pope  Alex- 
ander VI.  of  infamous  memory,  the  Venetians,  and  Ludovico  Sforza,  surnamed 
the  Moor,  duke  of  Milan,  who  had  invited  Charles  into  Italy,  alarmed  at  its 
progress,  which  was  equally  unwished  and  unexpected,  endeavoured  to  throw 
obstacles  in  his  way  almost  as  soon  as  he  had  crossed  the  Alps. 

All  opposition  however  was  in  vain.  Charles  entered  in  triumph  the  city 
of  Florence,  where  the  family  of  Medicis  still  held  the  chief  authority.  He 
delivered  Sienna  and  Pisa  from  the  Tuscan  yoke :  he  prescribed  such  terms  to 
the  Florentines  as  his  circumstances  rendered  necessary,  and  their  situation 
obliged  them  to  comply  with :  he  marched  to  Rome,  where  Alexander  VI. 
had  ineffectually  intrigued  against  him ;  and  he  took  possession  of  that  city 
as  a  conqueror.  The  pope  had  taken  refuge  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo:  but 
no  sooner  did  he  see  the  French  cannon  pointed  against  its  feeble  ramparts, 
than  he  offered  to  capitulate ;  and  it  cost  him  only  a  cardinal's  hat  to  make 
his  peace  with  the  king.  The  president  Brissonet,  who  from  a  lawyer  was 
become  an  archbishop,  persuaded  Charles  to  this  accommodation.  In  reward 
of  his  services  he  obtained  the  purple. (1)  The  king's  confessor  was  likewise 
in  the  secret ;  and  Charles,  whose  interest  it  was  to  have  deposed  the  pope, 
forgave  him,  and  afterward  repented  of  his  lenity. 

No  pontiff  surely  ever  more  deserved  the  indignation  of  a  Christian  prince. 
He  and  the  Venetians  had  applied  to  the  Turkish  emperor  Bajazet  II.,  son  and 
successor  of  Mahomet  II.,  to  assist  them  in  driving  the  French  monarch  out 
of  Italy.  It  is  also  asserted,  that  the  pope  had  sent  one  Bozzo  in  quality  of 
nuncio  to  the  court  of  Constantinople,  and  that  the  alliance  between  his  holi- 
ness and  the  sultan  was  purchased  by  one  of  those  inhuman  crimes  which 
are  not  committed  without  horror  even  within  the  walls  of  the  seraglio. 

Alexander  VI.,  by  an  extraordinary  chain  of  events,  had  at  that  time  in  his 
possession  the  person  of  Zizim,  brother  to  Bajazet  II.  The  manner  in  which 
this  unfortunate  prince  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  pope  was  as  follows  : 

(1)  Georgii  Flori,  de  Bel.  Ital.    Phil,  de  Comin.  liv.  vii.  chap.  xii. 


LET.  LIIL]  MODERN   EUROPE.  321 

Zizim,  who  wis  adored  by  the  Turks,  had  disputed  the  empire  with  Bajazet, 
and  was  defeated.  Fortune  prevailed  over  the  prayers  of  the  people ;  and 
this  unhappy  son  of  Mahomet  II.,  the  terror  of  the  Christian  name,  had 
-ecourse  in  his  distress  to  the  knights  of  Rhodes,  now  the  knights  of  Malta, 
^hey  at  first  received  him  as  a  prince  to  whom  they  were  bound  to  afford 
orotection  by  the  laws  of  hospitality,  and  who  might  one  day  be  of  use  to 
;hem  in  their  wars  against  the  Infidels ;  but  they  soon  afterward  treated  him 
is  a  prisoner,  and  Bajazet  agreed  to  pay  them  forty  thousand  sequins 
annually,  on  condition  that  they  should  not  suffer  Zizim  to  return  into  Turkey. 
The  knights  conveyed  him  to  one  of  their  commanders  at  Poitou  in  France ; 
and  Charles  VIII.  received,  at  the  same  time,  an  ambassador  from  Bajazet  IL, 
and  a  nuncio  from  pope  Innocent  VIII.,  Alexander's  predecessor,  relative  to 
this  valuable  captive.  The  sultan  claimed  him  as  his  subject,  and  the  pope 
wanted  to  have  possession  of  his  person,  as  a  pledge  for  the  safety  of  Italy 
against  the  attempts  of  the  Turks.  Charles  sent  him  to  the  pope.  The 
pontiff  received  him  with  all  the  splendour  and  magnificence  which  the  sove- 
reign of  Rome  could  show  to  the  brother  of  the  sovereign  of  Constantino- 
ple ;  and  Paul  Jovius  says,  that  Alexander  VI.  sold  Zizim's  life  in  a  treaty 
which  he  negotiated  with  Bajazet.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  the  king  of  France, 
full  of  his  vast  projects,  and  certain  of  the  conquest  of  Naples,  now  wanted 
to  become  formidable  to  the  sultan,  by  having  the  person  of  this  unfortu- 
nate prince  in  his  power.  The  pope  delivered  him  to  Charles,  but  poisoned, 
as  is  supposed.  It  is  at  least  certain  that  he  died  soon  after ;  and  the  cha- 
racter of  Alexander  VI.  makes  it  probable,  that  three  hundred  thousand  ducats, 
said  to  have  been  offered  by  Bajazet,  were  esteemed  an  equivalent  for  such 
a  crime.(l^ 

Matters  being  thus  settled  between  the  king  and  the  pope,  who  took  an 
oath  not  to  disturb  Charles  in  his  conquests,  Alexander  was  set  at  liberty, 
and  appeared  again  as  pontiff  on  the  Vatican  theatre.  There,  in  a  public 
consistory,  the  French  monarch  came  to  pay  him  what  is  called  the  homage 
of  obedience,  assisted  by  John  Gannai,  first  president  of  the  parliament  of 
Paris,  who  might  certainly  have  been  better  employed  elsewhere  than  at  such 
a  ceremony.  Charles  now  kissed  the  feet  of  the  person  whom,  two  days 
before,  he  would  have  condemned  as  a  criminal ;  and  to  complete  the  ludi- 
crous scene,  he  served  his  holiness  at  high  mass. (2) 

Charlemagne,  as  we  have  seen,  caused  himself  to  be  declared  emperor  of 
the  West  at  Rome  ;  Charles  VIII.  was,  in  the  same  city,  declared  emperor 
of  the  East ;  but  after  a  very  different  manner.  One  Paleologus,  nephew  to 
the  prince  of  that  name,  who  lost  Constantinople  and  his  life,  made  an  empty 
cession,  in  favour  of  Charles  and  his  successors,,  of  an  empire  which  could 
not  be  recovered. (3) 

After  this  ceremony,  Charles  continued  his  progress  towards  Naples; 
where  Alphonso  IL,  struck  with  terror  at  the  approach  of  the  French  army, 
gave  the  world  an  example  of  a  new  kind  of  cowardice  and  pusillanimity. 
He  fled  privately  to  Sicily,  and  took  refuge  in  a  cloister ;  while  Ferdinand, 
his  son,  now  become  king  by  his  abdication,  finding  himself  unable  to  retrieve 
the  public  affairs,  rendered  desperate  by  his  father's  flight,  released  his  sub- 
jects from  their  oath  of  allegiance,  and  retired  to  the  island  of  Ischia.  Charles, 
thus  left  master  of  his  favourite  object,  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  after  having 
marched  thither,  from  the  bottom  of  the  Alps,  with  as  much  rapidity,  and 
almost  as  little  opposition,  as  if  he  had  been  on  a  progress  through  his  own 
dominions,  took  quiet  possession  of  the  Neapolitan  throne,  and  intimidated, 
or  gave  law,  to  every  power  in  Italy.  (4) 

Such,  my  dear  Philip,  was  the  result  of  this  expedition,  which  must  be  con- 
sidered as  the  first  great  exertion  of  those  new  powers  which  the  princes  of 
Europe  had  acquired,  and  now  began  to  exercise.  Its  effects  were  no  less 
tonsiderable  than  its  success  had  been  astonishing.  The  Italians,  unable  to 

v'l)  Phil,  de  Comin.    Paul.  Jov.    Arnold!  Feroni.  (2)  G.  Flori.    Guicciardini. 

(3)  Phil,  de  Comin.  (4)  And.  de  la  Vig.  Cong,  de  la  Nap.    Phil,  de  Comin. 

VOL.  I.— X 


322  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PAST  I 

resist  the  force  of  Charles,  permitted  him  to  hold  on  his  course  undisturbed. 
But  they  quickly  perceived,  that  although  no  single  power  which  they  could 
rouse  to  action  was  a  match  for  such  an  enemy,  yet  a  confederacy  might 
accomplish  what  its  separate  members  durst  not  attempt.  T-o  this  expedient, 
therefore,  they  had  recourse — the  only  one  that  remained,  to  deliver  or  pre- 
serve them  from  the  French  yoke ;  and  while  Charles  inconsiderately  wasted 
his  time  at  Naples,  in  festivals  and  triumphs  on  account  of  his  past  successes 
or  was  fondly  dreaming  of  future  conquests  in  the  East,  to  the  empire  of 
\vhich  he  now  aspired,  they  formed  against  him  a  powerful  combination  of 
almost  all  the  Italian  princes  and  states ;  the  heads  of  which  were  the  pope 
the  Venetians,  the  duke  of  Milan,  supported  by  the  emperor  Maximilian,  who' 
had  lately  succeeded  his  father  Frederic  III.,  and  by  their  Catholic  majesties, 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella. (1) 

The  union  of  so  many  powers,  who  suspended  or  forgot  their  particular 
animosities  that  they  might  act  with  concert  against  an  enemy  who  had  be- 
come formidable  to  them  all,  awakened  Charles  from  his  thoughtless  security. 
He  saw  now  no  prospect  of  safety  but  in  returning  to  France.  The  con- 
federates had  assembled  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  in  order  to  obstruct 
his  march.  Charles  had  only  nine  thousand  men  with  him.  The  two  armies 
met  in  the  valley  of  Fornova ;  and  though  the  French,  with  a  daring  courage, 
which  more  than  made  up  for  their  inferiority  in  numbers,  broke  the  army 
of  the  allies,  and  gained  a  victory,  which  opened  to  their  monarch  a  safe  pas- 
sage into  his  own  territories,  he  was  stripped  of  all  his  conquests  in  Italy  in 
as  short  a  time  as  he  had  gained  them.  The  exiled  Ferdinand,  by  the  help 
of  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  surnamed  the  Great  Captain,  whom  their  Catholic 
majesties  had  sent  to  his  assistance,  speedily  recovered  the  whole  kingdom 
of  Naples.  He  died  soon  after,  and  left  his  uncle  Frederic  in  full  possession 
of  the  throne  ;(2)  so  that  the  political  system  of  Italy  resumed  the  same 
appearance  as  before  the  French  invasion. 

Charles,  after  his  return  to  France,  gave  himself  up  to  those  pastimes  and 
pleasures  which  had  been  the  bane  of  his  Italian  expedition.  In  the  mean 
time,  his  health  decayed,  and  he  died  without  issue  in  the  twenty-eighth  year 
of  his  age,  and  the  seventeenth  of  his  reign  :  "  a  man  of  small  body  and  short 
stature,"  says  Comines  ;  "  but  so  good  that  it  is  not  possible  to  see  a  better 
creature ;  and  so  sweet  and  gentle  in  disposition,  that  it  is  not  known  that 
he  ever  either  gave  or  took  offence  in  his  life."  He  was  succeeded  in  the 
throne  of  France  by  the  duke  of  Orleans,  under  the  title  of  Lewis  XII.,  to 
which  was  afterward  added  the  most  glorious  of  all  appellations,  that  of 
Father  of  his  People. 

Lewis  was  thirty-six  years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the  throne ;  and  from 
.that  moment  he  forgot  all  his  personal  resentments.  When  some  of  his 
courtiers  put  him  in  mind,  that  certain  persons  who  had  formerly  been  his 
enemies  were  now  in  his  power,  he  made  that  ever  memorable  reply : — "  The 
king  of  France  revenges  not  the  injuries  of  the  duke  of  Orleans."  It  is  one 
thing,  however,  to  deliver  a  fine  maxim,  and  another  to  make  it  the  rule  of 
one's  conduct.  Lewis  did  both.  But  his  fatal  ambition  of  reigning  in  Italy 
brought  many  misfortunes  upon  himself  and  his  kingdom,  notwithstanding 
his  prudence  and  paternal  affection  for  his  subjects. 

The  claim  of  Lewis  XII.  to  Naples  was  the  same  as  that  of  Charles  VIII., 
and  he  demanded  the  dutchy  of  Milan  in  right  of  one  of  his  grandmothers, 
daughter  of  John  Galeazo  Visconti,  first  duke  of  that  territory :  who  had 
stipulated  in  the  marriage  contract  of  his  daughter  Valentine,  that  in  case 
of  failure  of  heirs  male  in  the  family  of  Visconti,  the  dutchy  of  Milan  should 
descend  to  the  posterity  of  this  Valentine  and  the  duke  of  Orleans.  That 
event  took  place.  The  family  of  Visconti  became  extinct  in  1447 ;  but  the 
house  of  Orleans  had  hitherto  been  prevented,  by  various  accidents,  from 
making  good  their  claim :  aud  the  dutchy  of  Milan  was  still  held  by  the  de- 
ncendants  of  Francis  Sforza,  a  soldier  of  fortune,  who,  having  married  the 

(11  Phil.  deComin.    Mariana  (2)  G.FIori     Guicciardini. 


LET.  LIIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  323 

natural  daughter  of  the  last  legal  duke,  raised  himself  by  his  valour  and 
talents  to  the  ducal  throne.  Lewis  now  prepared  to  assert  his  right  with 
ardour,  and  he  succeeded.  But  before  I  relate  the  particulars  of  that  con- 
quest, it  will  be  necessary  to  say  a  few  words  of  pope  Alexander  VI.  and  h:s 
son  Caesar  Borgia,  on  account  of  their  alliance  with  the  king  of  France,  and 
the  share  which  they  had  in  the  wars  of  Italy :  remarking  by  the  way,  that 
Ludovico  Sforza,  surnamed  the  Moor,  having  murdered  his  nephew,  and  taken 
possession  of  the  dutchy  of  Milan,  had  been  confirmed  in  it,  in  1494,  by  the 
investiture  of  the  emperor  Maximilian,  who  married  his  daughter.(l) 

Alexander  VI.  was  at  that  time  engaged  in  two  great  designs  :  one  was  to 
'  recover  for  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter  the  many  territories  of  which  it  was 
said  to  have  been  deprived ;  and  the  other,  the  exaltation  of  his  son  Caesar 
Borgia.  Infamous  as  his  conduct  was,  it  did  not  in  the  least  impair  his  au- 
thority. He  was  publicly  accused  of  a  criminal  correspondence  with  his  own 
sister,  whom  he  took  away  from  three  husbands  successively ;  and  he  caused 
the  last  to  be  assassinated,  that  he  might  bestow  her  in  marriage  on  the  heir 
of  the  house  of  Este.  The  nuptials  were  celebrated  in  the  Vatican  by  the 
most  shameless  diversions  that  debauch  had  ever  invented  for  the  confusion 
of  modesty.  Fifty  courtesans  danced  naked  before  this  incestuous  family ; 
and  prizes  were  given  to  those  who  exhibited  the  most  lascivious  motions. 
The  duke  of  Gandia  and  Caesar  Borgia,  at  that  time  cardinal  and  archbishop 
of  Valentia  in  Spain,  are  said  to  have  publicly  disputed  the  favours  of  their 
sister  Lucretia.  The  duke  of  Gandia  was  assassinated  at  Rome,  and  Caesar 
Borgia  was  the  supposed  author  of  the  murder. (2)  The  personal  estates  of 
the  cardinals,  at  their,  decease,  belong  to  the  pope  :  and  Alexander  VI.  was 
strongly  suspected  of  hastening  the  death  of  more  than  one  member  of  the 
sacred  college,  that  he  might  become  possessed  of  their  treasures.  But, 
notwithstanding  these  enormities,  the  people  of  Rome  obeyed  without  mur- 
muring, and  this  pontiff's  friendship  was  courted  by  all  the  potentates  in 
Europe. 

Lewis  XII.  had  many  reasons  for  desiring  the  friendship  of  Alexander. 
He  wanted  to  be  divorced  from  his  wife  Joan,  the  daughter  of  Lewis  XL, 
who  was  crooked  and  ugly,  and  with  whom  he  had  lived  in  wedlock  above 
twenty-two  years,  without  having  any  children.  No  law  but  the  law  of 
nature  could  authorize  such  a  separation ;  and  yet  disgust  and  policy  made 
it  necessary.  The  king  disliked  his  wife,  and  was  desirous  of  posterity. 
Anne  of  Brittany,  the  queen-dowager,  still  retained  that  tenderness  which  she 
had  felt  for  him,  when  duke  of  Orleans.  His  passion  for  her  was  not  yet 
extinguished ;  and  unless  he  married  her,  or  at  least  if  she  married  another, 
Brittany  must  be  for  ever  dismembered  from  the  French  monarchy. 

These  were  powerful  motives ;  but  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See  was 
necessary  to  give  a  sanction  to  them.  It  had  long  been  customary  to  apply 
to  the  pope  for  permission  to  marry  a  relation,  or  put  away  a  wife :  Lewis 
applied  to  Alexander  VI.,  who  never  scrupled  at  any  indulgence  in  which  he 
could  find  his  interest.  The  bull  of  divorce  was  issued ;  and  Caesar  Borgia 
was  sent  with  it  into  France,  with  power  to  negotiate  with  the  king  on  the 
subject  of  his  Italian  claims.  But  this  son  of  the  church,  in  a  double  sense, 
did  not  leave  Rome  till  he  was  assured  of  the  dutchy  of  Valentinois,  a  com- 
pany of  one  hundred  armed  men,  and  a  pension  of  twenty  thousand  livres. 
All  these  Lewis  not  only  agreed  to,  but  also  promised  to  procure  for  him  the 
sister  of  the  king  of  Navarre.  The  ambitious  Borgia,  though  a  cardinal  and 
an  archbishop,  now  changed  his  ecclesiastical  character  for  a  secular  one  i 
and  pope  Alexander  granted,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  a  dispensation  for  his 
son  to  quit  the  church,  and  for  the  king  of  France  to  quit  his  wife.  (3)  Matters  . 

(l)DuMont.     Corp.  Diplom.  torn.  iii.  (2)  Paul.  Jov.    Arnoldi  Feroiii. 

(3)  DuClos.  Guicciardini.  Some  particulars  relative  to  this  separation  are  sufficiently  curious  to  deserve 
notice  Lewis  XII.  pretended  that  he  had  never  consummated  his  marriage  with  the  princess  Joan,  and 
the  pope  admitted  his  assertion  as  an  argument  for  the  divorce.  But  Joan  herself,  when  questioned,  de- 
clared in  the  most  solemn  manner  that  the  marriage  had  been  consummated.  She  even  mentioned  tl 
time,  place,  and  circumstances :  and  on  being  asked  by  the  king's  proctor,  whether  she  had  not  some  natu- 
ral defects  unusual  in  her  sex  ?  she  promptly  replied:  "  I  know  I  am  neither  so  well  made  nor  we» 

X2 


324  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

were  quickly  settled  between  Lewis  and  the  queen-dowager,  and  the  French 
prepared  for  a  fresh  invasion  of  Italy. 

In  this  enterprise  Lewis  had  the  Venetians  on  his  side,  who  were  to  have 
share  in  the  spoils  of  the  Milanese.  The  emperor  Maximilian,  whose  busi- 
ness it  was  to  have  defended  the  duke  of  Milan,  his  father-in-law  and  vassal, 
was  not  at  that  time  in  a  condition  to  assist  him.  He  could  with  difficulty 
make  head  against  the  Swiss,  who  had  entirely  freed  themselves  from  the 
Austrian  dominion :  he  therefore  acted,  upon  this  occasion,  the  feigned  pan 
of  indifference. 

The  French  monarch  terminated  amicably  some  disputes  which  he  had  with 
Philip  the  Handsome,  the  emperor's  son,  and  father  of  Charles  V.,  and  this 
Philip  did  homage  to  France  for  the  counties  of  Flanders  and  Artois.  Lewis 
likewise  renewed  the  treaty  concluded  by  Charles  VIII.  with  England;  and 
being  now  secure  on  all  sides,  he  made  his  army  cross  the  Alps. 

This  army  did  not  exceed  twenty  thousand  men;  yet  in  the  space  of  twenty 
days,  the  French  made  themselves  masters  of  the  dutchy  of  Milan,  and  the 
republic  of  Genoa,  while  the  Venetians  occupied  the  territory  of  Cremona. 
The  king,  clad  in  ducal  robes,  entered  the  city  of  Milan,  in  triumph ;  and  the 
duke,  Ludovico  Sforza,  being  betrayed  soon  after,  by  the  Swiss  in  his  pay, 
was  sent  prisoner  into  France,  and  shut  up  in  the  castle  of  Loches,  where  he 
lay  unpitied  during  the  remainder  of  his  days,(l) 

Could  Lewis  here  have  set  bounds  to  his  ambition,  satisfied  with  the  con- 
quest of  Milan,  he  was  enabled  by  his  situation  to  prescribe  laws  to  all  the 
Italian  princes  and  states,  and  to  hold  the  balance  among  them.  But  the  de- 
sire of  recovering  the  kingdom  of  Naples  engaged  him  in  new  projects ;  and 
as  he  foresaw  opposition  from  Ferdinand,  the  Catholic  king,  who  had  formerly 
expelled  the  French  from  that  country,  and  who  was  connected  both  by 
treaties  and  affinity  with  Frederic  king  of  Naples,  he  endeavoured  by  offers 
of  interest,  to  which  the  ears  of  that  monarch  were  never  deaf,  to  engage 
him  in  an  opposite  confederacy.  A  plan  was  accordingly  settled  for  the  ex- 
pulsion of  Frederic,  and  the  partition  of  his  dominions.  Frederic,  unable  to 
resist  the  force  of  the  combined  monarchs,  each  of  whom  was  far  his  supe- 
rior in  power,  resigned  his  sceptre.  But  he  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  Naples 
prove  the  source  of  contention  among  his  conquerors.  Lewis  and  Ferdinand, 
though  they  had  concurred  in  making  the  conquest,  differed  about  the  division 
of  it.  From  allies  they  became  enemies  ;  and  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  partly 
by  the  exertion  of  those  military  talents  which  gave  him  a  just  title  to  the 
appellation  of  the  Great  Captain,  bestowed  upon  him  by  his  countrymen, 
partly  by  such  shameless  and  frequent  violations  of  the  most  solemn  engage- 
ments as  leave  an  indelible  stain  upon  his  memory,  stripped  the  French  of  all 
they  possessed  in  the  Neapolitan  dominions,  and  secured  the  entire  possession 
of  the  disputed  kingdom  to  his  no  less  perfidious  rnaster.(2) 

Meanwhile  Alexander  VI.  subdued  the  fiefs  in  Romania  by  the  arms  of  his 
son  Caesar  Borgia.  There  is  not  one  act  of  oppression,  subtle  artifice,  heroic- 
courage,  or  atrocious  villany,  which  his  son  left  unpractised.  He  made  use 
of  more  art  and  dexterity  to  get  possession  of  eight  or  ten  little  towns,  and 
to  rid  himself  of  a  few  noblemen  that  stood  in  his  way,  than  Alexander  the 
Great,  Julius  Caesar,  Genghiz-Khan,  or  Tamerlane  had  employed  to  subdue 
the  greater  part  of  the  habitable  globe.  Every  thing  seemed  to  conspire  to 
his  aggrandizement.  His  father  was  armed  with  the  spiritual,  and  he  with  the 
temporal  power,  of  the  church.  But  his  good  fortune  was  of  short  duration : 
he  laboured,  without  knowing  it,  for  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter. 

Alexander  VI.  died  in  1503,  and  left  behind  him  a  more  detestable  memory 
in  Europe  that  Nero  or  Caligula  had  done  in  the  Roman  empire ;  the  sanctity 
of  his  station  adding  a  double  tinge  to  his  guilt.  The  papacy,  however,  was 
indebted  to  him  for  an  accession  to  its  temporal  dominions.  Caesar 
Borgia  lost  all  the  fruits  of  his  crimes,  and  the  church  profited  by  them. 

favoured,  as  the  greater  part  of  my  sex  ;  but  I  have  no  imperfection  that  renders  me  unfit  for  marriage  " 
Procet  du  Divorce  de  Jeanne  de  France. 
II)  Brantome.    Guicciardint  (2)  Paul.  Jov.    Guicciardini.    Mezeray 


LET.  LIV.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  325 

Most  of  the  cities  wnich  he  had  conquered  chose  another  master  on  the  death 
of  his  father:  and  pope  Julius  II.  obliged  him  soon  after  to  deliver  up  the  rest. 
Abandoned  by  friends,  allies,  and  relations,  Borgia,  in  a  short  time,  had 
nothing  left  of  all  his  wicked  greatness ;  and,  to  complete  his  miserable 
catastrophe,  he  who  had  betrayed  so  many,  was  at  last  betrayed.  Gonsalvo 
de  Cordova,  the  Great  Captain,  with  whom  he  had  trusted  his  person,  sent  him 
prisoner  into  Spain.  Lewis  XII.  took  from  him  the  dutchy  of  Valentinois 
ind  his  pension.  All  the  world  forsook  him.  Having  found  means,  however, 
to  escape  from  prison,  he  sought  refuge  in  Navarre ;  and  courage,  which  is 
not  properly  a  virtue,  but  a  happy  qualification,  common  alike  to  the  wicked 
and  the  virtuous,  did  not  desert  him  in  his  distresses.  While  in  this  asylum, 
he  still  maintained  every  part  of  his  character.  He  carried  on  intrigues,  and 
he  commanded  in  person  the  army  of  the  king  of  Navarre,  his  father-in-law, 
during  a  war  which  that  prince  entered  into  by  the  persuasion  of  Borgia,  to 
dispossess  his  vassals  of  the  Holy  See.  He  was  slain  fighting  :(l)  "  A  glo- 
rious end !"  says  Voltaire ;  but  it  is  surely  only  glorious  to  fall  in  a  good 
cause,  and  Borgia's  was  confessedly  a  bad  one.  We  have  no  occasion 
therefore,  to  think  his  fall  too  favourable.  He  wrought  his  own  ruin,  after 
having  completed  his  disgrace  ;  a  lesson  more  striking  than  if  he  had  suffered 
by  the  hands  of  the  public  executioner. 

Lewis  XII.  made  a  new  attempt  to  recover  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and 
was  again  disappointed.  This  second  disappointment  was  occasioned  by  the 
ambition  of  his  minister,  cardinal  d'Amboise,  who  sold  his  master's  interest 
for  a  promise  of  the  papacy:  by  the  policy  of  Ferdinand,  and  by  the  bravery 
of  the  Great  Captain.  Lewis  was  now  sincerely  desirous  of  peace;  and 
willing  to  secure  the  possession  of  Milan,  he  engaged,  by  the  treaty  of  Blois, 
(o  pay  the  emperor  Maximilian  a  large  sum  for  the  investiture  of  that  dutchy. 
By  this  treaty  also,  the  king  of  France  promised  his  daughter  in  marriage  to 
Charles  of  Austria,  grandson  of  Maximilian  and  Ferdinand,  with  Brittany, 
Burgundy,  and  all  his  Italian  dominions  as  her  dower,  in  case  he  died  with 
out  heirs  male.  But  this  article  of  the  treaty  was  wisely  opposed  by  the 
states  of  France  :(2)  and  the  princess  Anne  was  given  in  marriage  to  the 
count  of  Angouleme,  first  prince  of  the  bloody  and  presumptive  heir  to  the 
crown,  afterward  Francis  I.  Thus  Brittany,  which  had  been  twice  annexed 
to  the  French  monarchy,  and  twice  near  being  severed  from  it,  was  incorpo- 
rated with  it,  and  Burgundy  also  was  preserved. 

During  the  course  of  these  transactions,  Isabella,  queen  of  Castile,  died, 
and  Philip  of  Austria  went  to  take  possession  of  that  kingdom,  as  heir  to  his 
mother-in-law.  He  also  died  in  a  short  time ;  and,  to  the  astonishment  of 
all  Europe,  left  the  king  of  France  governor  to  his  son  Charles. 

The  balance  of  power  was  now  happily  poised  among  the  principal  Euro- 
pean states,  and  might  long  have  maintained  general  tranquillity,  had  not 
the  active  and  enterprising  genius  of  an  ambitious  pontiff  excited  anew  the 
flames  of  war  and  discord  among  them.  But  the  cause  of  that  discord,  my 
dear  Philip,  and  its  consequences,  must  be  investigated  in  a  future  Letter 


LETTER  LIV. 

Europe,  from  the  League  of  Cambray  to  the  Death  of  Lewis  XII. 

JULIUS  II.  to  whom  the  popes  are  particularly  indebted  for  their  temporal 
dominion,  had  formed  the  project  of  driving  all  foreigners  out  of  Italy.  But 
he  was  desirous,  in  the  first  place,  of  humbling  the  Venetians,  who  had  not 
only  declined  entering  into  his  views,  but  had  refused  to  restore  the  places 
which  they  had  dismembered  from  the  territory  of  the  church.  The  league 
of  Cambray  was  the  consequence  of  their  refusal. 

0)  Paul.  Jov.    Guicciardini.    Mezeray.  (2)  Mezeray,  torn.  !v.    Henault  torn,  i 


326  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

Let  us  take  a  view  of  that  republic,  which  excited  the  jealousy  of  so  many 
princes  and  states,  and  cemented  this  famous  confederacy. 

Venice,  my  dear  Philip,  took  its  rise,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  notice, 
during  the  inroads  of  the  Barbarians,  in  the  fifth  century.  The  little  islands 
of  the  Adriatic  gulf  afforded  an  asylum  to  the  neighbouring  inhabitants,  who 
originally  lived  by  fishing,  and  afterward  grew  rich  and  powerful  by  com- 
merce. They  again  got  footing  on  the  terra  firma ;  and  Venice  now  ex- 
tended her  dominion  from  the  lake  of  Como  to  the  middle  of  Dalmatia.  The 
Turks  had  despoiled  her  of  what  she  had  taken  from  the  Christian  emperors 
in  Greece:  but  she  still  retained  the  large  island  of  Candia  or  Crete,  and  soon 
got  possession  of  Cyprus. 

The  civil  constitution  of  Venice,  established  on  a  firm  basis,  had  suffered 
no  considerable  alteration  for  several  centuries ;  and  the  republic,  during  the 
same  course  of  time,  had  conducted  its  affairs  with  a  uniform  and  vigorous  • 
spirit  of  policy,  which  gave  it  great  advantage  over  other  states,  whose  views 
and  measures  changed  as- often  as  the  form  of  their  government,  or  the  per- 
sons who  administered  it.  But  the  constitution  of  this  republic  had  one 
essential  fault ;  it  wanted  a  counterpoise  to  the  power  of  the  nobles,  and  did 
not  offer  proper  encouragement  to  the  common  people.  No  private  citizen 
of  Venice  can  rise  to  the  rank  of  a  senator,  or  occupy  any  considerable  em- 
ployment in  the  state. 

Such  a  partial  aristocracy,  which  lodges  all  power  in  the  hands  of  a  few 
members  of  the  community,  is  naturally  jealous.  The  Venetian  nobles  dis- 
trusted their  own  subjects,  and  were  afraid  of  allowing  them  the  use  of  arms : 
the  military  force  of  the  republic,  therefore,  consisted  wholly  of  foreign  mer- 
cenaries. Nor  was  the  command  of  these  ever  trusted  to  noble  Venetians, 
lest  they  should  acquire  such  influence  over  the  army  as  might  endanger 
public  liberty.  A  soldier  of  fortune  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  armies  o( 
the  commonwealth ;  and  to  obtain  that  honour  was  the  great  object  of  the 
Italian  condottieri,  or  leaders  of  bands,  who  made  a  trade  of  war,  during  tlu. 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  and  hired  out  troops  to  different  princes 
and  states.  (1) 

A  republic  that  disarmed  its,subjects,  and  excluded  its  nobles  from  military 
command,  must  have  carried  on  warlike  enterprise^  at  great  disadvantage 
but  its  commerce  was  an  inexhaustible  source  of  opulence.  All  the  nations, 
in  Europe  depended  upon  the  Venetians,  not  only  for  the  precious  commo 
dities  of  the  East,  which  they  imported  by  the  way  of  Egypt,  but  for  varioui 
manufactures  fabricated  by  them  alone,  or  finished  with  a  dexterity  and  ele 
gance  unknown  in  other  countries.  From  this  extensive  commerce,  the  statt 
derived  such  immense  supplies,  as  concealed  the  vices  in  its  constitution,  anc 
enabled  it  to  keep  on  foot  such  armies  as  were  an  overmatch  for  the  forc< 
which  any  of  its  neighbours  could  bring  into  thr.  fieJ  J.  Venice  became  a*t 
object  of  terror  to  the  Italian  states.  Her  wealtn  w  is  viewed  with  envy  b; 
the  greatest  monarchs,  who  could  not  vie  with  her  private  citizens  in  tha 
magnificence  of  their  buildings,  in  the  richness  of  their  dress  and  furniture, 
or  in  splendour  and  elegance  of  living.  And  Julius  II.,  whose  ambitk>;.i  and 
abilities  were  equal  to  those  of  any  pontiff  who  had  ever  sat  on  the  papai 
throne,  by  working  upon  the  fears  of  the  Italians,  and  upon  the  avarice  of  the 
princes  beyond  the  Alps,  induced  them  to  form  against  this  proud  republi ; 
one  of  the  most  extensive  confederacies  that  Europe  had  ever  beheld. 

The  emperor,  the  king  of  France,  the  king  of  Spain,  and  the  pope  were 
principals  in  the  league  of  Cambray,  to  which  almost  all  the  princes  of  Italj 
acceded ;  the  least  considerable  of  them  hoping  for  some  share  in  the  spoils 
of  a  state  which  they  deemed  to  be  devoted  to  inevitable  destruction.  The 
Venetians  might  have  diverted  this  storm,  or  have  broken  its  force;  but 
with  a  presumptuous  rashness,  to  which  there  is  nothing  similar  in  the  course 
of  their  history,  they  waited  its  approach.  The  impetuous  valour  of  the 
French  rendered  ineffectual  all  their  precautions  for  the  safety  of  the 

if)  Sandi.    Storia  Civil   ^enezitaia 


LKT.  LIV.]  MODERNEUROPE.  327 

republic ;  and  the  battle  of  Aignadel,  fought  near  the  river  Adda,  entirely 
ruined  the  army  on  which  they  relied  for  defence.  Julius  II.  seized  all  the 
towns  which  they  held  in  the  ecclesiastical  territories ;  and  Ferdinand  re- 
annexed  the  places  which  they  had  got  possession  of  on  the  coast  of  Calabria 
to  his  Neapolitan  dominions.  Maximilian,  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army, 
advanced  towards  Venice  on  one  side ;  the  French  pushed  their  conquests  on 
the  other ;  and  the  Venetians,  surrounded  by  so  many  enemies,  and  left 
without  one  ally,  sunk  from  the  height  of  presumption  •  to  the  depths  of 
despair.  They  abandoned  all  their  territories  on  the  continent,  and  shut 
themselves  up  in  their  capital,  as  their  last  refuge,  and  the  only  place  which 
they  hoped  to  preserve. (1) 

Julius,  having  thus,  in  the  humiliation  of  the  Venetians,  attained  his  first 
object,  began  to  think  of  the  second,  more  worthy  of  his  enterprising  genius, 
"  the  expulsion  of  every  foreign  power  out  of  Italy."  For  this  purpose  it 
was  necessary  to  dissolve  the  league  of  Cambray,  and  sow  dissensions' 
among  those  princes  whom  he  had  formerly  united.  He  absolved  the  Vene- 
tians, on  their  ceding  to  him  the  places  claimed  by  the  Holy  See,  from  that 
anathema  which  had  been  pronounced  against  them ;  and  he  concluded  an 
alliance  with  the  republic  against  those  very  French  whom  he  had  called  in  to 
oppress  it.  Their  imperiousness  had  rendered  them  peculiarly  obnoxious  to 
the  Italians;  and  Julius  II.,  who  was  a  native  of  Genoa,  was  greatly  desirous  of 
revenging  upon  Lewis  the  triumphant  ostentation  with  which  he  had  punished 
the  revolt  of  that  city,  whose  records  he  caused  to  be  burnt,  and  whose  prin- 
cipal citizens  he  obliged  to  kneel  at  the  foot  of  his  throne,  while  he  pronounced 
their  sentence ;  which,  after  all,  was  only  to  pay  a  trifling  fine.  On  Lewis, 
therefore,  the  haughty  pontiff  was  determined  that  the  tempest  first  should 
fall;  and  in  order  to  pave  the  way  for  this  bold  project,  he  at  once  sought  for 
a  ground  of  quarrel  with  that  monarch,  and  courted  the  alliance  of  foreign 
princes.  He  declared  war  against  the  duke  of  Ferrara,  the  confederate  of 
Lewis  ;  he  solicited  the  favour  of  Henry  VIII.,  who  had  lately  ascended  the 
throne  of  England,  by  sending  him  a  sacred  rose,  perfumed  with  musk,  and 
anointed  with  chrism :  he  detached  Ferdinand  from  the  league,  and  drew  him 
over  to  his  party,  by  granting  him  the  full  investiture  of  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
ples ;  and,  what  he  chiefly  valued,  he  formed  a  treaty  with  the  Swiss,  whose 
subsidy  Lewis  had  refused  to  augment,  and  whom  he  had  offended  by  some 
contumelious  expressions.  (2) 

The  confederacy  of  Cambray  being  thus  dissolved,  the  face  of  affairs  soon 
began  to  wear  a  very  different  appearance  in  Italy.  The  Venetians,  now 
recovered  from  their  consternation,  were  able  to  make  head  against  the  em- 
peror, and  even  to  regain  part  of  the  territory  which  they  had  lost.  •  The 
pope  and  his  allies  made  war  upon  the  duke  of  Ferrara,  the  ally  of  France. 
They  were  opposed  by  the  French  troops,  and  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Bologna ;  but  they  afterward  formed  that  of  Mirandola,  where  Julius  appeared 
in  person,  visited  the  trenches,  hastened  the  operations,  and  entered  the  breach, 
with  all  the  ardour  of  a  young  soldier  in  pursuit  of  military  glory.  (3) 

Lewis,  in  the  mean  time,  was  at  a  loss  how  to  act:  overawed  by  his  vene- 
ration for  the  vicar  of  Christ,  he  was  afraid  to  let  his  generals  take  those 
advantages  which  fortune  threw  in  their  way.  He  was,  therefore,  desirous  to 
divest  Julius  of  that  sacred  character,  which  chiefly  rendered  him  formidable. 
With  this  view,  in  conjunction  with  Maximilian,  who  was  himself  ambitious  of 
the  papacy,  and  by  the  authority  of  some  disgusted  cardinals,  he  summoned 
a  general  council  at  Pisa,  in  order  to  reform  the  church,  and  check  the  exor- 
bitancies  of  the  sovereign  power.  But  Lewis  was  as  irresolute  in  supporting 
the  council,  as  in  instructing  his  generals.  Julius  saw  his  timidity,  and 
availed  himself  of  it.  He  summoned  a  council  at  the  Lateran :  he  put  Pisa 
under  an  interdict,  and  all  the  places  that  should  give  shelter  to  the  schisma- 
tical  council ;  he  excommunicated  the  cardinals  and  prelates  who  attended 

(1)  Guicciardini.    Mezeray.    Hist,  de  la  Ligue  faite  a  Cambray,  par  M.  1'AbW  du  Bos. 

(2)  Guicciardini.    Mezeray.    Hist,  de  la  Ligue  faite  a  Cambray,  par  M.  1'AbW  du  Boa.  Spelm.  Ctmcil 
(3.  Guicciardini. 


328  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

it ;  he  even  pointed  his  spiritual  thunder  against  the  princes  who  adhered  to 
it :  he  freed  their  subjects  from  all  oaths  of  allegiance,  and  gave  their  domi- 
nions to  every  one  who  could  take  possession  of  them.(l) 

Ambition  lays  hold  of  the  slightest  pretences  to  accomplish  its  designs. 
The  crafty  Ferdinand,  who  had  obtained  the  surname  of  Catholic,  but  who 
regarded  the  cause  of  the  pope  and  religion  solely  as  a  cover  to  his  selfish 
politics,  made  this  anathema  of  Julius  a  pretext  for  robbing  the  king  of  Na- 
varre of  his  dominions,  as  an  ally  of  France,  and  consequently  included  in 
the  bull  fulminated  against  the  adherents  of  the  council  of  Pisa.  The  method 
which  he  took  to  effect  this  conquest  was  no  less  singular  than  the  measure. 
Henry  VIII., his  son-in-law,  naturally  sincere  and  sanguine  in  temper,  was 
moved  with  a  hearty  desire  of  protecting  the  pope  from  that  oppression  to 
which  he  believed  him  exposed  from  the  French  monarch.  Impatient  also  of 
acquiring  that  distinction  in  Europe  to  which  his  power  and  opulence  entitled 
him,  he  could  not  long  remain  neuter  amid  the  noise  of  arms :  he  was,  there- 
fore, led  to  join  that  alliance,  which  the  pope,  Spain,  and  Venice  had  formed 
against  Lewis.  Ferdinand  saw  his  intemperate  ardour,  and  made  him  the 
instrument  of  his  own  base  ambition. 

This  artful  prince,  who  considered  his  close  connexion  with  Henry  only 
as  the  means  of  taking  advantage  of  his  inexperience,  advised  him  not  to 
invade  France  by  the  way  of  Calais,  where  he  himself  should  not  have  it  in 
his  power  to  assist  him :  he  exhorted  him  rather  to  send  forces  to  Fontarabia, 
whence  he  could  easily  make  a  conquest  of  Guienne,  a  province  in  which  it 
was  imagined  the  English  had  still  some  adherents.  He  promised  to  forward 
this  conquest  by  the  junction  of  a  Spanish  army :  and  so  zealous  did  he  seem 
to  promote  the  interests  of  his  son-in-law,  that  he  even  sent  vessels  to  Eng- 
land, in  order  to  transport  the  forces  which  Henry  had  levied  for  that  purpose. 
But  the  marquis  of  Dorset,  who  commanded  the  English  army,  was  no  sooner 
landed  in  Guipuscoa,  than  Ferdinand  suggested  the  necessity  of  first  subdu- 
ing the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  which  lies  on  the  frontier  between  France  and 
Spain. 

Dorset,  however,  having  no  orders  to  make  war  any  where  but  in  France, 
refused  to  take  any  part  in  that  enterprise :  he  therefore  remained  in  his 
quarters  at  Fontarabia.  But  so  subtle  was  the  contrivance  of  Ferdinand, 
that  the  English  army,  even  while  it  lay  in  that  situation,  was  almost  equally 
serviceable  to  his  purpose,  as  if  it  had  acted  in  conjunction  with  his  own.  It 
kept  the  French  army  in  awe,  and  prevented  it  from  advancing  to  succour  the 
kingdom  of  Navarre ;  so  that  the  duke  of  Alva,  the  Spanish  general,  having 
full  leisure  to  conduct  his  operations,  after  subduing1  the  smaller  towns,  made 
himsfilf  master  of  Pampeluna,  the  capital,  and  obliged  John  d' Albert,  the 
sovereign,  to  take  refuge  in  France.  Dorset  was  obliged  to  return  to  England, 
with  his  army  much  diminished  by  want  and  sickness,  without  being  able  to 
effect  any  thing  for  the  interests  of  his  master ;  and  Henry,  enraged  at  his  ill 
success,  was  with  difficulty  made  sensible  of  the  fraudulent  conduct  of  Fer- 
dinand, his  deceitful  father-in-law.  (2) 

While  these  things  were  transacting  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pyrenees, 
events  of  still  greater  moment  happened  beyond  the  Alps.  Though  the  war 
which  England  waged  against  France  brought  no  advantage  to  the  former 
kingdom,  it  was  of  much  prejudice  to  the  latter;  and  by  obliging  Lewis  to 
withdraw  his  forces  from  Italy,  lost  him  the  superiority  which  his  arms,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  campaign,  had  acquired  in  that  country.  Gaston  de 
Foix,  his  nephew,  had  been  intrusted  with  the  command  of  the  French  forces ; 
and,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  exhibited  in  a  few  months  such  feats  of 
military  skill  and  valour,  as  were  sufficient  to  render  illustrious  the  life  of  the 
oldest  general.  His  career  terminated  with  the  famous  battle  of  Ravenna : 
which,  after  the  most  obstinate  dispute,  he  gained  over  the  Spanish  and  papal 
armies.  He  perished  the  moment  his  victory  was  complete,  and  with  him 
perished  the  fortune  of  the  French  arms  in  Italy.  The  Swiss,  who  had  now 

Ui  Spelra.  ConciJ.  (2)  Herbert.    Hist.  Hen.  VIII.    Polyd.  Virg. 


LET.  LIV.y  MODERN   EUROPE.  329 

endered  themselves  formidable  by  their  bands  of  disciplined  infantry,  invaded 
the  dutchy  of  Milan  with  a  numerous  army,  and  excited  its  inconstant  inhabit- 
ants to  revolt  against  the  dominion  of  France.  Genoa  followed  the  example 
of  that  dutchy ;  and  Lewis,  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  totally  lost  his 
Italian  conquests.  Maximilian  Sforza,  the  son  of  Ludovico,  was  again  rein- 
stated in  the  possession  of  Milan,  and  the  Genoese  recovered  their  liberty.(l) 

The  expulsion  of  the  French  gave  much  pleasure  to  the  pope;  more  espe- 
cially as  he  owed  it  to  the  Swiss,  whom  he  had  honoured  with  the  title  of 
Defenders  of  the  Holy  See,  and  whose  councils  he  hoped  always  to  govern. 
Julius  II.,  however,  enjoyed  this  satisfaction  but  a  short  time.  He  died  sud- 
denly, at  an  advanced  age,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  pontificate  by  John  of 
Medicis,  son  of  the  celebrated  Laurence,  who  had  governed  Florence  with 
so  much  reputation,  and  obtained  the  appellation  of  Father  of  the  Muses. 
John  took  the  name  of  Leo  X.,  and  proved  one  of  the  most  illustrious  pontiffs 
that  ever  sat  on  the  papal  throne.  Humane,  generous,  affable,  the  patron  of 
every  art,  and  the  friend  of  every  virtue,  he  had  a  soul  no  less  capable  of 
forming  great  designs  than  his  predecessor ;  but  he  was  more  delicate  in  em- 
ploying means  for  the  execution  of  them.  By  the  negotiations  of  Leo,  who 
adhered  to  the  political  system  of  Julius,  the  emperor  Maximilian  was  de- 
tached from  the  French  interest;  and  Henry  VIII.,  notwithstanding  his  dis- 
appointments in  the  former  campaign,  was  still  encouraged  to  prosecute  his 
warlike  measures  against  Lewis. (2) 

In  order  to  prevent  disturbance  from  Scotland,  while  the  English  arms 
should  be  employed  on  the  continent,  Henry  despatched  an  ambassador  to 
James  IV.,  his  brother-in-law,  with  instructions  to  accommodate  all  differ- 
ences between  the  two  kingdoms.  Some  complaints  had  already  been  made 
on  both  sides;  but  matters  might  easily  have  been  settled,  had  it  not  been 
for  Henry's  projected  invasion  of  France,  which  roused  the  jealousy  of  the 
Scottish  nation.  The  ancient  league  which  subsisted  between  France  and 
Scotland  was  esteemed  the  most  sacred  bond  of  connexion,  and  universally 
believed  by  the  Scots  essential  to  the  preservation  of  their  independency, 
against  a  people  so  much  superior  as  the  English.  Henry's  ambassador 
therefore  easily  foresaw,  though  James  still  made  professions  of  maintaining 
a  neutrality,  that  a  war  with  Scotland  would,  in  the  end,  prove  inevitable ; 
and  he  gave  warning  of  the  danger  to  his  master,  who  sent  the  earl  of  Surry 
to  put  the  borders  in  a  posture  of  defence,  and  to  resist  the  expected  inroad 
of  the  enemy. (3) 

Meanwhile,  the  king  of  England,  all  on  fire  for  military  fame,  invaded 
France  by  the  way  of  Calais. "  But  of  all  the  allies,  on  whose  assistance  he 
relied,  the  Swiss  alone  fully  performed  their  engagements.  Maximilian, 
among  others,  failed  to  perform  his ;  although  he  had  received,  in  advance, 
a  subsidy  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  crowns.  That  he  might  make 
some  atonement,  however,  for  his  breach  of  faith,  he  appeared  in  person  in 
the  Low  Countries,  and  joined  the  English  army  with  a  small  body  of  German 
and  Flemish  troops,  that  were  useful  in  giving  an  example  of  discipline  to 
Henry's  new  levied  forces.  The  emperor  carried  his  condescension  yet  fur- 
ther ;  he  did  not  pretend,  with  a  handful  of  men,  to  act  as  an  auxiliary,  but 
enlisted  himself  in  the  service  of  the  English  monarch ;  wore  the  cross  of  St 
George,  and  received  a  hundred  ducats  a  day  for  the  use  of  his  table.  (4) 

An  emperor  of  Germany,  serving  under  a  king  of  England,  and  living  by 
his  bounty,  was  surely  a  spectacle  truly  extraordinary ;  but  Henry  treated 
him  with  the  highest  respect,  and  he  really  directed  all  the  operations  of  the 
war.  The  first  enterprise  which  they  undertook  was  the  siege  of  Terouane, 
a  town  situated  on  the  borders  of  Picardy.  During  the  attack  of  this  place 
was  fought  the  famous  battle  of  Guinegate,  where  the  cavalry  of  France  fled 
at  the  first  onset,  and  in  which  the  duke  of  Longueville,  Bussi  d'  Amboise, 
Clermont,  Imbercourt,  the  chevalier  Bayard,  and  many  other  officers  of  dis- 
tinction were  made  prisoners.  This  action,  or  rather  rout,  is  commonly  called 

il)  Guicciardim.  (2)  Father  Paul.    Guicciardini.    Herbert 

(3)  Buchanan.    Drummond.    Herbert  (4)  Polydore  Virg. 


330  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

the  Battle  of  Spurs ;  because  the  French  on  that  occasion  made  more  use  of 
their  spurs  than  their  military  weapons.(l) 

After  so  considerable  an  advantage,  Henry,  who  was  at  the  head  of  a  com- 
plete army  of  fifty  thousand  men,  might  have  made  incursions  to  the  gates 
of  Paris,  and  spread  confusion  and  desolation  every  where.  It  therefore 
gave  Lewis  great  joy,  when  he  heard  that  the  king  of  England,  instead  of 
pushing  his  victory,  had  returned  to  the  siege  of  Terouane.  That  place, 
however,  was  soon  obliged  to  capitulate,  and  the  anxieties  of  the  French 
were  again  renewed  with  regard  to  the  motions  of  the  English.  The  Swiss, 
at  the  same  time,  had  entered  Burgundy  with  a  formidable  army;  and  the 
Catholic  king,  though  he  had  made  a  truce  with  Lewis,  seemed  disposed  to 
seize  every  advantage  which  fortune  should  present  to  him.  Never  was  the 
French  monarchy  in  greater  danger,  or  less  in  a  condition  to  defend  itself 
against  those  powerful  armies  which  assailed  or  threatened  it  on  every  side. 

Lewis,  though  fruitful  in  expedients,  was  now  at  a  loss  what  course  to 
follow,  or  where  to  place  his  safety :  his  troops  were  dismayed,  his  people 
intimidated,  and  he  had  no  ally  to  assist  him.  But  France  was  saved  by  the 
blunders  of  her  enemies.  The  Swiss  allowed  themselves  to  be  wheedled  into 
a  negotiation  by  Tremouille,  governor  of  Burgundy,  without  inquiring  whe- 
ther he  had  any  powers  to  treat ;  and  that  nobleman,  who  knew  he  should  be 
disavowed  by  his  master,  stipulated  whatever  they  were  pleased  to  demand, 
happy  to  get  rid  of  such  dangerous  invaders  at  the  expense  of  a  little  money 
and  many  empty  promises.  Henry  discovered  no  less  ignorance  in  the  con- 
duct of  war  than  the  Swiss  in  negotiation.  By  the  interested  counsel  of 
Maximilian,  he  laid  siege  to  Touniay,  which  then  belonged  to  France,  and 
afforded  the  troops  of  that  kingdom  a  passage  into  the  heart  of  the  Nether- 
lands. Soon  after  the  reduction  of  this  place,  which  nowise  advanced  the 
conquests  of  Henry,  he  was  informed  of  the  retreat  of  the  Swiss ;  and  as  the 
season  was  now  far  advanced,  he  thought  proper  to  return  to  England,  and 
carried  with  him  the  greater  part  of  his  army.(2)  Such,  my  dear  Philip,  was 
the  issue  of  a  campaign  much  boasted  of  by  the  English  monarch ;  but  which, 
all  circumstances  considered,  was  unprofitable,  if  not  inglorious. 

The  success  which,  during  this  season,  attended  the  English  arms  in  North 
Britain  was  more  decisive.  James  IV.  had  assembled  the  whole  force  of  his 
dominions,  and  crossed  the  Tweed  at  the  head  of  a  brave  though  tumultuous 
army  of  fifty  thousand  men.  But  instead  of  making  use  of  the  opportunity 
which  the  absence  of  Henry  afforded  him  to  push  his  conquests,  he  wasted 
his  time  in  the  arms  of  a  fair  captive.  His  troops  became  dissatisfied,  and 
•^egan  to  be  pinched  with  hunger  ;  and  as  the  authority  of  the  prince  was  yet 
feeble  among  the  Scots,  and  military  discipline  extremely  lax,  many  of  them 
Stole  from  the  camp,  and  retired  homewards.  Meanwhile,  the  earl  of  Surry, 
having  collected  a  body  of  twenty-six  thousand  men,  approached  the  enemy, 
•'•vho  lay  on  some  high  grounds  near  the  hills  of  Cheviot.  He  drew  them  from 
their  station,  by  feigning  to  enter  their  country ;  and  an  obstinate  battle  was 
fought  in  the  field  of  Flouden,  where  the  king  of  Scotland  and  the  flower  of 
his  nobility  were  slain.(3) — Henry,  on  this  occasion,  discovered  a  mind  truly 
great  and  generous.  Though  an  inviting  opportunity  was  now  offered  him 
of  extending  his  dominion  over  the  whole  island,  he  took  compassion  on  the 
helpless  condition  of  his  sister  Margaret  and  her  infant  son;  and  readily 
granted  peace  to  Scotland,  as-  soon  as  it  was  applied  for. 

Soon  after  this  peace,  which  put  Henry  in  a  condition  to  prosecute  his 
views  on  the  continent  to  more  advantage,  as  he  had  nothing  to  fear  from  his 
northern  neighbours,  and  a  general  pacification  took  place  between  the  con- 
Bending  powers.  Lewis  renounced  the  council  of  Pisa,  now  transferred  to 
Lyons,  and  Leo  X.  granted  him  absolution.  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  renewed 
the  truce  with  France ;  and  he  and  Maximilian  entered  into  a  treaty  with 
Lewis  for  the  marriage  of  his  second  daughter,  Renee,  to  Charles,  prince  01 
Spain,  their  common  grandson.  Lewis  himself  espoused  the  princess  Mary 

1 1)  Hitt.  de  Chen.  Bayard.    Mem.  de  Bellai.  (2)  Mem.  de  Flevranges.    Guicciardini. 

'3)  Buchanan.    Drummond.    Herbert. 


LET.  LV.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  331 

of  England,  and  agreed  to  pay  Henry  a  million  of  crowns,  the  arrears  due  by 
the  treaty  of  Estaples.  These  two  monarchs  also  entered  into  an  alliance 
for  their  mutual  de fence.  (1) 

Lewis  XII.,  thus  rescued  from  his  numerous  difficulties,  had  the  happiness 
of  beholding  once  more  his  affairs  in  good  order,  and  all  Europe  in  tranquillity. 
But  he  enjoyed  this  happiness  only  a  short  while.  Enchanted  with  the  beauty 
and  elegant  accomplishments  of  his  young  queen,  he  forgot  in  her  arms  his 
advanced  age,  and  was  seduced  into  such  a  round  of  gayety  and  pleasure  as 
proved  very  unsuitable  to  his  declining  health.(2)  He  died  about  three  months 
after  the  marriage,  in  his  fifty-fourth  year,  and  when  he  was  meditating  anew 
the  conquest  of  Milan — which  was  left  to  immortalize  the  name,  and  swell 
the  misfortunes,  of  his  successor. 

There  is  no  perfection  in  human  beings,  my  dear  Philip,  and  consequently 
not  in  kings,  whatever  their  flatterers  may  tell  them ;  but  few  men,  either 
princes  or  subjects,  seem  to  have  possessed  more  social  and  benevolent  virtues 
than  fell  to  the  share  of  Lewis  XII.  He  was  universally  beloved  by  his 
people :  the  populace  and  the  nobility  equally  adored  him,  and  unanimously 
called  him  their  Father :  a  title  with  which  he  was  particularly  pleased,  and 
which  he  made  it  the  study  of  his  life  to  deserve.  He  began  his  reign  with 
abolishing  many  taxes ;  and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  notwithstanding  his 
wars  and  his  disasters,  he  had  diminished  the  public  burdens  above  one  half. 
His  very  misfortunes,  or,  in  a  political  sense,  his  errors,  endeared  him  to  his 
subjects ;  for  it  was  well  known,  that  he  might  have  maintained  his  conquests 
in  Italy,  if  he  would  have  levied  larger  sums  upon  his  people.  But  his  heart 
would  not  permit  him  to  distress  them :  he  esteemed  any  loss  light  compared 
with  that  of  their  affections.  His  moderation  was  no  less  remarkable  than 
his  humanity.  When  told  that  some  of  his  courtiers  smiled  at  his  economy, 
which  they  considered  as  too  rigid,  and  that  certain  authors  had  taken  the 
liberty  to  ridicule  it  in  their  writings,  he  was  by  no  means  displeased.  "  I 
would  rather,"  replied  he,  magnanimously,  "  that  my  people  should  laugh  at 
my  parsimony,  than  weep  at  their  own  oppressions."(3) 


LETTER  LV. 

The  general  View  of  Europe  continued,  from  the  Accession  of  Francis  I.  in  1515, 
to  the  Death  of  trie  Emperor  Maximilian,  in  1519 ;  including  the  Rise  of  the 
Reformation  in  Germany. 

LEWIS  XII.  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  of  France  by  his  son-in-law 
Francis,  count  of  Angouleme,  first  prince  of  the  blood,  whose  military  genius, 
it  was  foreseen,  would  soon  disturb  the  peace  of  Europe.  Young,  brave, 
ambitious,  and  enterprising,  he  immediately  turned  his  eyes  towards  Italy 
as  the  scene  of  glory  and  of  conquest.  His  first  object  was  the  recovery  of 
Milan.  But  before  he  sat  out  on  that  expedition,  he  renewed  the  treaty 
which  his  predecessor  had  concluded  with  England;  and  having  nothing  to 
fear  from  Spain,  where  Ferdinand  was  on  the  verge  of  the  grave,  he  marched 
his  army  towards  the  Alps,  under  pretence  of  defending  his  kingdom  against 
the  incursions  of  the  Swiss.  Informed  of  his  hostile  intentions,  that  warlike 
people  had  taken  up  arms,  at  the  instigation  of  the  pope,  in  order  to  protect 
Maximilian  Sforza,  duke  of  Milan,  whom  they  had  restored  to  his  dominions, 
and  thought,  themselves  bound  in  honour  to  support. 

These  hardy  mountaineers  took  possession  of  all  those  passes  in  the  Alps, 

(1)  DuTillet. 

(2)  Brantome.    Eloge  de  Louis  XII.    "  The  good  king,"  says  another  writer,  "for  the  sake  of  his  wife 
totally  altered  his  manner  of  living.    Whereas  before  he  used  to  dine  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he 
now  did  not  dine  till  noon.    He  had  also  been  accustomed  to  go  to  bed  at  six  in  the  evening,  and  he  new 
frequently  sat  vp  till  midnight."    (Hist  de  Chev.  Bayard.)    Nothing  can  mark  more  strongly  than  thw 
passage  the  difference  between  the  mode  of  living  in  that  and  the  present  age. 

<3)  Hist,  de  Louis  XII.  pub.  par  Theod.  Godefroy. 


332  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

through  which  they  thought  the  French  must  enter  Italy ;  and  when  informed 
that  Francis  had  made  his  way  into  Piedmont,  by  a  secret  route,  they  descended 
undismayed  into  the  plain,  and  gallantly  opposed  themselves  on  foot  to  the 
heavy-armed  cavalry  of  France.  The  two  armies  met  at  Marignan,  near 
Milan ;  where  was  fought  one  of  the  most  furious  and  obstinate  battles  men- 
tioned in  the  history  of  modern  times.  The  action  began  towards  evening : 
night  parted  the  combatants ;  but  next  morning  the  Swiss  renewed  the  attack 
with  unabated  ardour,  and  it  required  all  the  heroic  valour  of  Francis  to 
inspire  his  troops  with  courage  sufficient  to  resist  the  shock.  The  Swiss, 
though  broken  at  last  by  the  cavalry,  and  galled  by  the  cannon,  long  kept 
their  ground ;  and  did  not  retire  till  they  had  lost  upwards  of  twelve  thousand 
of  their  best  troops,  about  one  half  of  their  whole  number.  The  loss  of  the 
French  was  very  considerable ;  twenty  thousand  men  fell  on  both  sides ;  and 
the  old  marshal  Trivulzio,  who  had  been  present  at  eighteen  pitched  battles, 
used  to  declare,  that  in  comparison  of  the  battle  of  Marignan  every  other 
engagement  he  had  seen  was  but  the  play  of  children,  but  that  this  was  a 
combat  of  heroes.(l) 

The  surrender  Oif  the  city  of  Milan,  and  the  conquest  of  the  whole  dutchy, 
were  the  consequences  of  this  victory.  Maximilian  Sforza  resigned  his  claim, 
in  consideration  of  a  pension ;  and  Francis,  having  concluded  a  treaty  with 
the  pope  and  with  the  Swiss,  returned  into  France,  leaving  to  Charles  duke  of 
Bourbon  the  government  of  his  Italian  dominions.(2) 

In  the  mean  time,  the  success  and  glory  of  the  French  monarch  began  to 
excite  jealousy  in  the  breast  of  the  old  emperor  Maximilian:  nor  was  the 
rapid  progress  of  Francis,  though  in  so  distant  a  country,  regarded  with  indif- 
ference even  by  the  king  of  England.  Henry  despatched  a  minister  to  the 
court  of  Vienna,  with  secret  orders  to  propose  certain  payments  to  the  em- 
peror :  and  Maximilian,  who  was  ever  ready  to  embrace  any  overture  to  excite 
fresh  troubles,  and  always  necessitous,  immediately  invaded  Italy  with  a  con- 
siderable army.  But  that  prince  being  repulsed  before  Milan,  by  the  French 
garrison,  and  hearing  that  twelve  thousand  Swiss  were  advancing  to  its  relief, 
retired  hastily  into  Germany ;  made  peace  with  France  and  with  Venice ; 
ceded  Verona  to  that  republic  for  a  sum  of  money;  and  thus  excluded  himself, 
in  some  measure,  from  all  future  access  into  Italy.  (3) 

This  peace,  which  restored  universal  tranquillity  to  Europe,  was  preceded 
by  the  death  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  and  the  succession  of  his  grandson 
Charles  to  his  extensive  dominions ;  an  event  which  had  long  been  looked 
for,  and  from  which  the  most  important  consequences  were  expected.  Charles, 
who  had  hitherto  resided  in  the  Low  Countries,  which  he  inherited  as  heir 
of  the  house  of  Burgundy,  was  now  near  the  full  age  of  sixteen,  and  possessed 
a  recollection  and  sedateness  much  above  his  years ;  but  his  genius  had  yet 
given  no  indications  of  that  superiority  which  its  maturer  state  displayed 
That  capacious  and  decisive  judgment,  which  afterward  directed  so  ably  the 
affairs  of  a  vast  empire,  was  left  to  be  discovered  by  those  great  events  to 
which  it  gave  birth,  and  those  occasions  which  made  it  necessary.  At  present 
there  was  little  call  for  it. 

Cardinal  Ximenes,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  a  person  of  equal  virtue  and  saga- 
city, had  prudently  been  appointed,  by  the  will  of  Ferdinand,  sole  regent  of 
Castile  till  the  arrival  of  his  grandson.  This  man,  whose  character  is  no  less 
singular  than  illustrious,  who  united  the  abilities  of  a  great  statesman  with 
the  abject  devotion  of  a  superstitious  monk,  and  the  magnificence  of  a 
prime  minister  with  the  austerity  of  a  mendicant,  maintained  order  and  tran- 
quillity in  Spain,  notwithstanding  the  discontents  of  a  turbulent  and  high- 
spirited  nobility.  When  they  disputed  his  right  to  the  regency,  he  coolly 
showed  them  the  testament  of  Ferdinand,  and  the  ratification  of  that  deed  by 
Charles ;  but  these  not  satisfying  them,  and  arguments  proving  ineffectual, 
he  led  them  insensibly  towards  a  balcony,  whence  they  had  a  view  of  a  large 
body  of  troops  under  arms,  and  a  formidable  train  of  artillery.  "  Behold." 

fl)  Mem  de  Fleurtmga.  (2)  Guicciardini.    Mezeray.  (3)  Id.  ibid. 


LET   LV.J  MODERN  EUROPE.  333 

said  the  cardinal,  raising  his  voice,  and  extending  his  arm,  "the  powers  which 
I  have  received  from  his  Catholic  majesty:  by  these  I  govern  Castile! 
and  will  govern  it,  till  the  king,  your  master  and  mine,  shall  come  to  take 
possession  of  his  kingdom."  A  declaration  so  bold  and  determined  silenced 
all  opposition,  and  Ximenes  maintained  his  authority  till  the  arrival  of 
Charles.(l) 

The  fate  of  this  minister  merits  our  attention,  though  not  immediately  con- 
nected with  the  line  of  general  history.  The  young  king  was  received  with 
universal  acclamations  of  joy;  but  Ximenes  found  little  cause  to  rejoice.  He 
was  seized  with  a  violent  disorder,  supposed  to  be  the  effect  of  poison ;  and 
when  he  recovered,  Charles,  prejudiced  against  him  by  the  Spanish  grandees 
and  his  Flemish  courtiers,  slighted  his  advice,  and  allowed  him  every  day  to 
sink  into  neglect.  The  cardinal  did  not  bear  this  treatment  with  his  usual 
firmness  of  spirit.  He  expected  a  more  grateful  return  from  a  prince,  to 
whom  he  delivered  a  kingdom  far  more  flourishing  than  it  had  been  in  any 
former  age,  and  authority  more  extensive  and  better  established  than  the  most 
illustrious  of  his  ancestors  had  ever  possessed.  Conscious  of  his  own  inte- 
grity and  merit,  he  could  not  therefore  refrain  from  giving  vent,  at  times,  to 
indignation  and  complaint.  He  lamented  the  fate  of  his  country,  and  fore- 
told the  calamities  to  which  it  would  be  exposed  from  the  insolence,  the 
rapaciousness,  and  the  ignorance  of  strangers.  These  persons  agitated  the 
soul  of  Ximenes,  when  he  received  a  letter  from  the  king,  genteelly  dis- 
missing him  from  his  councils,  under  pretence  of  easing  his  age  of  that  bur- 
den which  he  had  so  long  and  so  ably  sustained.  This  letter  proved  fatal 
to  the  minister.  His  haughty  mind  could  not  endure  disgrace,  nor  his  gene- 
rous heart  the  stings  of  ingratitude  :  he  expired  a  few  hours  after  reading 
it.(2) 

While  Charles  was  taking  possession  of  the  throne  of  Spain,  in  consequence 
of  the  death  of  one  grandfather,  another  was  endeavouring  to  obtain  for  him 
the  imperial  crown.  With  this  view  Maximilian  assembled  a  diet  at  Augs- 
burg, where  he  strove  to  gain  the  favour  of  the  electors  by  many  acts  of 
beneficence,  in  order  to  engage  them  to  choose  that  young  prince  as  his  suc- 
cessor. But  Maximilian  himself  having  never  been  crowned  by  the  pope,  a 
ceremony  deemed  essential  in  that  age,  as  well  as  the  preceding,  he  was  con- 
sidered only  as  king  of  the  Romans,  or  emperor  elect;  and  no  example 
occurring  in  history  of  any  person  being  chosen  successor  to  a  king  of  the 
Romans,  the  Germans,  ever  tenacious  of  their  forms,  obstinately  refused  to 
confer  upon  Charles  a  dignity  for  which  their  constitution  knew  no  name.  (3) 

But  the  diet  of  Augsburg  had  other  business.  Thither  was  summoned 
Martin  Luther,  for  "propagating  new  and  dangerous  opinions."  These 
opinions  were  no  other,  my  dear  Philip,  than  the  first  principles  of  the  Re- 
formation ;  which  soon  diffused  themselves  through  Germany,  which  were 
afterward  embraced  by  so  many  nations,  and  which  separated  one  half  of 
Europe  from  the  Romish  church.  Of  the  origin  of  this  great  schism  some 
account  will  be  necessary ;  for,  although  I  would  by  no  means  engage  you  in 
theological  disputes,  you  ought  to  know  the  grounds  of  a  controversy  which 
produced  so  remarkable  a  revolution  in  the  religious  world,  in  the  creeds  and 
ceremonies  of  Christians,  that  you  may  be  the  better  enabled  to  judge  of  its 
effects  upon  society,  upon  industry,  literature,  policy,  and  morals.  In  that 
light  only  I  mean  to  consider  it :  the  road  to  heaven  I  leave  to  heavenly 
directors. 

Ill  the  course  of  these  Letters  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe  the  rise  of 
the  pope's  spiritual  power,  as  well  as  of  his  temporal  dominion ;  to  trace  the 
progress,  and  to  remark  the  abuses  of  each.  A  repetition  here  would  there- 
fore be  unnecessary.  The  spiritual  despotism  of  Gregory  VII. — the  temporal 
tyranny  of  Alexander  VI. — and  the  bloody  ambition  of  Julius  II. — make  too 
strong  an  impression  on  the  mind  to  be  soon  effaced.  After  that  enormous 

(1)  Flechier,  Vie.  de  Ximen.      ,         (2)  Marsallier,  Vie.  de  Ximm.    Baudier,  Hist,  'de  Xime*. 
(3)  Barre,  turn.  vi. 


334  THE    HISTORY    OP  [PART  I. 

privilege  which  the  Roman  pontiffs  assumed  of  disposing  of  crowns,  and  of 
releasing-  nations  from  their  oath  of  allegiance,  the  most  pernicious  to  society 
was  that  of  absolving  individuals  from  the  ties  of  moral  duty.  This  dan- 
gerous power,  or  one  equh  ilent  to  it,  the  pope  claimed  as  the  successor  of 
St.  Peter,  and  the  keeper  of  the  spiritual  treasury  of  the  church,  supposed  to 
contain  the  superabounding  good  works  of  the  saints,  together  with  the  in- 
finite merits  of  Jesus  Christ  Out  of  this  inexhaustible  storehouse  of  super- 
abundant merit,  his  holiness  might  retail,  at  pleasure,  particular  portions  to 
those  who  were  deficient.  He  assumed,  in  short,  and  directly  exercised,  the 
right  of  pardoning  sins ;  wTiioh  was,  in  other  words,  granting  a  permission  to 
commit  them:  for,  if  it  is  k^ own,  as  had  long  been  the  case  in  the  Romish 
;hurch,  at  what  price  the  punishment  of  any  crime  may  be  bought  off,  the 
encouragement  to  vice  is  tne  same  as  if  a  dispensation  had  been  granted  be- 
forehand. And  even  that  was  frequently  indulged. 

The  influence  of  such  indulgences  upon  morals  may  easily  be  imagined; 
especially  in  ages  when  superstition  had  silenced  the  voice  of  conscience,  and 
reason  was  bewildered  in  Gothic  darkness ;  when  the  church  had  everywhere 
provided  sanctuaries,  which  not  only  screened  from  the  arm  of  the  civil  ma- 
gistrate persons  guilty  of  the  greatest  enormities,  but  often  enabled  them  to 
live  in  affluence.  Yet  that  j'reat  historian,  and  profound  philosopher,  Mr.  Hume, 
has  endeavoured  to  prove,  that  Protestant  writers  are  mistaken  in  supposing 
that  a  dissolution  of  mora's  should  ensue,  "because  a  man  could  purchase 
for  a  shilling  an  indulgenct  for  the  most  enormous  and  unheard-of  crimes !"(!) 
But  you,  I  hope,  will  think  otherwise,  when  you  have  duly  weighed  the  fore- 
going considerations. 

Mr.  Hume  seems  here  to  have  forgot,  that  all  men  are  not  philosophers  ;  or, 
olinded  by  the  love  of  paradox,  to  have  lost  sight  of  common  sense.  He  seems 
even  to  have  lost  sight  of  his  argument ;  for  he  adds,  that  "  after  these  in- 
dulgences, there  still  remained  hell-fire,  the  civil  magistrate,  and  the  remorses 
of  conscience,"  to  awe  mankind  to  their  duty.  Now  the  first  of  these  asser- 
tions is  literally  false  -,  for  the  very  words  of  an  indulgence  bore,  that  it  re- 
stored the  person  to  whom  it  was  granted  "  to  that  innocence  and  purity 
which  he  possessed  at  baptism :"  and,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Romish 
church,  the  infant  is  then  fit  for  heaven.  But  the  indulgence  did  not  stop 
here :  it  concluded  thus ;  "  so  that,  when  you  die,  the  gates  of  punishment 
shall  be  shut,  and  the  gates  of  the  paradise  of  delight  shall  be  opened."(2) 
The  terror  of  the  civil  magistrate,  as  I  have  already  shown,  could  be  very 
small,  when  the  church  afforded  shelter  to  every  criminal  that  sought  her 
sanctuaries,  and  took  into  her  bosom  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy.  Con- 
science, indeed,  so  often  represented  by  this  doubting  sage  as  an  erring  guide, 
as  a  principle  superinduced  and  local,  conscience  could  not  be  banished  the 
human  breast ;  but  its  voice,  if  not  entirely  silenced  by  superstition,  was 
too  feeble  to  be  listened  to  by  the  self-deluding  and  headstrong  passions  ol 
•Tnan,  when  flattered  by  the  hope,  or  encouraged  by  the  assurance,  of  a  papal 
indulgence. 

These  indulgences,  or  plenary  pardons,  of  which  I  have  been  led  insensibly 
to  speak,  and  which  not  only  served  as  a  remission  of  sins  to  the  living,  but  as 
a  release  to  the  dead  from  the  pains  of  purgatory,  were  first  invented  by 
Urban  II.  as  a  recompense  for  those  who  engaged  in  the  wild  expeditions  to 
the  Holy  Land.  They  were  afterward  granted  to  such  as  contributed  money 
for  that  or  any  other  pious  purpose  :  and  the  sums  so  raised  were  frequently 
diverted  to  other  uses.  They  were  employed  to  swell  the  state,  to  furnish 
the  luxuries,  or  accomplish  the  ambitious  enterprises,  of  the  popes.  John 
XXII.  reduced  this  spiritual  traffic  into  a  system  :  and  Leo  X.  that  great  patron 
of  arts  and  of  letters,  having  exhausted  the  papal  treasury  in  rewards  to  men 
of  genius,  in  magnificent  works,  and  expensive  pleasures,  thought  that  he 
might  attempt,  without  danger,  those  pious  frauds  so  successfully  practised 

(1)  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  iv.  note  A. 

(2)  Seckend,  Comment,  lib.  i.    Robertson,  Hiit.  Charles  V.  book  ii 


LET.  LV.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  0  P  E.  335 

by  the  most  ignorant  of  his  predecessors :  Leo  published  a  general  sale  of 
indulgences. 

If  any  thing  could  apologize  for  a  religious  cheat  that  tends  to  the  subver- 
sion of  morals,  Leo's  apology  was  ready.  He  was  engaged  in  building  that 
superb  temple,  St.  Peter's  cathedral,  founded  by  his  predecessor,  and  the  Turks 
were  preparing  to  enter  Germany.  He  had  no  occasion  to  forge  pretences 
for  this  extension  of  papal  authority.  But  Leo,  though  a  polite  scholar, 
and  a  fine  gentleman,  was  but  a  pitiful  pope.  Liberal-minded  himself,  and 
surrounded  by  liberal-minded  men,  he  did  not  foresee  that  the  lamp  of  Know- 
ledge, which  he  held  up  to  mankind,  would  light  them  to  the  abode  of  Super- 
stition ;  would  show  them  her  errors,  her  impostures,  her  usurpations,  and 
their  own  slavish  condition.  He  did  not  reflect,  that  impositions  employed 
with  success  in  one  age  may  prove  dangerous  experiments  in  another.  But 
he  had  soon  occasion  to  remember  it. 

The  abuse  of  the  sale  of  indulgences  in  Germany,  where  they  were  pub- 
licly retailed  in  ale-houses,  and  where  the  produce  of  particular  districts  was 
farmed  out,  in  the  manner  of  a  toll  or  custom,  awakened  the  indignation  of 
Martin  Luther,  an  Augustine  friar,  and  professor  of  theology  in  the  university 
of  Wittemberg.  Lamer  was  also  incensed,  it  is  said,  that  the  privilege  of 
vending  this  spiritual  merchandise  had  been  taken  from  his  order,  and  given 
to  the  Dominicans.  But,  be  that  as  it  may,  he  wrote  and  he  preached  against 
indulgences.  His  writings  were  read  with  avidity,  and  his  discourses  were 
listened  to  with  admiration.  He  appealed  to  reason  and  Scripture  for  the 
truth  of  his  arguments,  not  to  the  decisions  of  councils  or  of  popes.  A  cor- 
ner of  the  veil  was  now  happily  lifted.  The  people,  ever  fond  of  judging  for 
themselves  (and  in  matters  which  concern  themselves  only,  they  have  an 
undoubted  right),  flattered  by  this  appeal,  began  to  call  in  question  that 
authority  which  they  had  formerly  reverenced,  which  they  had  blindly  adored ; 
and  Luther,  emboldened  by  success,  extended  his  views,  and  ventured  to  de- 
claim against  other  abuses.  From  abuses  he  proceeded  to  usurpations ;  from 
usurpations  to  errors  ;  and  from  one  error  to  another,  till  the  whole  fabric  of 
the  Romish  church  began  to  totter. 

Leo,  in  the  mean  time,  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  this  daring  innovator,  had 
summoned  him  to  answer  for  his  doctrines  at  Rome.  But  that  citation  was 
remitted  at  the  intercession  of  Frederic,  surnamed  the  Wise,  elector  of  Sax- 
ony, who  had  hitherto  protected  Luther ;  and  his  cause  was  ordered  to  be 
tried  in  Germany,  by  cardinal  Cajetan,  a  Dominican,  eminent  for  sholastic 
learning,  and  the  pope's  legate  at  the  imperial  'court.  For  this  end,  among 
others,  Cajetan  attended  the  diet  at  Augsburg ;  and  thither  Luther  repaired 
.without  hesitation,  after  having  obtained  the  emperor's  safe-conduct,  though 
ne  had  good  reason  to  decline  a  judge  chosen  from  among  his  avowed  ad- 
versaries. The  cardinal  received  him  with  decent  respect,  and  endeavoured, 
at  first,  to  gain  him  by  gentle  treatment ;  but  finding  him  firm  in  his  princi- 
ples, and  thinking  it  beneath  the  dignity  of  his  station  to  enter  into  any  for- 
mal dispute,  he  required  him,  by  virtue  of  the  apostolic  powers  with%which 
he  was  vested,  to  retract  his  errors  (without  showing  that  they  were  such), 
and  to  abstain,  for  the  future,  from  the  publication  of  new  and  dangerous 
opinions.  Luther,  who  had  flattered  himself  with  a  hearing,  and  hoped  to 
distinguish  himself  in  a  dispute  with  a  prelate  of  such  eminent  abilities,  was 
much  mortified  at  this  arbitrary  mode  of  proceeding.  His  native  intrepidity 
of  mind,  however,  did  not  forsake  him :  he  boldly  replied,  that  he  could  not, 
with  a  safe  conscience,  renounce  opinions  which  he  believed  to  be  true ;  but 
offered  to  submit  the  whole  controversy  to  the  judgment  of  the  learned, 
naming  certain  universities.  This  offer  was  rejected  by  Cajetan,  who  still 
insisted  on  a  simple  recantation ;  and  Luther,  by  the  advice  of  his  friends, 
after  appealing  to  a  general  council,  secretly  withdrew  from  Augsburg,  and 
returned  to  his  own  country.(l)  The  progress  of  this  extraordinary  man, 
and  of  that  reformation  to  which  he  gave  birth,  I  shall  afterward  have  occa- 
sion to  trace. 

'3.)  Sleid.  Hist.  Reform     Robertson,  ubi  sup. 


336  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

The  diet  of  Augsburg  was  soon  followed  by  the  death  of  the  emperor 
Maximilian ;  an  event  in  itself  of  little  moment,  as  that  prince  had,  for  some 
years,  ceased  to  be  of  any  consequence.  But  as  it  left  vacant  the  first  sta- 
tion among  Christian  princes,  of  which  two  great  monarchs  were  equally 
ambitious,  it  became  memorable  by  its  effects.  It  gave  rise  to  a  competition, 
and  awakened  a  jealousy,  which  threw  all  Europe  into  agitation :  it  broke 
that  profound  peace  which  then  reigned  in  Christendom,  and  kindled  wars 
more  general  and  lasting  than  any  which  modern  times  had  beheld. — But 
before  we  enter  on  that  interesting  era,  I  must  carry  forward  the  Progress 
of  Society ;  notice  the  improvements  in  arts  and  in  letters ;  and  exhibit  some 
account  of  those  great  naval  discoveries  which  produced  so  important  a 
revolution  in  the  commercial  world,  and  gave  to  Europe  a  new  continent, 
while  religion  and  ambition  were  depopulating  the  old.  Meanwhile  it  will 
be  proper  to  remark,  that,  during  the  reign  of  Maximilian,  Germany  was 
divided  into  circles,  in  each  of  which  a  provincial  and  particular  jurisdiction 
was  established  to  supply  the  place  of  a  public  and  common  tribunal.  In 
this  reign  also  was  instituted  the  Imperial  Chamber,  composed  of  judges 
nominated  partly  by  the  emperor,  partly  by  the  several  states,  and  vested 
with  authority  to  decide  finally  concerning  all  differences  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Germanic  body.  The  Aulic  Council  too,  which  takes  cognizance 
of  all  feudal  cases,  and  such  as  belong  to  the  emperor's  immediate  jurisdic- 
tion, received  under  this  prince  a  new  form.(l)  By*these  regulations,  order 
was  given  to  that  confused  government,  and  some  degree  of  vigour  restored 
to  the  imperial  authority. 


LETTER  LVi. 

Progress  of  Society  in  Europe  from  the  beginning  of  the  Fourteenth  to  the 
Middle  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  with  a  retrospective  View  of  the  Revival  of 
Letters. 

WE  have  already,  my  dear  Philip,  traced  the  Progress  of  Society  to  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  We  have  seen  corporation-charters 
granted ;  civil  communities  formed ;  and  the  great  body  of  the  people,  re- 
leased from  that  servitude  under  which  they  had  so  long  groaned,  applying 
themselves  to  trade  and  industry.  We  have  also  seen  universities  generally 
established ;  the  study  of  the  Roman  law  introducing  a  more  perfect  system 
of  jurisprudence ;  an  acquaintance  with  the  learned  languages  awakening  an 
ambition  of  literary  merit ;  manners  taking  a  more  liberal  turn ;  and  com- 
merce beginning  to  circulate  the  conveniences  of  life.  But  society  had  still 
many  advances  to  make,  before  it  arrived  at  that  state  of  refinement  in  which 
we  now  behold  it,  or  to  which  it  had  attained  under  the  pontificate  of  Leo  X. 
Thpse  advances  it  is  now  our  business  to  trace.  By  the  way,  however,  I 
must  remind  you,  that,  in  the  course  of  the  general  narrative,  I  have  taken 
occasion  to  notice  the  Progress  of  Society  with  respect  to  the  command  of 
national  force ;  the  vigour  which  government  acquired,  by  the  increase  of 
the  royal  authority ;  the  alterations  which  took  place  in  the  art  of  war,  in 
consequence  of  the  invention  of  gunpowder ;  the  establishment  of  standing 
armies,  and  the  supplies  necessary  for  the  support  of  such  a  body  of  men.  I 
have  also  had  occasion  to  mention  the  new  system  adopted  by  princes,  for 
national  defence  and  safety,  by  maintaining  a  balance  of  political  power,  and 
the  means  by  which  that  system  was  perfected.  I  shall,  therefore,  devote 
this  letter  solely  to  sucH  objects  as  cannot  come  within  the  line  of  general 
history;  the  progress  of  manners,  of  arts,  and  of  polite  literature.  Th& 
sciences,  as  since  cultivated,  were  not  yet  known.  True  philosophy  belongs 
to  a  more  modern  era. 

(1)  Dull.  Ve  Pace  Publica.  Imperil 


LET.  LVI.]  M  O  I>ERN    EU  ROP  E.  337 

Mankind  are  no  soonei-  in  possession  of  the  conveniences  of  life,  than  they 
begin  to  aspire  after  its  elegancies.  About  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  such  a  taste  became  general  in  Europe.  The  Italian  cities,  which 
had  early  acquired  liberty,  .and  obtained  municipal  charters,  carried  on  at 
that  time  a  flourishing  trade  with  India,  through  the  ports  of  the  Red  Sea 
They  introduced  into  their  own  country  manufactures  of  various  kinds,  and- 
carried  them  on  with  great  ingenuity  and  vigour.  In  the  manufacture  o^ 
silk  in  particular,  they  made  so  rapid  a  progress,  that  about  the  middle  o 
the  fourteenth  century,  a  thousand  citizens  of  Genoa  appeared  in  one  procesf 
sion,  clad  in  silk  robes.  They  attempted  new  arts  ;  among  which  may  be 
numbered  the  art  of  taking  impressions  from  engravings  on  plates  of  cop- 
per, the  manufacture  of  crystal  glass  for  mirrors,  of  paper  made  of  linen  rags, 
and  of  earthen  ware  in  imitation  of  porcelain.  And  they  imported  from 
warmer  climates  the  art  of  raising  several  natural  productions,  formerly  un- 
known in  Europe,  which  now  furnish  the  materials  of  a  lucrative  and  ex- 
tended commerce ;  particularly  the  culture  of  silk,  and  the  plantation  of  the 
sugar-cane.  Originally  the  produce  of  Asia,  and  esteemed  peculiar  to  the 
East,  the  sugar-cane  was  transplanted  from  the  Greek  islands  in  Sicily,  from 
Sicily  into  Italy,  from  Italy  into  Spain,  and  from  Spain  and  Portugal  into  the 
newly  discovered  islands  in  the  Western  Ocean.(l) 

The  discovery  of  those  islands,  and  also  of  the  American  continent,  was 
the  effect  of  another  modern  invention,  namely,  the  mariner's  compass ;  which, 
by  rendering  navigation  at  once  more  secure  and  more  adventurous,  facili- 
tated the  intercourse  between  remote  nations,  and  may  be  said  to  have  brought 
them  nearer  to  each  other. 

But  the  progress  of  navigation,  and  the  discoveries  to  which  it  gave  birth, 
demand  a  particular  Letter.  Yet  here  I  must  observe,  that  commerce,  during 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  was  by  no  means  confined  to  the  Italian 
states.  Flanders  had  long  been  as  famous  for  the  manufacture  of  linen  and 
woollen  cloths,  as  Italy  was  for  that  of  silk.  All  the  wool  of  England,  before 
the  reign  of  Edward  III.  except  a  small  quantity  wrought  into  coarse  cloths 
for  home  consumption,  was  sold  to  the  Flemings  or  Lombards,  but  chiefly 
to  the  former,  and  manufactured  by  them ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century  (so  late  were  our  ancestors  of  availing  themselves  of 
their  natural  commercial  advantages !)  that  the  English  were  capable  of  fabri- 
cating cloth  for  foreign  markets.  Bruges  was  at  once  the  staple  for  English 
wool,  for  the  woollen  and  linen  manufactures  of  the  Netherlands,  for  the  naval 
stores  and  other  bulky  commodities  of  the  North,  and  for  the  precious  com- 
modities of  the  East,  as  well  as  domestic  productions,  carried  thither  by  the 
Italian  states.(2)  It  was  the  greatest  emporium  in  Europe. 

Nothing  so  much  advances  society  as  an  intercourse  with  strangers.  In 
proportion  as  commerce  made  its  way  into  the  different  countries  of  Europe, 
they  successively  turned  their  attention  to  those  objects,  and  adopted  those 
manners,  which  occupy  and  distinguish  polished  nations.  Accordingly  we 
find  the  Italians  and  Flemings  taking  the  lead  in  the  liberal  as  well  as  in  the 
commercial  arts,  and  exhibiting  the  first  examples  of  cultivated  life. 

Painting  and  architecture  were  revived  in  Italy  towards  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  They  continued  to  make  rapid  progress  under  different 
masters,  and  were  both  carried  to  perfection  during  the  period  under  review. 
Tapestry,  then  in  high  estimation,  had  long  been  manufactured  with  the 
greatest  ingenuity  in  the  Low  Countries ;  and  the  Flemings,  in  their  turn, 
became  painters  and  architects,  before  the  rest  of  Europe  were  furnished 
with  the  necessary  arts.  Ghent  and  Bruges,  Venice  and  Genoa,  were 
splendid  cities,  adorned  with  stately  buildings,  while  the  inhabitants  of 
London  and  Paris  lived  in  wretched  cottages,  without  so  much  as  a  chimney 
to  carry  up  the  smoke.  The  fire  was  made  on  the  ground  in  the  middle  of 
the  apartment,  and  all  the  family  sat  round  it,  like  the  Laplanders  in  their 

(1)  Guicciardini,  Descrit.  Paesi  Basse. 

(2)  Guicciardini,  Descrit.  Paesi  Basse.    Anderson,  Hist.  Com.  vol.  i 

VOL.  I.— Y  15 


338  THE   HISTORY   OF  |PA«T  I. 

huts.(l)  This  rude  method  of  building  and  living  continued  to  be  common 
in  considerable  towns,  both  in  France  and  England,  as  late  as  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Learning  and  politeness  are  supposed  to  keep  pace  with  each  other.  But 
this  observation  seems  to  have  been  made  without  due  attention,  to  have  been 
formed  into  a  maxim  by  some  dogmatist,  and  implicitly  adopted  by  succeeding 
writers;  for,  if  applied  to  the  abstract  sciences,  it  seems  equally  void  of 
foundation,  whether  we  consider  the  fact  itself,  the  nature  of  those  sciences, 
or  the  manners  of  the  literati  in  different  ages.  Politeness  arises  from  the 
habits  of  social  life,  and  the  intercourse  of  men  and  nations ;  it  is  therefore 
more  likely  to  accompany  commerce  than  learning.  But  it  must  be  allowed, 
at  the  same  time,  that  manners  receive  their  last  polish  from  works  of  imagi- 
nation and  sentiment ;  which  soften  the  mind  by  pictures  of  natural  and 
moral  beauty,  and  dispose  it  to  tenderness  and  social  affection. 

These  reflections,  my  dear  Philip,  naturally  lead  u«  to  the  most  curious 
and  interesting  inquiries ;  "  the  revival  of  letters,  and  the  progress  of  genius 
and  manners."  The  method  in  which  you  now  study  history  does  not  per- 
mit me  to  treat  those  subjects  so  fully  as  their  importance  may  seem  to 
require :  yet  shall  I  take  care  to  omit  nothing  essential  for  a  gentleman  to 
know,  while  I  studiously  avoid  every  thing  that  belongs  to  the  mere  anti- 
quary. An  attempt  to  trace,  with  critical  minuteness,  through  dark  and  igno- 
rant ages,  the  obscure  sources  of  refinement,  is  like  travelling  over  barren 
mountains  and  uninhabited  deserts,  in  search  of  the  remote  fountain  of  the 
Nile,  instead  of  contemplating  the  accumulated  majesty  of  that  river ;  when 
greatly  bountiful  its  mysterious  Avaters  shed  health  and  plenty  over  an  ex- 
tensive kingdom,  and  furnish  the  means  of  an  enriching  commerce,  which 
feeds  and  employs  millions,  and  calls  forth  every  power  of  the  mind,  and 
cherishes  every  virtue  of  the  heart. 

The  first  permanent  step  towards  the  revival  of  letters  in  Europe  was  the 
erection  of  schools  under  lay  preceptors.  Alfred  and  Charlemagne,  those 
early  luminaries  of  the  modern  world,  had  shed  a  temporary  lustre  over  the 
ages  in  which  they  lived.  They  had  encouraged  learning  both  by  their  ex- 
ample and  patronage,  and  some  gleams  of  genius  began  to  break  forth ;  but 
the  promising  dawn  did  not  arrive  at  perfect  day.  The  schools  erected  by 
these  great  monarchs  were  confined  solely  to  the  churches  and  monasteries, 
and  monks  were  almost  the  only  instructers  of  youth.  The  contracted  ideas 
of  such  men,  partly  arising  from  their  mode  of  life,  partly  from  their  reli- 
gious opinions,  made  them  utterly  unfit  for  the  communication  of  liberal 
knowledge.  Science,  in  their  hands,  degenerated  into  a  barbarous  jargon, 
and  genius  again  sunk  in  the  gloom  of  superstition.  A  long  night  of  igno- 
jance  succeeded.  Learning  was  considered  as  dangerous  to  true  piety,  and 
darkness  was  necessary  to  hide  the  usurpations  of  the  clergy,  who  were  then 
exalting  themselves  on  the  ruins  of  the  civil  power.  The  ancient  poets  and 
orators  were  represented  as  seducers  to  the  path  of  destruction.  Virgil  and 
Aorace  were  the  pimps  of  hell,  Ovid  a  lecherous  fiend,  and  Cicero  a  vain  de- 
elaimer,  impiously  elated  with  the  talent  of  heathenish  reasoning.  Aristotle's 
logic  alone  was  recommended,  because  it  was  found  capable  of  involving  the 
simplest  arguments,  and  perplexing  the  plainest  truths.  It  became  the  uni- 
versal science :  and  Europe  for  almost  three  centuries  produced  no  composi- 
i>n  that  can  afford  pleasure  to  a  classical  reader.  Incredible  legends,  unedi- 
ving  homilies,  and  trite  expositions  of  Scripture,  were  the  only  labours  of  the 
learned  during  that  dark  period.  But  the  gloom  at  last  began  to  disappear, 
and  the  sceptre  of  Knowledge  was  wrested  from  the  hand  of  Superstition. 
Several  enlightened  persons  among  the  laity,  who  had  studied  under  the 
Arabs  in  Spain,  undertook  the  education  of  youth  about  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century,  in  the  chief  cities  of  Italy;  and  afterward  in  those  of 
Fiance,  England,  and  Germany.  Instruction  was  communicated  in  a  more 
rational  manner :  more  numerous  and  more  useful  branches  of  science  wero 

(1)  Erasmus.    Holingshed. 


LET.  LVI.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  339 

taught;  a  taste  for  ancient  literature  was  revived;  and  some  Latin  poems 
were  written,  before  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  not  unworthy  of  the 
latter  times  of  the  Roman  empire. (1) 

The  human  soul  during  this  period  seems  to  have  roused  itself  as  from  a 
lethargy.  The  same  enthusiasm,  which  prompted  one  set  of  men  to  signalize 
their  valour  in  the  Holy  Land,  inspired  another  with  the  ardour  of  trans- 
mitting to  posterity  the  gallant  actions  of  the  former,  and  of  animating  the 
zeal  of  those  pious  warriors,  by  the  fabulous  adventures  of  former  Christian 
heroes.  These  performances  were  composed  in  verse ;  and  several  of  them 
with  much  elegance,  and  no  small  degree  of  imagination.  But  many  bars 
were  yet  in  the  way  of  literary  refinement.  The  taste  of  the  age  was  too 
rude  to  relish  the  beauties  of  classical  composition :  the  Latin  language,  in 
which  all  science  was  conveyed,  was  but  imperfectly  known  to  the  bulk  of 
readers ;  and  the  scarcity  of  parchment,  together  with  the  expense  of 
transcribing,  rendered  books  so  extremely  dear,  as  to  be  only  within  the  reach 
of  a  few.  Learning,  however,  continued  to  advance,  in  spite  of  every  ob- 
struction ;  and  the  invention  of  paper  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  of  print- 
ing about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth,  made  knowledge  so  general  within  a 
century  after,  that  Italy  began  to  compare,  in  arts  and  in  letters,  her  modern 
with  her  ancient  state,  and  to  contrast  the  age  of  Leo  X.  with  that  of  the 
second  Caesar. 

In  the  mean  time,  a  singular  revolution  had  taken  place  in  the  empire  of 
Genius,  introduced  by  one  no  less  singular  in  the  system  of  manners.  Women, 
among  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans,  seem  to  have  been  considered  merely 
as  objects  of  sensuality,  or  of  domestic  conveniency.  They  were  devoted 
to  a  state  of  seclusion  and  obscurity,  had  few  attentions  offered  them,  and 
were  permitted  to  take  as  little  share  in  the  conversation  as  in  the  general 
commerce  of  life.  But  the  northern  nations,  who  paid  a  kind  of  devotion 
to  the  softer  sex,  even  in  their  native  forests,  had  no  sooner  settled  them- 
selves in  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  than  the  female  character 
began  to  assume  new  consequence.  Those  fierce  barbarians,  who  seemed 
to  thirst  only  for  blood,  who  involved  in  one  undistinguished  ruin  the  monu- 
ments of  ancient  grandeur  and  ancient  ingenuity,  and  who  devoted  to  the 
flames  the  knowledge  of  ages,  always  forebore  to  offer  any  violence  to  the 
women.  They  brought  along  with  them  the  respectful  gallantry  of  the 
North,  which  had  power  to  restrain  even  their  savage  ferocity ;  and  they 
introduced  into  the  West  of  Europe  a  generosity  of  sentiment,  and  a  com- 
plaisance towards  the  ladies,  to  which  the  most  polished  nations  of  antiquity 
were  strangers. 

These  sentiments  of  generous  gallantry  were  fostered  by  the  institution 
of  chivalry,  which  lifted  women  yet  higher  in  the  scale  of  life.  Instead  of 
being  nobody  in  society,  she  became  its  primum  mobile.  Every  knight 
devoting  himself  to  danger,  declared  himself  the  humble  servant  to  some 
lady,  and  that  lady  was  generally  the  object  of  his  love.  Her  honour  was 
supposed  to  be  intimately  connected  with  his,  and  her  smile  was  the  reward 
of  his  valour :  for  her  he  attacked,  for  her  he  defended,  and  for  her  he  shed 
his  blood.  Courage,  animated  by  so  powerful  a  motive,  lost  sight  of  every 
thing  but  enterprise.  Incredible  toils  were  cheerfully  endured ;  incredible 
actions  were  performed ;  and  the  boldest  inventions  of  fiction  were  more 
than  realized.  The  effect  was  reciprocal.  Women,  proud  of  their  influence, 
became  worthy  of  the  heroism  they  had  inspired:  they  were  not  to  be 
approached  but  by  the  high-minded  and  the  brave ;  and  men,  in  those  gallant 
times,  eould  only  hope  to  be  admitted  to  the  bosom  of  the  chaste  fair,  after 
having  proved  their  fidelity  and  affection  by  years  of  perseverance  and  of 
peril. 

A  similar  change  took  place  in  the  operations  of  war.  The  perfect  hero 
of  antiquity  was  superior  to  fear,  but  he  made  use  of  every  artifice  to  annoy 
his  enemy:  impelled  by  animosity  and  hostile  passion,  like  the  savage  in  the 

fl)  Warton,  Hist,  of  English  Poetry,  vol.  ii. 

*a 


340  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  J. 

American  woods,  he  was  only  anxious  of  attaining  his  end,  without  regard 
whether  fraud  or  force  were  the  means.  But  the  true  knight,  or  modern 
hero  of  the  middle  ages,  who  seemed  to  have  had,  in  all  his  rencounters,  his 
eye  fixed  on  the  judicial  combat,  or  Judgment  of  God,  had  an  equal  contempt 
for  stratagem  and  danger.  He  disdained  to  take  advantage  of  his  enemy: 
he  desired  only  to  see  him,  and  to  combat  him  upon  equal  terms,  trusting 
that  Heaven  would  interpose  in  behalf  of  the  just ;  and  as  he  professed  only 
to  vindicate  the  cause  of  religion,  of  injured  beauty,  or  oppressed  innocence, 
he  was  further  confirmed  in  this  enthusiastic  opinion  of  his  own  heated  ima- 
gination. Strongly  persuaded  that  the  decision  must  be  in  his  favour,  he 
fought  as  if  under  the  influence  of  divine  inspiration  rather  than  of  military 
ardour.(l)  Thus  the  system  of  chivalry,  by  a  singular  combination  of  man 
ners,  blended  the  heroic  and  sanctified  characters,  united  devotion  and  valour, 
zeal  and  gallantry,  and  reconciled  the  love  of  God  and  of  the  ladies. 

From  these  new  manners  arose  a  new  species  of  composition ;  namely,  the 
romance,  or  modern  heroic  fable.  It  was  originally  written  in  verse,  and,  by 
giving  a  new  direction  to  genius,  banished  for  a  time  that  vein  of  ancient, 
poetry  which  had  been  so  successfully  revived  and  cultivated  during  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  Modern  poetry,  however,  lost  nothing  by 
this  relapse.  Had  classical  taste  and  judgment  been  so  early  established, 
imagination  must  have  suffered :  truth  and  reason,  as  an  ingenious  writer 
observes,  would  have  chased  before  their  time  those  visions  of  illusive  fancy 
which  delight  to  hover  on  the  gloom  of  superstition,  and  which  form  so  con- 
siderable a  part  of  our  polite  literature.  We  should  still  have  been  strangers 
to  the  beautiful  extravagancies  of  romantic  fabling. 

This  new  species  of  composition  took  its  rise,  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
among  the  Troubadours  or  minstrels  of  Provence ;  and  was  originally  written 
in  the  Proven§al  dialect,  then  the  most  polished  and  universal  of  any  modern 
tongue.  These  Troubadours,  who  seem  to  have  been  the  lineal  successors 
of  the  Celtic  bards,  had  followed  in  crowds  to  the  Holy  Land  the  princes  and 
nobles  by  whom  they  were  patronised.  They  had  seen  the  riches  and  splen- 
dour of  oriental  cities,  and  the  pomp  of  oriental  princes ;  they  had  beheld 
the  greatest  scene  of  war  that  modern  times  had  yet  exhibited.  They  had 
seen  the  combined  armies  of  Europe  and  of  Asia  encamp  in  the  plains  of 
Palestine ;  they  had  also  seen  them  engage.  Their  imagination  was  inflamed 
by  the  sumptuous  equipages,  gorgeous  banners,  armorial  cognizances,  and 
grand  pavilions,  in  which  the  champions  of  the  cross  strove  to  excel  each 
other ;  but  still  more  by  the  enthusiastic  valour  of  the  combatants.  They 
had  seen  many  wonderful  things,  and  heard  many  marvellous  tales ;  and  they 
gave  to  the  whole,  on  their  return,  the  colouring  of  poetic  fancy,  heightened 
by  all  the  exaggerations  of  Asiatic  imagery,  and  filled  with  all  the  extrava- 
gancies of  Asiatic  fiction.  (2) 

The  ignorance  and  credulity  of  the  age,  the  superstitious  veneration  paid 
to  the  heroes  of  the  crusades,  the  frightful  ideas  formed  of  the  infidels,  and 
the  distance  of  country,  made  the  wildest  conceptions  of  the  poet  be  received 
with  all  the  avidity  of  truth.  The  romance  became  the  favourite  mode  of 
composition;  and  as  every  kingdom  in  Europe  had  its  valorous  knights, 
every  kingdom  soon  had  its  romances  ;  and  every  romance  was  nearly  the 
same.  Whether  the  scene  was  laid  in  ancient  or  in  modern  times,  in  Spain 
or  in  Syria,  the  same  set  of  ideal  beings  were  introduced,  the  same  kind  of 
plot  was  pursued,  and  the  same  manners  were  painted.  A  lady  miraculously 
fair  and  chaste,  and  a  knight  more  than  humanely  brave  and  constant,  en- 
countering monsters,  and  resisting  the  allurements  of  enchantresses,  formed 
the  ground-work  of  all  those  unnatural  compositions. 

Modern  poetry,  however,  did  not  long  remain  in  this  rude  state.  The 
romance,  which  had  its  rise  in  the  manners  of  chivalry,  and  which  rendered 

1 I)  Mem.  sur  tAncitnne  Chevalerie,  par  M.  de  la  Curne  de  St.  Palaye. 

(2)  Among  these  may  be  numbered  dwarfs,  giants,  dragons,  and  necromancers;  for  I  am  unwilling  to 
eive  up  to  the  East,  with  a  certain  learned  critic  the  honour  of  the  beautiful  invention  of  fairies.    See 
Warton,  Hist.  English  Poetry,vol  i 


LET.  LVL]  MODERN  EUROPE.  341 

ihem  still  more  romantic,  fell  into  disrepute  as  soon  as  those  manners  began 
to  decline.  It  was  succeeded  by  the  allegorical  tale;  in  which  the  virtues 
and  vices,  appetites  and  passions,  took  the  place  of  human  beings,  and  were 
made  subservient  to  the  design  of  the  poet.  This  shadowy  production  was 
followed  by  the  Italian  epic ;  which,  like  the  heroic  poem  of  the  Greeks,  con- 
sist of  a  compound  of  mortal,  immortal,  and  allegorical  personages. .  Dante, 
Ariosto,  and  Tasso  are  supposed  to  have  carried  if  to  perfection. 

Dante,  the  father  of  Italian  poetry,  flourished  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  His  Inferno,  though  full  of  extravagancies,  is  one  of 
the  greatest  efforts  of  human  genius.  No  poem,  ancient  or  modern,  affords 
more  striking  instances  of  the  true  sublime,  and  true  pathetic.(l)  He  was 
succeeded  by  Petrarch  and  Boccacio,  who  perfected  the  Italian  language. 

Petrarch  is  the  first  modern  poet  who  writes  with  classical  elegance  and 
purity.  He  appears  to  have  been  intimately  acquainted  with  the  beauties  of 
the  ancients,  and  to  have  studied  their  graces.  His  Canzoni,  or  lyric  pieces, 
have  often  all  the  ease  of  Horace,  and  all  the  delicacy  of  Tibullus.  In  many 
of  them,  however,  we  discover  a  degree  of  that  puerile  conceit  or  affectation 
of  wit,  that  perpetual  effort  to  say  something  brilliant,  which  seems  insepa- 
rable from  Italian  poetry;  and  the  Platonic  ideas  with  which  all  his  pas- 
sionate writings  abound,  though  admired  by  his  countrymen  as  a  decent  veil 
to  love,  give  to  his  celebrated  sonnets  to  Laura  too  much  the  air  of  hymns  to 
a  divinity  to  interest  the  human  heart.  His  elegy  on  the  death  of  that  lady, 
whose  story  is  well  known,  has  been  much  and  deservedly  admired.  It  par- 
takes of  the  faults  and  of  the  beauties  of  all  his  compositions,  as  will  appear 
from  the  following  lines,  translated  by  Sir  William  Jones  in  the  true  spirit  of 
the  original : 

"  Go,  plaintive  breeze,  to  Laura's  flow'ry  bier, 
,  Heave  the  warm  sigh,  and  shed  the  tender  tear. 

There  to  the  awful  shade  due  homage  pay, 
And  softly  thus  address  the  sacred  clay: 
Say,  envied  earth,  that  dost  those  charms  infold, 
Where  are  those  cheeks,  and  where  those  locks  of  gold ! 
Where  are  those  eyes,  which  oft  the  muse  has  sung? 
Where  those  sweet  lips,  and  that  enchanting  tongue  ? 
Ye  radiant  tresses,  and  thou  nectar'd  smile, 
Ye  looks  that  might  the  melting  skies  beguile, 
You  robb'd  my  soul  of  rest,  my  eyes  of  sleep, 
You  taught  me  how  to  love,  and  how  to  weep." 

Boccacio  has  great  and  various  merit.  He  is  chiefly  known  as  a  prose 
writer ;  and  his  prose  compositions  are  superior,  in  purity  of  diction,  to  those 
of  any  other  Italian  author.  But  if  his  modesty  had  not  led  him  to  commit 
to  the  flames  his  poetical  performances,  from  an  apprehension  of  their  infe- 
riority to  those  of  his  master  Petrarch,  he  might  possibly  have  appeared  no 
less  considerable  as  a  poet.  One  piece,  which  paternal  tenderness  preserved, 

(1)  Since  the  first  publication  of  this  work,  Mr.  Hayley  has  given  to  the  world  an  Essay  on  Epic  Poetry , 
a  performance,  whatever  may  be  its  poetical  merit,  which  abounds  with  much  good  sense  and  sound 
criticism.  And  I  am  happy  to  find  my  opinion  of  the  higher  Italian  poets  supported  by  the  suffrage  of  an 
author,  who  possesses  so  large  a  share  of  public  favour.  He  thus  concludes  the  character  of  Dante,  after 
judiciously  observing,  that  he  raised  to  epic  pomp  his  native  tongue: 

"  Unequal  spirit !  in  thy  various  strain, 
With  all  their  influence  light  and  darkness  reign ; 
In  thy  strange  verse  and  wayward  theme  alike 
New  forms  of  beauty  and  disorder  strike ; 
Extremes  of  harmony  and  discord  dwell, 
The  seraph's  music  and  the  demon's  yell ! 
The  patient  reader,  to  thy  merit  just, 
With  transport  glows,  and  shudders  with  disgust. 
Thy  failings  spring  from  thy  disastrous  time ; 
Thy  stronger  beauties  from  a  soul  sublime, 
Whose  vigour  burst,  like  the  volcano's  flame, 
From  central  darkness  to  the  sphere  of  fame." 

Essay  on  Epic  Paetry,  epist  ill 


342  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PAHT  I. 

and  three  more  that  escaped  the  general  ruin,  give  reason  for  this  opinion. 
The  favourite  piece  is  entitled  the  Theseid;  and  although  it  confounds,  like 
all  the  poems  of  that  age,  ancient  and  modern  manners,  time,  and  ceremo- 
nies, it  abounds  with  so  many  native  beauties  as  to  leave  criticism  only  room 
for  admiration.  It  is  of  the  heroic  kind ;  and  the  fable  is  better  constructed, 
and  filled  with  more  interesting  incidents,  than  that  of  any  other  Italian 
poem  of  the  same  period. (1)  It  has  been  rendered  into  English,  witli  altera- 
tions and  additions,  by  Chaucer,  under  the  name  of  the  Knight's  Tale; 
and,  as  modernized  by  Dryden,  is  perhaps  the  most  animated  and  truly  har- 
monious piece  of  versification,  of  the  same  extent,  in  our  language. 

The  reputation  of  Boccacio,  however,  with  the  world  in  general,  is  chiefly 
founded  on  his  Decameron ;  which  is  truly  an  enchanting  work.  It  contains 
more  good  tales,  of  the  gay  and  humorous  kind,  than  had  then  been  pro- 
duced by  all  former  w'riters,  ancient  or  modern.  The  most  celebrated  mo- 
derns, in  that  walk,  have  indeed  borrowed  from  it  their  best  pieces.  Chaucer 
and  Fontaine,  though  they  lived  at  almost  three  hundred  years  distance  from 
each  other,  are  equally  indebted  to  the  Decameron.  Those  tales  of  Boccacio, 
which  may  be  considered  as  the  most  early  gleanings  of  popular  anecdote, 
are  the  first  modern  compositions  that  give  us  any  just  idea  of  the  manners 
of  domestic  life ;  and  both  the  style  in  which  they  are  related,  and  the  sub- 
jects which  they  unfold,  prove  that  civilization  was  then  in  an  advanced  state 
in  Italy. 

But  Italy  was  not  the  only  country  where  civilization  had  made  advances. 
The  English  court  was,  in  that  age,  the  most  splendid  in  Europe,  and  one  of 
the  most  polished.  Thither  many  accomplished  foreigners  resorted,  to  behold 
the  grandeur,  and  to  enjoy  the  bounty,  of  the  third  Edward.  The  spoils  of 
France  swelled  the  pomp  of  England  in  his  reign ;  while  a  captive  king,  and 
his  unfortunate  nobles,  civilized  its  manners,  by  accustoming  his  haughty  and 
insolent  barons  to  the  exercise  of  mutual  complaisance.  Edward  III.  him-  • 
self,  and  his  illustrious  son,  the  Black  Prince,  were  the  examples  of  all  thai 
was  great  in  arms,  or  gallant  in  courtesy.  They  were  the  patrons  and  the 
mirrors  of  chivalry.  The  stately  castle  of  Windsor,  built  in  this  illustrious 
reign,  saw  the  round  table  of  king  Arthur  restored,  and  the  Order  of  the 
Garter  instituted;  that  glorious  tribute  to  gallantry,  and  sacred  badge  of 
honour.  Tilts,  tournaments,  and  pageants  were  constantly  exhibited,  and 
with  a  magnificence  formerly  unknown. 

The  ladies,  who  thronged  the  court  of  Edward,  and  crowded  to  such  spec- 
tacles, arrayed  in  the  richest  habits,  were  the  judges  in  those  peaceful,  though 
not  always  bloodless,  combats ;  and  the  victorious  knight,  in  receiving  from 
the  hand  of  beauty  the  reward  of  his  prowess,  became  desirous  of  exciting 
other  passions  besides  that  of  admiration.  He  began  to  turn  his  eyes  from 
fancy  to  the  heart.  He  aspired  at  an  interest  in  the  seat  of  the  affections. 
Instead  of  the  cold  consent  of  virtue,  he  sought  the  warm  return  of  love ; 
instead  of  acquiescence,  he  demanded  sensibility.  Female  pride  was  roused 
at  such  a  request :  assiduities  and  attentions  were  employed  to  sooth  it ; 
and  nature  and  custom,  vanity  and  feeling,  were  long  at  war  in  the  breast  of 
woman.  During  the  course  of  this  sentimental  struggle,  which  had  its  rise 
in  a  more  rational  mode  of  thinking,  which  opened  more  freedom  of  inter- 
course, and  terminated  in  our  present  familiar  manners,  the  two  sexes  mu- 
tually polished  each  other ;  the  men  acquired  more  softness  and  address,  the 
women  more  knowledge  and  graces. 

In  a  reign  of  so  much  heroism  and  gallantry,  the  Muses  were  not  likely 
to  sleep.  Jeffery  Chaucer,  the  father  of  English  poetry,  was  the  brightest 
ornament  of  Edward's  court.  He  added  to  a  lively  genius  and  a  learned 
education,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  life  and  manners.  He  was  perfectly  a 
man  of  the  world ;  had  frequently  visited  France  and  Italy,  and  sometimes 

(1)  "  The  gay  Boccacio  tempts  tlie  Italian  Muse, 

More  varied  notes  and  different  themes  to  choose ; 
Themes  which  her  voice  had  dared  not  yet  to  found, 
Valour's  heroic  feats  by  beauty  crown'd." 

Essay  on  Epic  Poetry,  cpisl.  iii- 


LET.  LVI.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  343 

under  the  advantage  of  a  public  character.  He  had  studied  the  Italian  and 
Proven$al  poets,  was  intimately  acquainted  with  both  languages,  and 
attempted  successfully  all  the  kinds  of  poetry  then  in  use.  His  translation 
of  the  Theseid  of  Boccacio  1  have  already  mentioned.  He  also  translated, 
and  greatly  improved,  the  famous  allegorical  poem,  called  the  Romance  of  the 
Rose,  written  by  William  of  Lorris  and  John  of  Meun,  two  celebrated 
French  poets  of  those  times :  and  he  composed  the  Canterbury  Tales  after 
the  model  of  the  Decameron.  They  abound  with  much  true  humour  and 
pleasantry;  and,  though  chiefly  borrowed,  entitle  their  author  to  a  distin- 
guished rank  among  the  writers  of  his  age.  The  prologues,  in  particular, 
which  are  wholly  his  own,  contain  a  vein  of  moral  satire  that  has  not  hitherto 
been  exceeded. 

Chaucer,  however,  had  many  disadvantages  to  struggle  with,  from  which 
his  contemporaries  were  in  a  great  measure  free.  Wilfeim  the  Conqueror  had 
attempted  to  extirpate  the  English  tongue.  The  Norman  language  was 
ordered  to  be  used  in  all  public  writings,  and  taught  in  all  public  schools.  It 
was  also  the  dialect  of  the  court.  That  badge  of  slavery  was  only  abolished 
by  Edward  III.  It  had  continued  almost  three  hundred  years.  Chaucer  had 
therefore  to  create,  or  at  least  to  form,  a  new  dialect.  This  circumstance 
ought  always  to  be  attended  to  in  contemplating  the  writings  of  our  vene- 
rable bard,  as  it  alone  can  account  for  that  prodigious  disparity  observable, 
after  all  his  diligence,  between  the  progress  of  English  manners  and  of  the 
English  language.  Had  things  continued  to  proceed  in  their  natural  order, 
Chaucer's  style  would  now  have  been  nearly  as  intelligible  as  that  of 
Shakspeare. 

But  this  bright  dawn  of  English  literature  and  English  refinement  was 
deeply  obscured  by  the  civil  wars  that  followed,  and  which  continued,  with 
little  interruption,  till  the  accession  of  Henry  VII.  During  that  long  period 
of  anarchy,  genius  went  to  decay;  and  the  animosities  of  faction  had  rendered 
the  manners  of  the  people  almost  altogether  savage.  The  severity  of  Henry's 
temper  and  government  was  little  calculated  to  promote  either  letters  or 
politeness ;  and  the  religious  disputes  which  took  place  under  the  reign  of 
his  son,  were  a  new  bar  in  the  way  of  civilization.  Chaucer  had  no  suc- 
cessor worthy  of  himself  till  the  days  of  Elizabeth. 

Like  circumstances  obstructed  the  progress  of  literature  in  France  till  the 
reign  of  Francis  I.  of  whom  I  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  speak,  and 
who  is  deservedly  styled  the  Father  of  the  French  Muses.  Chants  Royaux, 
Balades,  Rondeaux,  and  Pastorales  had  taken  place  of  the  Prove^al  poetry 
about  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century ;  but  Froissart,  who  cultivated 
with  success  this  New  Poetry,  as  it  was  called,  cannot  be  considered  as  equal 
to  William  of  Lorris  or  John  of  Meun.  The  Romance  of  the  Rose  was  still 
the  finest  French  poem. 

Genius,  in  the  mean  time,  continued  to  advance,  with  giant  strides,  in  Italy. 
A  succession  of  great  poets  followed  Dante  in  the  highest  walk  of  the  Muse  : 
at  length  appeared  Ariosto  and  Tasso,  the  glory  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
whose  celebrated  works  are  supposed  to  contain  all  that  is  excellent  in  poetry. 
The  Orlando  of  Ariosto  is  a  wonderful  production.  It  is  formed  upon  the 
Gothic  plan,  if  it  can  be  said  to  have  any,  and  consequently  is  wild  and 
extravagant ;  but  it  abounds  with  so  many  and  such  various  beauties,  that, 
whether  considered  as  a  whole  or  in  parts,  it  commands  our  fondest  admira- 
tion.(l)  The  Jerusalem  of  Tasso  is  a  more  classical  performance.'  It  is 

(1)  "  High  in  mid  air,  between  the  moon  and  earth, 
The  bard  of  pathos  now,  and  now  of  mirth, 
Pois'd  with  his  lyre  between  a  griffin's  wings, 
Her  sportive  darling,  Ariosto,  sings. 
As  the  light  clouds,  whose  varying  vapours  fly, 
Driven  by  the  zephyr  of  the  evening  sky, 
Fixes  and  charms  the  never-wearied  view, 
By  taking  every  shape  and  every  hue; 
Bo,  by  Variety's  supreme  control, 
His  changeful  numbers  seize  the  willing  soul." 

Hayley,  Essay  on  Epic  Poetry,  epiat  111 


344  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

constructed  after  the  Grecian  model ;  and  adds  to  an  interesting  and  happily 
conducted  fable,  a  number  of  striking  and  well  drawn  characters,  all  ope- 
rating to  one  end,  together  with  a  profusion  of  beautiful  machinery,  affecting 
situations,  sublime  images,  and  bold  descriptions^  1)  Voltaire  prefers  the 
first  to  the  Odyssey,  and  the  second  to  the  Iliad  of  Homer ;  but  you,  I  hope, 
have  a  juster  taste  of  solid  elegance,  and  of  what  is  truly  great  in  nature  and 
in  poetry,  than  to  be  swayed  by  such  an  opinion. 

The  progress  of  genius  in  Italy,  however,  during  this  period,  was  not  con- 
fined to  poetry,  and  still  less  to  one  species  of  it.  Petrarch  and  Boccacio  had 
their  successors,  as  well  as  Dante.  The  dramatic  talent  began  to  disclose 
itself.  Theatrical  representation  was  revived.  Both  tragedy  and  comedy 
had  been  attempted  with  success  before  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century; 
but  that  musical  drama,  which  has  long  been  so  universal  in  Italy,  and  which 
in  excluding  too  oftea  nature  and  probability  has  enlarged  the  bounds  of  har- 
mony, was  yet  in  its  infancy. 

Music  is  one  of  the  first  sciences  that  is  cultivated,  and  the  last  that  is  per- 
fected in  any  country.  The  rude  tale  of  the  bard  is  accompanied  with  wild 
notes  of  his  voice  and  harp,  in  order  to  atone  for  his  want  of  ideas,  and  to 
engage  attention ;  but  as  fable  becomes  more  extensive  and  rich,  the  legendary 
poet  disdains  to  court  the  ear  with  any  thing  but  the  harmony  of  his  numbers. 
He  relies  for  interest  solely  on  the  powers  of  imagination  and  sentiment ; 
and  these,  without  any  adventitious  aid,  produce  their  effect  upon  a  people 
civilized,  but  not  corrupted.  The  dramatic  writer,  in  like  manner,  obtains 
his  end,  for  a  time,  by  the  happy  disposition  of  plot,  the  force  of  dialogue,  and 
the  strength  and  variety  of  his  characters.  But  in  proportion  as  mankind 
become  more  refined  they  become  more  effeminate,  and  the  luxury  of  har- 
mony is  found  necessary  to  give  to  theatrical  representation  its  proper  influ- 
ence. Then,  and  not  till  then,  does  the  musical  science  attain  perfection ; 
and  then  poetry  begins  to  decline.  Every  thing  is  sung ;  every  thing  is  com- 
posed to  be  warbled  through  the  eunuch's  throat,  and  sense  is  sacrificed  to 
sound. 

A  similar  observation  may  be  extended  to  history.  The  deeds  of  the  hero 
are  the  first  objects  of  human  curiosity ;  yet  mankind  in  almost  every  country, 
have  ceased  to  act  with  dignity  before  their  actions  have  been  properly 
recorded.  Truth  appears  cold  and  insipid  to  a  people  inclined  to  wonder, 
and  wonder  is  the  predominant  passion  of  all  uncivilized  nations.  Fiction  is 
called  in  to  gratify  it ;  and  fable  is  for  a  time  received  as  history.  But  when 
men  come  to  be  more  employed  about  political  objects,  they  become  more 
desirous  of  being  informed  than  amazed :  they  wish  to  know  the  real  actions 
of  their  ancestors,  and  the  causes  and  the  consequences  of  such  actions.  The 
historian  takes  advantage  of  this  disposition  of  mind  to  procure  admission  to 
his  labours ;  but  as  it  is  more  difficult  to  ascertain  facts  than  to  assume  them, 
and  easier  to  assign  motives  of  action,  and  deduce  incidents  ingeniously  from 
them,  than  to  trace  the  motives  of  men  in  their  actions,  and  give  to  truth  such 
a  degree  of  colouring  as  will  make  it  interest,  without  rendering  its  validity 
suspected,  history  has  every  where  been  later  in  attaining  perfection  than  the 
highest  works  of  imagination. 

Italy  had  at  last  her  historians,  and  excellent  ones.  Machiavel  successfully 
courted  the  comic  muse,  unfolded  the  principles  of  a  dark  and  pernicious 
policy,  and  digested  the  annals  of  his  native  country  with  all  the  discernment 
of  Tacitus ;  while  Guicciardini,  a  more  amiable  writer,  related  the  transac- 
tions of  his  own  times  with  the  elegance  and  exactness  of  Thucydides. 

1)  After  having  characterized  Ariosto,  Mr.  Hayley  proceeds  thus,  in  perfect  conformity  with  the  text  • 
"  Of  chaster  fire  a  rival  name  succeeds, 
Whose  hold  and  glowing  hand  religion  leads; 
In  solemn  accent  and  in  sacred  state, 
With  classic  lore  and  Christian  zeal  elate, 
Sweetly  pathetic  and  sublimely  strong, 
Tasso  begins  his  more  majestic  song  ; 
The  Muse  of  Sion,  not  implor'd  in  vain, 
Guides  to  th'  impassion'd  soul  his  heavenly  strain." 

Hayley,  Essay  on  Epic  Poetry,  epirt.  U. 


LET.  LVIL]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  346 

Philosophy  was  only  wanting,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  to  bring  Itaty  within 
the  line  of  comparison  with  ancient  Greece,  when  Greece  was  in  hex  glory. 
A  number  of  independent  and  free  states  vied  with  each  other  in  all  the  ele- 
gant and  commercial  arts ;  in  wealth  and  in  luxury,  in  manners  and  in  talents, 
in  pomp  and  in  power.  Proud  of  her  privileges,  and  of  her  liberal  acquisi- 
tions, she  looked  down  with  contempt  upon  every  other  country,  and  branded 
every  other  people  with  the  name  of  Barbarians.  Two  great  monarchs,  like 
those  of  Persia  and  Macedon,  were  contending  who  should  be  her  master. 
She  wanted  only  the  lights  of  philosophy  to  render  the  parallel  complete. 
Bewildered  in  the  mazes  of  scholastic  reasoning,  or  lost  in  the  dreams  of 
perverted  Platonism,  her  sages  were  still  alike  ignorant  of  the  system  of  man 
and  of  the  universe.  And  before  they  could  know  either,  it  was  necessary 
that  the  veil  of  superstition  should  be  rent;  that  mankind,  beholding  the 
ouppet  to  which  they  had  kneeled,  and  by  which  they  .had  been  overawed, 
might  fearlessly  look  through  the  range  of  nature,  and  contemplate  its  phy- 
sical and  moral  order. 


LETTER  LVIL 

The  Progress  of  Navigation,  and  particularly  among  the  Portuguese.  A  short 
Introduction  to  the  History  of  Portugal.  The  Discoveries  and  Settlements  of 
the  Portuguese  on  the  Coast  of  Africa,  and  in  the  East  Indies,  by  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  The  Discovery  oj  America  by  the  Spaniards;  the  Settlement  of 
the  West  Indies,  and  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  together  with  some 
Reflections  on  the  moral  and  political  Consequences  of  those  great  Events. 

FROM  the  arts  that  polish  nations,  my  dear  Philip,  let  us  turn  our  eyes  more 
particularly  towards  those  that  aggrandize  them ;  which  supply  the  wants  of 
one  people  with  the  superfluities  of  another,  and  make  all  things  common  to 
all.  Such  are  navigation  and  commerce.  By  these,  and  the  arts  to  which 
they  gave  birth,  the  Phrenicians  and  Carthagenians  crowded  with  cities  their 
barren  shores,  and  attained  the  first  rank  among  ancient  nations ;  by  these, 
in  latter  times,  the  Venetians  and  Dutch,  struggling  from  dirt  and  sea-weed, 
crowned  with  palaces  their  lakes  and  marshes,  and  became,  in  different  eras, 
the  most  opulent  and  powerful  people  in  modern  Europe ;  by  these  Britain 
now  governs  the  ocean,  and  gives  law  to  the  opposite  extremities  of  the  globe, 
at  the  same  time  that  she  wafts  from  pole  to  pole  the  luxuries  and  conve- 
niences of  life.(l) 

The  navigation  of  Europe  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  though 
much  improved  since  the  age  of  Charlemagne,  was  chiefly  confined  to  the 
Mediterranean  and  Baltic  seas,  and  was  still  little  more  than  what  is  now 
called  coasting.  Flanders  was  the  great  theatre  of  commerce.  Thither,  as 
I  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe,  the  Italian  states  conveyed,  from  the 
ports  of  Egypt,  the  precious  commodities  of  the  East :  and  thither  the  Han- 
seatic  merchants  carried  from  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  the  naval  stores  and 
other  rude  merchandise  of  the  North.  To  this  common  mart  all  European 
nations  resorted.  Here  they  sold  or  exchanged  the  produce  of  their  several 
countries,  and  supplied  themselves  with  what  they  wanted,  without  dreaming 
of  new  ports,  or  suspecting  that  the  system  of  commerce  could  be  altered. 
Dantzic,  Lisbon,  and  Alexandria  continued  to  mark  the  limits  of  practical 
navigation  •  when  the  enlightened  and  enterprising  genius  of  Don  Henry  of 
Portugal  extended  the  views  of  the  mariner,  and  emboldened  him  to  pilot  the 
Atlantic  or  Great  Western  Ocean.  But  before  I  speak  of  that  prince,  and  the 
discoveries  which  he  accomplished,  I  must  say  a  few  words  of  his  country, 
which  I  have  hitherto  considered  only  as  an  appendage  of  Spain. 

Portugal,  which  forms  the  western  coast  of  the  southern  peninsula  of  Europe, 

(1)  This  letter  was  written  before  the  revolt  of  our  American  colonies. 


346  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

had  no  existence  as  a  separate  state  till  towards  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century.  About  that  time  Alphonso  VI.  king-  of  Castile  and  Leon,  having 
conquered  from  the  Moors  the  northern  provinces  of  the  present  kingdom  of 
Portugal,  bestowed  them,  together  with  his  natural  daughter,  upon  Henry  of 
Burgundy,  a  noble  volunteer,  who  had  assisted  him  in  his  wars.  Henry  took 
only  the  title  of  count ;  but  his  son  Alphonso,  having-  recovered  other  pro- 
vinces from  the  Moors,  assumed  the  regal  dignity  in  1139.  The  kings  of 
Portugal,  like  those  of  Spain,  long  spent  their  force  in  combating  the  Moors, 
and  had  no  connexion  with  the  rest  of  Europe.  A  detail  of  those  barbarous 
wars  would  be  equally  void  of  instruction  and  amusement.  I  shall  therefore 
only  observe,  that  the  succession  continued  uninterrupted  in  the  line  of  Bur- 
gundy till  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  in  1383 ;  when  John  of  Castile,  who  had 
married  the  infanta  of  Portugal,  claimed  the  crown,  as  the  king  had  left  no 
male  issue.  But  the  states  of  Portugal,  after  an  interregnum  of  eighteen 
months,  gave  it  to  John,  natural  brother  of  their  deceased  sovereign,  and  at 
that  time  regent  of  the  kingdom.  (1) 

This  John,  surnamed  the  Bastard,  no  less  politic  than  enterprising,  proved 
worthy  of  his  new  dignity.  He  was  the  first  European  prince  who  formed 
a  respectable  navy ;  which  he  employed,  with  equal  success,  in  annoying  his 
enemies  and  in  protecting  his  subjects.  He  took  Ceuta  from  the  Moors,  and 
overawed  the  states  of  Barbary  during  his  whole  reign.  He  had  several 
sons,  who  all  signalized  themselves  by  their  valour  and  abilities ;  but  more 
especially  the  third,  Don  Henry,  whose  bold  and  enlightened  genius,  assisted 
by  the  reports  of  travellers,  led  him  to  project  discoveries  in  the  Western 
Ocean. 

This  amiable  prince  who  joined  the  virtues  of  a  hero  and  a  patriot  to  the 
knowledge  of  a  philosopher,  turned  to  use  that  astronomy  which  the  Arabs 
had  preserved.  He  had  a  considerable  share  in  the  invention  of  the  astro- 
labe, and  first  perceived  the  advantage  that  might  be  derived  from  the  direc- 
tion of  the  magnetic  needle  to  the  North ;  which,  though  already  known  in 
Europe,  had  not  hitherto  been  employed  with  any  success  in  navigation.  He 
established  an  observatory  at  Sagres,  near  Cape  St.  Vincent,  where  many 
persons  were  instructed  in  astronomy  and  the  art  of  sailing.  The  pilots 
formed  under  his  eye,  not  only  doubled  Cape  Non,  long  supposed  an  insur- 
mountable barrier,  but  advanced  as  far  as  Cape  Bajadore,  and  in  their  return 
discovered  the  island  of  Madeira.  Other  pilots,  yet  more  bold,  Avere  sent  out. 
They  doubled  Cape  Bajadore,  Cape  Blanco,  Cape  Verd,  and  at  last  Cape 
Sierra  Leona,  within  eight  degrees  of  the  line,  before  the  death  of  Don  Henry. 
In  the  course  of  these  voyages,  the  Azores,  and  Cape  de  Verd  islands  had 
been  discovered,  and  the  vine  and  the  sugar-cane  introduced  into  the  island 
of  Madeira,  and  there  cultivated  with  success. 

Under  the  reign  of  John  II.,  a  prince  of  the  most  profound  sagacity  and 
most  extensive  views,  who  first  made  Lisbon  a  free  port,  the  Portuguese 
prosecuted  their  discoveries  with  equal  ardour  and  success.  The  river  Zara, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  line,  conducted  them  to  the  kingdom  of  Congo,  in 
the  interior  part  of  Africa,  where  they  made  easy  conquests,  and  established 
an  advantageous  commerce.  Captain  Diaz  passed  the  extreme  point  of 
Africa,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  the  Stormy  Cape ;  but  the  kinj,  who 
saw  more  fully  the  importance  of  that  discovery,  styled  it  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope. 

Emmanuel  I.  pursued  the  great  projects  of  his  predecessors.  He  sent  out 
a  fleet  of  four  ships,  under  the  command  of  Vasco  de  Gama,  a  noble  Portu- 
guese, in  order  to  complete  the  passage  to  India  by  sea.  This  admiral  pos- 
sessed all  the  knowledge  and  talents  necessary  for  such  an  expedition.  After 
being  assailed  by  tempests,  encircling  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  and  ranging 
through  unknown  seas,  he  happily  arrived  at  the  city  of  Calicut  on  the  coast 
of  Malabar,  or  the  higher  part  of  the  western  side  of  the  great  peninsula  of 
India,  fa) 

'D  NeusvUIe,  Hitt.  Oen.  de  Portugal.  (2)  Hilt.  Ge*.  des  Voyages,  torn.  L 


LET    LVII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  347 

Calicut  was  at  that  time  the  emporium  of  Indostan.  Thither  the  Arabs 
resorted  for  all  the  rich  products  and  precious  manufactures  of  the  East. 
These  they  carried  in  ships  to  the  ports  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  sold  to  the  Ita- 
lian merchants  from  Alexandria.  This  information  Gama  received  at  Melinda, 
on  the  coast  of  Zanquebar,  the  most  eastern  part  of  Africa,  where  he  had 
touched ;  and  engaged  a  pilot,  who  conducted  him  into  the  harbour  of  Calicut, 
when  the  trade  was  at  its  height.  Here  he  fortunately  met  with  a  native 
of  Barbary,  named  Monzaida,  who  understood  the  Portuguese  language,  and 
whose  admiration  of  that  people  overbalanced  the  prejudices  of  religion 
and  country.  This  admiration  determined  Monzaida  to  do  every  thing  in 
his  power  to  serve  strangers  who  unbosomed  themselves  to  him  without 
reserve.  He  procured  Gama  an  audience  of  the  Samorin  or  emperor,  who 
received  him  very  favourably;  and  a  treaty  of  commerce  was  set  on  foot  in  the 
name  of  the  king  of  Portugal.  But  this  negotiation,  when  almost  completed, 
was  broken  off  by  the  insinuations  of  the  Arabs.  Jealous  of  their  lucrative 
trade,  they  represented  so  strongly  the  danger  of  such  an  alliance,  and  the 
ambition  of  the  Portuguese,  that  Samorin  took  the  ungenerous  resolution  of 
putting  to  death  those  bold  navigators,  whom  he  had  lately  treated  with  kind- 
ness, and  whose  friendship  he  seemed  to  desire. 

Informed  of  his  danger  by  the  faithful  Monzaida,  Gama  sent  his  brother  on 
board  the  fleet.  "  Should  you  hear,"  said  he,  "  of  my  death  or  imprisonment, 
I  prohibit  you,  as  your  commander,  either  to  attempt  to  release  me  or  to 
avenge  my  fate.  Set  sail  immediately  and  inform  the  king  of  the  success  of 
our  voyage.  I  am  happy  in  having  performed  his  orders,  and  discovered  a 
passage  to  India  for  Portugal. "(1) 

Fortunately,  however,  matters  were  not  pushed  to  that  extremity.  Gama 
lived  to  carry  to  Portugal  the  news  of  his  own  success.  The  Samorin  per- 
mitted him  to  join  his  fleet,  he  departed  soon  after  for  Europe. 

No  language  can  express  the  joy  of  the  Portuguese  on  the  return  of  Gama 
to  Lisbon.  They  saw  themselves,  by  one  daring  enterprise,  in  possession  of 
the  richest  commerce  in  the  world;  and  no  less  superstitious  than  avaricious, 
they  flattered  themselves  with  the  project  of  extending  their  religion  along 
with  their  dominion. 

The  pope  further  encouraged  this  hope.  Glad  of  an  occasion  of  asserting 
his  universal  sovereignty,  he  granted  to  the  Portuguese  all  the  countries 
which  they  had  discovered,  or  should  discover,  in  the  East,  on  condition  that 
they  should  there  plant  the  Catholic  faith.  The  whole  nation  was  seized  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  conversion  and  of  conquest.  They  presented  themselves 
in  crowds  to  man  the  new  fleet  destined  for  India ;  and  thirteen  ships  sailed, 
as  soon  as  the  season  would  permit,  from  the  Tagus  to  Calicut,  under  the 
command  of  Alvarez  de  Cabral. 

This  admiral  in  his  passage  keeping  out  to  sea,  in  order  to  avoid  the  calms 
on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  the  storms  which  had  been  met  with  in  doubling 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  discovered  the  rich  country  now  called  Brazil,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  the  Land  of  the  Holy  Cross.  He  took  possession 
of  it  in  the  name  of  the  king  his  master,  and  proceeded  on  his  voyage. 
When  he  arrived  at  the  coast  of  Malabar,  the  Samorin  made  him  an  offer  of 
friendship,  and  invited  him  to  Calicut,  where  he  had  an  audience  of  that 
Indian  prince,  and  was  permitted  to  open  a  magazine  of  commerce.  But  this 
good  understanding  was  of  short  duration.  The  Arabs  again  found  means 
to  poison  the  mind  of  the  Samorin :  the  admiral  did  not  behave  with  the 
greatest  discretion:  mutual  jealousies  took  place,  mutual  fears,  and  mutual 
injuries.  At  last  the  inhabitants  of  Calicut  rose,  murdered  fifty  Portuguese, 
and  burnt  their  magazine.  This  act  of  hostility  did  not  escape  unpunished. 
Cabral,  in  revenge  of  such  a  breach  of  faith,  and  such  undermining  perfidy, 
destroyed  all  the  Arabian  vessels  in  the  port,  beat  down  great  part  of  the 
city,  and  left  it  in  flames.  (2) 

After  this  second  rupture  with  the  Samorin  the  measures  of  the  Portuguese 

(1)  Fariay  Sousa,  Port.  j9sia,  vol.  i.  (2)  Massed,  Hist.  Indica,  lib.  ii.cap.lv 


S48  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

in  India  were  totally  changed.  The  peaceful  system  of  Gama  was  laid 
aside :  the  maxims  of  mutual  advantage  gave  place  to  those  of  violence,  ol 
force,  and  of  fear;  and  commerce  was  established  by  the  sword.  Cabral, 
on  leaving  Calicut,  entered  into  a  negotiation  with  the  kings  of  Cochin, 
Cananor,  Onor,  Culan,  and  other  Indian  princes,  who  were  tributaries  of  the 
Samorin,  and  desirous  of  independency.  This  love  of  freedom  procured  the 
Portuguese  the  sovereignty  of  Malabar,  and  the  trade  of  India.  Cabral  pro- 
mised those  deluded  princes  support,  and  carried  their  ambassadors  to  the 
court  of  Lisbon,  where  such  political  steps  were  taken  as  rendered  success 
infallible.  A  force  was  sent  out  sufficient  to  combat  the  Samorin.  But  no 
prince  could  obtain  the  protection  of  Portugal  without  first  acknowledging 
himself  its  vassal,  permitting  a  fortress  to  be  erected  in  his  capital,  and  sell- 
ing his  commodities  to  its  subjects  at  their  own  price.  No  strange  merchant 
might  load  a  cargo,  till  the  Portuguese  were  served ;  nor  any  mariner  ravage 
those  seas,  but  with  their  passports.  They  were  the  terror  and  admiration 
of  the  East,  the  wonder  and  envy  of  the  West.  All  European  merchants 
soon  resorted  to  Lisbon  for  Indian  commodities  ;  because  they  could  there 
purchase  them  much  cheaper  than  at  Venice,  or  any  other  mart  to  which  they 
were  brought  by  the  way  of  Egypt.  And,  happily  for  Portugal,  the  Vene- 
tians were  then  sinking  under  the  pressure  of  the  league  of  Cambray. 

In  order  to  secure  and  render  perpetual  these  invaluable  advantages,  the 
chief  command  in  India  was  given  to  Alphonso  Albuquerque,  a  man  of  sin- 
gular sagacity  and  penetration,  and  equally  distinguished  by  his  military  and 
political  talents.  Albuquerque  was  no  sooner  invested  with  the  government, 
than  he  began  to  form  the  most  extensive  projects ;  many  of  which  he  exe- 
cuted, and  with  a  facility  that  is  altogether  incredible.  The  Arabs  settled  in 
India,  and  their  associates,  he  had  long  been  sensible,  were  the  only  power 
in  the  East  that  the  Portuguese  had  to  fear.  These  traders  had  secretly 
entered  into  a  league  with  the  Samorin,  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  and  the  Vene- 
tians, who  were  gainers  by  their  commerce,  and  whose  interest  it  was  to 
destroy  the  trade  of  Portugal.  The  furnishers  of  the  caravans,  and  naviga- 
tors of  the  Red  Sea,  were  the  natural  enemies  of  the  circumnavigators  of  the 
Cape.  Albuquerque  saw  it  early,  while  a  private  commander.  He  had 
therefore  done  every  thing  in  his  power  to  ruin  their  settlements  on  the  coast 
of  Arabia,  and  their  united  naval  force  had  received  a  signal  overthrow  in  the 
Indian  Ocean.  He  now  extended  his  views :  he  projected  nothing  less  than 
the  conquest  of  Ormus  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  of  Aden  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Red  Sea;  where  Portuguese  squadrons  stationed  might  command  the  trade 
of  Persia  and  of  Egypt. 

The  immediate  execution  of  these  projects  would  at  once  have  proved  fatal 
to  the  commerce  of  the  Arabs  and  their  allies  ;  but  Albuquerque,  upon  mature 
deliberation,  perceived  the  necessity  of  establishing  the  Portuguese  more 
fully  on  the  coast  of  Malabar,  before  he  divided  his  forces.  He  accordingly 
burnt  Calicut,  which  had  long  been  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  his  countrymen ; 
and  observing  that  the  Portuguese  had  yet  no  good  port  in  a  wholesome  air, 
where  they  might  refit  their  ships  and  recruit  their  seamen,  after  the  fatigues 
of  the  European  voyage,  he  resolved  to  procure  one.  He  found  that  Lisbon 
had  need  of  Goa. 

Goa,  which  rises  to  view  in  the  form  of  an  amphitheatre,  is  situated  towards 
the  middle  of  the  coast  of  Malabar,  in  an  island  detached  from  the  continent 
by  two  branches  of  a  river  that  throws  itself  into  the  sea  at  some  distance 
from  the  city,  after  having  formed  beneath  its  walls  one  of  the  finest  harbours 
in  the  world.  It  properly  belonged  to  the  king  of  Decan ;  but  a  Moor,  named 
Idalcan,  to  whom  the  government  of  it  had  been  intrusted,  had  rendered  him- 
self its  sovereign.  While  this  usurper  was  occupied  on  the  continent,  Albu- 
querque appeared  before  the  city,  and  carried  it  by  assault.(l)  It  was  after- 
ward recovered,  but  soon  retaken :  and  Goa  became  the  capital  of  the  Por- 
tuguese empire  in  India. 

(J)  Lafitau.    Hist,  du  Cony,  dcs  Port     Hist.  Gen.  des  Voyages,  torn.  I. 


LET.  LVII.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  349 

Albuquerque,  whose  ambition  was  boundless,  attempted  next  to  establish 
the  Portuguese  on  the  coast  of  Coromandel.  With  this  view  he  made  an 
attack  upon  Malacca,  situated  near  the  straits  of  Sincapore,  one  of  the 
richest  cities  in  India,  and  the  best  adapted  for  commerce.  It  was  the 
centre  of  the  trade  between  Japan,  China,  the  Spice  islands,  and  the  other 
Indian  ports.  When  Albuquerque  appeared  before  Malacca,  he  found  it  in 
a  posture  of  defence  :  and  a  new  obstacle  conspired  to  retard  his  progress. 
His  friend  Araujo  was  there  a  prisoner,  and  threatened  with  death  the 
moment  the  city  should  be  besieged.  Deliberating  how  to  act,  while  the  sen- 
timents of  friendship  and  ambition,  perhaps  of  duty,  struggled  in  his  breast, 
he  received  the  following  billet  from  Araujo :  "  Think  only  of  the  glory  and 
advantage  of  Portugal :  if  I  cannot  be  an  instrument  of  your  victory,  let 
me  not  retard  it."  The  place  was  carried  by  storm,  after  an  obstinate 
defence,  and  several  changes  of  fortune.  The  Portuguese  found  in  it  an 
immense  booty,  both  in  treasure  and  precious  commodities. (1)  Albuquerque, 
whose  heart  was  superior  to  the  charms  of  gold,  erected  a  citadel  to  secure 
his  conquest,  and  returned  to  Goa. 

The  friendship  of  the  Portuguese  was  now  courted  by  the  Samorin, 
Idalcan,  and  all  the  most  formidable  Indian  princes,  who  offered  to  permit 
fortresses  to  be  built,  and  factories  to  be  established  in  any  part  of  their 
dominions.  Albuquerque  did  not  fail  to  profit  by  these  offers ;  and  judging 
that  the  season  was  now  arrived  for  giving  the  final  blow  to  the  Arabian 
commerce  in  the  East,  he  embarked  in  his  original  projects,  the  conquests  of 
Aden  and  Ormus. 

In  his  attempt  upon  Aden,  which  was  then  the  key  of  Egypt,  Albuquerque 
miscarried :  but  he  committed  so  many  ravages  on  the  coasts  of  the  Red  Sea, 
and  in  the  straits  of  Babelmandel,  as  entirely  ruined  the  commerce  of  the 
Arabs  and  Egyptians.  He  was  more  successful  in  his  expedition  against 
Ormus,  at  that  time  the  most  opulent  and  splendid  city  in  the  East.  It 
appears  to  have  been  nothing  inferior  to  what  we  are  told  of  ancient  Tyre 
either  in  wealth  or  in  splendour,  in  industry  or  in  pleasure :  and,  like  Tyre,  if 
was  seated  in  a  barren  isle.  Like  Tyre,  it  seemed  only  to  have  been  dis- 
joined from  the  land,  that  it  might  become  queen  of  the  sea.  It  was  one  ot 
the  greatest  marts  in  the  universe.  But  its  voluptuous  inhabitants  were  little 
able  to  withstand  the  impetuous  and  hardy  valour  of  the  Portuguese.  Albu- 
querque soon  made  himself  master  of  the  place,  and  had  the  honour  of  there 
receiving  an  embassy  from  the  king  of  Persia. (2) 

The  reduction  of  Ormus,  which  was  the  last  enterprise  of  this  truly  great 
man,  together  with  the  possession  of  Goa  and  Malacca,  gave  perfect  secu- 
rity to  "the  Portuguese  commerce  in  India.  His  successors  afterward 
extended  it  into  China  and  Japan;  but  it  was  never  more  respectable  than 
under  Albuquerque.  Yet  this  founder  of  his  country's  greatness  died  in 
disgrace,  and  of  a  broken  heart,  if  ever  any  man  may  be  said  to  have  done  so. 
That  dauntless  spirit  which  had  encountered  so  many  enemies,  and  sur- 
mounted so  many  dangers,  could  not  support  the  frown  of  his  prince.  Em- 
manuel, become  jealous  of  his  glory,  had  listened  to  the  insinuations  of  his 
enemies ;  had  appointed  another  governor  in  his  stead ;  and  promoted  those 
whom  he  sent  home  as  criminals.  When  Albuquerque  received  this  intelli- 
gence, he  sighed  and  said,  "  Can  these  things  be  so?— I  incurred  the  hatred 
of  men  by  my  love  for  the  king,  arid  am  disgraced  by  him  through  his  pre- 
possession for  other  men :  to  the  grave,  unhappy  old  man !  to  the  grave  !— 
thy  actions  will  speak  for  themselves  and  for  thee."(3) 

While  the  Portuguese,  my  dear  Philip,  were  thus  employed  in  making 
acquisitions  in  the  East,  and  appropriating  to  themselves  the  most  lucrative 
commerce  in  the  known  world,  the  Spaniards  had  discovered  a  new  continent 
towards  the  West.  They  had  called  into  existence,  as  it  were,  another  world ; 

(1)  Lafitau.    Hist,  du  Cong,  des  Port.    Hist.  Gen.  des  Voyages,  torn.  i. 

(2)  Guyon.  Hist,  des  Ind.  Orient,  torn.  i.    Hist.  Gen.  des  royaget,  torn.  I 

(3)  Hist.  Gen.  des  Voyages,  torn.  i. 


350  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

had  opened  new  sources  of  trade;  expanded  new  theatres  of  dominion;  and 
displayed  new  scenes  of  ambition,  of  avarice,  and  of  blood. 

Christopher  Columbus,  a  Genoese  navigator,  who  resided  at  Lisbon,  and 
who  had  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  astronomy,  first  conceived  the  idea 
of  this  new  continent.  Perfectly  acquainted  with  the  figure  of  the  earth, 
the  notion  of  the  antipodes,  considered  by  reason  as  a  chimera,  and  by  reli- 
gion as  impiety,  appeared  to  him  an  incontestable  fact.  But  if  Columbus 
had  not  added  the  stout  heart  of  a  hero  to  the  enlightened  mind  and  perse- 
vering spirit  of  a  philosopher,  the  world  might  still  have  been  ignorant  of  his 
discoveries.  The  Genoese,  his  countrymen,  whom  he  proposed  to  put  in 
possession  of  another  hemisphere,  treated  him  as  a  visionary.  He  also  un- 
folded his  project,  the  grandest  that  human  genius  ever  formed,  in  1484,  to 
the  court  of  Portugal,  without  success.  He  next  laid  it  before  the  court  of 
Spain ;  where  he  long  suffered  all  that  supercilious  neglect  which  unsupported 
merit  so  often  meets  with  from  men  in  office,  who  are  too  apt  to  despise  what 
they  do  not  understand. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  then  engaged  in  the  conquest  of  Granada. 
The  Spanish  treasury  was  exhausted.  But  no  sooner  were  the  Moors  sub- 
dued, than  the  ambitious  mind  of  Isabella  seemed  to  sympathize  with  the  bold 
spirit  of  Columbus.  She  offered  to  pledge  her  jewels,  in  order  to  furnish  him 
with  a  fleet.  Three  small  vessels  were  fitted  out  by  other  means  ;  and  Co- 
lumbus set  sail  from  the  port  of  Palos,  in  Andalusia,  on  the  third  of  August, 
in  the  year  1492,  in  quest  of  a  Western  continent,  with  the  title  of  Admiral 
and  Viceroy  of  the  Isles  and  Lands  which  he  should  discover.(l) 

Transcendant  genius  and  superlative  courage  experience  almost  equal 
difficulty  in  carrying  their  designs  into  execution,  when  they  depend  on  the 
assistance  of  others.  Columbus  possessed  both — he  exerted  both ;  and  the 
concurrence  of  other  heads  and  other  hearts  were  necessary  to  give  success 
to  either ;  he  had  indolence  and  cowardice  to  encounter,  as  well  as  ignorance 
and  prejudice.  He  had  formerly  been  ridiculed  as  a  visionary,  he  was  now 
pitied  as  a  desperado.  The  Portuguese  navigators,  in  accomplishing  their 
first  discoveries,  had  always  some  reference  to  the  coast :  cape  had  pointed 
them  to  cape ;  but  Columbus,  with  no  land-mark  but  the  heavens,  nor  any 
guide  but  the  compass,  boldly  launched  into  the  ocean,  without  knowing  what 
shore  should  receive  him,  or  where  he  could  find  rest  for  the  sole  of  his  foot. 
His  crew  murmured — they  mutinied :  they  proposed  to  commit  him  to  those 
waves  with  which  he  so  wantonly  sported,  and  return  to  Spain. (2) 

This  was  a  severe  trial  to  the  courage  of  Columbus,  and  Columbus  only, 
perhaps,  could  have  supported  it.  The  enthusiasm  of  genius  added  strength 
to  his  natural  fortitude.  Cool  and  unconcerned  himself  about  every  thing  but 
his  great  object,  he  had  recourse  to  the  softest  language.  He  encouraged  his 
men  by  fair  promises,  he  deceived  his  officers  by  false  reckonings.  But  all 
these  expedients  proving  at  last  ineffectual,  he  demanded  three  days  in- 
dulgence ;  at  the  end  of  which,  if  he  did  not  discover  land,  he  promised  to 
abandon  his  project.  His  request  was  granted ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the 
second  day,  being  the  twelfth  of  October,  to  his  inexpressible  joy,  he  got  sight 
of  one  of  the  Bahama  islands,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  San  .Salvador. 
He  took  possession  of  it  in  the  name  of  their  Catholic  majesties  and  pro- 
ceeded on  his  course. (3) 

After  leaving  San  Salvador,  now  better  known  by  the  name  of  Guanahani, 
given  to  it  by  the  natives,  Columbus  fell  in  with  several  other  small  islands, 
to  one  of  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Isabella,  in  honour  of  his  patroness,  and 
to  another  that  of  Ferdinand,  in  compliment  to  the  Catholic  king.  These  he 
rightly  judged  to  belong  to  that  Western  continent  which  he  sought,  and 
which  he  conjectured  must  reach  to  the  Portuguese  settlements  in  India: 
hence  the  name  of  West  Indies.  At  length  he  arrived  at  the  island  of  Cuba, 
where  he  entered  into  some  correspondence  with  the  natives,  and  particularly 

(1)  Life  of  Columbus,  written  by  Ins  son,  cnap.  xv.  (2)  Ovicdo.  Hist  des  Ind.  Xk  iii. 

(3)  Life  of  Columbus,  chap,  xxiii. 


LET.  LVIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  351 

with  the  women,  from  whom  he  learned,  that  the  gold  ornaments  which  they 
wore  came  from  Bohio,  a  large  island  to  the  south-east.  Thither  Columbus 
steered :  what  heart  does  not  pant  after  gold 1  he  soon  reached  Bohio,  01 
Hayti,  as  it  was  called  by  the  natives,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Espag- 
nola,  altered  by  us  into  Hispaniola.  Here  Columbus  built  a  fort,  and  planted 
a  little  colony ;  after  which,  having  taken  a  general  survey  of  the  island, 
and  settled  a  friendly  intercourse  with  the  natives,  he  set  out  on  his  return  t« 
Spain,  carrying  along  with  him  a  sufficient  quantity  of  gold  to  evince  the  im 
portance  of  his  discoveries,  and  some  of  those  new  people  to  complete  the 
astonishment  of  Europe. 

The  natives  of  Hispaniola,  and  indeed  of  all  the  islands  which  Columbus 
had  visited,  were  an  easy,  indolent,  harmless  race.  They  were  of  a  coppei 
colour.  The  men  and  the  girls  were  entirely  naked :  the  women  had  a  mat 
of  cotten  wrapped  about  their  loins.  They  had  no  hair  on  any  part  of  theii 
body  but  the  head;  a  distinction  which  also  is  common  to  the  natives  of  the 
American  continent.  They  considered  the  Spaniards  as  divinities,  and  the  dis- 
charge of  the  artillery  as  their  thunder :  they  fell  on  their  faces  at  the  sound. 
The  women,  however,  seem  very  early  to  have  had  less  awful  apprehensions 
of  their  new  guests :  for  they  no  sooner  saw  them  than  they  offered  their 
favours,  and  courted  their  embraces  as  men.(l)  Some  wicked  wit  may  indeed 
say,  that  women  from  the  beginning  may  have  been  fond  of  superior  beings 
and  if  we  credit  ancient  story,  they  have  often  good  reason  for  such  fondness. 
But  be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  the  women  of  Hispaniola  were  fonder 
of  the  Spaniards  than  of  their  husbands.  Their  husbands  were  not  jealous 
of  them.  And  in  the  arms  of  those  wantons  the  companions  of  Columbus 
are  said  to  have  caught  that  fatal  malady  which  has  strewed  with  new  thorns 
the  paths  of  love ;  and  which,  if  human  happiness  is  to  be  computed  by  the 
oalance  of  pain  and  pleasure,  will  be  found  to  be  more  than  a  counterpoise  to 
all  the  gold  of  Mexico,  the  silver  of  Peru,  and  the  diamonds  of  Brazil. 

But  let  not  this  misfortune  be  brought  as  a  charge  against  the  great  navi- 
gator. He  could  not  know  that  the  new  hemisphere  contained  new  maladies  ; 
he  could  not  foresee,  that  he  should  import  into  Europe  a  distemper  that 
would  poison  the  springs  of  life ;  which  would  propagate  disease  from  gene- 
ration to  generation,  emasculate  the  vigour  of  nations,  and  multiply  a  thou- 
sand ways  the  miseries  of  mankind  '.—And,  happily  for  him,  his  enemies  were 
ignorant  of  it  at  his  return.  He  again  entered  the  port  of  Palos,  on  the 
fifteenth  of  March,  1493,  after  a  voyage  of  seven  months  and  eleven  days, 
and  was  received  with  universal  acclamations  of  joy.  Those  who  had  ridi- 
culed his  project,  were  the  readiest  to  pay  court  to  him.  He  was  ordered  into 
the  presence  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  desired  to  sit  covered  like  a 
grandee  of  Spain.  Royal  favour  beamed  upon  him  with  unremitting  bright- 
ness, and  the  church  loaded  him  with  its  benedictions.  Superstition  lent  its 
sanction  to  those  discoveries  which  had  been  made  in  its  defiance.  Pope 
Alexander  VI.  issued  a  bull,  granting  to  the  sovereigns  of  Spam  all  the  coun- 
tries which  they  had  discovered,  or  should  discover  a  hundred  leagues  to  the 
westward  of  the  Azores.  A  fleet  of  seventeen  sail  was  fitted  out  m  a  few 
months ;  and  Columbus,  vested  with  yet  more  extensive  powers,  and  furnished 
with  every  thing  necessary  for  discovery,  for  colonization,  or  for  conquest 
again  committed  himself  to  the  waves  in  quest  of  a  Western  Contment.(2) 

Great  things  were  expected  from  this  second  voyage;  and  many  new 
islands  were  discovered  ;  yet  it  ended  in  general  disappointment,  misfortune, 
and  disgust.  When  Columbus  arrived  at  Hispaniola,  with  a  multitude  of 
missionaries,  soldiers,  and  settlers,  he  found  the  fortresses  utterly  ruined,  and 
the  garrison  all  massacred.  They  had  drawn  upon  themselves  this  un- 
timely fate  by  their  arrogance,  licentiousness,  and  tyranny.  These  particu- 
lars he  learned  from  the  natives,  accompanied  with  such  marking  circum- 
stances, as  left  him  no  room  to  disbelieve  them.  He  therefore  entered  once 
more  into  friendly  correspondence  with  those  artless  people,  established  a  new 

(1)  Herrera,  dec.  i.  (2)  W  °f  Columbus,  chap,  xlii  xliii. 


S52  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  L 

colony,  and  built  the  town  of  Isabella — afterward  abandoned  for  that  of  St. 
Domingo,  which  became  the  capital  of  the  island.  His  next  care  was  to  dis- 
cover the  mines ;  near  which  he  erected  forts,  and  left  garrisons  to  protect 
the  labourers.  But  neither  the  wisdom  nor  humanity  of  this  great  man  were 
sufficient  to  preserve  order  among  his  followers,  or  to  teach  them  fellow- 
feeling.  They  roused  anew,  by  their  barbarities,  the  gentle  spirit  of  the 
natives ;  they  quarrelled  among  themselves ;  they  rose  against  their  com- 
mander. Mortified  by  so  many  untoward  circumstances,  Columbus  committed 
the  government  of  the  island  to  his  brother  Bartholomew,  and  returned  to 
Spain  in  1496,  with  some  samples  of  gold  dust  and  gold  ore,  pearls,  and  other 
precious  products,  after  having  a  second  time  attempted  in  vain  to  discover  a 
Western  Continent.  (1) 

Bartholomew  Columbus  suffered  many  hardships,  and  was  on  the  point  of 
sinking  under  the  mutineers,  before  he  received  any  assistance  from  the 
court  of  Spain ;  and  although  the  great  Christopher  was  able  to  clear  himself 
of  all  the  aspersions  of  his  enemies,  some  years  elapsed  before  he  could 
obtain  a  third  appointment  for  the  prosecution  of  his  favourite  project.  At 
last  a  small  fleet  was  granted  him,  and  he  discovered  the  continent  of  America, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Orinoco,  on  the  first  day  of  August,  in  the  year 
1498.  He  carried  off  six  of  the  natives,  and  returned  to  Hispaniola,  con- 
vinced that  he  had  now  reached  the  great  object  of  his  ambition. 

But  while  Columbus*  was  employed  in  reducing  to  obedience  the  mutineers 
in  that  island,  another  navigator  unjustly  took  from  him  the  honour  of  the 
discovery  of  the  Western  Continent.  The  merchants  of  Seville  having  ob- 
tained permission  to  attempt  discoveries,  as  private  adventurers,  sent  out 
four  ships  in  1499,  under  the  command  of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  who  had  accom- 
panied Columbus  in  his  second  voyage,  assisted  by  Americus  Vespucius,  a 
Florentine  gentleman  deeply  skilled  in  the  science  of  navigation.  This  fleet 
touched  on  the  part  of  the  Western  Continent  already  discovered  by  Columbus 
whose  tract  Ojeda  followed ;  and  Americus,  who  was  a  man  of  much  address, 
as  well  as  possessed  of  considerable  literary  talents,  by  publishing  the  first 
voyages  on  the  subject,  and  other  artful  means,  gave  his  name  to  the  New 
World,  in  prejudice  to  the  illustrious  Genoese. (2)  Mankind  are  now  become 
sensible  of  the  imposture,  but  time  has  sanctified  the  error ;  and  the  great 
Western  Continent,  or  fourth  division  of  the  globe,  so  long  unknown  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  still  continues  to  be  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  AMERICA. 

This,  however,  was  but  a  small  misfortune  in  comparison  of  what  Columbus 
was  doomed  to  suffer.  His  enemies  having  prevailed  at  the  court  of  Madrid, 
a  new  governor  was  sent  out  to  Hispaniola.  The  great  discoverer  and  his 
brother  were  loaded  with  irons,  and  sent  home  in  that  condition,  in  different 
ships.  Touched  with  sentiments  of  veneration  and  pity,  Vallejo,  captain  of 
the  vessels  on  board  of  which  the  admiral  was  confined,  approached  his  pri- 
soner with  profound  respect,  as  soon  as  he  was  clear  of  the  island,  and  offered 
to  strike  off  the  fetters  with  which  he  was  unjustly  bound.  "  No,  Vallejo  !"— 
replied  Columbus,  with  a  ge'nerous  indignation,  "  I  wear  these  fetters  in  con- 
sequence of  an  order  from  my  sovereigns.  They  shall  find  me  as  obedient  to 
this,  as  to  all  their  other  injunctions.  By  their  command  I  have  been  confined, 
and  their  command  alone  shall  set  me  at  liberty."(3) 

The  Spanish  ministry  were  ashamed  of  the  severity  of  their  creature, 
Bovadilla:  Columbus  was  set  at  liberty  on  his  arrival,  and  a  fourth  command 
granted  him  in  1502,  for  the  prosecution  of  farther  discoveries.  But  this 
expedition  did  not  prove  more  fortunate  than  the  former;  for  although  Colum- 
bus touched  at  several  parts  of  the  American  continent,  where  he  exchanged 
trinkets  for  gold  and  pearls,  to  a  considerable  amount,  he  failed  in  an  attempt 
to  establish  a  colony  on  the  river  Yebra  or  Belem,  in  the  province  of  Veragua, 
and  lost  every  thing  in  his  course  home.  He  was  shipwrecked  on  the  island 
of  Jamaica :  his  followers  mutinied ;  and,  after  being  alternately  in  danger  of 

(1)  Herrera,  dec.  i.  lib.  iii.  (2)  Herrera,  dec.  i.  lib.  tv 

13)  Life  of  Celumbui,  chap,  xxxiii. 


LET.  LVIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  353 

perishing  by  hunger,  or  by  violence,  he  arrived  in  Spain  in  1505,  to  experience 
a  more  severe  fate  than  either.(l)  Queen  Isabella  was  dead  at  his  return. 
With  her  all  his  hopes  of  future  favour  perished.  The  court  received  him 
coldly.  His  services  were  too  great  for  humility  :  his  proud  heart  disdained 
to  sue,  and  his  aspiring  spirit  could  not  submit  to  neglect.  He  retired  to 
Valadolid,  where  he  was  suffered  to  fall  a  martyr  to  the  ingratitude  of  that 
monarch,  to  whom  he  had  given  the  West  Indies,  and  for  whom  he  had  opened 
a  passage  into  a  richer  and  more  extensive  empire  than  was  ever  subdued  by 
the  Roman  arms.  He  died  with  firmness  and  composure  on  the  20th  of  May. 
1506,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age. (2) 

There  is  something  in  true  genius  which  seems  to  be  essentially  connected 
with  humanity.  Don  Henry,  Gama,  and  Columbus  prosecuted  their  disco- 
veries upon  the  most  liberal  principles, — those  of  mutual  advantage ;  they 
sought  to  benefit,  not  to  destroy,  their  species.  After  the  death  of  Columbus, 
the  maxims  of  Spain,  like  those  of  Portugal,  became  altogether  bloody. 
Religion,  avarice,  and  violence  walked  hand  in  hand.  The  cross  was  held 
up  as  an  object  of  worship  to  those  who  had  never  heard  of  the  name  of  Jesus : 
and  millions  were  deliberately  butchered,  for  not  embracing  tenets  which  they 
could  not  understand,  not  delivering  treasures  which  they  did  not  possess,  or 
not  suffering  oppressions  which  man  was  never  born  to  bear,  and  which  his 
nature  cannot  sustain. (3) 

The  leader  who  pursued  these  new  maxims  with  least  violence  to  huma- 
nity, and  most  advantage  to  his  country,  was  Fernando  Cortez,  the  conqueror 
of  Mexico.  Before  the  discovery  of  that  rich  and  powerful  empire,  the  Spa- 
nish colonies  of  Hispaniola,  Cuba,  Jamaica,  and  Porto  Rico  were  in  a  flou- 
rishing  condition :  frequent  expeditions  had  been  made  to  the  continent,  tne 
settlements  established  in  Castello  del  Oro  and  the  isthmus  of  Darien.  At 
last  a  descent  was  made  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  information  received  of 
the  opulence  and  grandeur  of  the  emperor  Montezuma  and  his  capital. 
Velasquez,  governor  of  Cuba,  to  whom  this  intelligence  was  communicated, 
immediately  resolved  upon  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and  committed  to  Cortez, 
an  officer  hitherto  more  distinguished  by  his  merit  than  his  rank,  the  execu- 
tion of  the  enterprise :  and  that  gallant  soldier  accomplished,  what  appears 
too  bold  even  for  fiction,  the  overthrow  of  an  empire  that  could  send  millions 
tnto  the  field,  with  so  small  a  force  as  five  hundred  men.(4) 

A  success  so  unexampled,  in  an  unknown  country,  must  have  been  accom- 
panied with  many  favourable  circumstances,  independent  of  the  ability  of 
the  general,  the  courage  of  the  troops,  and  even  the  superiority  of  weapons. 
Some  of  these  we  know.  When  Cortez  landed  with  his  little  army  on  the 
coast  of  Mexico,  he  met  with  a  Spanish  captive,  who  understood  the  dialect 
of  tne  country,  and  whose  ransom  he  obtained.  He  also  formed  an  intimacy 
with  a  fair  American  named  Marina,  who  soon  learned  the  Castilian  language, 
and  became  both  his  mistress  and  his  counsellor.  Her  attachment  commu- 
nicated itself  to  all  the  Mexican  women,  who  were  generally  neglected  by 
their  husbands  for  the  most  abominable  of  all  debaucheries;  that  which  per- 
verts the  animal  instinct,  confounds  the  distinction  of  sex,  and  defeats  the 
leading  purpose  of  nature.  While  the  men  opposed  their  naked  breasts  to 
the  weapons  of  the  Spaniards,  fell  by  their  blows, 'or  fled  from  their  fury,  the 
women  every  where  flew  to  their  embrace,  rioted  in  their  arms,  and  ren- 
dered them  all  the  services  in  their  power. 

To  these  fortunate  occurrences  may  be  added,  the- arrival  of  the  ambassa- 
dors of  Montezuma,  who  endeavoured,  by  presents,  to  engage  the  invaders  to 
:e-embark.  The  delay  which  this  negotiation  produced  was  of  infinite  service 
10  Cortez.  An  army,  instead  of  an  embassy,  on  his  first  landing,  might  have 
•uined  him.  He  replied,  by  his  female  interpreter,  who  best  understood  the 
Wxican  tongue,  that  he  was  only  an  ambassador  himself,  and,  as  such,  could 

(1)  Lift  of  Columbus,  chap,  buutix.  xc.  xci. 

(2)  Ibid.  cbap.  cviii.    Herrera,  dec.  i.  lib.  vi 

3)  Relation  de  Destrvya  de  las  Indias.  oar  Bart,  de  Ias_Casa». 
i4>  De  Soils,  lib.  ii.    Herrera,  dec.  iU 
Vot  J— Z 


354  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

not  depart  without  an  audience  of  the  emperor.  This  answer  put  the  ambas- 
sadors of  Montezuma  to  a  stand.  They  reported  U  to  the  emperor.  He 
was  alarmed  at  the  request.  They  redoubled  their  presents :  they  employed 
persuasions,  but  to  no  purpose.  Cortez  was  inflexible.  At  last  they  had 
recourse  to  threats,  according  to  their  instructions,  and  talked  loudly  of  the 
forces  and  treasures  of  their  country.  "  These,"  said  Cortez,  turning  to  his 
companions,  "  these  are  what  we  seek ;  great  perils,  and  great  riches." 
Stronger  motives  could  not  have  been  offered  to  needy  adventurers,  burning 
with  the  spirit  of  chivalry  and  the  lust  of  plunder.  Their  leader  saw  con- 
quest in  their  looks ;  and  having  now  received  the  necessary  informations, 
and  prepared  himself  against  all  hazards,  he  boldly  inarched  towards  the  seat 
of  the  empire.(l) 

The  Spanish  general,  however,  though  so  little  diffident  of  his  own  strength, 
prudently  negotiated  with  such  princes  and  states  as  he  found  to  be  ene- 
mies of  the  Mexicans.  Among  these  the  most  powerful  was  the  republic  of 
Tlascala.  Cortez  proposed  an  alliance  to  the  senate.  It  divided  upon  the 
subject :  but  at  last  came  to  a  resolution,  not  only  to  deny  assistance  to  the 
Spaniards,  but  to  oppose  them.  This  resolution  had  almost  proved  fatal  to 
Cortez  and  his  enterprise.  The  Tlascalans  were  a  brave  people,  and  brought 
a  formidable  army  into  the  field ;  but  by  the  help  of  firearms,  artillery,  and 
cavalry,  to  these  republicans  above  all  things  tremendous,  the  Spaniards, 
after  repeated  struggles,  were  enabled  to  humble  them.  They  saw  their 
mistake,  entered  into  a  treaty  with  Cortez,  and  were  highly  serviceable  in 
his  future  operations. 

The  invaders  now  advanced  without  interruption  to  the  gates  of  Mexico. 
Montezuma  was  all  irresolution  and  terror.  That  mighty  emperor,  whose 
treasures  were  immense,  and  whose  sway  was  absolute ;  who  was  lord  ovei 
thirty  princes,  each  of  whom  could  bring  a  numerous  army  into  the  field, 
was  so  intimidated  by  the  defeat  of  the  Tlascalans,  that  he  wanted  resolu* 
tion  to  strike  a  blow  in  defence  of  his  dignity.  The  haughty  potentate,  who 
had  ordered  Cortez  to  depart  his  coast,  introduced  him  into  his  capital.  In- 
stead of  making  use  of  force  he  had  recourse  to  perfidy.  While  he  professed 
friendship  to  the  Spanish  general,  he  sent  an  army  to  attack  the  Spanish 
colony,  newly  settled  at  Vera  Cruz,  and  yet  in  a  feeble  condition.  Cortez 
received  intelligence  of  this  breach  of  faith,  and  took  one  of  the  boldest 
resolutions  ever  formed  by  man.  He  immediately  proceeded  to  the  impe- 
rial palace,  accompanied  by  five  of  his  principal  officers  ;  and  arrested  Mon- 
tezuma as  his  prisoner ;  carried  him  off  to  the  Spanish  quarters  ;  made  him 
deliver  to  punishment  the  officer  who  had  acted  by  his  orders,  and  publicly 
acknowledge  himself,  in  the  seat  of  his  power,  the  vassal  of  the  king  of 
Spain.(2) 

In  the  height  of  these  successes  Cortez  was  informed  that  a  new  general, 
sent  by  the  governor  of  Cuba,  was  arrived  with  a  superior  force  to  supplant 
him  in  the  command,  and  reap  the  fruits  of  his  victories.  He  marched 
against  his  rival :  he  defeated  him ;  he  took  him  prisoner ;  and  the  van- 
quished army,  gained  by  the  magnanimity  and  confidence  of  the  victor, 
ranged  themselves  under  his  standard.  Thus  reinforced,  by  an  occur- 
rence which  threatened  the  extinction  of  his  hopes,  he  returned  with  rapidity  to 
the  city  of  Mexico,  where  he  found  full  occasion  for  this  accession  of  strength. 
The  Mexicans  were  all  in  arms,  and  had  surrounded  the  party  which 
Cortez  had  left  to  guard  the  emperor.  This  insurrection  was  occasioned  by 
tl.e  avarice  and  intemperate  zeal  of  the  Spaniards ;  who,  on  a  solemn  festi- 
val in  honour  of  the  gods  of  the  country,  had  massacred  two  thousand  of  the 
Mexican  nobles,  under  pretence  of  a  secret  conspiracy,  and  stripped  them  of 
their  precious  ornaments.  The  spirit  of  the  people  was  roused  :  they  were 
incensed  at  the  confinement  of  their  prince ;  they  were  filled  with  holy  in- 
dignation at  the  insult  offered  to  the  gods,  and  they  longed  to  revenge  the 
fate  of  their  nobility.  Cortez  found  it  difficult  to  resist  their  fury.'  They 

'11  Herren  dec.  il.    De  Solig,  lib.  Hi.  ir.  '*>  De  Soils,  lib.  iv.    Herrera,  dec.  ii. 


LET.  LVII.]  MODERNEUROPE.  355 

permitted  him,  however,  to  join  his  detachment,  though  not  from  motiv^- 
of  friendship  or  generosity :  they  hoped  to  involve  the  whole  body  of  th 
Spaniards  in  one  undistinguished  ruin.  "  We  have  discovered,"  said  they, 
"that  you  are  not  immortal;  and  although  the  death  of  every  Spaniard 
should  cost  us  a  thousand  lives,  we  are  determined  to  complete  your  de- 
struction. After  so  great  a  slaughter,  there  will  still  remain  a  sufficient 
number  to  celebrate  the  victory."(l) 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  the  Mexicans  attacked  the  Spanish 
quarters  with  incredible  bravery.  They  were  several  times  repulsed,  and 
as  often  returned  to  the  charge  with  undiminished  ardour.  They  devoted 
themselves  cheerfully  to  death ;  boldly  advanced  in  the  face  of  the  artillery ; 
threw  themselves  in  crowds  upon  the  musketry,  and  fearlessly  grappled 
the  mouths  of  the  guns  in  attempting  to  ascend  the  fortifications.  Monte- 
zuma  judged  this  a  favourable  opportunity  for  obtaining  his  freedom  and 
the  departure  of  the  Spaniards.  On  those  conditions  he  consented  to  em- 
ploy his  good  offices  with  his  people.  He  showed  himself  on  the  ramparts, 
clad  in  his  royal  robes,  and  endeavoured  to  induce  the  multitude  to  retire. 
They  at  first  seemed  overawed  by  the  presence  of  their  sovereign,  and 
ready  to  obey  his  commands ;  but  suddenly  recollecting  the  pusillanimity 
of  his  behaviour,  their  love  was  changed  into  hate,  their  veneration  into  con- 
tempt, and  a  stone,  launched  by  an  indignant  arm,  at  once  deprived  Monte- 
zuma  of  the  empire  and  his  life.(2) 

That  accident  gave  sincere  concern  to  Cortez,  and  was  a  real  misfortune  to 
the  Spaniards.  The  successor  of  Montezuma  was  a  fierce  and  warlike  prince, 
and  resolutely  determined  to  support  the  independency  of  his  country.  Cortgz, 
after  several  ineffectual  struggles,  found  himself  under  the  necessity  of  quit- 
ting the  city.  The  Mexicans  harassed  him  in  his  retreat ;  they  took  from 
him  all  his  baggage  and  treasure ;  and  they  engaged  him  in  the  field,  before 
he  had  time  to  recruit  his  forces,  with  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand 
men.  The  ensigns  of  various  nations  waved  in  the  air,  and  the  imperial 
standard  of  massy  gold  was  displayed.  Now  was  the  time  for  heroism ;  and 
stronger  proofs  of  it  were  never  exhibited  than  in  the  valley  of  Otumba. 
"  Death  or  victory !"  was  the  charge,  and  the  resolution  of  every  Spaniard. 
The  Mexicans  were  soon  broken,  and  a  terrible  slaughter  ensued ;  but  fresh 
crowds  still  pressing  on,  supplied  the  place  of  the  slain,  and  the  Spaniards 
must  have  sunk  under  the  fatigue  of  continual  fighting,  had  not  Cortez,  by  a 
happy  presence  of  mind,  put  an  end  to  the  dispute,  and  rendered  the  victory 
decisive.  He  rushed,  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry,  towards  the  imperial  stan- 
dard, closed  with  the  Mexican  general  who  guarded  it,  and  at  one  stroke  of 
his  lance  tumbled  him  out  of  his  litter.  The  standard  was  seized,  and  the 
consequence  proved  as  Cortez  had  expected :  the  Mexicans  threw  down  their 
arms,  and  fled  with  precipitation  and  terror.  (3) 

This  victory,  and  the  assistance  of  the  Tlascalans,  encouraged  Cortez  to 
undertake  the  siege  of  Mexico :  and  another  fortunate  circumstance  enabled 
him  to  complete  his  conquest.  The  new  emperor  Guatimozin  was  taken 
prisoner  in  attempting  to  make  his  escape  out  of  his  capital,  in  order  to  rouse 
to  arms  the  distant  provinces  of  his  dominions.  The  metropolis  surrendered, 
and  the  whole  empire  submitted  to  the  Spaniards. 

The  city  of  Mexico  is  represented  as  one  of  the  most  striking  monuments 
of  human  grandeur.  Its  spacious  squares,  its  sumptuous  palaces,  its  magni- 
ficent temples,  are  pompously  displayed  by  the  Spanish  historians;  but  we 
must  not  give  entire  credit  to  those  splendid  descriptions.  The  mechanical 
arts  could  not  be  carried  to  great  perfection  in  a  country  where  the  use  of  iron 
was  unknown ;  nor  could  the  sciences  or  liberal  arts  be  cultivated  with  suc- 
cess among  a  people  ignorant  of  letters.  The  hieroglyphics  which  the  Mex- 
icans are  said  to  have  made  use  of  for  communicating  their  ideas,  could  but 
imperfectly  answer  that  end,  in  comparison  of  general  symbols  or  signs ; 

(1)  De  Soils,  lib.  iv.     Herrera,  dec.  ii. 

(2)  Herrera,  dec.  ii.  lib.  viii.    De  Soils,  lib  iv.  cap.  xiv.  xv.          (3)  De  Sohs,  hb.  iv.  cap. «. 

Z  2 


356  THE   HISTORY    OF  [PART  1 

and  without  a  facile  method  of  recording  past  transactions,  and  of  preserv- 
ing our  own  thoughts  and  those  of  others,  society  can  never  make  any  con- 
siderable progress.  The  ferocious  religion  of  the  Mexicans  is  another  proof 
of  their  barbarity ;  for  although  we  frequently  find  absurd  ceremonies  prevail 
among  polished  nations,  we  seldom  or  never  meet  with  those  that  are  cruel. 
Civilized  man  has  a  feeling  for  man.  Human  blood  was  profusely  spilled  upon 
the  altars  of  the  Mexican  gods  :  and,  if  we  believe  the  most  respectable 
Spanish  historians,  human  flesh  (though  only  that  of  enemies)  was  greedily 
devoured  both  by  the  priests  and  the  people.  Enormous  superstition  and  ex- 
cessive despotism  always  go  hand  in  hand.  When  the  mind  is  enslaved,  it  is 
easy  to  enslave  the  body.  Montezuma  was  the  most  absolute  sovereign  upon 
earth,  and  his  subjects  the  most  abject  slaves. 

The  conquest  of  Mexico  was  followed  by  that  of  Peru,  another  country  in 
the  New  World,  abounding  yet  more  in  precious  metals. 

Peru  had  long  been  governed  by  a  race  of  emperors,  under  the  name  of 
Incas,  who  were  supposed  to  be  the  descendants  of  the  Sun.  The  name  of 
the  Spanish  invader  was  Pizarro,  and  that  of  the  Inca  in  possession  of  the 
crown  Atahualpa.  Alarmed  at  the  ravages  of  the  Spaniards,  this  prince 
agreed  to  an  interview  with  their  general,  in  order  to  settle  the  conditions  of 
a  peace.  Though  Pizarro  solicited  the  conference,  he  had  no  thoughts  but  of 
war.  The  Inca,  it  is  said,  was  not  more  sincere  in  his  professions.  He  came 
to  the  place  of  meeting  carried  upon  a  throne  of  gold,  and  attended  by  up- 
wards of  ten  thousand  men :  twenty  thousand  more  are  reported  to  have 
waited  his  signal ;  but  for  this  report,  or  the  insincerity  of  the  Inca,  there 
sijems  to  have  been  no  foundation  in  fact.  All  the  Peruvians  were  richly 
dressed,  and  their  arms  glittered  with  gold  and  precious  stones.  The  avarice 
of  the  Spaniards  was  inflamed.  Pizarro  disposed  his  followers,  who  did  not 
exceed  two  hundred,  in  the  most  advantageous  order,  while  Vincenti  Val- 
verde,  a  Dominican  friar,  advanced  towards  Atahualpa,  with  a  crucifix  in  one 
hand  and  a  breviary  in  the  other.  He  addressed  to  the  Inca,  by  the  help  of 
an  interpreter,  a  long  discourse,  unfolding  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  pressing  him  to  embrace  that  religion,  and  submit  himself  to  the 
king  of  Spain,  to  whom  the  pope  had  given  Peru.  Atahualpa,  who  had 
listened  with  a  good  deal  of  patience,  replied  thus  to  his  pious  admonisher : 
"  How  extravagant  is  it  m  the  pope,  to  give  away  so  liberally  that  which  doth 
not  belong  to  him  ! — He  is  inferior,  you  own,  to  God  the  Father,  to  God  the 
Son,  and  to  God  the  Holy  Ghost :  these  are  all  your  gods  :  and  the  gods  only 
can  dispose  of  kingdoms.  I  should  like  to  be  a  friend  to  the  king  of  Spain, 
who  has  sufficiently  displayed  his  power  by  sending  armies  to  such  distant 
countries ;  but  I  will  not  be  his  vassal.  I  owe  tribute  to  no  mortal  prince : 
I  know  no  superior  upon  earth.  The  religion  of  my  ancestors  I  venerate  : 
and  to  renounce  it  would  be  equally  absurd  and  impious,  until  you  have 
convinced  me  it  is  false,  and  that  yours,  which  you  would  have  me  embrace, 
is  true.  You  adore  a  God  who  died  upon  a  gibbet ;  I  worship  the  Sun,  who 
never  dies." 

"  Vengeance  !" — cried  Valverde,  turning  towards  the  Spaniards ; — "  ven- 
geance !  my  friends  ; — kill  these  dogs  who  despise  the  religion  of  the  cross."(l) 

The  word  of  command  was  given ;  the  artillery  played ;  the  musketry 
fired ;  the  cavalry  spread  confusion  and  terror  ;  while  Pizarro  advanced  at 
the  head  of  a  chosen  band,  and  seized  the  person  of  the  Inca.  The  slaughter 
was  dreadful,  and  the  pillage  immense.  The  blow  was  final :  Peru  ceased  to 
be  an  empire.  The  descendants  of  the  Sun,  who  united  in  their  person  both 
the  regal  and  pontifical  dignity,  sunk  under  a  set  of  banditti  that  knew  not 
their  birth.  After  draining  Atahualpa  of  his  treasure,  under  pretence  of  a 
ransom  for  his  liberty,  Pizarro  condemned  him  to  be  burnt  alive,  as  an  obsti- 
nate idolater.  But  through  the  mediation  of  father  Valverde,  blessed  inter- 
cessor !  the  Inca's  sentence  was  changed  into  strangling,  on  condition  that 
he  should  die  in  the  Christian  faith  !(2) 

U)  Bensoni,  Hist.  Jfov.  Orb.  lib.  iii.    Herrera,  dec. HI.    Zarete.  Mb.  iii.   Garcilasso,  lib.  I.      (2)  Id. ibid 


LET.  LVII.'  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  (J  R  O  P  E.  .'-  i>7 

The  conquest  of  Mexico  and  Peru  put  the  Spaniards  at  once  in  possession 
of  more  specie  than  all  the  other  nations-  of  Europe.  Yet  Spain  from  that 
era  has  continued  to  decline.  It  has  declined  in  population,  industry,  and 
vigour.  The  vices  attendant  upon  riches  have  corrupted  all  ranks  of  men, 
and  enervated  the  national  spirit.  From  being  the  first  kingdom  in  Europe, 
it  has  become  one  of  the  less  considerable.  Portugal  has  experienced  a  like 
fate,  since  the  discovery  of  the  passage  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
and  the  settlement  of  Brazil ;  and  from  the  same  cause,  a  too  great  and  sudden 
influx  of  wealth. 

These  reflections  naturally  lead  us  to  inquire,  "  How  far  the  discoveries 
of  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards  have  been  advantageous  to  Europe,  or 
beneficial  to  mankind  ?"  The  subject  is  complicated,  and  will  best  be 
illustrated  by  the  sequel  of  events,  and  the  ideas  suggested  by  such  a  train 
of  particulars.  Meanwhile  I  shall  observe,  that  writers  in  general  are  wrong 
in  ascribing  to  those  discoveries  our  present  improvements  in  commerce 
and  civilization.  Commerce  and  civilization  v\-ere  fast  advancing  in  Europe 
before  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  and  this  quarter  of  the  globe 
would  have  been  nearly  in^e  situation  in  which  we  now  find  it,  though  no 
such  discoveries  had  been  made.  We  should  not  indeed  have  had  so  much 
specie,  but  we  should  have  had  less  occasion  for  it:  the  price  of  labour 
would  have  been  lower,  and  would  have  borne  the  same  proportion  to  the 
price  of  provisions,  which  would  have  answered  the  purpose  of  a  larger 
quantity  of  circulating  money.  Our  resources  in  war  would  have  been 
fewer;  but  our  real  strength  might  perhaps  have  been  greater,  as  we  should 
not  have  had  occasion  to  colonize  and  combat  at  both  extremities  of  the 
globe. 

it  must,  however,  be  owned,  that  the  passage  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
in  the  first  instance,  has  been  of  singular  service  to  the  general  commerce  of 
Europe.  Our  trade  with  India  was  formerly  conducted  by  means  of  the 
Arabs,  who,  consequently,  had  a  share  in  the  profits :  it  is  now  entirely  carried 
on  by  Europeans.  European  ships  and  European  sailors  import  the  commo- 
dities of  the  East  into  our  harbours.  But  in  balance  of  this  advantage,  the 
new  passage,  by  being  open  to  every  nation,  has  increased  the  taste  for  Indian 
commodities,  and  whetted  the  avarice  of  man.  It  has  made  the  nations  of 
Europe  massacre  one  another  in  the  South  of  Asia,  and  rob  and  murder  the 
industrious  natives,  without  feeling  or  remorse ;  while  it  has  hurt  the  European 
manufacturer,  by  furnishing  foreign  fabrics  of  superior  quality,  at  a  lower 
price  than  he  can  afford  to  sell.  It  has  encouraged  a  losing  trade ;  for  stfch, 
in  general,  that  with  India  must  be  accounted;  a  trade  which  continues  to 
drain  Europe  of  its  bullion  and  specie,  the  commodities  of  the  East  being 
chiefly  purchased  with  gold  and  silver. 

The  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru  are  necessary  to  supply  that  drain.  So  far 
the  discovery  of  America  must  be  accounted  a  good,  or  at  least  the  palliation 
of  an  evil.  Besides,  the  colonies  established  on  the  continent,  and  in  the 
islands  of  America,  depend  chiefly  upon  Europe  for  their  manufactures,  and 
furnish  an  honest  and  comfortable  maintenance  to  millions  of  our  people, 
who  must  otherwise  have  wanted  bread,  or  have  lived  in  the  lowest  state  of 
wretchedness.  In  this  view,  America  is  favourable  both  to  industry  and 
population.  These  are  solid  advantages;  and  the  superabundance  of  the 
precious  metals  alone  could  make  Spain  and  Portugal  overlook  them.  They 
are  poor  amid  their  treasures ;  while  other  nations,  profiting  by  their  indo- 
lence, grow  wealthy  by  supplying  their  wants.  The  labour  of  a  people  is 
the  only  desirable  source  of  their  riches,  and  the  only  certain  road  to  their 
felicity;  though  mankind,  in  general,  are  so  ignorant  as  to  suppose,  that 
they  should  be  happier  without  toil. 

The  discovery  of  America  has  increased  the  labour  of  Europe,  and  conse- 
quently its  happiness,  collectively  considered.  It  has  also  increased  the 
number  of  the  civilized  part  of  the  human  species,  by  opening  a  boundless 
region  for  the  planting  of  European  colonies ;  which  have  greatly  flourished 
in  many  parts,  and  supplied  the  inhabitants  of  the  mother-countries  with  a, 


S58  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

variety  of  commodities,  formerly  unknown,  that  contribute  to  the  more  com- 
fortable enjoyment  of  life,  and  to  'the  extension  of  trade.  But  the  violent 
means  by  which  those  colonies  were  generally  established,  and  the  outrages 
which  continue  to  be  exercised  against  the  injured  natives,  as  often  as  they 
attempt  to  reinstate  themselves  in  their  original  rights,  together  with  the 
brutal  slavery  to  which  another  race  of  men  are  condemned,  in  order  to 
cultivate  the  lands  so  unjustly  seized  and  held,  are  circumstances  over 
which  humanitiy  must  ever  mourn,  and  which  the  heart  of  every  lover  of  his 
species  will  tell  him  no  commercial,  no  political  motives  can  authorize  or 
vindicate. 

We  must  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  the  line  of  general  history,  and 
enter  upon  that  important  era,  when  all  the  great  powers  on  the  European 
continent  made  a  trial  of  their  strength  in  Italy ;  when  religion  united  with 
ambition  to  give  new  energy  to  the  sword ;  when  creeds,  no  less  than  king- 
doms, became  the  source  of  war ;  and  fire  and  fagot  were  employed  to  en- 
force human  belief. 


LETTER  LVIII. 

#  general  View  of  the  Affairs  of  Europe  from  the  Election  of  Charles  V, 
in  1519,  till  the  Peace  of  Cambray,  in  1529,  including  the  Progress  of  the 
Reformation. 

THOUGH  Maximilian  could  not  prevail  upon  the  German  electors  to  choose 
his  grandson  of  Spain  king  of  the  Romans,  he  had  disposed  their  minds  in 
favour  of  that  prince :  and  other  circumstances,  on  the  death  of  the  emperor, 
conspired  to  the  exaltation  of  Charles.  The  imperial  crown  had  so  long 
continued  in  the  Austrian  line,  that  it  began  to  be  considered  as  hereditary  in 
that  family ;  and  Germany,  torn  by  religious  disputes,  stood  in  need  of  a 
powerful  emperor,  not  only  to  preserve  its  own  internal  tranquillity,  but 
also  to  protect  it  against  the  victorious  arms  of  the  Turks,  who,  under  Selim 
I.,  threatened  the  liberties  of  Europe.  This  fierce  and  rapid  conqueror, 
had  already  subdued  the  Mamalukes,  a  barbarous  militia  that  had  dismem- 
bered the  empire  of  the  Arabs,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  Egypt 
and,  Syria.  The  power  of  Charles  appeared  necessary  to  oppose  that  of 
Selim.  The  extensive  dominions  of  the  house  of  Austria,  which  gave  him 
an  interest  in  the  preservation  of  Germany;  the  rich  sovereignty  of  the- 
Netherlands  and  Franche-Comte ;  the  entire  possession  of  the  great  and  war- 
like kingdom  of  Spain,  together  with  that  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  all  united  to 
hold  him  up  to  the  first  dignity  among  Christian  princes :  and  the  New  World 
seemed  only  to  be  called  into  existence,  that  its  treasures  might  enable  him 
to  defend  Christendom*  against  the  Infidels.  Such  was  the  language  of  his 
partisans. 

Francis  I.,  however,  no  sooner  received  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Maxi- 
milian than  he  declared  himself  a  candidate  for  the  empire ;  and  with  no  less 
confidence  of  success  than  Charles.  He  trusted  to  his  superior  years  and 
experience,  with  his  great  reputation  in  arms,  acquired  by  the  victory  at 
Marignan,  and  the  conquest  of  Milan.  And  it  was  farther  urged  in  his  favour, 
that  the  impetuosity  of  the  French  cavalry,  added  to  the  firmness  of  the 
German  infantry,  would  prove  irresistible ;  and  not  only  be  sufficient,  under  a 
warlike  emperor,  to  set  limits  to  the  ambition  of  Selim,  but  to  break  entirely 
the  Ottoman  power,  and  prevent  it  from  ever  becoming  dangerous  again  to 
Germany. 

Both  claims  were  plausible.  The  dominions  of  Francis  were  less  exten- 
sive but  more  united  than  those  of  Charles.  His  subjects  were  numerous, 
active,  brave,  lovers  of  glory,  and  lovers  of  their  king.  These  were  strong 
arguments  in  favour  of  his  power,  so  necessary  at  this  juncture ;  but  he  had 
no  natural  interest  in  the  Germanic  body  and  the  electors,  hearing  so  much 


LET.  LV111.)  MODERN   EUROPE.  359 

of  military  force  on  each  side,  became  more  alarmed  for  their  own  privileges 
than  the  common  safety.  They  determined  to  reject  both  candidates,  and 
offered  the  imperial  crown  to  Frederic,  surnamed  the  Wise,  duke  of  Saxony. 
But  he,  undazzled  by  the  splendour  of  an  object  courted  with  so  much  eager- 
ness by  two  mighty  monarchs,  rejected  it  with  a  magnanimity  no  less  singular 
than  great. 

"  In  times  of  tranquillity,"  said  Frederic,  "  we  wish  for  an  emperor  who 
has  no  power  to  invade  our  liberties ;  times  of  danger  demand  one  who  is  able 
to  secure  our  safety.  The  Turkish  armies,  led  by  a  warlike  and  victorious 
monarch,  are  now  assembling :  they  are  ready  to  pour  in  upon  Germany  with 
a  violence  unknown  in  former  ages.  New  conjunctures  call  for  new 
expedients.  The  imperial  sceptre  must  be  committed  to  some  hand  more 
powerful  than  mine,  or  that  of  any  other  German  prince.  We  possess 
neither  dominions,  nor  revenues,  nor  authority,  which  enable  us  to  encounter 
such  a  formidable  enemy.  Recourse  must  be  had,  in  this  exigency,  to  one 
of  the  rival  monarchs.  Each  of  them  can  bring  into  the  field  forces  suffi- 
cient for  our  defence.  But  as  the  king  of  Spain  is  of  German  extraction, 
as  he  is  a  member  and  prince  of  the  empire  by  the  territories  which  descend 
to  him  from  his  grandfather,  and  as  his  dominions  stretch  along  that  frontier 
which  lies  most  exposed  to  the  enemy,  his  claim,  in  my  opinion,  is  preferable 
to  that  of  a  stranger  to  our  language,  to  our  blood,  and  to  our  country."(l) 
Charles  was  elected  in  consequence  of  this  speech. 

The  two  candidates  had  hitherto  conducted  their  rivalship  with  emulation, 
but  without  enmity.  They  had  even  softened  their  competition  by  many 
expressions  of  friendship  and  regard.  Francis  in  particular  declared,  with 
his  usual  vivacity,  that  his  brother  Charles  and  he  were  fairly  and  openly 
suitors  to  the  same  mistress :  "  The  most  assiduous  and  fortunate,"  added 
he,  "  will  win  her ;  and  the  other  must  rest  contented."(2)  But  although  a 
generous  and  high-minded  prince,  while  animated  by  the  hope  of  success, 
might  be  capable  of  forming  such  a  philosophic  resolution,  it  soon  appeared 
that  he  had  promised  a  moderation  too  refined  for  humanity,  and  which  he 
was  little  able  to  practise.  The  preference  was  no  sooner  given  to  his  rival 
than  Francis  discovered  all  the  passions  natural  to  disappointed  ambition. 
He  could  not  suppress  his  chagrin  and  indignation,  at  being  balked  in  his 
favourite  purpose,  and  rejected  in  the  face  of  all  Europe,  for  a  youth  yet  un- 
known to  fame.  The  spirit  of  Charles  resented  such  contempt:  and  from 
this  jealousy,  as  much  as  from  opposition  of  interest,  arose  that  emulation 
between  those  two  great  monarchs,  which  involved  them  in  almost  perpetual 
hostilities,  and  kept  their  whole  age  in  agitation. 

When  princes  or  private  persons  are  resolved  to  quarrel,  it  is  easy  to  find 
a  brand  of  discord.  Charles  and  Francis  had  many  interfering  claims  in 
Italy;  and  besides  these  obvious  sources  of  contention  and  competition,  the 
latter  thought  himself  bound  in  honour  to  restore  the  king  of  Navarre  to  his 
dominions,  unjustly  seized  by  the  crown  of  Spain.  They  immediately  began 
to  negotiate ;  and  as  Henry  VIII.  of  England  was  th'e  third  prince  of  the 
age  in  power  and  in  dignity,  his  friendship  was  eagerly  courted  by  each  of 
the  rivals.  He  was  the  natural  guardian  of  the  liberties  of  Europe.  Sensi- 
ble of  the  consequence  which  his  situation  gave  him,  and  proud  of  his  pre- 
eminence, Henry  knew  it  to  be  his  interest  to  keep  the  balance  even  between 
the  contending  powers,  and  to  restrain  both,  by  not  joining  constantly  with 
either.  But  he  was  seldom  able  to  reduce  his  ideas  to  practice :  he  was 
governed  by  caprice  more  than  by  principle :  the  passions  of  the  man  were 
ever  an  overmatch  for  the  maxims  of  the  king.  Vanity  and  resentment 
were  the  great  springs  of  all  his  actions ;  and  his  neighbours,  by  touching 
these,  found  an  easy  way  to  draw  him  into  their  measures. 

All  the  impolitic  steps  in  Henry's  government,  however,  must  not  be  im- 
puted to  himself:  many  of  them  were  occasioned  by  the  ambition  and  avarice 

(1)  Scard.  Rer.  Germ.  Script.    Sockend.  Comment.    Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.  book  i. 
(21  Guicciardini,  lib.  xiii. 


360  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

of  his  prime  minister  and  favourite,  cardinal  Wolsey.  This  man,  who,  by 
his  talents  and  accomplishments  had  risen  from  one  of  the  lowest  conditions 
in  life  to  the  highest  employments  both  in  church  and  state,  and  who  lived 
with  regal  splendour,  governed  the  haughty,  presumptuous,  and  intractable 
spirit  of  Henry  with  absolute  ascendancy.  Equally  rapacious  and  profuse, 
he  was  insatiable  in  desiring  wealth ;  vain  and  ostentatious,  he  was  greedy 
of  adulation ;  of  boundless  ambition,  he  aspired  after  new  honours  with  an 
eagerness  unabated  by  his  former  success.  To  these  passions  he  himself 
sacrificed  every  consideration,  divine  and  human ;  and  whoever  sought  to 
obtain  his  favour,  or  that  of  his  master,  found  it  necessary  also  to  sacrifice 
liberally  to  them. 

Francis  was  equally  well  acquainted  with  the  character  of  Henry  and  of 
his  minister.  He  had  successfully  flattered  Wolsey's  pride,  by  honouring 
him  with  particular  marks  of  his  confidence,  and  bestowing  upon  him  the 
appellations  of  Father,  Tutor,  and  Governor ;  and  he  had  obtained  the  resti- 
tution of  Tournay,  by  adding  a  pension  to  these  respectful  titles.  He  now 
solicited  an  interview  with  the  king  of  England  near  Calais ;  in  hopes  of 
being  able,  by  familiar  conversation,  to  attach  him  to  his  friendship  and  inter- 
est, while  he  gratified  the  cardinal's  vanity,  by  affording  him  an  opportunity 
of  displaying  his  magnificence  in  the  presence  of  two  courts,  and  of  dis- 
covering to  the  two  nations  his  influence  over  their  moriarchs. 

Politic  though  young,  Charles  dreaded  the  effects  of  this  projected  inter- 
view between  two  gallant  princes,  whose  hearts  were  no  less  susceptible  of 
friendship  than  their  manners  were  of  inspiring  it.  Finding  it  impossible, 
however,  to  prevent  a  visit,  in  which  the  vanity  of  all  parties  was  so  much 
concerned,  he  endeavoured  to  defeat  its  purpose,  and  to  preoccupy  the  favour 
of  the  English  monarch,  and  of  his  minister,  by  an  act  of  complaisance  still 
more  flattering  and  more  uncommon.  Relying  wholly  upon  Henry's  gene- 
rosity for  his  safety,  he  landed  at  Dover,  in  his  way  from  Spain  to  the  Low 
Countries.  The  king  of  England,  who  was  on  his  way  to  France,  charmed 
with  such  an  instance  of  confidence,  hastened  to  receive  his  royal  guest ;  and 
Charles,  during  his  short  stay,  had  the  address  not  only  to  give  Henry 
favourable  impressions  of  his  character  and  intentions,  but  to  detach  Wolsey 
entirely  from  the  interests  of  Francis.  The  tiara  had  attracted  the  eye  of 
that  ambitious  prelate ;  and  as  the  emperor  knew  that  the  papacy  was  the 
sole  point  of  elevation,  beyond  his  present  greatness,  at  which  he  could 
aspire,  he  made  him  an  offer  of  his  interest  on  the  first  vacancy.(l) 

On  the  day  of  Charles's  departure,  Henry  went  over  to  Calais  with  his 
whole  court,  in  order  to  meet  Francis.  Their  interview  was  in  an  open  plain 
between  Guisnes  and  Ardres ;  where  the  two  kings  and  their  attendants  dis- 
played their  magnificence  with  such  emulation  and  profuse  expense,  as  pro- 
cured it  the  name  of  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.  Here  Henry  erected  a 
spacious  house  of  wood  and  canvass,  framed  in  London,  on  which,  under  the 
figure  of  an  English  archer,  was  inscribed  the  following  motto :  "  He  prevails 
whom  I  favour !"  alluding  to  his  own  political  situation,  as  holding  in  his 
hands  the  balance  of  power,  between  the  emperor  and  French  monarch. 
Feats  of  chivalry,  however,  parties  of  gallantry,  and  such  exercises  as  were 
in  that  age  reckoned  manly  or  elegant,  rather  than  serious  business,  occupied 
the  two  courts,  during  the  time  they  continued  together,  which  was  eighteen 
days.  And  here  I  cannot  help  noticing  a  circumstance  that  strongly  marks 
the  manners  of  those  times,  and  their  contrast  to  ours,  if  not  their  compara- 
tive rusticity.  After  the  French  and  English  wrestlers  had  exercised  their 
strength  and  agility,  which,  according  to  the  phrase  of  the  historian,  afforded 
excellent  pastime,  the  kings  of  France  and  England,  says  Fleuranges,  retired 
to  a  tent,  where  they  drank  together ;  and  the  king  of  England,  seizing  the 
king  of  France  by  the  collar,  said,  "  My  brother,  I  must  wrestle  with  you !" 
and  attempted  once  or  twice  to  trip  up  his  heels ;  but  the  king  of  France, 
who  was  an  excellent  wrestler,  twisted  him  round,  and  threw  him  on  the 

(1)  Polyd.  Virg.    Holingshed.    Herbert,  Hist.  Henry  VIII.    Fiddes,  Life  of  Wolsey 


LET.  LVIII.  MODERN    EUROPE.  361 

ground  with  great  violence.  Henry  wanted  to  renew  the  struggle,  but  was 
prevented.  (1) 

After  taking  leave  of  this  scene  of  dissipation,  the  king  of  England  paid  a 
visit  to  the  emperor  and  Margaret  of  Savoy  at  Gravelines,  and  engaged  them 
to  go  along  with  him  to  Calais ;  where  the  artful  and  politic  Charles  com- 
pleted the  impression  which  he  had  begun  to  make  on  Henry  and  his  favour- 
ite, and  effaced  all  the  friendship  to  which  the  frank  and  generous  nature  of 
Francis  had  given  birth.  He  renewed  his  assurance  of  assisting  Wolsey  in 
obtaining  the  papacy ;  and  he  put  him  in  present  possession  of  the  revenues 
of  the  sees  of  Badajox  and  Palencia,  in  Spain.  He  flattered  Henry's  pride, 
by  convincing  him  of  his  own  importance,  and  the  justness  of  the  motto 
which  he  had  chosen ;  offering  to  submit  to  his  sole  arbitration  any  difference 
that  might  arise  between  him  and  Francis. (2) 

This  important  point  being  secured,  Charles  repaired  to  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
where  he  was  solemnly  invested  with  the  crown  and  sceptre  of  Charlemagne, 
in  presence  of  a  more  splendid  and  numerous  assembly  than  had  appeared  on 
any  former  inauguration.  About  the  same  time  Solyman  II.  surnamed  the 
Magnificent,  one  of  the  most  accomplished,  enterprising,  and  warlike  of  the 
Turkish  princes,  and  a  constant  and  formidable  rival  of  the  German  emperor, 
ascended  the  Ottoman  throne,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  Selim. 

The  first  act  of  Charles's  administration  was  the  appointing  a  diet  to  be 
held  at  Worms,  in  order  to  concert  with  the  princes  of  the  empire  proper 
measures  for  checking  the  progress  of  "  those  new  and  dangerous  opinions, 
which  threatened  to  disturb  the  peace  of  Germany,  and  to  overturn  the  reli- 
gion of  their  ancestors."  The  opinions  propagated  by  Luther  and  his  fol- 
lowers were  here  meant.  •  That  bold  innovator,  after  the  diet  at  Augsburg, 
and  the  death  of  Maximilian,  had  freely  promulgated  his  opinions,  under  the 
protection  of  the  elector  of  Saxony,  to  whom  the  vicariate  of  that  part  of 
Germany  which  is  governed  by  the  Saxon-taws  was  committed,  during  the 
interregnum  that  preceded  the  election  of  Charles  V.  And  these  opinions 
were  suffered  to  take  root  in  different  places,  and  to  grow  up  to  some  degree 
of  strength  and  firmness.  But  Leo  X.,  though  little  skilled  in  such  contro- 
versies, came  at  last  to  be  alarmed  at  Luther's  progress ;  and,  convinced  that 
all  hopes  of  reclaiming  him  by  forbearance  were  in  vain,  issued  a  bull  of 
excommunication  against  him.  His  books  were  ordered  to  be  burned,  and 
he  himself  was  delivered  over  to  Satan,  as  an  obstinate  heretic,  if  he  did  not, 
within  sixty  days,  publicly  recant  his  errors. 

This  sentence  neither  disconcerted  nor  intimidated  Luther.  After  renew- 
ing his  appeal  to  a  general  council,  he  published  remarks  upon  the  bull  of 
excommunication,  and  boldly  declared  the  nope  to  be  the  man  of  Sin,  or  An- 
tichrist, whose  appearance  is  foretold  in  me  Revelations  of  St.  John ;  de- 
claimed against  the  tyranny  and  usurpations  of  the  court  of  Rome  with 
greater  vehemence  than  ever,  exhorted  all  Christian  princes  to  shake  off  such 
an  ignominious  yoke,  and  boasted  of  his  own  happiness  in  being  marked  out 
as  the  object  of  ecclesiastical  indignation,  because  he  had  ventured  to  assert 
the  rights  of  religion,  and  the  mental  liberty  of  mankind.  Nor  did  he  con- 
fine his  contempt  of  the  papal  power  to  words  alone.  He  assembled  all  the 
professors  and  students  of  the  university  of  Wittemberg,  and  with  great 
pomp,  and  before  a  vast  multitude  of  spectators,  cast  the  volumes  of  the 
canon  law,  together  with  the  bull  of  excommunication,  into  the  flames ;  and 
his  example  was  imitated  in  several  other  cities. (3) 

While  the  credit  and  authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff  were  thus  furiously 
shaken  in  Germany,  an  attack  no  less  violent,  and  occasioned  by  the  same 
causes,  was  made  upon  them  in  Switzerland.  The  Franciscans  being  in- 
trusted with  the  sale  of  indulgences  in  that  country,  executed  their  commis- 
sion with  the  same  unblushing  rapaciousness  which  had  rendered  the  Domi- 
nicans so  odious  in  Saxony.  They  proceeded,  however,  with  uninterrujried 

(1)  Mem.  de  Flevranges.  (2)  Polyd.  Virg.    Fiddes,  ubi  sup. 

(3)  Seckend.  Comment.    Luth.  Oper.  vol.  ii. 

lo 


3C2  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I. 

success  till  they  arrived  at  Zurich ;  where  they  received  a  mortal  blow  from 
Zuinglius,  canon  of  that  place,  a  man  of  extensive  learning,  uncommon  saga- 
city, and  heroic  intrepidity  of  spirit.  Animated  with  a  republican  boldness, 
and  free  from  those  restraints  which  subjection  to  the  will  of  a  prince,  and 
perhaps  a  remnant  of  original  prejudice,  imposed  upon  the  German  reformer, 
he  advanced  with  more  daring  and  rapid  steps  to  overturn  the  whole  fabric  of 
the  established  religion ;  and  the  pope's  supremacy  was  soon  denied  in  the 
greater  part  of  Switzerland. (1) 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  Reformation,  when  Charles  V.  arrived  in  Ger- 
many. No  secular  prince  had  yet  embraced  the  new  opinions ;  no  change  in 
the  established  forms  of  worship  had  been  introduced,  nor  any  encroachments 
made  upon  the  possessions  or  jurisdiction  of  the  clergy :  a  deep  impression, 
however,  was  made  upon  the  minds  of  the  people ;  their  reverence  for  an- 
cient institutions  and  doctrines  was  shaken ;  and  the  materials  were  already 
scattered,  which  produced  the  conflagration  that  afterward  spread  over  all 
Europe.  Charles  saw  the  flames  gathering ;  and,  as  he  found  it  necessary  to 
secure  the  friendship  of  Leo  X.,  he  cited  Luther  to  appear  before  the  diet  at 
Worms.  Luther  did  not  hesitate  a  moment  about  yielding  obedience :  he 
accompanied  the  herald  who  brought  the  emperor's  letter  and  safe-conduct, 
"  I  am  lawfully  called  to  appear  in  that  cit)-,"  said  he  to  some  of  his  friends, 
who  were  anxious  for  his  safety;  "  and  thither  I  will  go  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  though  as  many  devils  as  tiles  upon  the  houses  were  there  assembled 
against  me."(2) 

Had  vanity  and  the  love  of  applause,  from  which  no  human  heart  is  free, 
oeen  the  sole  principles  by  which  Luther  was  influenced,  his  reception  at 
Worms  was  such  as  he  might  have  reckoned  a  full  reward  for  all  his  labours. 
Vast  crowds  assembled  to  see  him  whenever  he  walked  abroad;  and  his 
apartments  were  daily  filled  with  princes  and  personages  of  the  highest  rank, 
who  treated  him  with  all  the  respect  that  is  due  to  superior  merit,  but  which 
is  more  particularly  commanded  by  those  who  possess  the  power  of  directing 
the  understanding  and  the  sentiments  of  others.  Rank  or  birth  can  receive 
no  homage  so  flattering ;  for  they  can  receive  none  so  sincere,  or  which  has 
so  immediate  a  reference  to  those* qualities,  which  men  call  their  own.  Lu- 
ther was  not,  however,  intoxicated :  he  behaved  before  the  diet  with  equal 
decency  and  firmness.  He  readily  acknowledged  an  excess  of  vehemence 
and  acrimony  in  his  controversial  writings ;  but  he  refused  to  retract  his 
opinions,  till  convinced  of  their  falsehood,  or  consent  to  their  being  tried  by 
any  other  standard  than  the  Scripture.  Neither  threats  nor  entreaties  could 
prevail  on  him  to  depart  from  this  resolution.  Some  of  the  fathers,  there- 
fore, proposed  to  imitate  the  example  of  the  council  of  Constance,  in  its  pro- 
ceedings relative  to  John  Huss ;  to  commit  to  the  flames  the  author  of  this 
pestilent  heresy,  now  in  their  power,  and  deliver  the  church  at  once  from  so 
dangerous  an  enemy ;  but  the  members  of  the  diet  refusing  to  expose  the 
German  integrity  to  fresh  reproach  by  a  second  violation  of  public  faith,  and 
Charles  being  no  less  unwilling  to  bring  a  stain  upon  the  beginning  of  his 
administration  by  such  an  ignominious  measure,  Luther  was  permitted  to 
depart  in  safety.(3)  A  few  days  after  he  left  the  city,  a  severe  edict  was 
issued  in  the  emperor's  name,  and  by  authority  of  the  diet,  forbidding  any 
prince  to  harbour  him,  and  requiring  all  to  concur  in  seizing  his  person  as 
soon  as  his  safe-conduct  was  expired.  But  the  elector  of  Saxony,  his  faith- 
ful patron,  took  him  again,  though  secretly,  under  protection.  Luther,  in 
solitude,  propagated  his  opinions ;  and  Charles,  for  a  time,  found  other  mat- 
ters to  engage  his  attention. 

The  Spaniards,  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  departure  of  their  sovereign, 
whose  election  to  the  empire  they  foresaw  would  interfere  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  his  own  kingdom,  and  incensed  at  the  avarice  of  the  Flemings,  to 
whom  the  direction  of  public  affairs  had  been  committed  since  the  death  of 

(1)  Riirliart.  Jfiat.  de  la  Reformat,  en  Swiss  liv  i.  (2)  Luth.  Oper.  vol.  li. 

(3)  F.Paul.    Seckend 


LET.  LVIII.]  MODERNEUROPE.  363 

cardinal  Ximenes,  broke  out  into  open  rebellion.  Several  grandees,  in  order 
to  shake  off  that  oppression,  entered  into  an  association,  to  which  they  gave 
the  name  of  the  Sancta  Juncta :  and  the  sword  was  appealed  to,  as  the  means 
of  redress.  This  seemed,  to  Francis,  a  favourable  juncture  for  reinstating 
the  family  of  John  d' Albert  in  the  kingdom  of  Navarre.  Charles  was  at  a 
distance  from  that  part  of  his  dominions,  and  the  troops  usually  stationed 
there  had  been  recalled  to  quell  the  commotions  in  Spain.  A  French  army, 
under  Andrew  de  Foix,  speedily  conquered  Navarre ;  but  that  young  and 
inexperienced  nobleman,  dazzled  with  success,  and  pushed  on  by  military 
ardour,  ventured  to  enter  Castile.  Though  divided  among  themselves,  the 
Spaniards  united  against  a  foreign  enemy ;  routed  his  forces,  took  him  pri- 
soner, and  recovered  Navarre  in  a  shorter  time  than  he  had  spent  in  sub- 
duing it. 

Hostilities,  thus  began  in  one  quarter,  between  the  rival  monarchs,  rapidly 
spread  to  another.  The  king  of  France  encouraged  the  duke  of  Bouillon  to 
make  war  upon  the  emperor,  and  invade  Luxembourg.  Charles,  after 
humbling  the  duke,  attempted  to  enter  France,  but  was  repelled  and  worsted 
before  Mezieres,  by  the  famous  chevalier  de  Bayard ;  distinguished  among  his 
contemporaries  by  the  appellation  of  The  Knight  •without  fear  and  without 
reproach,  and  who  united  the  talents  of  a  consummate  general  to  the  punc- 
tilious honour  and  romantic  gallantry  of  the  heroes  of  chivalry.  Francis 
broke  into  the  Low  Countries  ;  where,  by  an  excess  of  caution,  an  error  not 
natural  to  him,  he  lost  an  opportunity  of  cutting  off  the  whole  imperial  army ; 
and,  what  was  still  greater  misconduct,  he  disgusted  the  constable  Bourbon, 
by  giving  the  command  of  the  van  to  the  duke  of  Aleii9on.(l) 

During  these  operations  in  the  field,  an  unsuccessful  congress  was  held  at 
Calais,  under  the  mediation  of  Henry  VIII.  It  served  only  to  exasperate 
the  parties  it  was  intended  to  reconcile.  And  a  league  was  soon  after  con- 
cluded at  Bruges,  through  the  intrigues  of  Wolsey,  between  the  pope,  Henry, 
and  Charles,  against  France.  Leo  had  already  entered  into  a  separate  league 
with  the  emperor,  and  the  French  were  fast  losing  ground  in  Italy. (2) 

The  insolence  and  exactions  of  mareschal  de  Lautrec,  governor  of  Milan, 
had  totally  alienated  the  affections  of  the  Milanese  from  France.  They 
resolved  to  expel  the  troops  of  that  nation,  and  put  themselves  under  the 
government  of  Francis  Sforza,  brother  of  Maximilian  their  late  duke.  In 
this  resolution  they  were  encouraged  by  the  pope,  who  excommunicated  Lau- 
trec, and  took  into  his  pay  a  considerable  body  of  Swiss.  The  papal  army, 
commanded  by  Prosper  Colonna,  an  experienced  general,  was  joined  by  rein- 
forcements from  Germany  and  Naples ;  while  Lautrec,  neglected  by  his  court, 
and  deserted  by  the  Swiss  in  its  pay,  was  unable  to  make  head  against  the 
enemy.  The  city  of  Milan  was  betrayed  by  the  inhabitants  to  the  confede- 
rates ;  Parma  and  Placentia  were  united  to  the  ecclesiastical  state :  and  of 
their  conquests  in  Lombardy,  only  the  town  of  Cremona,  the  castle  of  Milan, 
and  a  few  inconsiderable  forts  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  French.(S) 

Leo  X.  received  the  account  of  his  rapid  success  with  such  transports  of  joy 
as  are  said  to  have  brought  on  a  fever  which  occasioned  his  death.  The  • 
spirit  of  the  confederacy  was  broken,  and  its  operations  suspended  by  that 
event.  The  Swiss  were  recalled ;  some  other  mercenaries  were  disbanded 
for  want  of  pay:  so  that  the  Spaniards,  and  a  few  Germans  in  the  emperor's 
service,  only- remained  to  defend  the  dutchy  of  Milan.  But  Lautrec,  who, 
with  the  remnant  of  his  army,  had  taken  shelter  in  the  Venetian  territories, 
destitute  of  both  men  and  money,  was  unable  to  improve  this  favourable 
opportunity.  All  his  efforts  were  rendered  ineffectual  by  the  vigilance  and 
ability  of  Colonna  and  his  associates. 

Meantime,  high  discord  prevailed  in  the  conclave.  Wolsey's  name,  not- 
withstanding all  the  emperor's  magnificent  promises,  was  scarcely  mentioned 
there.  Julio  of  Medicis,  Leo's  nephew,  thought  himself  sure  of  the  election ; 
when,  by  an  unexpected  turn  of  fortune,  Cardinal  Adrian  of  Utrecht,  Charles's 

(1)  (Euvr.  de  Brantome,  torn.  vi.     Mem.  de  Bellay. 

(2)  Rymer,  Fad,  vol.  xiii.    Herbert,  Hist.  Hen.  Vlll.  (3)  Guicciaidini  lib.  xiv.    Mem  de  fttllay 


364  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

preceptor,  who  at  that  time  governed  Spain  in  the  character  of  viceroy,  was 
unanimously  raised  to  the  papacy,  to  the  astonishment  of  all  Europe,  and  the 
great  disgust  of  the  Italians. 

Francis,  roused  by  the  rising  consequence  of  his  rival,  resolved  to  exert 
himself  with  fresh  vigour,  m  order  to  wrest  from  him  his  late  conquests  in 
Lombardy.  Lautrec  received  a  supply  of  money,  and  a  recruit  of  ten  thou- 
sand Swiss  infantry.  With  this  reinforcement  he  was  enabled  once  more  to 
act  offensively,  and  even  to  advance  within  a  few  miles  of  the  city  of  Milan  ; 
when  money  again  failing  him,  and  the  Swiss  growing  mutinous,  he  was 
obliged  to  attack  the  imperialists  in  their  camp  at  Bicocca,  where  he  was 
repulsed  with  great  slaughter,  having  lost  his  bravest  officers  and  best  troops. 
All  the  Swiss  that  survived  immediately  set  out  for  their  own  country  ;  and 
Lautrec,  despairing  of  being  able  to  keep  the  field,  retired  into  France. 
Genoa,  which  still  remained  subject  to  Francis,  and  which  made  it  easy  for 
him  to  execute  any  scheme  for  the  recovery  of  Milan,  was  soon  after  taken 
by  Colonna:  the  authority  of  the  emperor  and  his  faction  was  every  where 
established  in  Italy.  The  citadel  of  Cremona  was  the  sole  fortress  that 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  French.(l) 

The  affliction  of  Francis  for  such  a  succession  of  misfortunes,  was  aug- 
mented by  the  unexpected  arrival  of  an  English  herald,  who,  in  the  name  of 
his  sovereign,  declared  war  against  France.  The  courage  of  this  high- 
spirited  prince,  however,  did  not  forsake  him.  Though  his  treasury  was 
exhausted  by  expensive  pleasures  no  less  than  by  hostile  enterprises,  he 
assembled  a  considerable  army,  and  put  his  kingdom  in  a  posture  for  resisting 
his  new  enemy,  without  abandoning  any  of  the  schemes  which  he  was  forming 
against  the  emperor.  He  was  surprised, but  not  alarmed,  at  such  a  denunciation. 

Willing  to  derive  as  much  advantage  as  possible  from  so  powerful  an  ally, 
Charles  paid  a  second  visit  to  the  court  of  England  in  his  way  to  Spain,  where 
his  presence  was  become  highly  necessary.  And  his  success  here  exceeded 
his  most  sanguine  expectations.  He  not  only  gained  the  entire  friendship  of 
Henry,  who  publicly  ratified  the  treaty  of  Bruges,  but  disarmed  the  resent- 
ment of  Wolsey,  by  assuring  him  of  the  papacy  on  Adrian's  death,  an  event 
seemingly  not  distant,  by  reason  of  his  age  and  infirmities.  In  consequence 
of  these  negotiations,  an  English  army  invaded  France  under  the  command 
of  the  earl  of  Surry ;  who,  at  the  close  of  the  campaign,  was  obliged  to  retire 
with  his  forces  greatly  diminished,  without  being  able  to  make  himself 
master  of  one  place  within  the  French  frontier.  Charles  Avas  more  fortunate 
than  his  ally.  He  soon  quelled  the  tumults  that  had  arisen  in  Spain  during 
his  absence. 

While  the  Christian  princes  were  thus  wasting  each  other's  strengjh,  Soly- 
man  the  Magnificent  entered  Hungary,  and  made  himself  master  of  Belgrade, 
reckoned  the  chief  barrier  of  that  kingdom  against  the  Turkish  power. 
Encouraged  by  his  success,  he  turned  his  victorious  arms  against  the  island 
of  Rhodes,  then  the  seat  of  the  knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem ;  and 
although  every  prince  in  that  warlike  age  acknowledged  Rhodes  to  be  the 
principal  bulwark  of  Christendom  in  the  Levant,  so  violent  was  their  animosity 
against  each  other,  that  they  suffered  Solyman  without  disturbance  to  carry 
on  his  operations  against  that  city  and  island.  Lisle  Adam,  the  grand  master, 
made  a  gallant  defence  ;  but  after  incredible  efforts  of  courage^  patience,  and 
military  skill,  during  a  siege  of  six  months,  he  was  obliged  to  surrender  the 
place,  having  obtained  an  honourable  capitulation  from  the  sultan,  who 
admired  and  respected  his  heroic  qualities. (2)  Charles  and  Francis  were 
equally  ashamed  of  having  occasioned,  through  their  contests,  such  a  loss  to 
the  Christian  world ;  and  the  emperor,  by  way  of  reparation,  granted  to  the 
knights  of  St.  John  the  small  island  of  Malta,  where  they  fixed  their  resi- 
dence, and  continue  still  to  retain  their  ancient  spirit,  though  much  reduced  in 
power  and  splendour. 

Adrian  VI.,  though  the  creature  of  the  emperor,  and  devoted  to  his  interest, 

(1)  Gulcciardini,  ubi  gup.  (2)  Fontan.  de  Bell.  Rhod.    Barre,  Hist.  d'Mlcmag  torn,  viii 


LRT.  LVIII.]  MODERN   EUROPE  365 

endeavoured  to  assume  the  impartiality  winch  became  the  common  father  of 
Christendom,  and  laboured  to  reconcile  the  contending  princes,  that  they 
might  unite  in  a  league  against  Solyman,  whose  conquest  of  Rhodes  rendered 
him  more  formidable  than  ever  to  Europe.  The  Italian  states  were  no  less 
desirous  of  peace  than  the  pope  :  and  so  much  regard  was  paid  by  the  hostile 
powers  to  the  exhortations  of  his  holiness,  and  to  a  bull  which  he  issued, 
requiring  all  Christian  princes  to  consent  to  a  truce  for  three  years,  that  the 
imperial,  the  French,  and  the  English  ambassadors  at  Rome,  were  empowered 
to  treat  of  that  matter.  But  while  they  wasted  their  time  in  fruitless  nego- 
tiations, their  masters  were  continuing  their  preparations  for  war ;  and  other 
negotiations  soon  took  place. — The  confederacy  against  France  became  more 
formidable  than  ever. 

The  Venetians  who  had  hitherto  adhered  to  the  French  interest,  formed 
engagements  with  the  emperor  for  securing  Francis  Sforza  in  the  possession 
of  the  dutchy  of  Milan ;  and  the  pope,  from  a  persuasion  that  the  ambition  of 
the  French  monarch  was  the  only  obstacle  to  peace,  acceded  to  the  same 
alliance.  The  Florentines,  the  dukes  of  Ferrara  and  Mantua,  with  all  the 
other  Italian  powers,  followed  this  example.  Francis  was  left  without  a  single 
ally  to  resist  the  efforts  of  a  multitude  of  enemies,  whose  armies  every 
where  threatened,  and  whose  territories  encompassed,  his  dominions.  The 
emperor  in  person,  at  the  head  of  a  Spanish  army,  menaced  France  on  the 
side  of  Guienne :  the  forces  of  England  and  the  Netherlands  hovered  over 
Picardy,  and  a  numerous  body  of  Germans  was  preparing  to  ravage  Bur- 
gundy. (1) 

The  dread  of  so  many  and  such  powerful  adversaries  it  was  thought  would 
have  obliged  Francis  to  keep  wholly  on  the  defensive,  or  at  least  have  pre- 
vented him  from  entertaining  any  thoughts  of  marching  into  Italy.  But  it 
was  the  peculiar  characteristic  of  this  prince,  too  apt  to  become  negligent  on 
ordinary  occasions,  to  rouse  at  the  approach  of  imminent  danger,  and  not 
only  to  encounter  it  with  spirit  and  intrepidity,  but  to  provide  against  it  with 
diligence  and  industry.  Before  his  enemies  were  able  to  strike  a  blow, 
Francis  had  assembled  a  powerful  army,  with  which  he  hoped  to  disconcert 
all  the  emperor's  schemes,  by  leading  it  in  person  into  Italy;  and  this  bold 
measure  could  scarcely  have  failed  of  the  desired  effect,  had  it  been  imme- 
diately carried  into  execution.  But  the  discovery  of  a  domestic  conspiracy 
which  threatened  the  destruction  of  his  kingdom,  obliged  Francis  to  stop 
short  at  Lyons. 

Charles,  duke  of  Bourbon,  high  constable  of  France,  was  a  prince  of  the 
most  shining  talents.  His  great  abilities  equally  fitted  him  for  the  council 
or  the  field,  while  his  eminent  services  to  the  crown  entitled  him  to  its  first 
favour.  But,  unhappily,  Louisa,  dutchess  of  Angoul&ne,  the  king's  mother,  had 
contracted  a  violent  aversion  against  the  house  of  Bourbon ;  and  had  taught 
her  son,  over  whom  she  had  acquired  an  absolute  ascendant,  to  view  all  the 
constable's  actions  with  a  jealous  eye.  After  repeated  affronts  he  retired 
from  court,  and  began  to  listen  to  the  advances  of  the  emperor's  ministers. 
Meantime,  the  dutchess  of  Bourbon  happened  to  die ;  and  as  the  constable 
was  no  less  handsome  than  accomplished,  the  dutchess  of  Angouleme,  still 
susceptible  of  the  tender  passions,  formed  the  scheme  of  marrying  him.  But 
Bourbon,  who  might  have  expected  every  thing  to  which  an  ambitious  mind 
can  aspire,  from  the  doting  fondness  of  a  woman  who  governed  her  son  and 
the  kingdom,  incapable  of  imitating  Louisa  in  her  sudden  transition  from 
love  to  hate,  or  of  meanly  counterfeiting  a  passion  for  one  who  had  so  long 
pursued  him  with  unprovoked  malice,  treated  toe  proposal  with  disdain,  and 
even  turned  it  into  ridicule.  At  once  refused  aid  insulted  by  the  man  whom 
love  only  could  have  made  her  cease  to  persecute,  Louisa  was  filled  with  all 
the  rage  of  disappointed  woman :  she  resolved  to  ruin,  since  she  could  not 
marry,  Bourbon.  For  this  purpose  she  commenced  an  iniquitous  suit  against 
him ;  and  by  the  chicanery  of  chancellor  Du  Prat,  the  constable  was  stripped 

(11  Guicciardini,  lib.  xv. 


366  THE   HISTORY   OF  [?A  f  i 

of  his  whole  family  estate.  Driven  to  despair  by  so  many  injuries,  he  had 
recourse  to  measures  which  despair  only  could  have  dictated.  He  entered 
into  a  secret  correspondence  with  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  England ;  and 
he  proposed,  as  soon  as  Francis  should  have  crossed  the  Alps,  to  raise  an 
insurrection  among  his  numerous  vassals,  and  to  introduce  foreign  troops 
into  the  heart  of  France. (1) 

Happily,  Francis  got  intimation  of  this  conspiracy  before  he  left  the  king- 
dom. But  not  being  sufficiently  convinced  of  the  constable's  guilt,  he  suf- 
fered so  dangerous  an  enemy  to  escape ;  and  Bourbon,  entering  into  the  em- 
peror's service,  employed  all  the  resources  of  his  enterprising  genius,  and  his 
military  skill,  to  the  prejudice  of  his  sovereign  and  his  native  country.  He 
took  a  severe  revenge  for  all  his  wrongs. 

In  consequence  of  the  discovery  of  this  plot,  and  the  escape  of  the  power- 
ful conspirator,  Francis  relinquished  his  intention  of  leading  his  army  in 
person  into  Italy.  He  was  ignorant  how  far  the  infection  had  spread  among 
his  subjects,  and  afraid  that  his  absence  might  encourage  them  to  make  some 
desperate  attack  in  favour  of  a  man  so  much  beloved.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, abandon  his  design  on  the  dutchy  of  Milan ;  but  sent  forward,  in  order 
to  subdue  it,  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  under  the  command  of  admiral 
Bonnivet.  Colonna,  who  was  intrusted  with  the  defence  of  that  dutchy,  was 
in  no  condition  to  resist  such  a  force ;  and  the  city  of  Milan,  on  which  the 
whole  territory  depends,  must  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  had 
not  Bonnivet,  who  possessed  none  of  the  talents  of  a  general,  wasted  his 
time  in  frivolous  enterprises,  till  the  inhabitants  recovered  from  their  con- 
sternation. The  imperial  arrny  Avas  reinforced.  Colonna  died,  and  Lannoy, 
viceroy  of  Naples,  succeeded  him  in  the  command.  But  the  military  opera- 
tions were  chiefly  conducted  by  the  duke  of  Bourbon  and  the  marquis  de 
Pescara,  the  two  greatest  generals  of  their  age.  Bonnivet,  destitute  of  the 
talents  necessary  to  oppose  such  able  commanders,  was  reduced,  after  various 
movements  and  encounters,  to  the  necessity  of  attempting  a  retreat  into 
France.  He  was  pursued  by  the  imperial  generals,  and  routed  at  Biagrassa. 

Here  fell  the  chevalier  Bayard,  whose  contempt  of  the  arts  of  courts  pre- 
vented him  from  ever  rising  to  the  chief  command,  but  who  was  always 
called,  in  times  of  real  danger,  to  the  posts  of  difficulty  and  importance. 
Bonnivet  being  wounded,  the  conduct  of  the  rear  was  committed  to  Bayard. 
He  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  heavy-armed  cavalry,  and,  animating  them 
by  his  presence  and  example  to  sustain  the  whole  shock  of  the  imperial  army, 
he  gained  time  for  the  body  of  his  countrymen  to  make  good  their  retreat. 
But  in  that  service  he  received  a  mortal  wound ;  and  1>eing  unable  any 
longer  to  continue  on  horseback,  he  ordered  one  of  his  attendants  to  place 
him  under  a  tree,  where  he  calmly  waited  the  approach  of  death.  In  this 
situation  he  was  found  by  Bourbon,  who  led  the  van  of  the  imperialists,  and 
expressed  much  sorrow  for  his  fate.  "  Pity  not  me !"  cried  the  high-minded 
chevalier:  "I  die,  as  a  man  of  honour  ought,  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty; 
but  pity  those  who  fight  against  their  king,  their  country,  and  their  oath."(2) 

The  emperor  and  his  allies  were  less  successful  in  their  operations  on  the 
frontier  of  France.  They  were  baffled  on  all  sides.  And  Francis,  though 
stripped  of  his  Italian  dominions,  might  still  have  enjoyed  in  safety  the  glory 
of  having  defended  his  native  kingdom  against  one  half  of  Europe,  and  have 
bid  defiance  to  all  his  enemies,  could  he  have  moderated  his  military  ardour. 
But  understanding  that  the  king  of  England,  discouraged  by  his  former 
fruitless  enterprises,  and  disgusted  with  the  emperor,  was  making  no  prepa- 
rations for  invading  Picardj,  his  rage  for  the  conquest  of  Milan  returned ; 
and  he  determined,  notwithstanding  the  approach  of  winter,  to  march  into 
Italy. 

The  French  army  no  sooner  appeared  in  Piedmont,  than  the  whole  dutchy 
of  Milan  was  thrown  into  consternation.  The  capital  opened  its  gates.  The 
forces  of  the  emperor  and  Sforza  retired  to  Lodi :  and  had  Francis  been  so 

(1)  Thuanus,  lib.  i.  cap.  ii.     Mem.  de  Bellay,  liv.  ii. 

(2)  Mem.  dc  Bellay,  ubi  sup.     (Etivr.  de  Brantome,  torn,  ri 


LET.  LVI1I.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  367 

fortunate  as  to  pursue  them,  they  must  have  abandoned  that  post,  and  been 
totally  dispersed.  But  his  evil  genius  led  him  to  besiege  Pavia,  a  town  of 
considerable  strength,  well  garrisoned,  and  defended  by  Antonio  de  Leyva, 
one  of  the  bravest  officers  in  the  Spanish  service.  Every  thing  known  to"  the 
engineers  of  that  age,  or  which  could  be  effected  by  the  valour  of  his  troops, 
was  attempted  in  vain  by  the  French  monarch  against  this  important  place, 
during  a  siege  of  three  months.  In  the  mean  time,  confident  of  success,  he 
had  detached  a  considerable  part  of  his  army  to  invade  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
ples :  and  tHe  main  body  was  much  wasted  by  the  fatigues  of  the  siege  and 
the  rigour  of  the  season.  The  imperial  generals  had  not  hitherto  molested 
him,  but  they  were  not  idle.  Pescara  and  Lannoy  had  assembled  forces  from 
all  quarters ;  and  Bourbon,  having  pawned  his  jewels,  had  gone  into  Ger- 
many, and  levied  at  his  own  expense  a  body  of  twelve  thousand  Lansquenets. 
The  united  army  advanced  to  the  relief  of  Pavia,  now  reduced  to  extremity 
for  want  of  ammunition  and  provisions.  Prudence,  and  the  advice  of  his 
most  experienced  officers,  dictated  to  Francis  the  propriety  of  a  retreat ;  but 
his  own  romantic  notions  of  honour,  and  the  opinion  of  Bonnivet,  unhappily 
determined  him  to  keep  his  post.  Having  said  that  he  would  take  Pavia  or 
perish  in  the  attempt,  he  thought  it  ignominious  to  depart  from  that  resolu- 
tion ;  and  he  anxiously  waited  the  approach  of  the  enemy. 

The  imperial  generals  found  the  French  so  strongly  intrenched,  that  they 
hesitated  long  before  they  ventured  to  attack  them.  But  the  necessities  of 
the  besieged,  and  the  murmurs  of  their  own  troops,  obliged  them  at  last  to 
put  every  thing  to  hazard.  Never  did  armies  engage  with  greater  ardour, 
or  with  a  higher  opinion  of  the  battle  they  were  going  to  fight ;  never  were 
men  more  strongly  animated  with  personal  emulation,  national  antipathy, 
mutual  resentment,  and  all  the  passions  which  inspire  obstinate  bravery. 
The  first  efforts  of  the  French  valour  made  the  firmest  battalions  of  the 
mperialists  give  ground;  but  the  fortune  of  the  day  was  soon  changed. 
The  Swiss  troops  in  the  service  of  France,  unmindful  of  their  national 
honour,  shamefully  deserted  their  post.  Pescara  fell  upon  the  French  cavalry 
with  the  imperial  horse,  and  broke  that  formidable  body,  by  a  mode  of  attack 
with  which  they  were  wholly  unacquainted  ;(1)  while  Leyva,  sallying  out 
with  his  garrison,  during  the  heat  of  action,  made  a  furious  assault  on  the 
enemy's  rear,  and  threw  every  thing  into  confusion.  The  rout  became 
general.  But  Francis  himself,  surrounded  by  a  brave  nobility,  many  of 
whom  fell  by  his  side,  long  sustained  the  combat.  His  horse  being  killed 
under  him,  he  fought  on  foot,  undistinguished  but  by  his  valour,  and  killed 
seven  men  with  his  own  hand.  At  last  he  was  observed  by  Pomperant,  a 
French  gentleman,  who  had  followed  the  fortunes  of  Bourbon,  and  who  now 
saved  the  life  of  his  sovereign,  ready  to  sink  beneath  an  enraged  soldiery. 
By  his  persuasion  Francis  was  prevailed  upon  to  surrender;  yet  he  obsti- 
nately refused,  imminent  as  the  danger  was,  to  deliver  up  his  sword  to  Bour- 
bon. Lannoy  received  it.  But  Bourbon  had  the  cruel  satisfaction  of  exult- 
ing over  his  sovereign's  distress,  and  of  repaying,  from  revenge,  the  insults 
offered  by  jealousy. (2) 

This  victory,  and  the  captivity  of  Francis,  filled  all  Europe  with  alarm. 
Almost  the  whole  French  army  was  cut  off:  Milan  was  immediately  aban- 
doned ;  and  in  a  few  weeks  not  a  Frenchman  was  left  in  Italy.  The  power 
of  the  emperor,  and  still  more  his  ambition,  became  the  object  of  universal 
terror :  and  resolutions  were  every  where  taken  to  set  bounds  to  it.  Mean- 
while, Francis,  deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  his  fortune,  wrote  to  his 
mother  Louisa,  whom  he  had  left  regent  of  the  kingdom,  the  following  short 
but  expressive  letter:  "All  is  lost,  but  honour!" 

The  same  courier  that  delivered  this  letter  carried  also  despatches  to 
Charles,  who  received  the  news  of  the  signal  and  unexpected  success  which 
had  crowned  his  arms  with  the  most  hypocritical  moderation.  He  would  not 

(1)  Pescara  had  intermingled  with  the  imperial  horse  a  considerable  number  of  Spanish  foot,  armed 
with  the  heavy  muskets  then  in  use.    Guicciardini,  lib.  xv 

(2)  Mem.  de  Bellay.    Brantome.    Guicciardini. 


368  THEHISTORYOF  [PART! 

suffer  any  public  rejoicings  to  be  made  on  account  of  it ;  and  said,  he  only 
valued  it  as  it  would  prove  the  occasion  of  restoring  peace  to  Christendom. 
Louisa,  however,  did  not  trust  to  those  appearances.  Instead  of  giving  her- 
self up  to  such  lamentations  as  were  natural  to  a  woman  remarkable  for 
maternal  tenderness,  she  discovered  all  the  foresight,  and  exerted  all  the 
activity,  of  a  consummate  politician.  She  took  every  possible  measure  for 
putting  the  kingdom  in  a  posture  of  defence,  while  she  employed  all  her 
address  to  appease  the  resentment  and  to  gain  the  friendship  of  England  ;(1) 
and  a  ray  of  comfort  from  that  quarter  soon  broke  in  upon  the  French  affairs. 

Though  Henry  VIII.  had  not  entered  into  the  war  against  France  from  any 
concerted  political  views,  he  had  always  retained  some  imperfect  idea  of 
that  balance  of  power  necessary  to  be  maintained  between  Charles  and 
Francis,  the  preservation  of  which  he  boasted  was  his  peculiar  office.  By 
his  alliance  with  the  emperor  he  hoped  to  recover  some  part  of  those  territo- 
ries on  the  continent  which  had  belonged  to  his  ancestors ;  and  in  that  hope 
he  willingly  contributed  to  give  Charles  the  ascendancy  above  his  rival.  But 
having  never  dreamed  of  any  event  so  decisive  and  fatal  as  the  victory  at 
Pavia,  which  seemed  not  only  to  have  broken  but  to  have  annihilated  the 
power  of  Francis,  Henry  now  became  sensible  of  his  own  danger,  as  well  as 
of  that  of  all  Europe,  from  the  loss  of  a  proper  counterpoise  to  the  power  of 
Charles.  Instead  of  taking  advantage  of  the  distressed  condition  of  France, 
the  English  monarch  therefore  determined  to  assist  her  in  her  present  cala- 
mities. Other  causes  conspired  to  enforce  this  resolution. 

The  elevation  of  the  cardinal  of  Medicis  to  St.  Peter's  chair,  on  the  death 
of  Adrian  VI.,  under  the  name  of  Clement  VII.,  had  made  the  English  minister 
sensible  of  the  insincerity  of  the  emperor's  promises,  while  it  extinguished 
all  his  hopes  of  the  papacy;  and  Wolsey  resolved  on  revenge.  His  master 
too  had  ground  of  complaint.  Charles  had  so  ill  supported  the  appearance 
of  moderation  which  he  assumed  when  first  informed  of  his  good  fortune, 
that  he  had  already  changed  his  usual  style  to  Henry ;  and  instead  of  writing 
to  him  with  his  own  hand,  and  subscribing  himself  "  your  affectionate  son 
and  cousin,"  he  dictated  his  letters  to  a  secretary,  and  simply  subscribed 
himself  "  Charles."  Influenced  by  all  these  considerations,  together  with 
the  glory  of  raising  a  fallen  enemy,  Henry  listened  to  the  flattering  submis- 
sions of  Louisa;  entered  into  a  defensive  alliance  with  her,  as  regent  of 
France;  and  engaged  to  use  his  best  offices  in  order  to  procure  a  deliverance 
of  her  son  from  a  state  of  captivity.  (2) 

Meanwhile,  Francis  was  rigorously  confined ;  and  hard  conditions  being 
proposed  to  him,  as  the  price  of  his  liberty,  he  drew  his  dagger,  and  pointing 
it  at  his  breast,  cried,  "  'T  were  better  that  a  king  should  die  thus !"  But  flat- 
tering himself,  when  he  grew  cool,  that  such  propositions  could  not  come 
directly  from  Charles,  he  desired  that  he  might  be  removed  to  Spain,  where 
the  emperor  then  resided.  His  request  was  complied  with ;  but  he  languished 
long  before  he  could  obtain  a  sight  of  his  conqueror.  At  last  he  was  favoured  * 
with  a  visit ;  and  the  emperor,  dreading  a  general  combination  against  him, 
or  that  Francis,  if  driven  to  despair,  might,  as  he  threatened,  resign  his 
crown  to  the  dauphin,  agreed  to  abate  somewhat  of  his  former  demands.  A 
treaty  was  accordingly  concluded  at  Madrid,  in  consequence  of  which  Francis 
obtained  his  liberty.  The  chief  article  in  this  treaty  was,  that  Burgundy 
should  be  restored  to  Charles  as  the  rightful  inheritance  of  his  ancestors, 
and  that  Francis's  two  eldest  sons  should  be  immediately  delivered  up  as 
hostages  for  the  performance  of  the  conditions  stipulated.  The  exchange  of 
the  captive  monarch  for  his  children  was  made  on  the  frontiers  of  France 
and  Spain.  And  the  moment  that  Francis  entered  his  own  dominions,  he 
mounted  a  Turkish  horse,  and  putting  it  to  its  speed,  waved  his  hand,  and 
cried  aloud  several  times,  "  I  am  yet  a  king !  I  am  yet  a  king  !"(3) 

The  reputation  of  the  French  monarch,  however,  would  have  stood  in  a 
fairer  light  had  he  died  a  captive ;  for  the  unhappy  situation  of  his  affairs, 

(1)  Mem.  de  Bellay.    Brantomc.    Guicciardini. 

(?)  Herbert.    Mezeray.    Mem.  At  Bellay.    Fiddes,  Life  of  Wolsey  (31  Guiceiardini,  lib.  »?L 


LET.  LVIII.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  369 

delicate  as  h.s  notions  of  honour  appear  to  have  been,  led  him  henceforth  to 
act  a  part  very  disadvantageous  to  his  moral  character.  He  never  meant  to 
execute  the  treaty  of  Madrid :  he  had  even  left  a  protest  in  the  hands  of 
notaries  before  he  signed  it,  that  his  consent  should  be  considered  as  an 
involuntary  deed,  and  be  deemed  null  and  void.(l)  Accordingly,  as  soon  as 
he  arrived  in  France,  he  assembled  the  states  of  Burgundy,  who  protested 
against  the  article  relative  to  their  province  ;  and  when  the  imperial  ambas- 
sadors urged  the  immediate  execution  of  the  treaty,  the  king  replied,  that  he 
would  rigorously  perform  the  articles  relative  to  himself,  but  in  those  affecfr 
ing  the  French  monarchy  he  must  be  directed  by  the  sense  of  the  nation. 
He  made  the  highest  acknowledgments  to  the  king  of  England  for  his  friendly 
interposition,  and  offered  to  be  entirely  guided  by  his  counsels. 

Charles  and  his  ministers  now  saw  that  they  were  overreached  in  those 
very  arts  of  negotiation  in  which  they  so  much  excelled,  while  the  Italian 
states  observed  with  pleasure  that  Francis  was  resolved  to  evade  the  execu- 
tion of  a  treaty,  which  they  considered  as  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of 
Europe.  Clement  VII.  absolved  him  from  the  oath  which  he  had  taken  at 
Madrid;  and  the  kings  of  France  and  England,  the  pope,  the  Swiss,  the 
Venetians,  the  Florentines,  and  the  Milanese,  entered  into  an  alliance,  to  which 
they  gave  the  name  of  the  Holy  League,  because  his  holiness  was  at  the 
head  of  it,  in  order  to  oblige  the  emperor  to  deliver  up  Francis's  two  sons 
on  the  payment  of  a  reasonable  ransom,  and  to  re-establish  Sforza  in  the  quiet 
possession  of  the  dutchy  of  Milan. (2) 

In  consequence  of  this  league,  the  confederate  army  took  the  field,  and 
Italy  became  once  more  the  scene  of  war.  But  Francis,  who  it  was  expected 
would  infuse  spirit  and  vigour  into  the  whole  body,  had  gone  through  such 
a  scene  of  distress,  that  he  was  become  diffident  of  his  talents,  and  distrust- 
ful of  his  fortune.  He  had  flattered  himself,  that  the  dread  alone  of  such  a 
confederacy  would  induce  Charles  to  listen  to  what  was  equitable,  and  there- 
fore neglected  to  send  sufficient  reinforcements  to  his  allies  in  Italy.  Mean- 
time, the  duke  of  Bourbon,  who  commanded  the  imperialists,  overran  the 
whole  dutchy  of  Milan,  of  which  the  emperor  had  promised  him  the  investi- 
ture ;  and  his  troops  beginning  to  mutiny  for  want  of  pay,  he  boldly  led  them 
to  Rome,  in  spite  of  every  obstacle,  by  offering  to  their  avidity  the  rich  spoils 
of  that  ancient  capital.  Nor  did  he  deceive  them ;  for  although  he  himself 
was  slain,  while  encouraging  their  efforts  by  his  brave  example,  in  planting 
\vith  his  own  hands  a  scaling  ladder  against  the  walls,  they,  more  enraged  than 
discouraged  by  that  misfortune,  mounted  to  the  assault  with  the  greatest 
ardour ;  and  entering  the  city  sword  in  hand,  pillaged  it  for  many  days,  and 
made  it  a  scene  of  horrid  carnage  and  abominable  lust. 

Never  did  Rome  experience  in  any  age  so  many  calamities,  not  even  from 
the  Barbarians  by  whom  she  was  successively  subdued — from  the  followers 
of  Alaric,  Geuseric,  or  Odoacer,  as  now  from  the  subjects  of  a 'Christian 
and  Catholic  monarch.  Whatever  was  respectable  in  modesty  or  sacred  in 
religion  seemed  only  the  more  to  provoke  the  rage  of  the  soldiery.  Virgins 
suffered  violation  in  the  arms  of  their  mothers,  and  upon  those  altars  to  which 
they  had  fled  for  safety.  Venerable  prelates,  after  being  exposed  to  every 
indignity,  not  excepting  the  abuse  of  unnatural  desire,  and  enduring  every 
torture,  were  thrown  into  dungeons,  and  menaced  with  the  most  cruel  deaths, 
in  order  to  make  them  reveal  their  secret  treasures.  Clement  himself,  who 
had  taken  refuge  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  was  obliged  to  surrender  at 
discretion ;  and  found  that  his  sacred  character  could  neither  procure  him 
liberty  nor  respect.  He  was  doomed  to  close  confinement,  until  he  should 
pay  an  enormous  ransom,  imposed  by  the  victorious  army,  and  surrender  to 
the  emperor  all  the  places  of  strength  belonging^to  the  apostolic  see.(3) 

(1)  Recueil  de  Traitez,  torn.  ii.  (2)  Goldast.    Polit.  Imperial. 


vocal,  that  the  Roman 'ladies  reciprocated  the  transports  of  the  rapacious  and  blood-thirsty,  but  brawny 
followers  of  Bourbon. 

VOL.  L—  A  a 


370  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

Charles  received  the  news  of  this  extraordinary  event  with  equal  surprise 
and  pleasure  ;  but  in  order  to  conceal  his  joy  from  his  Spanish  subjects,  who 
were  filled  with  horror  at  the  insult  offered  to  the  sovereign  pontiff,  and  to 
lessen  the  indignation  of  the  other  powers  of  Europe,  he  expressed  the 
deepest  sorrow  for  the  success  of  his  arms.  He  put  himself  and  his  whole 
court  into  mourning ;  stopped  the  rejoicings  for  the  birth  of  his  son  Philip  ; 
and  ordered  prayers  to  be  put  up  in  all  the  churches  of  Spain  for  the  libera- 
tion of  the  pope,  which  he  could  immediately  have  procured  by  a  letter  to  his 
generals.(l) 

The  concern  expressed  by  Henry  and  Francis,  for  the  calamity  of  their 
ally,  was  more  sincere.  Alarmed  at -the  progress  of  the  imperial  arms,  they 
had,  even  before  the  sacking  of  Rome,  entered  into  a  closer  alliance,  and 
proposed  to  invade  the  Low  Countries  with  a  powerful  army ;  but  no  sooner 
did  they  hear  of  Clement's  captivity  than  they  changed,  by  a  new  treaty,  the 
scene  of  the  projected  war  from  the  Netherlands  to  Italy,  and  resolved  to 
take  the  most  vigorous  measures  for  restoring  his  holiness  to  liberty.  Henry, 
however,  contributed  only  money.  A  French  army  crossed  the  Alps,  under 
the  command  of  marshal  Lautrec ;  Clement  obtained  his  freedom ;  and  war 
was,  for  a  time,  carried  on  by  the  confederates  with  success.  But  the  death 
of  Lautrec,  and  the  revolt  of  Andrew  Doria,  a  celebrated  Genoese  admiral, 
at  that  time  in  the  service  of  France,  totally  changed  the  face  of  affairs. 
He  obliged  the  French  garrison  in  Genoa  to  surrender,  and  restore  the  liber- 
ties of  his  country.  The  French  army  was  utterly  ruined  before  Naples ; 
and  Francis,  discouraged,  and  almost  exhausted  by  so  many  unsuccessful 
enterprises,  began  at  length  to  think  of  peace,  and  of  obtaining  the  release  of 
his  sons  by  concessions,  instead  of  the  terror  of  his  arms. 

At  the  same  time,  Charles,  notwithstanding  the  advantages  he  had  gained, 
had  many  reasons  to  wish  for  an  accommodation.  Solyman  the  Magnificent, 
having  overrun  Hungary,  was  ready  to  break  in  upon  the  Austrian  territories 
with  the  whole  force  of  the  Ottoman  empire ;  and  the  progress  of  the  Re- 
formation in  Germany  threatened  the  tranquillity  of  that  country.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  situation  of  affairs,  while  pride  made  both  parties  conceal  or 
dissemble  their  real  sentiments,  two  ladies  were  permitted  to  restore  peace  to 
Europe.  Margaret  of  Austria,  Charles's  aunt,  and  Louisa,  Francis's  mother, 
met  at  Cambray,  and  settled  the  terms  of  pacification  between  the  French 
king  and  the  emperor.  Francis  agreed  to  pay  two  millions  of  crowns,  as  the 
ransom  of  his  two  sons  ;  to  resign  the  sovereignty  of  Flanders  and  Artois, 
and  forego  all  his  Italian  claims ;  and  Charles  ceased  to  demand  the  restitu- 
tion of  Burgundy.  (2) 

All  the  steps  of  this  negotiation  had  been  communicated  to  the  king  of 
England ;  and  Henry  was,  on  that  occasion,  so  generous  to  his  friend  and 
ally  Francis,  that  he  sent  him  an  acquittal  of  near  six  hundred  thousand 
crowns,  in  order  to  enable  him  to  fulfil  his  agreement  with  Charles.  But 
Francis's  Italian  confederates  were  less  satisfied  with  the  treaty  of  Cambray. 
They  were  almost  wholly  abandoned  to  the  will  of  the  emperor,  and  seemed 
to  have  no  other  means  of  security  left  but  his  equity  and  moderation.  Of 
these,  from  his  past  conduct,  they  had  not  formed  the  most  advantageous  idea. 
But  Charles's  present  circumstances,  more  especially  in  regard  to  the  Turks, 
obliged  him  to  behave  with  a  generosity  inconsistent  with  his  character.  The 
Florentines  alone,  whom  he  reduced  under  the  dominion  of  the  family  of 
Medicis,  had  reason  to  complain  of  his  severity.  Sforza  obtained  the  inves- 
titure of  the  dutchy  of  Milan  and  his  pardon :  and  every  other  power  expe- 
rienced the  lenity  of  the  victor. 

Charles,  who,  during  this  full  tide  of  his  fortune,  having  quieted  all  the  discon- 
lents  in  Spain,  had  appeared  in  Italy  with  the  pomp  and  power  of  a  conqueror, 
and  received  the  imperial  crown  from  the  hands,  of  the  pope,  now  prepared 
to  revisit  Germany,  where  his  presence  was  become  highly  necessary;  for 
although  the  conduct  and  valour  of  his  brother  Ferdinand,  on  whom  he  had 

fl)  Muroc.  Hi$t.  Venet.  lib.  iii.  (2)  Sandov  Hist  del  Emp.  Carl.  V    Robertson,  book  T 


LET.  LIX.]  M  O  BERN   EUROPE.  371 

conferred  the  hereditary  dominions  of  the  house  of  Austria,  and  who  had 
been  elected  king  of  Hungary,  had  obliged  Solyman  to  withdraw  his  forces, 
his  return  was  to  be  feared,  and  the  disorders  of  religion  were  daily  increasing. 
But  these  disorders,  and  the  future  exploits  of  the  emperor,  must  form  the 
subject  of  another  Letter. 


LETTER  LIX. 

The  general  View  of  the  J(ffairs  of  Europe,  and  of  the  Progress  of  the  Re- 
formation on  the  Continent,  continued  from  the  Peace  of  Cambray  to  that  of 
Crepy,  in  1544. 

THE  Reformation,  my  dear  Philip,  had  gained  much  ground  in  Germany, 
during  that  long  interval  of  tranquillity  which  the  absence  of  the  emperor, 
the  contests  between  him  and  the  pope,  and  his  attention  to  the  war  with 
France,  afforded  its  promoters.  Most  of  the  princes  who  had  embraced 
Luther's  opinions  had  not  only  established  in  their  territories  that  form  of 
worship  which  he  approved,  but  had  entirely  suppressed  the  rites  of  the 
Romish  church.  Many  of  the  free  cities  had  imitated  their  conduct.  Almost 
one  half  of  the  Germanic  body  had  revolted  from  the  papal  see  ;  and  its  do- 
minion, even  in  that  part  which  had  not  yet  shaken  off  the  yoke  of  Rome, 
was  considerably  weakened  by  the  example  of  the  neighbouring  states,  or  by 
the  secret  progress  of  those  doctrines  which  had  undermined  it  among  them. 

Whatever  satisfaction  the  emperor,  while  at  open  enmity  with  the  pope, 
might  have  felt  in  those  events  which  tended  to  mortify  and  embarrass  his 
holiness,  he  was  at  the  same  time  sensible  that  the  religious  divisions  in 
Germany  would,  in  the  end,  prove  hurtful  to  the  imperial  authority.  Accord- 
ingly, the  prospect  of  an  accommodation  with  Clement  no  sooner  opened, 
than  Charles  appointed  a  diet  of  the  empire  to  be  held  at  Spire,  in  order  to 
take  into  consideration  the  state  of  religion.  The  diet,  after  much  dispute, 
issued  a  decree  confirming  the  edict  published  against  Luther  at  Worms,  and 
prohibiting  any  farther  innovations  in  religion,  but  particularly  the  abolition 
of  the  mass,  before  the  meeting  of  a  general  council.  Against  this  decree, 
as  unjust  and  impious,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  the 
duke  of  Lunenburg,  the  prince  of  Anhalt,  together  with  the  deputies  of  four- 
teen imperial  or  free  cities,  entered  into  a  solemn  protest.  On  that  account 
they  were  called  PROTESTANTS  ;(1)  an  appellation  which  has  since  become 
common  to  all  the  sects,  of  whatever  denomination,  that  have  revolted  from 
the  church  of  Rome. 

Such  was  the  state  of  religious  matters  when  Charles  returned  to  Germany. 
He  assisted  in  person  at  the  diet  of  Augsburg ;  where  the  Protestants  pre- 
sented their  system  of  opinions,  composed  by  Melancthon,  the  most  learned 
and  moderate  of  all  the  reformers.  This  system,  known  by  the  name  of 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg  from  the  place  where  it  was  presented,  was  pub- 
licly read  in  the  diet.  Some  popish  divines  were  appointed  to  examine  it ; 
they  brought  in  their  animadversions :  a  dispute  ensued  between  them  and 
Melancthon,  seconded  by  some  of  his  disciples ;  and,  as  in  most  cases  of 
that  kind,  nothing  was  determined.  Every  one  remained  in  his  own  way  of 
thinking.  From  the  Protestant  divines  Charles  turned  to  the  princes  their 
patrons,  but  with  no  better  success :  they  refused  to  abandon  what  they 
deemed  the  cause  of  God,  for  any  earthly  advantage.  Coercive  measures 
were  resolved  upon.  A  decree  was  issued  condemning  most  of  the  peculiar 
tenets  held  by  the  Protestants,  and  prohibiting  any  one  to  tolerate  those  who 
taught  them. 

In  consequence  of  this  decree,  which  they  considered  as  a  prelude  to  the 
most  violent  persecution,  the  Protestant  princes  assembled  at  Smalkalde, 

(1)  Sleidan     Father  Paul.    Seckend. 

Aa2 


J72  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I 

and  concluded  a  league  of  mutual  defence  ;  and  the  emperor's  ambition,  which 
led  him  to  get  his  brother  elected  king  of  the  Romans,  in  order  to  continue 
the  imperial  crown  in  his  family,  furnished  the  confederates  with  a  decent 
pretence  for  courting  the  alliance  of  foreign  princes.  The  kings  of  France 
and  England  secretly  agreed  to  support  them.  Meanwhile,  many  circum- 
stances and  reflections  convinced  Charles  that  this  was  not  a  proper  season 
to  attempt  the  extirpation  of  heresy  by  the  sword.  He  saw  Solyman  ready- 
to  enter  Hungary,  with  the  whole  force  of  the  Turkish  empire,  in  order  to 
wipe  off  the  disgrace  which  his  arms  had  sustained  in  the  former  campaign  : 
he  felt  the  necessity  of  union,  not  only  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  future 
schemes,  but  for  ascertaining  his  present  safety.  The  peace  with  France  was 
precarious ;  and  he  was  afraid  that  the  followers  of  Luther,  if  treated  with 
severity,  might  forget  that  they  were  Christians,  and  join  the  Infidels.  Policy 
made  him  drop  the  mask  of  zeal.  By  a  treaty  concluded  at  Nuremburg,  and 
solemnly  ratified  in  the  diet  at  Ratisbon,  the  emperor  granted  the  Protestants 
liberty  of  conscience  until  the  meeting  of  a  general  council :  and  they  agreed, 
on  their  part,  to  assist  him  powerfully  against  the  Turks. (1) 

This  treaty  was  no  sooner  signed  than  Charles  received  information  that 
Solyman  had  entered  Hungary  at  the  head  of  three  hundred  thousand  men. 
The  imperial  army,  consisting  of  ninety  thousand  disciplined  foot,  and  thiru 
thousand  horse,  besides  a  prodigious  swarm  of  irregulars,  immediately  as- 
sembled in  the  neighbourhood  of  Vienna.  Of  this  vast  body  the  emperor, 
for  the  first  time,  took  the  command  in  person  ;  and  Europe  waited,  in  anxious 
suspense,  the  issue  of  a  decisive  battle  between  the  two  greatest  potentates 
in  the  universe.  But  each  dreading  the  other's  power  and  good  fortune,  both 
conducted  their  operations  with  so  much  caution,  that  a  campaign,  from 
which  the  most  important  consequences  had  been  expected,  was  closed  without 
any  memorable  event.  Solyman  finding  it  impossible  to  take  advantage  of 
an  enemy  always  on  his  guard,  marched  back  to  Constantinople ;  and  Charles, 
freed  from  so  dangerous  an  invader,  set  out  for  Spain. (2) 

During  the  emperor's  absence,  great  disorders  prevailed  in  Germany,  oc- 
casioned by  the  fanaticism  of  a  sect  of  reformers  distinguished  by  the  name 
of  Anabaptists ;  because  they  contended,  that  the  sacrament  of  baptism 
should  be  administered  only  to  persons  grown  up  to  years  of  understanding, 
and  should  be  performed  not  by  sprinkling  them  with  water,  but  by  dipping 
them  in  it.  This  tenet  was  at  least  harmless ;  but  they  held  others  of  a  more 
enthusiastic,  as  well  as  dangerous,  nature.  They  maintained,  that,  among 
Christians,  who  have  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel  to  direct,  and  the  spirit  of 
God  to  guide  them,  the  office  of  magistrate  is  unnecessary,  and  an  encroach- 
ment on  spiritual  liberty ;  that  all  distinctions  of  birth  or  rank  ought  to  be 
abolished ;  that  a  community  of  goods  should  be  established,  and  that  every 
man  may  lawfully  marry  as  many  wives  as  he  thinks  proper. 

Tenets  so  flattering  to  human  weakness  and  human  pride  naturally  pro- 
duced a  number  of  converts,  especially  among  the  lower  class  of  people. 
The  peasants  greedily  embraced  opinions  which  promised  to  place  them  on 
a  level  with  their  imperious  masters.  They  assembled  in  great  bodies,  and 
spread  devastation  wherever  they  came.  But  being  destitute  of  a  skilful 
leader,  they  were  soon  dispersed ;  and  Muncer,  the  first  Anabaptist  prophet, 
perished  on  a  scaffold  at  Mulhausen  in  1525.  Several  of  his  followers,  how- 
ever, lurked  in  different  places,  and  secretly  propagated  the  opinions  of  their 
aect.  A.t  last,  two  Anabaptist  prophets,  John  Matthias,  a  baker  of  Harlem, 
and  John  Bocold,  a  journeyman  tailor  of  Leyden,  possessed  with  the  rage 
of  making  proselytes,  fixed  their  residence  at  Munster,  an  imperial  city  in 
Westphalia ;  and  privately  assembling  their  associates,  from  the  neighbouring 
country,  made  themselves  masters  of  the  town,  and  expelled  the  inhabitants. 

Here  the  Anabaptists  formed  a  singular  kind  of  republic,  over  which 
Matthias  assumed  absolute  authority,  and  wrote  to  his  brethren  in  the  Low 
Countries,  inviting  them  to  assemble  at  Mount  Sion,  (so  he  termed  Munster) 

(1)  Du  Mont.  Corps  Diplomatique,  torn.  iv. 

(S)  Sandov.  Hist,  del  Etna.  Carl.  V.  vol  ii     Robertson,  book  v 


LET.  LIX.)  MODERN   EUROPE.  373 

that  they  might  thence  set  out  in  a  body  to  reduce  all  nations  under  theii 
dominion.  Meanwhile,  the  bishop  of  Munster  having  assembled  a  consider- 
able army,  advanced  to  besiege  the  town.  On  his  approach,  Matthias  sallied 
out,  at  the  head  of  a  chosen  band,  forced  his  camp,  and  returned  to  the  city 
loaded  with  glory  and  spoil.  But  his  success  proved  fatal  to  him.  Thinking 
nothing  now  impossible  for  the  favourites  of  heaven,  he  went  out  to  meet 
the  enemy,  accompanied  by  no  more  than  thirty  of  his  followers ;  boasting, 
that,  like  Gideon,  he  would  smite  the  host  of  the  ungodly  with  a  handful  of 
men.  The  prophet  and  his  thirty  associates  were  slain. 

The  Anabaptists,  however,  did  not  despair :  John  of  Leyden,  their  other 
light,  still  remained.  This  man,  less  bold,  but  more  ambitious  than  Mat- 
thias, assumed  the  title  of  king:  and  being  young,  and  of  a  complexion 
equally  amorous  and  enthusiastic,  he  exercised*  in  their  utmost  latitude, 
those  principles  of  his  sect  which  favoured  sensual  gratification.  He  took, 
in  a  short  time,  no  less  than  fourteen  wives.  His  example  was  followed  by 
his  brethren :  no  man  remained  satisfied  with  a  single  wife.  The  houses 
were  searched ;  and  young  women  grown  up  to  maturity  were  instantly 
seized,  and  compelled  to  marry.  Notwithstanding  this  sensuality,  Munster 
made  a  gallant  defence:  but  the  bishop's  army  being  reinforced,  and  the 
besieged  greatly  distressed  for  want  of  provisions,  one  of  their  own  body  de- 
serted, and  betrayed  them.  The  city  was  taken  by  surprise :  most  of  the 
Anabaptists  were  slain ;  and  their  king  was  made  prisoner,  and  put  to  death 
by  the  most  exquisite  and  lingering  tortures,  all  of  which  he  bore  with  as- 
tonishing fortitude.(l) — So  wonderful  are  the  effects  of  enthusiasm  in  com- 
municating courage,  even  to  minds  naturally  the  most  timid  and  feeble !  and 
so  difficult  is  it,  in  such  cases,  to  distinguish  between  the  martyr  and  the 
visionary ! 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Germany,  Charles  undertook  an 
expedition  against  the  piratical  states  of  Africa.  Barbary,  or  that  part  of 
the  African  continent  which  lies  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  sea, 
was  then  nearly  in  the  same  condition  it  is  at  present.  Morocco,  Algiers, 
and  Tunis  were  its  principal  governments ;  and  the  two  last  were  nests  of 
pirates.  Barbarossa,  a  famous  corsair,  had  succeeded  his  brother  in  the 
kingdom  of  Algiers,  which  he  formerly  assisted  him  to  usurp.  He  regulated 
with  much  prudence  the  interior  police  of  his  kingdom,  carried  on  his  pira- 
cies with  great  vigour,  and  extende*his  conquests  on  the  continent  of 
Africa ;  but  perceiving  that  the  natives  submitted  to  his  government  with 
impatience,  and  fearing  that  his  continual  depredations  might  draw  upon 
him  a  general  combination  of  the  Christian  powers,  he  put  his  dominions 
under  the  protection  of  the  Turkish  emperor.  Solyman,  flattered  by  such 
an  act  of  submission,  and  charmed  with  the  boldness  of  the  man,  offered  him 
the  command  of  the  Ottoman  fleet.  Proud  of  this  distinction,  Barbarossa 
repaired  to  Constantinople,  and  made  use  of  his  influence  with  his  sultan  to 
extend  his  own  dominions.  Partly  by  force,  partly  by  treachery,  he  usurped 
the  kino-dom  of  Tunis ;  and  being  now  possessed  of  greater  power,  he  carried 
on  his  depredations  against  the  Christian  states  with  more  destructive  vio- 
lence than  ever. 

Daily  complaints  of  the  piracies  and  ravages  committed  by  the  galleys  of 
Barbarossa  were  brought  to  the  emperor  by  his  subjects,  both  in  Spam  and 
Italy ;  and  all  Christendom  seemed  to  look  up  to  Charles,  as  its  greatest  and 
most  fortunate  prince,  for  relief  from  this  new  and  odious  species  of  op- 
pression. At  the  same  time,  Muley-Hascen,  the  exiled  king  of  Tunis,  finding 
none  of  the  African  princes  able  or  willing  to  support  him  in  recovering  his 
throne,  applied  to  the  victorious  Charles  for  assistance  against  the  usurper. 
Equally  desirous  of  delivering  his  dominions  from  the  dangerous  neighbour- 
hood of  Barbarossa,  of  appearing  as  the  protector  of  an  unfortunate  prince 

(1)  Ant  Lamb.  Hortens.  Tumult.  Anabaptut.  Jo.  Bapt.  Ottii,  Annal.  Jtnabaftigt.  Mosbeim,  Hut. 
Rcclet.  vol.  iv. 


374  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

and  of  acquiring  the  glory  annexed  in  that  age  to  every  expedition  against 
the  Mahometans,  the  emperor  readily  concluded  a  treaty  with  Muley-Hascen, 
and  set  sail  for  Tunis  with  a  formidable  armament. 

The  Goletta,  a  strong  fortress  on  an  island  in  the  bay  of  Tunis,  and  the 
key  of  the  capital,  planted  with  three  hundred  pieces  of  cannon,  was  taken 
by  storm,  together  Avith  all  Barbarossa's  fleet.  He  was  defeated  in  a  pitched 
battle ;  and  ten  thousand  Christian  slaves  having  knocked  off  their  fetters, 
and  made  themselves  masters  of  the  citadel,  Tunis  offered  to  surrender  at 
discretion.  But  while  Charles  was  deliberating  on  the  means  of  preserving 
the  lives  of  the  inhabitants,  his  troops,  fearing  that  they  would  be  deprived 
of  the  booty?which  they  had  expected,  broke  suddenly  into  the  town,  and 
pillaged  and  massacred  without  distinction.  Thirty  thousand  persons  perished 
by  the  sword,  and  ten  thousand  were  made  prisoners.  The  sceptre,  drenched 
in  blood,  was  restored  to  Muley-Hascen,  on  condition  that  he  should  ac- 
knowledge himself  a  vassal  of  the  crown  of  Spain,  put  into  the  emperor's 
hands  all  the  fortified  seaports  in  the  kingdom  of  Tunis,  and  pay  annually 
twelve  thousand  crowns  for  the  subsistence  of  a  Spanish  garrison  in  the 
Goletta.  These  points  being  settled,  and  twenty  thousand  Christian  slaves 
freed  from  bondage,  either  by  arms  or  by  treaty,  Charles  returned  to  Europe, 
where  his  presence  was  become  necessary ;  while  Barbarossa,  who  had  re- 
tired to  Bona,  recovered  new  strength,  and  again  became  the  tyrant  of  the 
ocean.(l) 

The  king  of  France  took  advantage  of  the  emperor's  absence,  to  revive 
his  claims  in  Italy.  The  treaty  of  Cambray  had  covered  up,  but  not  ex- 
tinguished, the  flames  of  discord.  Francis  in  particular,  who  waited  only 
for  a  favourable  opportunity  of  recovering  the  territories  and  reputation 
which  he  had  lost,  continued  to  negotiate  against  his  rival  with  different 
courts.  But  all  his  negotiations  were  disconcerted  by  unforeseen  accidents. 
The  death  of  Clement  VII.  (whom  he  had  gained  by  marrying  his  son,  the 
duke  of  Orleans,  afterward  Henry  II.,  to  Catharine  of  Medicis,  the  niece  of 
that  pontiff)  deprived  him  of  all  the  support  which  he  hoped  to  receive  from 
the  court  of  Rome.  The  king  of  England,  occupied  with  domestic  cares 
and  projects,  declined  engaging  in  the  affairs  of  the  continent ;  and  the 
Protestant  princes,  associated  by  the  league  of  Smalkalde,  to  whom  also 
Francis  had  applied,  and  who  seemed  z\.  first  disposed  to  listen  to  him,  filled 
with  indignation  and  resentment  at  tne  cruelty  with  which  some  of  their 
reformed  brethren  had  been  treated  in  France,  refused  to  have  any  connexion 
with  the  enemy  of  their  religion. 

The  particulars  of  this  persecution  it  will  be  proper  to  relate,  as  they 
serve  to  illustrate  the  manners  of  the  times.  Francis  was  neither  cruel  nor 
bigoted.  His  levity  and  love  of  pleasure  allowed  him  little  leisure  to  con- 
cern himself  about  religious  disputes ;  but  his  principles  becoming  suspected, 
at  a  time  when  the  emperor  was  gaining  immortal  glory  by  his  expedition 
against  the  infidels,  he  found  it  necessary  to  vindicate  himself  by  some  ex- 
traordinary demonstration  of  reverence  for  the  established  faith.  The  in- 
discreet zeal  of  some  Protestant  converts  furnished  him  with  the  occasion. 
They  had  affixed  to  the  gates  of  the  Louvre,  and  other  public  places,  papers 
containing  indecent  reflections  on  the  rites  of  the  Romish  church.  Six  of 
the  persons  concerned  in  this  rash  action  were  seized ;  and  the  king,  pre- 
tending to  be  struck  with  horror  at  their  blasphemies,  appointed  a  solemn 
procession,  in  order  to  avert  the  wrath  of  Heaven.  The  Host  was  carried 
through  the  city  of  Paris  in  great  pomp :  Francis  walked  uncovered  before 
it,  bearing  a  torch  in  his  hand;  the  princes  of  the  blood  supported  the 
canopy  over  it ;  the  nobles  walked  behind.  In  presence  of  this  numerous 
assembly,  the  king  declared,  that  if  one  of  his  hands  were  infected  with 
heresy,  he  would  cut  it  off  with  the  other :  "  and  I  would  sacrifice,"  added 
he,  "even  my  own  children,  if  found  guilty  of  that  crime."  As  an  awful 

'!)  Sandov.  vol.  ti.    Robertson.  Hist.  Charles  P.t  book  v. 


LET.  L1X.  MODERNEUROPE.  375 

proof  of  his  sincerity,  the  six  unhappy  persons  who  had  beeiv  seized  were 
publicly  burned,  before  the  procession  was  finished,  and  in  the  most  cruel 
manner.  They  were  fixed  upon  a  machine  which  descended  into  the  flames 
and.  retired  alternately,  until  they  expired.(l) — Little  wonder  that  the  Pro- 
testant  princes  were  incensed  at  such  barbarity ! 

But  Francis,  though  unsupported  by  any  ally,  commanded  his  army  to  ad- 
vance towards  the  frontier  of  Italy,  under  pretence  of  chastising  the  duke  of 
Milan  for  a  breach  of  the  law  of  nations,  in  putting  to  death  his  ambassador. 
The  operations  of  war,  however,  soon  took  a  new  direction.  Instead  of 
marching  directly  to  the  dutchy  of  Milan,  Francis  commenced  hostilities 
against  the  duke  of  Savoy,  with  whom  he  had  cause  to  be  dissatisfied,  and  on 
whom  he  had  some  claims ;  and  before  the  end  of  the  campaign,  that  feeble 
prince  saw  himself  stripped  of  all  his  dominions,  except  the  province  of 
Piedmont.  To  complete  his  misfortunes,  the  city  of  Geneva,  the  sovereignty 
of  which  he  claimed,  and  where  the  reformed  religion  was  already  established, 
threw  off  his  yoke :  and  its  revolt  drew  along  with  it  the  loss  of  the  adjacent 
territory.  Geneva  was  then  an  imperial  city,  and  now  became  the  capital  of 
an  independent  republic. 

In  this  extremity  the  duke  of  Savoy  saw  no  resource  but  in  the  emperor's 
protection ;  and  as  his  misfortunes  were  chiefly  occasioned  by  his  attachment 
to  the  imperial  interest,  he  had  a  title  to  immediate  assistance.  But  Charles, 
who  was  just  returned  from  his  African  expedition,  was  not  able  to  lend  him 
the  necessary  support.  His  treasury  was  entirely  drained,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  disband  his  army,  until  he  could  raise  new  supplies.  So  wasting  is  the 
continued  practice,  even  of  successful  war,  to  the  most  opulent  princes 
and  states ! 

Meantime,  the  death  of  Sforza,  duke  of  Milan,  totally  changed  the  nature 
of  the  war,  and  afforded  the  emperor  full  leisure  to  prepare  for  action.  The 
French  monarch's  pretext  for  taking  up  arms  was  at  once  cut  off;  but  as  the 
duke  had  died  without  issue,  all  Francis's  rights  to  the  dutchy  of  Milan,  which 
he  had  yielded  only  to  Sforza  and  his  descendants,  returned  to  him  in  full 
force.  He  accordingly  renewed  his  claim  to  it :  and  if  he  had  ordered  his 
army  immediately  to  advance,  he  might  have  made  himself  master  of  it.  But 
he  unfortunately  wasted  his  time  in  fruitless  negotiations,  while  his  more 
politic  rival  took  possession  of  the  long-disputed  territory,  as  a  vacant  fief  of 
the  empire.  And  although  Charles  seemed  still  to  admit  the  equity  of  Fran- 
cis's claim,  he  delayed  granting  the  investiture  under  various  pretences,  and 
was  secretly  taking  every  possible  measure  to  prevent  his  recovering  footing 
in  Italy. 

During  the  time  gained  in  this  manner,  Charles  had  recruited  his  finances, 
and  of  course  his  armies ;  and  finding  himself  in  a  condition  for  war,  he  at 
last  threw  off  the  mask,  under  which  he  had  so  long  concealed  his  designs 
from  the  court  of  France.  Entering  Rome  with  great  pomp,  he  pronounced, 
before  the  pope  and  cardinals  assembled  in  full  consistory,  a  violent  invective 
against  Francis,  by  way  of  reply  to  his  propositions  concerning  the  investiture 
of  Milan.  Yet  Francis,  by  an  unaccountable  fatality,  continued  to  negotiate, 
as  if  it  had  still  been  possible  to  terminate  their  differences  in  an  amicable 
manner ;  and  Charles,  finding  him  so  eager  to  run  into  the  snare,  favoured  the 
deception,  and,  by  seeming  to  listen  to  his  proposals,  gained  yet  more  time 
for  the  execution  of  his  own  ambitious  projects.(2) 

If  misfortune  had  rendered  Francis  too  diffident,  success  had  made  Charles 
too  confident.  He  presumed  on  nothing  less  than  the  subversion  of  the 
French  monarchy;  nay,  he  considered  it  as  an  infallible  event.  Having 
chased  the  forces  of  his  rival  out  of  Piedmont  and  Savoy,  he  pushed  forward 
at  the  head  of  fifty  thousand  men,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  most  expe- 
rienced ministers  and  generals,  to  invade  the  southern  provinces  of  France ; 
while  two  other  armies  were  ordered  to  enter  that  kingdom,  the  one  on  the 
side  of  Picardy,  the  other  on  the  side  of  Champagne.  He  thought  it  impos 

(1)  Belcarii,  Comment.  Rer.  Gallic.    Steid.  Hist.  Reformat.  (2)  Mem.  de  Bellay. 


376  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

sible  that  Francis  could  resist  so  many  unexpected  attacks,  on  such  different 
quarters ;  but  he  found  himself  mistaken. 

The  French  monarch  fixed  upon  the  most  effectual  plan  for  defeating  the 
mvasion  of  a  powerful  enemy :  and  he  prudently  persevered  in  following  it, 
though  contrary  to  his  own  natural  temper,  and  to  the  genius  of  his  people. 
He  determined  to  remain  altogether  upon  the  defensive,  and  to  deprive  the 
enemy  of  subsistence,  by  laying  waste  the  country  before  them.  The  exe- 
cution of  this  plan  was  committed  to  the  mareschal  de  Montmorency,  its 
author,  a  man  happily  fitted  for  such  service,  by  the  inflexible  severity  of  his 
disposition.  He  made  choice  of  a  strong  camp,  under  the  walls  of  Avignon, 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Rhone  and  Durance,  where  he  assembled  a  consi- 
derable army;  while  the  king,  with  another  body  of  troops,  encamped  at 
Valence,  higher  up  the  Rhone.  Marseilles  and  Aries  were  the  only  towns  he 
thought  it  necessary  to  defend,  and  each  of  these  he  furnished  with  a  nume- 
rous garrison  of  his  best  troops.  The  inhabitants  of  the  other  towns  were 
compelled  to  abandon  their  habitations ;  the  fortifications  of  such  places  as 
might  have  afforded  shelter  to  the  enemy  were  thrown  down ;  corn,  forage, 
and  provisions  of  every  kind,  were  carried  off  or  destroyed ;  the  mills  and 
ovens  were  ruined,  and  the  wells  filled  or  rendered  useless. 

'  This  devastation  extended  from  the  Alps  to  Marseilles,  and  from  the  sea  to 
the  confines  of  Dauphiny ;  so  that  the  emperor,  when  he  arrived  with  the  van 
of  his  army  on  the  confines  of  Provence,  instead  of  that  rich  and  populous 
country  which  he  expected  to  enter,  beheld  nothing  but  one  vast  and  desert 
solitude.  He  did  not,  however,  despair  of  success,  though  he  saw  that  he 
would  have  many  difficulties  to  encounter ;  and,  as  an  encouragement  to  his 
officers,  he  made  them  liberal  promises  of  lands  and  honours  in  France.  But 
all  the  land  which  any  of  them  obtained  was  a  grave,  and  their  master  lost 
much  honour  by  this  rash  and  presumptuous  enterprise.  After  unsuccess- 
fully investing  Marseilles  and  Aries ;  after  attempting  in  vain  to  draw  Mont- 
morency from  his  camp  at  Avignon,  and  not  daring  to  attack  it ;  Charles 
having  spent  two  inglorious  months  in  Provence,  and  lost  one  half  of  his 
troops  by  famine  or  disease,  was  under  the  necessity  of  ordering  a  retreat ; 
and  although  he  was  some  time  in  motion  before  the  enemy  suspected  his 
intention,  his  retreat  was  conducted  with  so  much  precipitation  and  disorder 
as  to  deserve  the  name  of  a  flight,  the  light  troops  of  France  having  turned 
his  march  into  a  perfect  rout ;  the  invasion  of  Picardy  was  not  more  effectual ; 
the  imperial  forces  were  obliged  to  retire  without  effecting  any  conquest  of 
importance.  ( 1) 

Charles  had  no  sooner  conducted  the  shattered  remains  of  his  army  to  the 
frontier  of  Milan,  than  he  set  out  for  Genoa ;  and,  unwilling  to  expose  him- 
self to  the  scorn  of  the  Italians,  after  such  a  reverse  of  fortune,  he  embarked 
directly  for  Spain.(2) 

Meanwhile,  Francis  gave  himself  up  to  that  vain  resentment  which  had 
formerly  disgraced  the  prosperity  of  his  rival.  They  had  frequently,  in  the 
course  of  their  quarrels,  given  each  other  the  lie,  and  mutual  challenges  had 
been  sent ;  which,  though  productive  of  no  serious  consequences  between  the 
parties,  had  a  powerful  tendency  to  encourage  the  pernicious  practice  of 
duelling.  Charles,  in  his  invective  pronounced  at  Rome,  had  publicly  accused 
Francis  of  perfidy  and  breach  of  faith:  Francis  now  exceeded  Charles  in 
the  indecency  of  his  accusations.  The  dauphin  dying  suddenly,  his  death 
was  imputed  to  poison :  Montecuculi,  his  cup-bearer,  was  put  to  the  rack  • 
and  that  unhappy  nobleman,  in  the  agonies  of  torture,  accused  the  emperor's 
generals,  Gonzaga  and  de  Leyva,  of  instigating  him  to  the  detestable  act. 
The  emperor  himself  was  suspected ;  nay,  this  extorted  confession,  and  some 
obscure  hints,  were  considered  as  incontestible  proofs  of  his  guilt ;  though  it 
was  evident  to  all  mankind,  that  neither  Charles  nor  his  generals  could  have 
any  inducement  to  perpetrate  such  a  crime,  as  Francis  was  still  in  the  vigour 
of  life  himself,  and  had  two  sons  besides  the  dauphin.(S) 

03  Sandov.  Jfitt.  del  Emp.  Carl,  r    Robertson,  book  vi  (2;  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Sandov.  ubi.  sup 


LET.  LIX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  377 

But  the  incensed  monarch's  resentment  did  not  stop  here.  Francis  was 
not  satisfied  with  endeavouring  to  blacken  the  character  of  his  rival  by  an 
ambiguous  testimony,  which  led  to  the  most  injurious  suspicions,  and  upon 
which  the  most  cruel  constructions  had  been  put:  he  was  willing  to  add 
rebellion  to  murder.  For  this  purpose  he  went  to  the  parliament  of  Paris ; 
where,  being  seated  with  the  usual  solemnities,  the  advocate-general  ap- 
peared, and  accused  Charles  of  Austria  (so  he  affected  to  call  the  emperor) 
of  having  violated  the  treaty  of  Cambray,  by  which  he  Avas  freed  from  the 
homage  due  to  the  crown  of  France  for  the  counties  of  Artois  and  Flanders ; 
adding,  that  this  treaty  being  now  void,  he  was  still  to  be  considered  as  a 
vassal  of  France,  and  consequently  had  been  guilty  of  rebellion,  in  taking 
arms  against  his  sovereign.  The  charge  was  sustained  by  the  court,  and 
Charles  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  parliament  of  Paris  at  a  day 
fixed.  The  term  expired ;  and  no  person  appearing  in  the  emperor's  name, 
the  parliament  gave  judgment,  that  Charles  of  Austria  had  forfeited,  by  re- 
bellion and  contumacy,  the  counties  of  Flanders  and  Artois,  and  declared 
these  fiefs  reunited  to  the  crown  of  France. (1) 

Francis  soon  after  this  vain  display  of  his  animosity,  inarched  into  the 
Low  Countries,  as  if  he  had  intended  to  execute  the  sentence  pronounced 
by  his  parliament.  But  a  suspension  of  arms  took  place,  through  the  inter- 
position of  the  queens  of  France  and  Hungary,  before  any  thing  of  conse- 
quence was  effected :  and  this  cessation  of  hostilities  was  followed  by  a 
truce  concluded  at  Nice,  through  the  mediation  of  the  reigning  pontiff, 
Paul  III.,  of  the  family  of  Farnese,  a  man  of  venerable  character  and  pacific 
disposition. 

Each  of  these  rival  princes  had  strong  reasons  to  incline  them  to  peace. 
The  finances  of  both  were  exhausted ;  and  the  emperor,  the  most  powerful 
of  the  two,  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  dread  of  the  Turkish  arms,  which 
Francis  had  drawn  upon  him  by  a  league  with  Solyman.  In  consequence  of 
this  league,  Barbarossa,  with  a  great  fleet,  appeared  on  the  coast  of  Naples ; 
filled  that  kingdom  with  consternation ;  landed  without  resistance  near  Ta- 
ranto ;  obliged  Castro,  a  place  of  some  strength,  to  surrender ;  plundered 
the  adjacent  country,  and  was  taking  measures  for  securing  and  extending 
his  conquest,  when  the  unexpected  arrival  of  Doria,  the  famous  Genoese 
admiral,  together  with  the  pope's  galleys  and  a  squadron  of  the  Venetian 
fleet,  made  it  prudent  for  him  to  retire.  The  sultan's  forces  also  invaded 
Hungary,  where  the  Turkish  general  after  gaining  several  inferior  advantages, 
defeated  the  Germans  in  a  great  battle  at  Essek  on  the  Drave. 

Happily  for  Charles  and  for  Europe,  it  was  not  in  Francis's  power,  at  this 
juncture,  either  to  join  the  Turks,  or  to  assemble  an  army  strong  enough  to 
penetrate  into  the  dutchy  of  Milan.  The  emperor  however  was  sensible,  that 
he  could  not  long  resist  the  efforts  of  two  such  powerful  confederates,  nor 
expect  that  the  same  fortunate  circumstances  would  concur  a  second  time  in 
his  favour.  He  therefore  thought  it  necessary,  both  for  his  safety  and  repu- 
tation, to  give  his  consent  to  a  truce ;  and  Francis  chose  rather  to  run  the 
risk  of  disobliging  his  new  ally  the  sultan,  than  to  draw  on  his  head  the  indig- 
nation, and  perhaps  the  arms,  of  all  Christendom,  by  obstinately  obstructing 
the  re-establishment  of  tranquillity,  and  contributing  to  the  aggrandizement 
of  the  infidels.(2) 

These  considerations  inclined  the  contending' monarchs  to  listen  to  the 
arguments  of  the  pope ;  but  his  holiness  found  it  impossible  to  bring  about  a 
filial  accommodation  between  them,  each  inflexibly  persisting  in  asserting 
his  own  claims.  Nor  could  he  prevail  on  them  to  see  one  another,  though 
both  came  to  the  place  of  rendezvous ;  so  great  were  the  remains  of  distrust 
and  rancour,  or  such  the  difficulty  of  adjusting  the  ceremonial !  Yet,  impro- 
bable as  it  may  seem,  a  few  days  after  signing  the  truce,  the  emperor,  in  his 
passage  to  Barcelona,  btflng  driven  on  the  coast  of  Provence,  Francis  invited 
him  to  come  ashore ;  frankly  visited  him  on  board  his  galley,  and  wa§ 

(1)  Mem.  de  Ribier.  <2)  Jovii.  Hist.  lib.  XMV. 


378  THE    HISTORY  OP  [PART  I 

received  and  entertained  with  the  warmest  demonstrations  of  esteem  and 
affection.  Charles,  with  an  equal  degree  of  confidence,  paid  the  king  next 
day  a  visit  at  Aigues-mortes  ;  where  these  two  hostile  rivals,  and  vindictive 
enemies,  who  had  accused  one  another  of  every  kind  of  baseness,  conversing 
together  with  all  the  cordiality  of  brothers,  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in 
expressions  of  respect  and  friendship  !(1) — Such  sudden  transitions  from 
snmity  to  affection,  and  from  suspicion  to  confidence,  can  only  be  accounted 
for  from  that  spirit  of  chivalry,  with  which  the  manners  of  both  princes  were 
strongly  tinctured. 

Besides  the  glory  of  having  restored  tranquillity  to  Europe,  Paul  III. 
secured  a  point  of  much  consequence  to  his  family.  He  obtained  in  mar- 
riage, for  his  grandson,  Margaret  of  Austria,  the  emperor's  natural  daughter, 
formerly  wife  to  Alexander  of  Medicis,  whom  Charles  had  raised  to  the 
supreme  power  in  Florence.  Lorenzo  of  Medicis,  the  kinsman  and  intimate 
companion  of  Alexander,  had  assassinated  him  by  one  of  the  blackest  treasons 
recorded  in  history.  Under  pretence  of  having  secured  him  an  assignation 
with  a  lady  of  great  beauty,  and  of  the  highest  rank,  he  drew  him  into  a 
secret  apartment  of  his  palace,  and  there  stabbed  him,  as  he  lay  carelessly 
on  a  couch,  expecting  the  presence  of  the  lovely  fair,  whom  he  had  often 
solicited  in  vain.  Lorenzo,  however,  did  not  reap  the  fruits  of  his  crime ; 
for  although  some  of  his  countrymen  extolled  him  as  a  third  Brutus,  and 
endeavoured  to  seize  this  occasion  for  recovering  their  liberties,  the  govern- 
ment of  Florence  passed  into  the  hands  of  Cosmo  II.,  another  kinsman  of 
Alexander.  (2)  Cosmo  was  desirous  of  marrying  the  widow  of  his  prede- 
cessor ;  but  the  emperor  chose  rather  to  oblige  the  pope,  by  bestowing  his 
daughter  upon  Octavio  Farnese,  son  of  the  duke  of  Parma,  and  grandson  of 
his  holiness. 

Charles  had  soon  farther  cause  to  be  sensible  of  his  obligations  to  Paul  III. 
for  negotiating  the  truce  of  Nice.  His  troops,  every  where,  mutinied  for 
want  of  pay,  and  the  abilities  of  his  generals  only  could  have  prevented  a 
total  revolt.  He  had  depended  upon  the  subsidies  which  he  expected  from 
his  Castilian  subjects  for  discharging  the  arrears  of  his  army.  He  accord- 
ingly assembled  the  Cortes  of  Castile  at  Toledo  ;  and  having  represented  to 
them  the  great  expense  of  his  military  operations,  he  proposed  to  levy  such 
supplies  as  the  present  exigency  of  his  affairs  demanded,  by  a  general  excise 
on  commodities.  But  the  Spaniards,  who  already  felt' themselves  oppressed 
with  a  load  of  taxes  unknown  to  their  ancestors,  and  who  had  often  com- 
plained, that  their  country  was  drained  of  its  wealth  and  its  inhabitants,  in 
order  to  prosecute  quarrels  in  which  they  had  no  interest,  determined  not  to 
add  voluntarily  to  their  own  burthens.  The  nobles,  in  particular,  inveighed 
with  great  vehemence  against  the  measure  proposed ;  as  it  would  encroach 
on  the  most  valuable  and  distinguished  privilege  of  their  order,  that  of  being 
exempted  from  the  payment  of  any  tax.  After  employing  arguments  and 
promises  in  vain,  Charles  therefore  dismissed  the  assembly  with  indignation : 
and  from  that  period  neither  the  nobles  nor  the  prelates  have  been  called  to 
the  Cortes,  on  pretence  that  such  as  pay  no  part  of  the  public  taxes  should 
not  claim  a  vote  in  laying  them  on.  These  assemblies  have  since  consisted 
merely  of  the  procurators  or  representatives  of  eighteen  cities,  two  from 
each ;  in  ail,  thirty-six  members,  who  a?e  absolutely  at  the  devotion  of  the 
crown.  (3) 

The  citizens  of  Ghent,  still  more  bold,  broke  out  not  long  after  into  open 
rebellion  against  the  emperor's  government,  on  account  of  a  tax  which  they 
judged  contrary  to  their  ancient  privileges,  and  a  decision  of  the  council  of 
Mechlin  in  favour  of  the  imperial  authority.  Enraged  at  an  unjust  imposi- 
tion, and  rendered  desperate  on  seeing  their  rights  betrayed  by  that  very 
court  which  was  bound  to  protect  them,  they  flew  to  arms ;  seized  several 
of  the  emperor's  officers,  and  drove  such  of  the  nobility  as  resided  among 

(1)  Sand.  Jfitt.  del.  Emp.  Carl.  V.  (2)  Lett,  di  Prineip 

<3)  La.  Science  de  Giro,  par  M.  de  Real.    Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.  book  vi 


LET.  LIX.]  M  0  D  E  R  N   E  U  R  O  P  E.  379 

them  out  of  the  city.  Sensible,  however,  of  their  inability  to  support  what 
their  zeal  had  prompted  them  to  undertake,  and  desirous  of  securing  a  pro- 
tector against  the  formidable  forces  with  which  they  might  expect  soon  to  be 
attacked,  they  offered  to  acknowledge  the  king  of  France  as  their  sovereign ; 
to  put  him  into  immediate  possession  of  their  city,  and  to  assist  him  in  reco- 
vering those  provinces  in  the  Netherlands  which  had  anciently  belonged 
to  his  crown.  True  policy  directed  Francis  to  comply  with  this  proposal. 
The  counties  of  Flanders  and  Artois  were  more  valuable  than  the  dutchy  of 
Milan,  for  which  he  had  so  long  contended ;  and  their  situation  in  regard  to 
France,  made  it  more  easy  to  conquer  or  to  defend  them.  But  we  are  apt  to 
estimate  the  value  of  things  by  the  trouble  which  they  have  cost  us.  Francis, 
computing  in  this  manner,  overrated  the  territory  of  Milan.  He  had  lived 
in  friendship  with  the  emperor  ever  since  their  interview  at  Aigues-mortes, 
and  Charles  had  promised  him  the  investiture  of  that  dutchy.  Forgetting 
therefore  all  his  past  injuries,  and  the  deceitful  promises  by  which  he  had  been 
so  often  duped,  the  credulous,  generous,  but  unprincipled  Francis,  not  only 
rejected  the  propositions  of  the  citizens  of  Ghent,  but  communicated  to  the 
emperor  his  whole  negotiation  with  the  malecontents.(l) 

Judging  of  Charles's  heart  by  his  own,  Francis  hoped,  by  this  seemingly 
disinterested  proceeding,  to  obtain  at  once  the  investiture  of  Milan :  and  the 
emperor,  well  acquainted  with  the  weakness  of  his  rival,  flattered  him  in 
this  hope,  for  his  own  selfish  purposes.  His  presence  being  necessary  in  the 
Netherlands,  he  demanded  a  passage  through  France.  It  was  immediately 
granted  him ;  and  Charles,  to  whom  every  moment  was  precious,  set  out, 
notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  his  council,  and  fears  of  his  Spanish 
subjects,  with  a  small  but  splendid  train  of  a  hundred  persons.  He  was  met 
on  the  frontiers  of  France  by  the  dauphin  and  the  duke  of  Orleans,  who 
offered  to  go  into  Spain,  and  remain  there  as  hostages,  till  he  should  reach 
his  own  dominions ;  but  Charles  replied,  that  the  king's  honour  was  sufficient 
for  his  safety,  and  prosecuted  his  journey  without  any  other  security.  The 
king  entertained  him  with  the  utmost  magnificence  at  Paris,  and  the  two 
young  princes  did  not  take  leave  of  him  till  he  entered  the  Low  Countries ; 
yet  he  still  found  means  to  evade  his  promise,  and  Francis  continued  to 
believe  his  professions  sincere. (2) 

The  citizens  of  Ghent,  alarmed  at  the  approach  of  the  emperor,  who  was 
joined  in  the  Netherlands  by  three  armies,  sent  ambassadors  to  implore  his 
mercy,  and  offered  to  throw  open  their  gates.  Charles  only  condescended  to 
reply,  that  he  would  appear  among  them,  "  as  a  sovereign  and  a  judge,  with 
the  sceptre  and  the  sword."  He  accordingly  entered  the  place  of  his  nati- 
vity, on  the  anniversary  of  his  birth ;  and,  instead  of  that  lenity  which  might 
have  been  expected,  exhibited  an  awful  example  of  his  severity.  Twenty-six 
of  the  principal  citizens  were  put  to  death ;  a  greater  number  were  banished ; 
the  city  was  declared  to  have  forfeited  its  privileges ;  a  new  system  of  laws 
and  political  administration  was  prescribed ;  and  a  large  fine  was  imposed  on 
the  inhabitants,  in  order  to  defray  the  expense  of  erecting  a  citadel,  together 
with  an  annual  tax  for  the  support  of  a  garrison.  They  were  not  only  de- 
spoiled of  their  ancient  immunities,  but  made  to  pay,  like  conquered  people, 
for  the  means  of  perpetuating  their  own  slavery. (3) 

Having  thus  re-established  his  authority  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  being 
now  under  no  necessity  of  continuing  that  scene  of  falsehood  and  dissimu- 
lation with  which  he  had  amused  the  French  monarch,  Charles  began  gradually 
to  throw  aside  the  veil  under  which  he  had  concealed  his  intentions  with 
respect  to  the  dutchy  of  Milan,  and  at  last  peremptorily  refused  to  give  up  a 
territory  of  such  value,  or  voluntarily  to  make  such  a  liberal  addition  to  the 
strength  of  an  enemy,  by  diminishing  his  own  power.  He  even  denied,  that 
he  had  ever  made  any  promise  which  could  bind  him  to  an  action  so  foolish, 
and  so  contrary  to  his  own  interest.  (4) 

(i;  Sandov.  ubi  sup.    Mem.de  Bellay.  (2)  Mem.  de  Ribier.    Thuan.  lib.  I     Mem.  de  Bellai. 

(3)  Harcei,  Jlnnal.  Brabantia.  (4)  Mem.  de  Bellay. 


380  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

This  transaction  exposed  the  king  of  France  to  as  much  scorn  as  it  did 
the  emperor  to  censure.  The  blind  credulity  of  Francis,  after  he  had  expe- 
rienced so  often  the  duplicity  and  artifices  of  his  rival,  seemed  to  merit  110 
other  return.  He  remonstrated,  however,  and  exclaimed,  as  if  this  had  been 
the  first  instance  in  which  the  emperor  had  deceived  him.  The  insult  offered 
to  his  understanding  affected  him  even  more  sensibly  than  the  injury  done  to 
his  interest ;  and  he  discovered  such  resentment  as  made  it  obvious  that  he 
would  seize  on  the  first  opportunity  of  revenge,  and  that  a  new  war  would 
soon  desolate  the  European  continent. 

Meanwhile,  Charles  was  obliged  to  turn  his  attention  towards  the  affairs  of 
Germany.  The  Protestants  having  in  vain  demanded  a  general  council, 
pressed  him  earnestly  to  appoint  a  conference  between  a  select  number  of 
divines  of  each  party,  in  order  to  examine  the  points  in  dispute.  For  this 
purpose  a  diet  was  assembled  at  Ratisbon:  and  such  a  conference,  notwith- 
standing the  opposition  of  the  pope,  was  held  with  great  solemnity  in  the 
presence  of  the  emperor.  But  the  divines  chosen  to  manage  the  controversy, 
though  men  of  learning  and  moderation,  were  only  able  to  settle  a  few  specu- 
lative opinions,  all  points  relative  to  worship  and  jurisdiction  serving  only  to 
inflame  the  minds  of  the  disputants.  Charles,  therefore,  finding  his  endeavours 
to  bring  about  an  accommodation  ineffectual,  and  being  impatient  to  close  the 
diet,  prevailed  on  a  majority  of  the  members  to  approve  of  the  following 
edict  of  recess :  That  the  articles  concerning  which  the  divines  had  agreed, 
should  be  held  as  points  decided;  that  those  about  which  they  had  differed 
should  be  referred  to  the  determination  of  a  general  council,  or,  if  that  could 
not  be  obtained,  to  a  national  synod ;  and  should  it  prove  impracticable  also 
to  assemble  a  synod  of  Germany,  that  a  general  diet  of  the  empire  should  be 
called  within  eighteen  months,  in  order  to  give  final  judgment  on  the  whole 
controversy ;  that,  in  the  mean  time,  no  innovations  should  be  made,  nor  any 
means  employed  to  gain  proselytes. (l) 

This  edict  gave  great  offence  to  the  pope.  The  bare  mention  of  allowing 
a  diet,  composed  chiefly  of  laymen,  to  pass  judgment  in  regard  to  articles  of 
faith,  appeared  to  him  no  less  criminal  and  profane  than  the  worst  of  those 
heresies  which  the  emperor  seemed  so  zealous  to  suppress.  The  Protestants 
also  were  dissatisfied  with  it,  as  it  considerably  abridged  the  liberty  which 
they  at  that  time  enjoyed.  They  murmured  loudly  against  it;  and  Charles, 
unwilling  to  leave  any  seeds  of  discontent  in  the  empire,  granted  them  a 
private  declaration,  exempting  them  from  whatever  they  thought  injurious  or 
oppressive  in  the  edict  of  recess,  and  ascertaining  to  them  the  full  possession 
of  all  their  former  privileges. (2) 

The  situation  of  the  emperor's  affairs  at  this  juncture  made  these  extraor- 
dinary concessions  necessary.  He  foresaw  a  rupture  with  France  to  be 
unavoidable,  and  he  was  alarmed  at  the  rapid  progress  of  the  Turks  in  Hun- 
gary. A  great  revolution  had  happened  in  that  kingdom.  John  Zapol  Scaepius, 
by  the  assistance  of  Solyman,  had  wrested  from  the  king  of  the  Romans  a 
considerable  part  of  the  country.  John  died,  and  left  an  infant  son.  Fer- 
dinand attempted  to  take  advantage  of  the  minority,  in  order  to  repossess 
himself  of  the  whole  kingdom ;  but  his  ambition  was  disappointed  by  the 
activity  and  address  of  George  Martinuzzi,  bishop  of  Waradin,  who  shared 
the  regency  with  the  queen.  Sensible  that  he  was  unable  to  oppose  the  king 
of  the  Romans  in  the  field,  Martinuzzi  satisfied  himself  with  holding  out  the 
fortified  towns,  all  which  he  provided  with  every  thing  necessary  for  defence ; 
and  he  at.  the  same  time  sent  ambassadors  to  Solyman,  beseeching  him  to 
extend  towards  the  son,  that  imperial  protection  which  had  so  generously 
maintained  the  father  on  the  throne.  Ferdinand  used  his  utmost  endeavours 
to  thwart  this  negotiation,  and  even  meanly  offered  to  hold  the  Hungarian 
crown  on  the  same  ignominious  conditions  by  which  John  had  obtained  it, 
that  of  paying  tribute  to  the  Porte.  But  the  sultan  saw  such  advantages  from 
espousing  the  interest  of  the  young  king,  that  he  instantly  marched  into 

U)  Father  Paul,  lib.  i.    Seckead,  lib.  iii.    Dumont,  Carps  Diplam.  torn,  iv  f2)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  LIX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  381 

Hungary ;  and  the  Germans,  having  formed  the  siege  of  Buda,  were  defeated 
with  great  slaughter  before  that  city.  Solyman,  however,  instead  of  becoming 
the  protector  of  the  infant  sovereign  whom  he  had  relieved,  made  use  of  this 
success  to  extend  his  own  dominions :  he  sent  the  queen  and  her  son  into 
Transylvania,  which  province  he  allotted  them,  and  added  Hungary  to  the 
Ottoman  empire.  (1) 

Happily  for  the  Protestants,  Charles  had  received  intelligence  of  this  revo- 
lution before  the  close  of  the  diet  at  Ratisbon ;  and  in  consequence  of  the 
concessions  Avhich  he  made  them,  he  obtained  such  liberal  supplies,  both  of 
men  and  money,  in  order  to  prosecute  the  war  against  the  Turks,  as  left  him 
little  anxiety  about  the  security  of  Germany.  He  therefore  hastened  to  join 
his  fleet  and  army  in  Italy,  on  purpose  to  carry  into  execution  a  great  and 
favourite  enterprise  which  he  had  concerted  against  Algiers ;  though  it  would 
certainly  have  been  more  consistent  with  his  dignity  to  have  conducted  the 
whole  force  of  the  empire  against  Solyman,  the  common  enemy  of  Christen- 
dom, who  was  preparing  to  enter  his  Austrian  dominions.  But  many  reasons 
induced  Charles  to  prefer  the  African  expedition.  He  wanted  strength  to 
combat  the  Turks  in  so  distant  a  country  as  Hungary ;  and  the  glory  which 
he  had  formerly  acquired  in  Barbaiy  led  him  to  hope  for  like  success,  while 
the  cries  of  his  Spanish  subjects  roused  him  to  take  vengeance  on  their 
ravagers. 

Algiers,  since  the  taking  of  Tunis,  was  become  the  common  receptacle  of 
all  the  Barbary  corsairs ;  and  from  the  time  that  Barbarossa,  as  captain-basha, 
commanded  the  Turkish  fleet,  it  had  been  governed  by  Hascen  Aga,  a  rene- 
gado  eunuch,  who  outdid,  if  possible,  his  master  in  boldness  and  cruelty. 
The  commerce  of  the  Mediterranean  was  greatly  interrupted  by  his  galleys ; 
and  such  frequent  alarms  were  given  to  the  coasts  of  Spain,  that  there  was  a 
necessity  for  erecting  watch-towers  at  certain  distances,  and  of  keeping  a 
guard  constantly  employed,  in  order  to  descry  the  approach  of  his  squadrons, 
and  to  protect  the  inhabitants  from  the  depredations  of  the  rapacious  ruffians, 
with  which  they  were  manned. 

Charles,  before  he  left  Spain,  had  resolved  to  humble  this  daring  corsair, 
and  to  exterminate  the  lawless  crew  who  had  so  long  infested  the  ocean. 
With  this  view  he  had  ordered  a  fleet  and  army  to  assemble  on  the  coast  of 
Italy :  and  although  the  autumn  was  now  far  advanced,  he  obstinately  per- 
sisted in  his  purpose,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  Andrew  Doria, 
who  conjured  him  not  to  expose  so  noble  an  armament  to  almost  inevitable 
destruction,  by  venturing,  at  so  late  a  season,  to  approach  the  stormy  coast 
of  Algiers.  Doria's  words  proved  prophetical. 

No  sooner  had  the  emperor  landed  in  Barbary,  than  a  frightful  hurricane 
arose,  scattered  his  fleet,  and  dashed  great  part  of  it  in  pieces ;  while  he  and 
his  land  forces  were  exposed  to  all  the  fury  of  the  elements,  in  an  enemy's 
country,  without  a  hut  or  a  tent  to  shelter  them,  or  so  much  as  a  spot  of  firm 
ground  on  which  they  could  rest  their  wearied  bodies.  In  this  calamitous 
situation,  cold  and  wet,  they  continued  during  several  days,  harassed  at  the 
same  time  by  the  attacks  of  the  Algerines.  At  last  Doria,  happily  being  able 
to  assemble  the  remains  of  the  fleet,  Charles  was  glad  to  re-embark,  after 
having  lost  the  greater  part  of  his  army,  by  the  inclemency  of  the  weather, 
famine,  or  the  sword  of  the  enemy.  And  the  men  who  yet  survived  were 
doomed  to  encounter  new  miseries  in  their  return ;  the  fleet  being  scattered 
by  a  fresh  storm,  and  the  ships  obliged  to  take  shelter,  separately,  in  those 
parts  of  Spain  or  Italy  they  could  first  reach. (2) 

Such,  my  dear  Philip,  was  the  result  of  the  emperor's  pompous  expedition 
against  Algiers,  the  most  unfortunate  enterprise  of  his  reign,  and  that  on 
which  he  built  the  highest  hopes.  But  if  Charles  failed  to  acquire  the  glory 
which  ever  attends  success,  he  secured  that  which  is  more  essentially  con- 
nected with  merit.  He  never  appeared  greater  than  amid  his  misfortunes. 
His  firmness  and  constancy  of  spirit,  his  magnanimity,  fortitude,  humanity, 

(1)  Istuanhaffe,  HTist.  ffunf.  lib.  xlv. 

(8)  Nic.  Villag.    Expedit.  Car.  V.  ad  Jlrgyriam.    Sandov.  vol.  ii.    Robertson,  book  rt. 


382  THE    HISTORY    OF  fPART  1. 

and  compassion  were  eminently  conspicuous.  He  endured  as  severe  hard- 
ships as  the  meanest  soldier ;  he  exposed  his  own  person  to  whatever  dangei 
appeared ;  he  encouraged  the  desponding,  visited  the  sick  and  wounded,  and 
animated  all  by  his  words  and  example.(l)  He  paid  dearly  for  his  obstinacy 
and  presumption ;  but  he  made  mankind  sensible  that  he  possessed  many 
valuable  qualities,  Avhich  an  almost  uninterrupted  flow  of  prosperity  had 
hitherto  afforded  him  little  opportunity  of  showing. 

The  loss  which  the  emperor  suffered  in  this  calamitous  enterprise  encou- 
raged the  king  of  France  to  begin  hostilities,  on  which  he  had  been  for  some 
time  resolved ;  an  action  dishonourable  to  civil  society  having  furnished  him 
with  too  good  a  pretext  for  taking  arms.  The  marquis  del  Guasto,  governor 
of  the  dutchy  of  Milan,  had  got  intelligence  of  the  motions  and  destination 
of  two  ambassadors,  Rincon  and  Fergoso,  whom  Francis  had  despatched,  the 
one  to  the  Ottoman  Porte,  the  other  to  the  republic  of  Venice  ;  and  knowing 
how  much  his  master  wished  to  discover  the  intentions  of  the  French  mo- 
narch, and  of  what  consequence  it  was  to  retard  the  execution  of  his  mea- 
sures, he  employed  some  soldiers  belonging  to  the  garrison  of  Pavia  to  lie  in 
wait  for  these  ambassadors  as  they  sailed  down  the  Po.  The  ambassadors 
and  most  of  their  attendants  were  murdered,  and  their  papers  seized. (2) 

Francis  immediately  demanded  reparation  for  that  barbarous  violence ;  and 
as  Charles  endeavoured  to  put  him  off  with  an  evasive  answer,  he  appealed 
to  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  setting  forth  the  heinousness  of  the  injury,  the 
iniquity  of  the  emperor  in  disregarding  his  just  request,  and  the  necessity  of 
vengeance.  But  Charles,  who  was  a  more  profound  negotiator,  defeated  in 
a  great  measure  the  effects  of  these  spirited  representations.  He  secured 
the  fidelity  of  the  Protestant  princes  in  Germany,  by  granting  them  new  con- 
cessions ;  and  he  engaged  the  king  of  England  to  espouse  his  cause,  under 
pretence  of  defending  Europe  against  the  infidels ;  while  Francis  was  only 
able  to  form  an  alliance  with  the  kings  of  Denmark  and  Sweden  (who  for  the 
first  time  interested  themselves  in  the  quarrels  of  the  sovereigns  of  the  South), 
and  to  renew  his  treaty  with  Solyman,  which  drew  on  him  the  indignation  of 
Christendom. 

But  the  activity  of  Francis  supplied  all  the  defects  in  his  negotiation. 
Five  armies  were  soon  ready  to  take  the  field,  under  different  generals,  and 
with  different  destinations.  Nor  was  Charles  wanting  in  his  preparations. 
He  and  Henry,  a  second  time,  made  an  ideal  division  of  the  kingdom  of 
France.  But  as  the  hostilities  that  ensued  were  followed  by  no  important 
consequence,  nor  distinguished  by  any  memorable  event,  except  the  battle  of 
Cerisoles,  gained  by  count  d'Enguien  over  the  imperialists,  and  in  which  ten 
thousand  of  the  emperor's  best  troops  fell,  I  shall  not  enter  into  particulars. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  observe,  that,  after  France,  Spain,  Piedmont,  and  the 
Low  Countries  had  been  alternately,  or  at  once,  the  scene  of  war ;  after  the 
Turkish  fleet,  under  Barbarossa,  had  ravaged  the  coasts  of  Italy,  and  the 
lilies  of  France  and  the  crescent  of  Mahomet  had  appeared  in  conjunction 
before  Nice,  where  the  cross  of  Savoy  was  displayed,  Francis  and  Charles, 
mutually  tired  of  harassing  each  other,  concluded  at  Crespy  a  treaty  of  peace, 
in  which  the  king  of  England  was  not  mentioned ;  and,  from  being  implacable 
enemies,  became  once  more,  in  appearance,  cordial  friends,  and  even  allies 
by  the  ties  of  blood.(3) 

The  chief  articles  in  this  treaty  were,  that  all  the  conquests  which  either 
party  had  made  since  the  truce  of  Nice  should  be  restored ;  that  the  emperor 
should  give  in  marriage  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  either  his  own  eldest  daughter, 
with  the  Low  Countries,  or  the  second  daughter  of  his  brother  Ferdinand, 
with  the  investiture  of  the  dutchy  of  Milan ;  that  Francis  should  renounce 
all  pretensions  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  as  well  as  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Flanders  and  Artois,  and  Charles  gave  up  his  claim  to  the  dutchy  of  Burgundy 
and  that  both  should  unite  in  making  war  upon  the  Turks. (4) 

(1)  Nic.Villag.    F.xpedit  Car.  V.  ad  Jlrgynam.     Sandov.  vol.  ii.    Robertson,  book  vi. 

'*i  Mem.  de  BeUay.          (3)  Mem.  de  JUoulii*.     Mem.  de  Bellay.         (4)  Recucil  dee  Trailer  torn.  L 


«ET.  LX.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  383 

The  emperor  was  chiefly  induced  to  grant  conditions  so  advantageous  to 
France,  by  a  desire  of  humbling  the  Protestant  princes  in  Germany.  With 
the  papal  jurisdiction,  he  foresaw  they  would  endeavour  to  throw  off  the  im- 
perial authority ;  and  he  had  determined  to  make  his  zeal  for  the  former  a 
pretence  for  enforcing  and  extending  the  latter.  But  before  I  speak  of  the 
wars  in  which  that  resolution  involved  him,  I  must  carry  forward  the  do- 
mestic history  of  England,  the  knowledge  of  which  will  throw  light  on  many 
foreign  transactions. 

Meanwhile,  I  shall  observe,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  that  the  death  of 
the  duke  of  Orleans,  before  the  consummation  of  his  marriage,  disentangled 
the  emperor  from  the  most  troublesome  stipulation  in  the  treaty  of  Crespy; 
and  that  the  French  monarch,  being  still  engaged  in  hostilities  with  Eng- 
land, was  unable  to  obtain  any  reparation  for  the  loss  which  he  suffered  by 
this  unforeseen  event.  These  hostilities,  like  those  between  Charles  and 
Francis;  terminated  in  nothing  decisive.  Equally  tired  of  a  struggle,  attended 
with  no  glory  or  advantage  to  either,  the  contending  parties  concluded  at 
Campe,  near  Ardres,  a  treaty  of  peace,  in  which  it  was  stipulated,  that  France 
should  pay  the  arrears  due  by  former  treaties  to  England.  But  these  arrears 
did  not  amount  to  more  than  one-third  of  the  sum  expended  by  Henry  on  his 
military  operations ;  and  Francis  being  in  no  condition  to  discharge  them. 
Boulogne  (a  chargeable  pledge)  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  English  monarch 
as  a  security  for  the  debt.(l)  Such  was  the  result  of  a  war  which  had 
wasted  the  wealth  and  strength  of  both  kingdoms,  and  threatened  the  final 
ruin  of  one  of  them. 


LETTER  LX. 

The  domestic  History  of  England  during  the  Reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  with  some 
Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland,  and  of  the  Rise  of  the  Reformation  in  both 
Kingdoms. 

No  prince  ever  ascended  the  throne  of  England  with  more  advantages  than 
Henry  VIII.  You  have  already  had  occasion,  my  dear  Philip,  to  observe 
his  fortunate  situation  with  respect  to  the  great  powers  on  the  continent :  he 
was  no  less  happy  in  regard  to  the  internal  state  of  his  kingdom,  and  other 
domestic  circumstances.  His  title  to  the  crown  was  undisputed;  his  trea- 
sury was  full;  his  subjects  were  in  tranquillity;  and  the  vigour  and  comeli- 
ness of  his  person,  his  freedom  of  manners,  his  love  of  show,  and  his  dex- 
terity in  every  manly  exercise,  rendered  his  accession  highly  popular,  while 
his  proficiency  in  literature,  and  his  reputation  for  talents,  made  his  cha- 
racter respectable.  Every  thing  seemed  to  prognosticate  a  happy  and  pros- 
perous reign. 

The  first  act  of  Henry's  administration  confirmed  the  public  hopes :  it  was 
the  prosecution  of  Empson  and  Dudley,  the  two  unfeeling  ministers  whom 
his  father  had  employed  in  his  extortions.  They  insisted,  and  perhaps  justly, 
that  they  had  acted  solely  by  royal  authority;  but  the  jury  was  so  far  moved 
by  popular  prejudices  as  to  give  a  verdict  against  them ;  and  Henry,  at  the 
earnest  desire  of  the  people,  granted  a  warrant  for  their  execution.(2) 

Having  punished  the  instruments  of  past  oppression,  the  king's  next  con- 
cern was  to  fulfil  his  former  engagements.  He  had  been  affianced  during  his 
father's  lifetime  to  the  infanta  Catharine,  his  brother's  widow;  and,  not- 
withstanding some  scruples  on  that  step,  he  now  agreed  that  their  nuptials 
should  be  celebrated.  We  shall  afterward  have  occasion  to  observe  the 
extraordinary  effects  of  this  marriage,  and  of  the  king's  remorse,  either  real 
or  pretended. 

Some  princes  nave  been  their  own  ministers,  but  almost  every  one  has 

(1)  Heroert.    Stowe.  (2,  Holingshed 


384  THEHISTORYOF  I  FART  I. 

either  had  a  minister  or  a  favourite :  Wolsey,  whose  character  has  already 
been  delineated,  was  both  to  Henry.  Being  admitted  to  the  youthful  mo- 
narch's pleasures,  he  took  the  lead  in  every  jovial  conversation,  and  pro- 
moted, notwithstanding  his  religious  habit,  all  that  frolic  and  gayety  which 
he  found  to  be  agreeable  to  the  age  and  inclinations  of  the  king.  During  the 
intervals  of  amusement,  he  introduced  business  and  state  affairs,  and  insi- 
nuated those  maxims  of  conduct  which  he  was  desirous  his  master  should 
pursue.(l)  By  these  means  he  insensibly  acquired  that  absolute  ascendant 
over  Henry,  which  distinguished  his  administration ;  and  the  people  saw  with 
concern  every  day  new  instances  of  his  uncontrolled  authority. 

The  duke  of  Buckingham,  lord  high  constable  of  England,  the  first  noble- 
man in  the  kingdom,  both  in  family  and  fortune,  having  wantonly  given  dis- 
gust to  Wolsey,  soon  found  reason  to  repent  his  imprudence.  He  was  de- 
scended by  a  female  from  the  duke  of  Gloucester,  youngest  son  of  Edward 
III.,  and  being  infatuated  with  judicial  astrology,  he  consulted  with  a  Car 
thusian  friar,  named  Hopkins,  who  flattered  him  with  the  hope  of  ascending 
one  day  the  English  throne.  He  had  even  been  so  unguarded  as  to  utter 
some  expressions  against  the  king's  life.  The  cardinal  made  these  the 
grounds  of  an  impeachment ;  and  although  Buckingham's  threats  seem  to 
have  proceeded  more  from  indiscretion  than  deliberate  malice,  he  was  brought 
to  trial,  condemned,  and  executed.(2)  The  office  of  high  constable,  which 
this  nobleman  inherited  from  the  Bohuns,  earls  of  Hereford,  being  forfeited 
by  his  attainder,  was  never  afterward  revived  in  England. 

The  next  memorable  event  in  the  domestic  history  of  this  reign,  is  the 
divorce  of  queen  Catharine.  The  king's  scruples  in  regard  to  the  lawfulness 
of  his  marriage  increased  with  the  decay  of  the  queen's  beauty.  She  had 
borne  him  several  children;  but  they  were  all  dead  except  the  princess 
Mary;  and  Henry  was  passionately  fond  of  male  issue.  He  consulted  his 
confessor,  the  bishop  of  Lincoln,  on  the  legality  of  marrying  a  brother's 
widow,  and  found  that  prelate  possessed  with  some  doubts  and  difficulties. 
He  next  proceeded  to  examine  the  question  by  his  own  learning  and  study, 
being  himself  a  great  divine  and  casuist :  and  having  had  recourse  to  the 
works  of  his  oracle,  Thomas  Aquinas,  he  discovered  that  this  celebrated 
doctor  had  expressly  declared  against  the  lawfulness  of  such  marriages. 
The  archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  now  applied  to,  and  desired  to  consult 
his  brethren.  All  the  prelates  of  England,  except  Fisher,  bishop  of  Roches- 
ter, unanimously  declared,  under  their  hand  and  seal,  that  they  deemed  the 
king's  marriage  unlawful.(S)  Wolsey  also  fortified  his  master's  scruples; 
and  the  bright  eyes  of  Anne  Boleyn,  maid  of  honour  to  the  queen,  carried 
home  every  argument  to  the  heart  of  Henry,  more  forcibly  than  even  the 
suggestions  of  that  powerful  favourite. 

This  young  lady  was  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  who  had  been  em- 
ployed by  Henry  in  several  embassies,  and  was  allied  to  all  the  chief  nobility 
in  the  kingdom.  She  had  been  carried  over  to  Paris  in  early  youth,  by  the 
king's  sister,  when  espoused  to  Lewis  XII.  of  France ;  and  the  graces  of  her 
mind,  no  less  than  the  beauty  of  her  person,  had  distinguished  her  even  in 
that  polished  court.  The  time  at  which  she  returned  to  England  is  not  cer- 
tainly known;  but  it  appears  to  have  been  after  the  king  had  entertained 
doubts  concerning  the  lawfulness  of  his  marriage.  She  immediately  caught 
the  roving  and  amorous  eye  of  Henry;  and  as  her  virtue  and  modesty  left 
him  no  hope  of  licentious  indulgences,  he  resolved  to  raise  her  to  the  throne, 
which  her  accomplishments,  both  natural  and  acquired,  seemed  equally  fitted 
to  adorn. 

But  many  bars  were  yet  in  the  way  of  Henry's  wishes.  It  was  not  only 
necessary  to  obtain  a  divorce  from  the  pope,  but  a  revocation  of  the  bull  which 
had  been  granted  for  his  marriage  with  Catharine,  before  he  could  marry 
Anne :  and  he  had  to  combat  all  the  interest  of  the  emperor,  whose  aunt  he 
was  going  to  degrade.  The  king  of  England,  however,  did  not  despair  of 

'JO  Cavendish  (2)  Herbert  (3)  Burnet,  Hist.  Reformat  .book » 


LET.  LX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  383 

success.  He  was  in  high  favour  with  the  court  of  Rome,  and  he  deserved  to 
be  so.  He  had  not  only  opposed  the  progress  of  the  Lutheran  tenets,  by 
all  the  influence  which  his  extensive  and  almost  absolute  authority  conferred 
upon  him,  but  he  had  even  written  a  book  against  them :  a  performance  in 
itself  not  contemptible,  and  which  gave  so  much  pleasure  to  Leo  X.,  that  he 
conferred  upon  Henry  the  title  of  Defender  of  the  Faith.  Sensible  therefore 
of  his  importance,  as  the  chief  pillar  of  the  church,  at  a  time  when  it  stood  in 
much  need  of  support,  he  confidently  applied  to  Clement  VII.,  the  reigning 
pontiff,  for  a  dissolution  of  his  marriage  with  Catharine. 

The  pope  seemed  at  first  favourable  to  Henry's  inclinations ;  but  his  dread 
of  displeasing  the  emperor,  whose  prisoner  he  had  lately  been,  prevented  him 
from  coming  to  any  fixed  determination.  He  at  last,  however,  empowered 
Campeggio  and  Wolsey,  his  two  legates  in  England,  to  try  the  validity  of  the 
king's  marriage.  They  accordingly  opened  their  court  at  London,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  examination  of  the  matter.  The  first  point  which  came  before 
them,  and  that  which  Henry  wanted  chiefly  to  establish,  was  Arthur's  con- 
summation of  his  marriage  with  Catharine ;  and  although  the  queen  protested 
that  her  virgin  honour  Avas  yet  untainted,  when  the  king  received  her  into  his 
bed,  and  even  appealed  to  his  grace  (the  title  then  taken  by  our  kings)  for 
the  truth  of  her  asseveration,  stronger  proofs  than  were  produced  could  not 
be  expected  of  such  a  fact,  after  so  long  an  interval.  But  when  the  business 
seemed  drawing  near  to  a  close,  and  while  Henry  was  in  anxious  expectation 
of  a  sentence  in  his  favour,  all  his  hopes  were  suddenly  blasted.  Campeg- 
gio, on  the  most  frivolous  pretences,  prorogued  the  court ;  and  Clement,  at 
the  intercession  of  the  emperor, -revoked  the  cause  soon  after  to  Rome.(l) 

This  finesse  occasioned  the  fall  of  Wolsey.  Anne  Boleyn  imputed  to  him 
the  failure  of  her  expectations ;  and  Henry,  who  entertained  the  highest 
opinion  of  the  cardinal's  capacity,  ascribed  his  miscarriage  in  the  present 
undertaking  not  to  misfortune  or  mistake,  but  to  the  malignity  or  infidelity  of 
that  minister.  The  great  seal  was  taken  from  him,  and  given  to  sir  Thomas 
More,  a  man  of  learning,  virtue,  and  capacity.  He  was  indicted  in  the  Star- 
Chamber  ;  his  lands  and  goods  were  declared  forfeited ;  his  houses  and  fur- 
niture were  seized ;  he  was  pronounced  without  the  protection  of  the  laws, 
and  his  person  liable  to  be  committed  to  custody.(2)  The  king's  heart,  how- 
ever, relented,  and  the  prosecution  was  carried  no  further ;  but  the  cardinal 
was  ordered  to  remove  from  court,  and  his  final  ruin  was  hanging  over  him. 

The  parliament  laid  hold  of  the  present  opportunity  to  pass  several  bills, 
restraining  the  impositions  of  the  clergy;  and  Henry  was  not  displeased,  that 
the  pope  and  his  whole  militia  should  be  made  sensible  of  their  dependence 
upon  him,  and  of  the  willingness  of  his  subjects,  if  he  was  so  disposed,  to 
reduce  the  power  and  privileges  of  ecclesiastics.  Amid  the  anxieties  with 
which  he  was  agitated,  he  was  often  tempted  to  break  off  all  connexion  with 
Rome :  and  Anne  Boleyn  used  every  insinuation,  in  order  to  make  him  pro- 
ceed to  extremities  with  Clement ;  both  as  the  readiest  and  surest  means  of 
her  exaltation  to  the  royal  dignity,  and  of  spreading  the  new  doctrines,  in 
which  she  had  been  initiated  under  the  dutchess  of  Alenc,  on,  a  warm  friend  to 
the  Reformation.  But  Henry,  notwithstanding  these  inducements,  had  still 
many  reasons  to  desire  a  good  agreement  with  the  sovereign  pontiff.  Having 
been  educated  in  a  superstitious  veneration  for  the  holy  see,  he  dreaded  the 
reproach'  of  heresy ;  and  he  abhorred  all  alliance  with  the  Lutherans,  the 
chief  opponents  of  the  papal  power,  because  Luther,  their  apostle,  had  handled 
him  roughly,  in  an  answer  to  his  book  in  defence  of  the  Romish  communion. 

While  Henry  was  fluctuating  between  these  contrary  opinions,  two  of  his 
courtiers  fell  accidentally,  one  evening,  into  company  with  Dr.  Thomas  Cran- 
mer,  fellow  of  Jesus  college,  in  Cambridge,  a  man  distinguished  by  his  learn- 
ing, but  still  more  by  his  candour ;  and  as  the  affair  of  the  divorce  became 

IS)  Strvne '  Cavendish"  The  richness  of  Wolsey's  furniture  was  such  as  must  astonish  even  the  present 
age.  The  principal  apartments  of  his  palace  were  lined  with  cloth  of  gold  or  cloth  of  silver ;  he  had  a  side 
board  of  plate  of  massy  gold :  and  every  other  article  for  domestic  use  or  ornament  was  proporuonahlr 
sumptuous.  Ibid.  17 

VOL.  I.— B  b 


386  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

the  subject  of  conversation,  he  observed  that  the  best  way,  either  to  quiet 
the  king's  conscience  or  to  obtain  the  pope's  consent,  would  be  to  consult  all 
the  universities  in  Europe  with  regard  to  that  controverted  point.  When 
Henry  was  informed  of  this  proposal,  he  was  delighted  with  it,  and  swore 
with  great  violence,  "  By  God!  Cranmer  has  got  the  right  sow  by  the  ear." 
The  doctor  was  immediately  sent  for,  and  taken  into  favour ;  the  universities 
were  consulted,  according  to  his  advice ;  and  all  of  them  declared  the  king's 
marriage  invalid.  (1) 

Clement,  however,  lying  still  under  the  influence  of  the  emperor,  continued 
inflexible ;  and  as  Henry  was  sensible  that  the  extremities  to  which  he  was 
pushed,  both  against  the  pope  and  the  ecclesiastical  order,  must  be  disagree- 
able to  Wolsey,  whose  opposition  he  dreaded,  he  renewed  the  prosecution 
against  his  ancient  favourite. 

The  cardinal,  after  his  disgrace,  had  remained  for  some  time  at  Richmond ; 
but  being  ordered  to  remove  to  his  see  of  York,  he  took  up  his  residence  at 
Cawood,  in  Yorkshire,  where  he  rendered  himself  extremely  popular  in  the 
neighbourhood,  by  his  affability  and  hospitality.  In  this  retreat  he  lived, 
when  the  earl  of  Northumberland  received  orders  to  arrest  him  for  high- 
treason,  and  conduct  him  to  London,  as  a  prelude  to  his  trial.  On  his  journey 
he  was  seized  with  a  disorder,  which  turned  into  a  dysentery :  and  it  was 
with  much  difficulty  that  he  was  able  to  reach  Leicester  Abbey.  "  I  am  come 
to  lay  my  bones  among  you,"  said  Wolsey  to  the  abbot  and  monks,  who  came 
out  to  receive  him :  and  he  immediately  took  to  his  bed,  whence  he  never 
rose  more.  "  O,  had  I  but  served  my  God,"  cried  he,  a  little  before  he  expired, 
"  as  diligently  as  I  have  served  my  king,  he  would  not  have  deserted  me  in 
my  gray  hairs."(2)  His  treason,  indeed,  seems  rather  to  have  been  against 
the  people  than  the  prince,  or  even  the  state ;  for  although  the  violence  and 
obstinacy  of  Henry's  character  ought  perhaps  to  apologize  for  many  of  the 
cardinal's  public  measures,  his  continued  extortions  upon  the  subject,  by  the 
most  iniquitous  methods,  in  what  he  called  his  legantine  court,  admit  of  no 
alleviation. 

Thus  freed  from  a  person  whom  he  considered  as  an  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  his  inclinations,  and  supported  by  the  opinion  of  the  learned  in  the  step 
which  he  intended  to  take,  Henry  ordered  a  parliament,  together  with  a  con- 
vocation, to  meet;  in  which  he  was  acknowledged,  "the  Protector  and 
supreme  Head  of  the  Church  and  Clergy  of  England."  And  being  now  fully 
determined  in  his  own  mind  relative  to  a  matter  which  had  long  engaged  his 
thoughts,  and  resolved  to  administer  ecclesiastical  affairs  without  having  fur- 
ther recourse  to  Rome,  as  well  as  to  abide  all  consequences,  he  privately 
celebrated  his  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn,  whom  he  had  previously  created 
marchioness  of  Pembroke. 

Cranmer,  now  become  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  annulled  soon  after  the 
king's  marriage  with  Catharine  (a  step  which  ought  to  have  preceded  his 
second  nuptials),  and  ratified  that  with  Anne,  who  was  publicly  crowned 
queen,  with  all  the  pomp  and  dignity  suited  to  such  a  ceremony.  (3)  And,  to 
complete  the  satisfaction  of  Henry  on  the  conclusion  of  this  troublesome 
business,  the  queen  was  safely  delivered  of  a  daughter,  who  received  the 
name  of  Elizabeth,  and  whom  we  shall  afterward  see  swaying  the  English 
sceptre  with  equal  glory  to  herself  and  happiness  to  her  people. 

When  intelligence  was  conveyed  to  Rome  of  these  transactions, -the  con- 
clave was  all  in  a  rage,  and  the  pope  was  urged  by  the  cardinals  of  the  impe- 
rial faction  to  dart  his  spiritual  thunders  against  Henry.  But  Clement  was 
still  unwilling  to  proceed  to  extremities :  he  only  declared  Cranmer's  sen- 
tence null,  and  threatened  the  king  with  excommunication,  if  he  did  not  put 
things  in  their  former  condition,  before  a  day  named.  In  the  mean  time, 
Henry  was  prevailed  upon,  by  the  mediation  of  the  king  of  France,  to  submit 
his  cause  to  the  Roman  consistory,  provided  the  cardinals  of  the  imperial  fac- 
tion weie  excluded  from  it.  The  pope  consented ;  and  promised,  that  if  the 

. )  Herbert.    Burnet.  (<J)  Cavendish.  (31  Heylin. 


LET.  LX.  MODERN   EUROPE.  387 

king  would  sign  a  written  agreement  to  this  purpose,  his  demands  should 
be  fully  complied  with.  But  on  what  slight  incidents  often  depend  the  greatest 
events !  The  courier  appointed  to  carry  the  king's  written  promise  wag  de- 
tained beyond  the  day  fixed  ;  news  arrived  at  Rome,  that  a  libel  had  been 
published  in  London  against  the  holy  see,  and  a  farce  acted  before  the  king 
in  derision  of  the  apostolic  body.(l)  The  pope  and  cardinals  entered  into  the 
consistory  inflamed  with  rage;  the  marriage  between  Henry  and  Catharine 
was  pronounced  valid ;  the  king  was  declared  excommunicated,  if  he  refused 
to  adhere  to  it,  and  the  rupture  with  England  was  rendered  final. 

The  English  parliament,  assembled  soon  after  this  decision  of  the  court  of 
Rome,  conferred  on  the  king  the  title  of  "  The  only  supreme  HEAD  of  the 
Church  of  England  upon  Earth,"  as  they  had  already  invested  him  with  all 
the  real  power  belonging  to  it;  a  measure  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  the 
kingdom,  whether  considered  in  a  civil  or  ecclesiastical  view,  and  which 
forms  a  memorable  era  in  our  constitution.  The  legislature,  by  thus  ac- 
knowledging the  king's  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  and  uniting  the 
spiritual  with  the  civil  power,  introduced  greater  simplicity  into  government, 
and  prevented  all  future  disputes  about  the  limits  of  contending  jurisdictions. 
A  door  was  also  opened  for  checking  the  exorbitancies  of  superstition,  and 
breaking  those  shackles  by  which  human  reason,  policy,  and  industry  had  so 
long  been  circumscribed ;  for,  as  a  profound  historian  has  justly  observed, 
the  prince  being  head  of  the  religious,  as  well  as  of  the  temporal,  jurisdiction 
of  the  kingdom,  though  he  might  sometimes  be  tempted  to  employ  the  former 
as  an  engine  of  government,  could  have  no  interest,  like  the  Roman  pontiff, 
in  encouraging  its  usurpations. (2) 

But  England,  though  thus  happily  released  from  the  oppressive  jurisdiction 
of  the  pope,  was  far  from  enjoying  religious  freedom.  Liberty  of  conscience 
was,  if  possible,  more  confined  than  even.  Henry  not  only  retained  his 
aversion  against  Luther  and  his  doctrines,  but  so  many  of  his  early  prejudices 
hung  about  him,  that  the  idea  of  heresy  still  filled  him  with  horror.  Separate 
as  he  stood  from  the  Catholic  church,  he  continued  to  value  himself  on  main- 
taining its  dogmas,  and  on  guarding  with  fire  and  sword  the  imaginary  purity 
of  his  speculative  opinions.  All  who  denied  the  king's  supremacy,  the  legiti- 
macy of  his  daughter  Elizabeth,  orwho  embraced  the  tenets  of  the  Reformers, 
were  equally  the  objects  of  his  vengeance.  Among  the  latter  were  many 
unhappy  persons,  who  had  greedily  imbibed  the  Lutheran  doctrines,  during 
Henry's  quarrel  with  Rome,  in  hopes  of  a  total  change  of  worship ;  and  who, 
having  gone  too  far  to  recede,  fell  martyrs  to  their  new  faith.  Among  the 
former  were  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  and  sir  Thomas  More,  late  chan- 
cellor, who  refused  to  acknowledge  the  king's  .supremacy,  and  died  upon  the 
scaffold  with  heroic  constancy.  More,  who  was  a  man  of  a  gay  humour, 
retained  even  his  facetiousness  to  the  last.  When  he  laid  his  head  on  the 
block,  and  saw  the  executioner  ready  with  his  weapon,  "  Stay,  friend,"  said 
he,  "  till  I  put  aside  my  beard ;  for,"  added  he,  "  it  never  committed  trea- 
son."^) What  pity,  and  what  an  instance  of  the  inconsistency  of  human 
nature,  that  the  man  who  could  make  a  jest  of  death  should  make  a  matter 
of  conscience  of  the  pope's  supremacy ! 

Although  Henry  thus  punished  both  Protestants  and  Catholics,  his  most 
dangerous  enemies,  he  was  sensible,  were  the  zealous  adherents  to  the  ancient 
religion,  and  more  especially  the  monks,  who,  having  their  immediate  de- 
pendence on  the  Roman  pontiff,  apprehended  their  own  rain  to  be  the  certain 
consequence  of  abolishing  his  authority  in  England.  The  king,  therefore, 
determined  to  suppress  the  monasteries,  as  so  many  nurseries  of  rebellion, 
as  well  as  of  idleness,  superstition,  and  folly,  and  to  put  himself  in  possession 
of  their  ample  revenues.  In  order  to  effectuate  this  robbery  with  some  colour 
of  justice,  he  appointed  commissioners  to  visit  all  religious  houses ;  and  these 
men,  acquainted  with  the  king's  design,  brought  reports,  whether  true  or  false 
of  such  frightful  disorders,  lewdness,  ignorance,  priestcraft,  and  unnatural 

(1)  Father  Paul,  lib.  i.  '2)  Hume,  Hist.  Eng.  chan.  xxx 

(3)  Ijfe  of  Sir  Thomas  Mart.    Fox.    Herbert. 

Bb9 


388  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

lusts,  as  filled  the  nation  with  horror  against  institutions  held  sacred  by  their 
ancestors,  and  lately  objects  of  the  most  profound  veneration.  The  less 
monasteries,  said  to  have  been  the  most  corrupted,  to  the  number  of  three 
hundred  and  seventy-six,  were  at  once  suppressed  by  parliament ;  and  the 
revenues,  goods,  chattels,  and  plate  were  granted  to  the  king.(l) 

The  convocation,  which  sat  at  the  same  time  with  the  parliament,  passed 
a  vote  for  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible,  none  being  yet  published,  by  au- 
thority, in  the  English  language';  and  the  Reformation  seemed  fast  gaining 
ground  in  the  kingdom,  though  the  king  still  declared  himself  its  enemy, 
when  its  promoters,  Cranmer,  Latimer,  and  others  met  with  a  severe  morti 
fication,  which  seemed  to  blast  all  their  hopes,  in  the  untimely  fate  of  their 
patroness  Anne  Boleyn. 

This  lady  now  began  to  experience  the  decay  of  the  king's  affections,  an/i 
the  capriciousness  of  his  temper.  That  heart,  whose  allegiance  she  had 
withdrawn  from  another,  revolted  at  last  against  herself.  Henry's  passion, 
which  had  subsisted  in  full  force  during  the  six  years  that  the  prosecution  of 
the  divorce  lasted,  and  seemed  only  to  increase  under  difficulties,  had  scarcely 
attained  possession  of  its  object,  when  it  sunk  into  languor,  succeeded  by 
disgust.  His  love  was  suddenly  transferred  to  a  new  mistress.  The  charms 
of  Jane  Seymour,  maid  of  honour  to  the  queen,  a  young  lady  of  exquisite 
beauty,  had  entirely  captivated  him ;  and  as  he  appeared  to  have  had  little 
idea  of  any  other  connexion  than  that  of  marriage,  he  thought  of  nothing 
but  how  to  raise  her  to  his  bed  and  throne. 

This  peculiarity  in  Henry's  disposition,  proceeding  from  an  indolence  of 
temper,  or  an  aversion  against  the  vice  of  gallantry,  involved  him  in  crimes 
of  a  blacker  dye,  and  in  greater  anxieties,  than  those  which  he  sought  to 
avoid  by  forming  a  legal  connexion.  Before  he  could  marry  Jane,  it  was 
necessary  to  get  rid  of  his  once  behoved  Anne,  now  become  a  bar  in  the  way 
of  his  felicity.  That  obstacle,  however,  was  soon  removed.  The  heart  is 
not  more  ingenious  in  suggesting  apologies  for  its  deviations,  than  courtiers 
in  finding  expedients  for  gratifying  the  inclinations  of  their  prince.  The 
queen's  enemies,  among  Henry's  courtiers,  immediately  sensible  of  the  alien- 
ation of  the  king's  affections,  accomplished  her  ruin  by  flattering  his  new 
passion.  They  represented  that  freedom  of  manner  which  Anne  had  acquired 
in  France  as  a  dissolute  levity ;  they  indirectly  accused  her  of  a  criminal 
correspondence  with  several  gentlemen  of  the  bed-chamber,  and  even  with 
her  own  brother!  and  they  extolled  the  virtues  of  Jane  Seymour.(2)  Henry 
believed  all,  because  he  wished  to  be  convinced.  The  queen  was  committed 
to  the  tower ;  impeached ;  brought  to  trial ;  condemned  without  evidence, 
and  executed  without  remorse.  History  affords  us  no  reason  to  call  her 
innocence  in  question ;  and  the  king,  by  marrying  her  known  rival  the  day 
after  her  execution,  made  the  motives  of  his  conduct  sufficiently  evident,  am 
left  the  world  in  little  doubt  about  the  iniquity  of  her  sentence. 

If  further  arguments,  my  dear  Philip,  should  be  thought  necessary  i,. 
support  of  the  innocence  of  the  unfortunate  Anne  Boleyn,  her  serenity,  aim 
even  cheerfulness,  while  under  confinement  and  sentence  of  death,  ought  to 
have  its  weight,  as  it  is  perhaps  unexampled  in  a  woman,  and  could  not  well 
be  the  associate  of  guilt.  "  Never  prince,"  says  she,  in  a  letter  to  Henry, 
"  had  wife  more  loyal  in  all  duty,  and  in  all  true  affection,  than  you  have 
ever  found  in  Anne  Boleyn ;  with  which  name  and  place  I  could  willingly 
have  contented  myself,  if  God,  and  your  grace's  pleasure,  had  been  so  pleased : 
neither  did  I  at  any  time  so  far  forget  myself  in  my  exaltation,  or  received 
queenship,  but  that  I  always  looked  for  such  an  alteration  as  I  now  find ; 
for  the  ground  of  my  preferment  being  on  no  surer  foundation  than  your 
grace's  fancy,  the  least  alteration  I  knew  was  fit  and  sufficient  to  draw 
that  fancy  to  some  other  object."  In  another  letter  to  the  king,  she  says, 
"  You  have  raised  me  from  a  private  gentlewoman  to  a  marchioness ;  from 
a  marchioness  to  a  queen ;  and  since  you  can  exalt  me  no  higher,  in  this 

(J)  BurneU  (2)  Strype.    Buinet. 


LET.  LX.l  MODERNEUROPE.  389 

world,  you  are  resolved  to  send  me  to  heaven,  that  I  may  become  a  saint '." 
This  gayety  continued  to  the  last.  The  morning  of  her  catastrophe,  con- 
versing with  the  lieutenant  of  the  tower  on  what  she  was  going  to  suffer,  he 
endeavoured  to  comfort  her  by  the  shortness  of  its  duration.  "  The  execu- 
tioner indeed,"  replied  she,  "I  am  told,  is  very  expert;  and  I  have  but  a 
slender  neck:"  grasping  it  with  her  hand  and  smiling.(l)  The  queen's 
brother,  and  three  gentlemen  of  the  bed-chamber,  also  fell  victims  to  the 
king's  suspicions ;  or  rather  were  sacrificed  to  hallow  his  nuptials  with  Jane 
Seymour. 

The  Catholics,  who  had  been  the  chief  instruments  of  these  tragical  events, 
did  not  reap  so  much  advantage  from  the  fall  of  queen  Anne  as  they  expected. 
The  friends  of  the  Reformation  still  maintained  their  credit  with  the  king; 
and  articles  of  faith  were  drawn  up  by  the  convocation  under  Henry's  eye, 
more  favourable  to  the  new  than  the  old  religion,  but  still  more  conformable 
to  the  ideas  of  the  royal  theologist  than  agreeable  to  the  partisans  of  either. 
Prudence,  however,  taught  the  Protestants  to  be  silent,  and  to  rest  satisfied 
with  the  ground  which  they  had  gained.  The  disappointed  Catholics  were 
less  quiet.  The  late  innovations,  particularly  the  dissolution  of  the  smaller 
monasteries,  and  the  imminent  danger  to  which  all  the  rest  were  exposed, 
had  bred  discontents  among  the  people.  The  Romish  religion,  suited  to 
vulgar  capacity,  took  hold  of  the  multitude  by  powerful  motives  :  they  were 
interested  for  the  souls  of  their  forefathers,  which  they  believed  must  now 
lie  during  many  ages  in  the  torments  of  purgatory,  for  want  of  masses  to 
relieve  them.  The  expelled  monks,  wandering  about  the  country,  encouraged 
these  prejudices,  to  rouse  the  populace  to  rebellion ;  and  they  assembled  in 
large  bodies  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  particularly  in  Lincolnshire 
and  the  northern  counties.  But  by  the  prudent  conduct  of  the  duke  of  Nor- 
folk, who  commanded  the  king's  forces,  and  who  secretly  favoured  the  cause 
of  the  rebels,  but  not  their  rebellious  measures,  tranquillity  was  happily 
restored  to  the  kingdom,  with  little  effusion  of  blood.(2) 

The  suppression  of  these  insurrections  was  followed  by  an  event  which 
completed  Henry's  domestic  felicity ;  the  birth  of  a  son,  who  was  baptized 
under  the  name  of  Edward.  But  this  happiness  was  not  without  alloy:  the 
queen  died  two  days  after.  A  son,  however,  had  been  so  long,  and  so  ardently 
desired  by  Henry,  and  was  now  become  so  necessary,  in  order  to  prevent 
disputes  with  regard  to  the  succession,  the  two  princesses  being  declared  ille- 
gitimate, that  the  king's  sorrow  was  drowned  in  his  joy.  And  his  authority 
being  thus  confirmed  at  home,  and  his  consideration  increased  abroad,  he 
carried  into  execution  a  measure  on  which  he  had  been  long  resolved,  the 
utter  destruction  of  the  monasteries. 

The  better  to  reconcile  the  minds  of  the  people  to  this  great  innovation, 
the  impostures  of  the  monks  were  zealously  brought  to  light.  Among  the 
sacred  repositories  of  convents  were  found  the  parings  of  St.  Edmund's  toes; 
some  coals  that  roasted  St.  Laurence;  the  girdle  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  shown 
in  eleven  different  places ;  two  or  three  heads  of  St.  Ursula ;  and  part  of  St. 
Thomas  of  Canterbury's  shirt,  much  reverenced  by  big-bellied  women.  Some 
impostures  of  a  more  artificial  nature  also  were  discovered ;  particularly  a 
miraculous  crucifix,  which  had  been  kept  at  Boxley  in  Kent,  and  bore  the 
appellation  of  the  Rood  of  Grace,  the  eyes,  lips,  and  head  of  which  moved 
on  the  approach  of  its  votaries.  The  crucifix  was  publicly  broke  at  St.  Paul's 
Cross,  and  the  springs  and  wheels  by  which  it  had  been  secretly  moved  were 
shown  to  the  whole  people.  The  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket,  commonly 
called  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  was  likewise  destroyed,  and  seemingly 
deservedly,  though  much  to  the  regret  of  the  populace.  So  superstitious  was 
the  veneration  for  this  saint,  that  it  appeared  in  one  year,  not  a  penny  had 
been  offered  at  God's  altar ;  at  the  Virgin's  only  four  pounds  one  shilling  and 
eightpence ;  but  at  that  of  St.  Thomas,  nine  hundred  and  fifty-four  pounds 
six  shillings  and  threepence. (3) 

Ol  Strype.    Burnet.  (ft  Herbert.  (3)  Burnet    Herbert    Godwin.    Stowo. 


J90  THEHISTORYOF  [PART!. 

The  exposure  of  such  enormous  absurdities  and  impieties  took  off  much 
of  the  odium  from  a  measure  in  itself  rapacious,  violent,  and  unjust.  The 
acquiescence  of  the  nobility  and  clergy  was  farther  procured  by  grants  of  the 
revenues  of  convents,  or  leases  of  them  at  a  reduced  rent :  and  the  minds  of 
the  people  were  quieted  by  being  told,  that  the  king  would  have  no  farther 
occasion  to  levy  taxes,  but  would  be  able,  during  war  as  well  as  peace,  to 
bear  from  the  abbey-lands  the  whole  expense  of  governmental )  Henry  also 
settled  pensions  on  the  ejected  monks,  and  erected  six  new  bishopricks ; 
which  silenced  the  murmurs  of  such  of  the  secular  clergy  as  were  not  alto- 
gether wedded  to  the  Romish  communion. 

After  renouncing  the  pope's  supremacy,  and  suppressing  monasteries,  the 
spirit  of  opposition,  it  was  thought,  would  lead  the  king  to  declare  war 
against  the  whole  doctrine  and  worship,  as  well  as  discipline,  of  the  church 
of  Rome.  But  although  Henry,  since  he  came  to  the  years  of  maturity,  had 
been  gradually  changing  the  tenets  of  that  theological  system  in  which  he 
had  been  educated,  he  was  no  less  dogmatical  in  the  few  which  yet  remained 
to  him,  than  if  the  whole  fabric  had  been  preserved  entire  ;  and  so  great  was 
his  scholastic  arrogance,  though  he  stood  alone  in  his  belief,  that  he  thought 
himself  entitled  to  regulate  by  his  own  particular  standard  the  religious 
faith  of  the  nation.  The  chancellor  was  accordingly  ordered  to  open  the 
parliament  with  informing  them,  that  it  was  his  majesty's  earnest  desire  to 
extirpate  from  his  kingdom  all  diversity  of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion. 
In  consequence  of  this  desire,  a  bill,  consisting  of  six  articles,  called  by  the 
Protestants  the  Bloody  Bill,  was  drawn  up  according  to  the  king's  ideas ; 
and,  having  passed  through  both  houses,  received  the  royal  assent.  In  the 
statute  was  established  the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence,  or  transubstantia- 
tion;  the  communion  in  one  kind,  or  with  bread  only;  the  perpetual  obli- 
gation of  vows  of  chastity;  the  utility  of  private  masses;  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  necessity  of  auricular  confession.  The  violation  of  either 
of  these  articles  was  made  punishable  with  death ;  and  a  denial  of  the  real 
presence,  to  the  disgrace  of  common  sense,  could  not  be  atoned  for  by  the 
most  humble  recantation(S) — an  instance  of  severity  unknown  even  to  the 
inquisition ! 

The  affairs  of  religion  being  thus  settled,  the  king  began  to  think  of  a  new 
wife  ;  and  as  the  duke  of  Cleves  had  great  interest  with  the  princes  of  the 
Smalkaldic  league,  whose  alliance  was  considered  as  advantageous  to  England, 
Henry  solicited  in  marriage  Anne,  daughter  of  that  duke.  A  flattering  picture 
of  this  princess,  drawn  by  Hans  Holbein,  co-operated  with  these  political 
motives  to  determine  the  king  in  his  choice ;  and  Anne  was  sent  over  to 
England.  But  Henry,  though  fond  of  large  women,  no  sooner'saw  her,  than 
(so  devoid  was  she  of  beauty  and  grace !)  he  swore  she  was  a  great  Flanders 
mare,  and  declared  he  never  could  bear  her  any  affection.  He  resolved  how- 
ever to  consummate  his  marriage,  notwithstanding  his  dislike,  sensible  that 
a  c6ntrary  conduct  would  be  highly  resented  by  her  friends  and  family.  He 
therefore  told  Cromwell,  his  minister  since  the  death  of  Wolsey,  and  who 
had  been  instrumental  in  forming  the  match,  that  "  as  matters  had  gone  so 
far,  he  must  put  his  neck  into  the  yoke." 

But  although  political  considerations  had  induced  Henry  to  consummate, 
at  least  in  appearance,  his  marriage  with  Anne  of  Cleves,  they  could  not 
save  him  from  disgust.  His  aversion  against  her  increased  every  day ;  and 
Cromwell,  though  still  seemingly  in  favour,  saw  his  own  ruin  and  the 
queen's  disgrace  fast  approaching.  An  unforeseen  cause  accelerated  both. 
The  king  had  fixed  his  affections  on  Catharine  Howard,  niece  to  the  duke 
of  Norfolk ;  and,  as  usual,  he  determined  to  gratify  his  passion,  by  making 
her  his  royal  consort.  The  duke,  who  had  long  been  at  enmity  with  Crom- 
well, made  use  of  his  niece's  insinuations  against  that  minister,  who  was  a 
promoter  of  the  Reformation,  as  he  formerly  had  of  those  of  Anne  Boleyn 
against  Wolsey.  Cromwell  was  accused  of  heresy  and  treason,  committed 

(1>  Coke,  Imt.  fol.  44.  (2)  Stat.  31  Henry  VIII.  cap.  xiv. 


LET.  LX.J  MODERN   EUROPE.  391 

to  the  tower,  condemned,  and  executed.(l)  He  was  a  man  of  low  birth,  but 
worthy,  by  his  integrity  and  abilities,  of  the  high  station  to  which  he 'was 
raised;  worthy  of  a  better  master  and  a  better  fate. 

The  measures  for  divorcing  Henry  from  Anne  of  Cleves  were  carried  for- 
ward at  the  same  time  with  the  bill  of  attainder  against  Cromwell.  Henry 
pleaded,  that  when  he  espoused  Anne,  he  had  not  inwardly  given  his  con- 
sent ;  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  near  approach  he  had  made,  he  had  not 
thought  proper  to  consummate  the  marriage.  The  convocation  sustained 
these  reasons,  and  solemnly  annulled  the  engagements  between  the  king 
and  queen.  The  parliament,  ever  obsequious  to  Henry's  will,  ratified  the 
decision  of  the  church. 

The  marriage  of  the  king  with  Catharine  Howard,  which  followed  soon 
after  his  divorce  from  Anne  of  Cleves,  was  regarded  as  a  favourable  incident 
by  the  Catholic  party;  and  the  subsequent  events  corresponded  with  their 
expectations.  The  king's  councils  being  now  directed  by  the  duke  of  Nor- 
folk and  bishop  Gardiner,  a  furious  persecution  was  begun  against  the  Pro- 
testants. The  Law  of  the  Six  Articles,  which  Cromwell  had,  on  all  occa- 
sions, taken  care  to  soften,  was  executed  with  rigour ;  and  Dr.  Barnes,  and 
several  other  clergymen,  were  prosecuted  and  brought  to  the  stake. 

But  Henry's  attention  was  soon  turned  to  prosecutions  of  a  very  different 
kind,  and  on  a  subject  which  affected  him  still  more  sensibly  than  even  the 
violation  of  his  favourite  theological  statute.  He  had  thought  himself 
extremely  happy  in  his  new  consort.  The  elegant  person  and  agreeable 
manners  of  Catharine  had  entirely  captivated  his  heart ;  and  he  had  publicly, 
in  his  chapel,  returned  thanks  to  Heaven  for  the  felicity  which  the  conjugal 
state  afforded  him.  This  happiness,  however,  was  of  short  duration.  It 
disappeared  like  a  gaudy  meteor,  almost  as  soon  as  perceived ;  and  its  loss 
afflicted  the  king  the  more  keenly,  by  reason  of  the  circumstances  with 
which  it  was  accompanied.  It  not  only  vanished  on  a  point  which  inti- 
mately concerned  his  peace,  but  on  which  he  peculiarly  valued  himself,  his 
skill  in  distinguishing  a  true  maid.  It  at  once  wounded  his  pride  and  his 
passion.  The  queen  had  led  a  dissolute  life  before  marriage'.  She  had 
abandoned  herself  to  the  footmen  of  her  grandmother,  the  old  dutchess  of 
Norfolk,  while  her  maid  was  in  the  same  chamber,  and  even  along  with  her 
in  the  same  bed.  The  proofs  of  this  licentiousness  were  positive.  There 
was  also  room  to  believe,  notwithstanding  her  declaration  to  the  contrary, 
that  she  had  not  been  faithful  to  the  king's  bed ;  for  it  appeared,  that  one 
Colepepper  had  passed  the  night  with  her  alone  since  her  marriage,  and  that 
she  had  taken  Derham,  one  of  her  old  paramours,  into  her  service.  (2) 

When  these  proofs  of  Catharine's  incontinence  were  laid  before  Henry, 
he  was  so  deeply  affected,  that  he  remained  for  some  moments  speechless, 
and  at  last  burst  into  tears.  The  natural  ferocity  of  his  temper,  however, 
soon  returned ;  and  he  assembled  a  parliament,  the  usual  instrument  of  his 
tyranny,  in  order  to  satiate  his  vengeance.  A  bill  of  attainder  was  voted 
against  the  queen  and  the  viscountess  of  Rochford,  who  had  conducted  her 
criminal  amours.  A  singular  bill  was  also  passed  at  the  same  time,  making 
it  treason  in  any  person  to  conceal  the  incontinence  of  a  queen  of  England ; 
and  farther  enacting,  that  if  a  king  of  England  should  marry  any  woman 
who  had  been  incontinent,  taking  her  for  a  true  maid,  she  likewise  should 
be  deemed  guilty  of  treason,  in  case  she  did  not  previously  reveal  her  shame 
to  him. — And  the  queen  and  lady  Rochford  were  beheaded  on  Tower-hill, 
though  their  guilt  had  preceded  the  framing  of  that  statute. (3) 

Having  got  over  this  troublesome  business,  Henry  again  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  affairs  of  religion;  altering  several  times  the  national  creed, 
according  to  his  own  capricious  humour.  And  he  turned  his  arms  against 
his  nephew,  James  V.,  of  Scotland,  because  that  prince  had  refused  to  imi- 
tate his  conduct,  in  throwing  off  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pope. 

The  principles  of  the  Reformation  had  already  found  their  way  into  Scot- 

(1)  Btirnet,  vol.  i  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Id.  ubi  sup. 


392  .  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

land.  Several  persons  there  had  fallen  martyrs  to  the  new  faith :  and  the 
nobility,  invited  by  the  example  of  England,  had  cast  a  wishful  eye  on  the 
ecclesiastical  revenues ;  hoping,  if  a  change  in  religion  should  take  place,  to 
enrich  themselves  with  the  plunder  of  the  church.  But  the  king,  though 
very  poor,  not  superstitious,  and  somewhat  inclined  to  magnificence,  fortified 
by  the  arguments  of  the  clergy,  and  guided  by  the  inclinations  of  his  queen, 
a  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  resisted  every  temptation  to  such  robbery, 
and  continued  faithful  to  the  see  of  Rome.  This  respect  for  the  rights  of  the 
church  proved  fatal  to  James,  and  brought  many  miseries  on  his  kingdom, 
both  before  and  after  his  death. 

Had  the  king  of  Scotland  flattered  the  pride  of  Hemy,  by  following  his 
example  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  he  would  have  been  supported  in  his  mea- 
sures with  the  whole  force  of  England ;  whereas  he  now  had  that  force  to 
oppose,  and  a  dissatisfied  people  to  rule.  Flushed,  however,  with  an  ad 
vantage  gained  over  a  detachment  from  the  English  army  by  lord  Hume,  he 
marched  at  the  head  of  thirty  thousand  men  to  meet  their  main  body,  com- 
manded by  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  advanced  as  far  as  Kelso ;  and  as 
that  nobleman  retreated  on  the  approach  of  the  Scottish  army,  the  king 
resolved  to  enter  England,  and  take  vengeance  on  the  invaders.  But  his 
nobility,  dissatisfied  on  account  of  the  preference  shown  to  the  clergy,  op 
posed  his  resolution,  and  refused  to  attend  him.  Equally  enraged  and  sur- 
prised at  this  mutiny,  he  reproached  them  with  cowardice,  he  threatened 
punishment ;  and  still  determined  to  make  some  impression  on  the  enemy's 
country  with  the  forces  that  adhered  to  him,  he  despatched  ten  thousand 
men  to  ravage  the  western  border.  They  entered  England  near  Solway 
Frith,  while  he  himself  followed,  at  a  small  distance,  ready  to  join  them 
upon  occasion. 

But  this  expedition  also  proved  unsuccessful,  and  even  highly  unfortunate , 
and  from  a  cause  allied  to  that  which  had  ruined  the  former  enterprise. 
The  king  of  Scotland,  become  peevish  by  disappointment,  and  diffident  of 
all  his  nobility,  deprived  lord  Maxwell  of  the  command  of  the  army,  and 
conferred  it  on  Oliver  Sinclair,  a  private  gentleman.  The  Scots,  displeased 
with  this  alteration,  were  preparing  to  disband;  when  a  small  body  of 
English  forces  appearing,  they  suddenly  took  to  flight,  and  were  all  either 
killed  or  made  prisoners.(l) 

This  disaster  had  such  an  effect  on  the  haughty  mind  of  James,  that  he 
would  admit  of  no  counsel  or  consolation,  but  abandoned  himself  wholly  to 
despair.  All  the  passions  that  are  inimical  to  human  life,  shame,  rage,  and 
despondency,  took  hold  of  him  at  once.  His  body  wasted  daily  by  sympa- 
thizing with  his  anxious  mind;  and  he  was  brought  to  the  verge  of  the 
grave,  when  his  queen  was  safely  delivered  of  the  celebrated  and  unfortunate 
Mary  Stuart.  Having  no  former  issue  living,  he  anxiously  inquired  whether 
his  consort  had  brought  him  a  son  or  a  daughter;  and  being  told  a  daughter, 
he  turned  himself  in  his  bed,  said,  "  The  crown  came  with  a  woman,  and  it 
will  go  with  a  woman !  Many  woes  await  this  unhappy  kingdom :  Henry 
will  make  it  his  own,  either  by  force  of  arms  or  by  marriage."  He  expired 
soon  after  uttering  these  sorrowful  words. 

What  James  had  foretold  came  in  part  to  pass.  Henry  was  no  sooner 
informed  of  the  victory  at  Solway,  and  the  death  of  his  nephew,  than  he 
formed  the  project  of  uniting  Scotland  to  his  own  dominions,  by  marrying 
prince  Edward,  his  only  son,  to  the  heiress  of  that  kingdom.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  called  together  such  of  the  Scottish  nobility  as  were  his  prisoners, 
and  offered  them  their  liberty  without  ransom,  provided  they  would  second  his 
views.  They  readily  agreed  to  a  proposal  so  favourable  to  themselves,  and 
which  seemed  so  natural  and  so  advantageous  to  both  kingdoms ;  and  by% 
their  means,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  cardinal  Beaton,  archbishop* 
of  St.  Andrews,  who  had  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  regency,  by 
forging  a  will  in  the  name  of  the  late  king,  the  parliament  of  Scotland  con- 

(I/  Buchanan,  lib.  ziv.    Hume,  chap  cxslii 


LET.  LX.  M  O  D  E  R  N  E  U  R  O  P  E.  393 

sented  to  a  treaty  of  marriage  and  union  with  England.  (1)  The  stipulations 
in  that  treaty  it  would  be  of  little  consequence  to  enumerate,  as  they  were 
never  executed. 

Henry  now  finding  himself  at  peace  with  all  his  neighbours,  began  to  look 
out  for  another  wife ;  and  by  espousing  Catharine  Parr,  relict  of  lord  Latimer, 
he  confirmed  what  had  been  foretold  in  jest,  that  he  would  be  obliged  to 
marry  a  widow,  as  no  reputed  maid  would  ever  be  persuaded  to  incur  the 
penalty  of  his  statute  respecting  virginity.  Catharine  was  a  woman  of  virtue 
and  good  sense  :  and  though  somewhat  inclined  to  promote  the  Reformation, 
a  circumstance  which  gave  great  joy  to  the  Protestant  party,  she  delivered 
her  sentiments  with  much  caution  in  regard  to  the  new  doctrines.  Henry, 
however,  whose  favourite  topic  of  conversation  was  theology,  by  engaging 
her  frequently  in  religious  disputes,  found  means  to  discover  her  real  prin- 
ciples ;  and  his  unwieldy  corpulence  and  ill  health  having  soured  his  temper, 
and  increased  the  severity  of  his  naturally  passionate  and  tyrannical  dispo- 
sition, he  ordered  an  impeachment  to  be  drawn  up  against  her:  and  the 
greatest  prudence  and  address  only  could  have  saved  her  from  the  block. 

Having  happily-got  information  of  the  king's  displeasure,  Catharine  replied, 
when  he  next  offered  to  converse  with  her  on  theological  subjects,  that  such 
profound  speculations  were  little  suited  to  the  natural  imbecility  of  her  sex ; 
observing,  at  the  same  time,  that  though  she  declined  not  discourse  on  any 
topic,  however  sublime,  when  proposed  by  his  majesty,  she  well  knew  that 
her  conceptions  could  serve  no  other  purpose  than  to  afford  him  a  momentary 
amusement ;  that  she  found  conversation  apt  to  languish  when  not  revived  by 
some  opposition,  and  had  ventured,  at  times,  to  feign  a  contrariety  of  senti- 
ment, in  order  to  afford  him  the  pleasure  of  refuting  her.  And  she  inge- 
niously added,  that  she  also  proposed  by  this  innocent  artifice  to  engage  the 
king  in  arguments,  whence  she  had  observed,  by  frequent  experience,  that 
she  reaped  much  profit  and  instruction.  "  And  is  it  so,  sweetheart  ?"  said 
Henry;  "then  we  are  friends  again!"  embracing  her  tenderly,  and  assuring 
her  of  his  affection.  The  chancellor,  however,  ignorant  of  this  reconcilia- 
tion, came  next  day  to  arrest  Catharine,  pursuant  to  the  king's  warrant,  but 
was  dismissed  by  Henry  with  the  opprobrious  appellations  of  knave,  fool,  and 
beast.(2)  So  violent  and  capricious  was  the  temper  of  that  prince ! 

But  although  the  queen  was  so  fortunate  as  to  appease  Henry's  resentment 
against  herself,  she  could  not  save  those  whom  she  most  respected.  Catha- 
rine and  Cranmer  excepted,  the  king  punished  with  unfeeling  rigour  all 
others  who  presumed  to  differ  from  him  in  religious  opinions ;  but  more 
especially  in  the  capital  tenet,  transubstantiation.  Among  the  unhappy 
victims  committed  to  the  flames  for  denying  that  absurd  doctrine,  was  Anne 
Ascue,  a  young  woman  of  singular  beauty  and  merit,  connected  with  the 
principal  ladies  at  court,  and  even  with  the  queen.  She  died  with  great  tran- 
quillity and  fortitude,  refusing  to  earn,  by  recantation,  a  pardon,  though 
offered  her  at  the  stake.  (3) 

Nor  did  Henry's  tyrannical  and  persecuting  spirit  confine  its  vengeance  to 
religious  offenders :  it  was  no  less  severe  against  such  as  excited  his  political 
jealousy.  Among  these  were  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  and  his  gallant  son  the 
the  earl  of  Surry.  The  duke  had  rendered  considerable  services  to  the 
crown ;  and  although  understood  to  be  the  head  of  the  Catholic  party,  he  had 
always  conformed  to  the  religion  of  the  court.  He  had  acquired  an  immense 
fortune  in  consequence  of  the  favours  bestowed  upon  him  by  Henry,  and  was 
confessedly  the  first  subject  in  England.  That  eminence  drew  upon  him  the 
king's  jealousy.  As  Henry  found  his  death  approaching,  he  was  afraid  that 
Norfolk  might  disturb  the  government  during  his  son's  minority,  or  alter  his 
religious  system. 

The  earl  of  Surry  was  a  young  nobleman  of  the  most  promising  hopes, 
distinguished  by  every  accomplishment  which  could  adorn  a  scholar,  a 

(1)  Buchanan,  lib.  xiv.    Hume,  chap,  xzziii.    See  also  sir  Ralph  Sadler's  Lettert. 

(2)  Burnet,  voii    Herbert,  p.  560.    Fox,  Acts  and  Monuments,  vol.  ii. 

(3)  Id.  ibid. 


394  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

courtier,  or  a  soldier  of  that  age.  But  he  did  not  always  regulate  his  con- 
duct by  the  caution  and  reserve  which  his  situation  required :  and  as  he  had 
declined  all  proposals  of  marriage  among  the  nobility,  Henry  imagined  that 
he  entertained  hopes  of  espousing  his  eldest  daughter,  the  princess  Mary. 
The  suspicion  of  such  a  dangerous  ambition  was  enough.  Both  he  and  his 
father,  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  were  committed  to  the  tower ;  tried  for  high- 
treason,  and  condemned  to  suffer  death,  without  any  evidence  of  guilt  being 
produced  against  either  of  them ;  unless  that  the  earl  had  quartered  the  arms 
of  Edward  the  Confessor  on  his  scutcheon,  which  was  considered  as  a  proof 
of  his  aspiring  to  the  crown,  although  the  practice  and  privilege  of  so  doing 
had  been  openly  avowed  by  himself,  and  maintained  by  his  ancestors.  Surry 
was  immediately  executed,  and  an  order  was  issued  for  the  execution  of 
Norfolk ;  but  the  king's  death  happening  in  the  interval,  nothing  further  was 
done  in  the  matter.  (1) 

Henry's  health  had  long  been  declining,  and  his  approaching  dissolution 
had  been  foreseen  by  all  around  him  for  some  days ;  but  as  it  had  been 
declared  treason  to  foretell  the  king's  death,  no  one  durst  inform  him  of  his 
condition,  lest  he  should,  in  the  first  transports  of  his  fury,  order  the  author 
of  such  intelligence  to  immediate  punishment.  Sir  Anthony  Denny,  how- 
ever, at  last  ventured  to  make  known  to  him  the  awful  truth.  He  signified 
his  resignation,  and  desired  that  Cranmer  might  be  sent  for.  The  primate 
came,  though  not  before  the  king  was  speechless ;  but  as  he  still  seemed  to 
retain  his  senses,  Cranmer  desired  him  to  give  some  sign  of  his  dying  in  the 
faith  of  Christ.  He  squeezed  the  primate's  hand,  and  immediately  expired, 
in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  thirty-eighth  of  his  reign  ;(2)  affording, 
in  his  end,  a  striking  example,  that  composure  in  the  hour  of  death  is  not  the 
inseparable  characteristic  of  a  life  well  spent,  nor  vengeance  in  this  world 
the  universal  fate  of  blood-thirsty  tyrants.  Happily,  we  know  that  there  is  a 
state  beyond  the  grave,  where  all  accounts  will  be  settled,  and  a  tribunal 
before  which  every  one  must  answer  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  flesh ;  other- 
wise we  should  be  apt  to  conclude,  from  seeing  the  same  things  happen  to 
the  just  and  to  the  unjust,  to  the  cruel  and  the  merciful,  that  there  was  no 
eye  in  heaven  that  regarded  the  actions  of  man,  nor  any  arm  to  punish. 

But  the  history  of  this  reign,  my  dear  Philip,  yields  other  lessons  than 
those  of  a  speculative  morality;  lessons  which  come  home  to  the  breast  of 
every  Englishman,  and  which  he  ought  to  remember  every  moment  of  his 
existence.  It  teaches  us  the  most  alarming  of  all  political  truths ;  "  That 
absolute  despotism  may  prevail  in  a  state,  and  yet  the  form  of  a  free  con- 
stitution remain."  Nay,  it  even  leads  us  to  a  conjecture  still  more  interesting 
to  Britons,  "  That  in  this  country,  an  ambitious  prince  may  most  successfully 
exercise  his  tyrannies  under  the  shelter  of  those  barriers  which  the  con- 
stitution has  placed  as  the  security  of  national  freedom — of  our  lives,  our 
liberty,  and  our  property." 

Henry  changed  the  national  religion,'  and,  in  a  great  measure,  the  spirit  of 
the  laws  of  England.  He  perpetrated  the  most  enormous  violences  against 
the  first  men  in  the  kingdom ;  he  loaded  the  people  with  oppressive  taxes, 
and  he  pillaged  them  by  loans  which  it  was  known  he  never  meaned  to 
repay ;  but  he  never  attempted  to  abolish  the  parliament,  or  even  to  retrench 
any  of  its  doubtful  privileges.  The  parliament  was  the  prime  minister 
of  his  tyrannical  administration:  it  authorized  his  oppressive  taxes,  and 
absolved  him  from  the  payment  of  his  debts :  it  gave  its  sanction  to  his  most 
despotic  and  sanguinary  measures ;  to  measures,  which,  of  himself,  he  durst 
not  have  carried  into  execution;  or  which,  if  supposed  to  be  merely  the 
result  of  his  own  arbitrary  will,  would  have  roused  the  spirit  of  the  nation  to 
assert  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  the  privileges  of  a  free  people ;  and  law 
would  have  been  given  to  the  tyrant's  power,  or  some  arm  would  have  been 
found  bold  enough  to  rid  the  world  of  such  a  scourge,  by  carrying  vengeancp 
to  his  heart. 

(I)  Burnet,  vol.  i.    Fox,  vol.  }<  ffl)  Burnet.    Herbert    Fuller 


LET.  LXL]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  0  P  E.  395 

The  conclusion  which  I  mean  to  draw  from  these  facts  and  reasonings  is, 
and  it  deserves  our  most  serious  attention,  that  the  British  constitution, 
though  so  happily  poised,  that  no  one  part  of  it  seems  to  preponderate ; 
though  so  admirably  constructed  that  every  one  of  the  three  estates  is  a 
check  upon  each  of  the  other  two,  and  both  houses  of  parliament  upon  the 
crown ;  though  the  most  rational  and  perfect  system  of  freedom  that  human 
wisdom  has  framed,  it  is  no  positive  security  against  the  despotism  of  an 
artful  or  tyrannical  prince ;  and  that,  if  Britons  should  ever  become  slaves, 
such  an  event  is  not  likely  to  happen,  as  in  France,  by  the  abolition  of  our 
national  assembly,  but  by  the  corruption  of  its  members ;  by  making  that 
proud  bulwark  of  our  liberty,  as  in  ancient  Rome,  the  means  of  our  slavery. 
Our  admirable  constitution  is  but  a  gay  curtain  to  conceal  our  shame,  and 
the  iniquity  of  our  oppressors,  unless  our  senators  are  animated  by  the  same 
spirit  which  gave  it  birth.  If  they  can  be  overawed  by  threats,  seduced 
from  their  duty  by  bribes,  or  allured  by  promises,  another  Hemy  may  rule  us 
with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  drench  once  more  the  scaffold  with  the  best  blood  of 
the  nation :  the  parliament  will  be  the  humble  and  secure  instrument  of  his 
tyrannies. 

We  must  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  the  continent,  where  we  left 
Charles  V.  attempting  that  despotism  which  Henry  VIII.  had  accomplished. 


LETTER  LXL 

A  general  View  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  including  the  Progress  of  the  Reform 
ation  in  Germany,  from  the  first  Meeting  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  in  1546, 
to  the  Peace  of  Religion  concluded  at  Passau,  in  1552. 

IN  consequence  of  the  resolution  of  the  emperor  Charles  V.  to  humble  the 
Protestant  princes,  his  chief  motive,  as  has  been  'observed,  for  concluding  a 
disadvantageous  peace  with  Francis  I.,  he  sent  ambassadors  to  Constanti- 
nople, and  concluded  a  dishonourable  truce  with  Solyman  II.  He  stipu- 
lated that  his  brother  Ferdinand  should  pay  an  annual  tribute  to  the  Porte  for 
that  part  of  Hungary  which  still  acknowledged  his  sway,  and  that  the  sultan 
should  retain  the  imperial  and  undisturbed  possession  of  the  other.(l) 
Charles  at  the  same  time  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Paul  III.,  the  reigning 
pontiff,  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy ;  or,  in  other  words,  for  oppressing  the 
liberties  of  Germany,  under  pretence  of  maintaining  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
holy  see. 

Meanwhile,  a  general  council  had  been  assembled  at  Trent,  by  the  autho- 
rity of  the  pope,  in  order  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  religion.  But  the  Protes- 
tants, though  they  had  appealed  to  a  general  council,  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  legality  of  this,  which  they  were  sensible  was  convoked  to  condemn,  not 
to  examine,  their  opinions.  The  proceedings  of  the  council  confirmed  them 
in  this  resolution ;  they  therefore  renounced  all  connexion  with  it ;  and  as 
they  had  discovered  the  emperor's  ambitious  views,  they  began  to  prepare  foi 
their  own  defence. 

The  emperor,  whose  schemes  were  not  yet  ripe  for  execution,  though 
much  chagrined  at  this  obstinacy,  smothered  his  resentment ;  and,  in  order 
to  gain  time,  he  attempted  anew  that  dissimulation  which  he  had  so  often 
practised  with  success.  He  assured,  and  endeavoured  to  persuade,  the  princes 
of  the  Smalkaldic  league,  that  he  had  no  design  to  abridge  their  spiritual 
liberty.  It  being  impossible,  however,  to  conceal  his  military  preparations 
he  declared,  that  he  took  arms,  not  in  a  religious,  but  in  a  civil  quarrel;  not 
to  oppress  those  who  continued  to  behave  as  quiet  and  dutiful  subjects,  but  to 
humble  the  arrogance  of  such  as  had  thrown  off  all  sense  of  that  subordina- 

(1)  Barre,  torn,  vfii     Mem.  tie  Ribier. 


396  T  H  E    H  I  S  T  O  R  Y  0  P  [PART  I 

tion  in  which  they  were  placed  under  him,  as  the  head  of  the  Germanic  body. 
But  the  substance  of  his  treaty  with  the  pope  coming'  to  light,  these  artifices 
did  not  long  impose  on  the  greater  and  sounder  part  of  the  Protestant  con- 
federacy. Its  more  intelligent  members  saw,  that  not  only  the  suppression 
of  the  reformed  religion,  but  the  extinction  of  the  German  liberties  was 
intended ;  and  as  they  determined  neither  to  renounce  those  sacred  truths, 
the  knowledge  of  which  they  had  attained  by  means  so  wonderful,  nor  to 
abandon  those  civil  rights  which  had  been  transmitted  to  them  from  their 
ancestors,  they  had  immediately  recourse  to  arms.(l) 

In  the  mean  time,  the  death  of  Luther,  their  great  apostle,  threw  the  Ger- 
man Protestants  into  much  consternation,  and  filled  the  Catholics  with  exces- 
sive and  even  indecent  joy;  neither  party  reflecting  that  his  opinions  were 
now  so  firmly  rooted  as  to  stand  in  no  further  need  of  his  fostering  hand. 
The  members  of  the  Smalkaldic  league  were  also  discouraged  by  the  little 
success  of  their  negotiations  with  foreign  courts  ;  having  applied  in  vain  for 
assistance,  not  only  to  the  republic  of  Venice,  and  to  the  Swiss  cantons,  but 
to  the  kings  of  France  and  England.  But  they  found  at  home  no  difficulty 
in  bringing  a  sufficient  force  into  the  field. 

Germany  abounded  at  that  time  in  inhabitants.  The  feudal  institutions 
subsisted  in  full  force,  and  enabled  the  nobles  to  call  out  their  numerous  vas- 
sals, and  to  put  them  in  motion  on  the  shortest  warning.  The  martial  spirit 
of  the  people,  not  broken  or  enervated  by  the  introduction  of  commerce  and 
arts,  had  acquired  additional  vigour  during  the  continual  wars  in  which  they 
had  been  employed,  for  half  a  century,  either  by  the  emperors  or  the  kings 
of  France.  On  every  opportunity  of  entering  upon  action,  they  were  accus- 
tomed to  run  eagerly  to  arms ;  and  to  every  standard  that  was  erected,  volun- 
teers flocked  from  all  quarters.  Zeal  seconded  on  this  occasion  their  native 
ardour.  Men,  on  whom  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  had  made  that  deep 
impression  which  accompanies  truth  when  first  discovered,  prepared  to 
maintain  it  with  proportional  courage ;  and,  among  a  warlike  people,  it 
appeared  infamous  to  remain  inactive,  when  the  defence  of  religion  and 
liberty  were  the  motives  for  drawing  the  sword.  The  confederates  were 
therefore  able,  in  a  few  weeks,  to  assemble  an  army  of  seventy  thousand  foot 
and  fifteen  hundred  horse,  provided  with  every  thing  necessary  for  the  opera- 
tions of  war.  (2) 

The  emperor  was  in  no  condition  to  resist  such  a  force :  and  had  the 
Protestants  immediately  proceeded  to  hostilities,  they  might  have  dictated 
their  own  terms.  But  they  imprudently  negotiated  instead  of  acting,  till 
Charles  received  supplies  from  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries.  He  still,  how- 
ever, cautiously  declined  a  battle,  trusting  that  discord  and  the  want  of  money 
would  oblige  the  confederates  to  disperse.  Meantime,  he  himself  began  to 
suffer  from  the  want  of  forage  and  provisions.  Great  numbers  of  his  foreign 
troops,  unaccustomed  to  the  climate  or  the  food  of  Germany,  were  become 
unfit  for  service ;  and  it  still  remained  a  doubtful  point,  whether  his  steadi- 
ness was  most  likely  to  fail,  or  the  zeal  of  the  confederates  to  be  exhausted, 
when  an  unexpected  event  decided  the  contest,  and  occasioned  a  fatal  reverse 
in  their  affairs. 

Several  of  the  Protestant  princes,  overawed  by  the  emperor's  power,  had 
remained  neutral :  while  others,  allured  by  the  prospect  of  advantage,  had 
voluntarily  entered  into  his  service.  Among  the  latter  was  Maurice,  marquis 
of  Misnia  and  Thuringia,  of  the  house  of  Saxony;  a  man  of  bold  ambi- 
tion, extensive  views,  and  profound  political  talents.  After  many  con- 
ferences with  Charles  and  his  ministers,  he  concluded  a  treaty,  by  which  he 
engaged  to  concur  in  assisting  the  emperor  as  a  faithful  subject ;  and  Charles, 
in  return,  stipulated  to  bestow  on  him  all  the  spoils  of  his  relation  and  bene- 
factor, the  elector  of  Saxony,  his  dignities  as  well  as  territories. 

These  engagements,  however,  so  contradictory  to  all  that  is  just  and  hon- 
ourable among  men,  Maurice  was  able  to  conceal,  as  they  had  been  formed 

fl)  Sleid.    Thuan.    Father  Paul.  (2)  Seckend.  lib.  iii.    Thuan.  i. 


LET.  LX1.J  MODERN   EUROPE.  397 

with  the  most  mysterious  secrecy.  And  so  perfect  a  master  was  he  in  the 
art  of  dissimulation,  that  the  confederates,  notwithstanding  his  declining  all 
connexion  with  them,  and  his  singular  assiduity  in  paying  court  to  the  em 
peror,  seem  to  have  entertained  no  suspicion  of  his  designs ! — The  electoi 
of  Saxony,  when  he  marched  to  join  his  associates,  even  committed  his 
dominions  to  the  protection  of  Maurice,  who  undertook  the  charge  with  an 
insidious  appearance  of  friendship.  But  scarce  had  the  confederates  taken 
the  field,  when  he  began  to  consult  with  the  king  of  the  Romans,  how  to 
invade  those  dominions  he  had  engaged  to  defend;  and  no  sooner  did  he 
receive  a  copy  of  the  imperial  ban  denounced  against  his  cousin  and  his  father- 
in-law,  the  elector  of  Saxony  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  as  leaders  of  the 
confederacy,  than  he  suddenly  entered  one  part  of  the  electoral  territories, 
at  the  head  of  twelve  thousand  men;  while  Ferdinand,  with  an  army  of 
Bohemians  and  Hungarians,  overran  the  other.(l) 

The  news  of  this  violent  invasion,  and  the  success  of  Maurice,  who  in  a 
short  time  made  himself  master  of  the  whole  electorate  of  Saxony,  except 
Wittemberg,  Gotha,  and  Eisenach,  no  sooner  reached  the  camp  of  the  con- 
federates than  they  were  filled  with  astonishment  and  terror.  The  elector 
immediately  proposed  to  return  home  with  his  troops,  in  order  to  recover  his 
hereditary  dominions ;  and  his  associates,  forgetting  that  it  was  the  union  of 
their  forces  which  had  hitherto  rendered  the  confederacy  formidable,  and 
more  than  once  obliged  the  imperialists  to  think  of  quitting  the  field,  con- 
sented to  his  proposal  of  dividing  the  army. 

Ulm,  one  of  the  chief  cities  of  Suabia,  highly  distinguished  by  its  zeal  for 
the  Smalkaldic  league,  submitted  to  the  emperor.  An  example  once  set  for 
deserting  the  common  cause,  the  rest  of  the  members  became  instantly  im- 
patient to  follow  it,  and  seemed  afraid  lest  others,(  by  getting  the  start  of 
them  in  returning  to  their  allegiance,  should  on  that  account  obtain  more 
favourable  terms.  All  the  terms,  however,  were  sufficiently  severe.  Charles, 
being -in  great  want  of  money,  not  only  imposed  heavy  fines  upon  the  princes 
and  cities  that  had  taken  arms  against  him,  but  obliged  them  to  deliver  up 
their  artillery  and  warlike  stores,  and  to  admit  garrisons  into  their  principal 
towns  and  places  of  strength. (2)  Thus  a  confederacy,  so  powerful  lately 
as  to  shake  the  imperial  throne,  fell  to  pieces,  and  was  dissolved  in  the 
space  of  a  few  weeks ;  scarce  any  of  the  associates  now  remaining  in  arms, 
except  the  elector  of  Saxony  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  whom  the 
emperor  was  at  no  pains  to  reconcile,  having  marked  them  out  as  the  victims 
of  his  vengeance. 

Meanwhile,  the  elector  having  expelled  the  invaders  from  Saxony,  not  only 
recovered  in  a  short  time  possession  of  his  own  territories,  but  overran  Mis- 
nia,  and  stripped  his  rival  of  all  that  belonged  to  him,  except  Dresden  and 
Leipsic ;  while  Maurice,  obliged  to  abandon  the  field  to  superior  force,  and  to 
shut  himself  up  in  his  capital,  despatched  courier  after  courier  to  the  em- 
peror, representing  his  dangerous  situation,  and  soliciting  him  with  the  mosl 
earnest  importunity  to  march  immediately  to  his  relief. 

But  many  causes  conspired  to  prevent  the  emperor  from  instantly  taking 
any  effectual  step  in  favour  of  his  ally.  His  army  was  diminished  by  the 
departure  of  the  Flemings,  and  by  the  number  of  garrisons  which  he  hae 
been  obliged  to  throw  into  the  towns  that  had  capitulated ;  and  the  pope  now 
perceiving  that  ambition,  not  religion,  was  the  chief  motive  of  Charles's 
hostilities,  had  weakened  the  imperial  army  still  farther,  by  unexpectedly 
recalling  his  troops. 

Alarmed  at  the  rapid  progress  of  Charles,  Paul  began  to  tremble,  and  not 
without  reason,  for  the  liberties  of  Italy.  Francis  also,  the  emperor's  ancient 
lival,  had  observed  with  deep  concern  the  humiliation  of  Germany,  and  was 
become  sensible,  that  if  some  vigorous  and  timely  effort  was  not  made, 
Charles  must  soon  acquire  such  a  degree  of  power  as  would  enable  him  to 
give  law  to  the  rest  of  Europe.  He  therefore  resolved  to  form  such  a  com 

(11  Seckend.  lib.  iii.    Thuan.  \  (21  Sleidan.    Thuan.    Mem.  de  Ribier 


398  THE    H    STORY    OF  [PART!, 

bination  against  the  emperor  as  should  put  a  stop  to  his  dangerous  career. 
He  accordingly  negotiated  for  this  purpose  with  Solyman  II.,  with  the  pope, 
the  Venetians,  and  with  England.  He  encouraged  the  elector  of  Saxony  and 
the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  by  remitting  them  considerable  sums,  to  continue 
the  struggle  for  their  liberties :  he  levied  troops  in  all  parts  of  his  dominions, 

H  he  contracted  for  a  considerable  body  of  Swiss  mercenaries.  (1) 

Measures  so  complicated  could  not  escape  the  emperor's  observation,  nor 
fail  to  alarm  him :  and  the  news  of  a  conspiracy  at  Genoa,  where  Fiesco, 
count  of  Lavigna,  an  ambitious  young  nobleman,  had  almost  overturned  the 
government  in  one  night,  contributed  yet  farther  to  divert  Charles  from 
marching  immediately  into  Saxony,  as  he  was  uncertain  how  soon  he  might 
be  obliged  to  lead  his  forces  into  Italy.  The  politic  Maurice,  however,  found 
means  to  save  himself  during  this  delay,  by  a  pretended  negotiation  with  his 
injured  kinsman ;  while  the  death  of  Francis  I.,  which  happened  before  he 
was  able  to  carry  any  of  his  schemes  into  execution,  together  with  the  final 
extinction  of  Fiesco's  conspiracy,  by  the  vigilance  of  the  celebrated  Andrew 
Doria,  equally  a  friend  to  the  emperor  and  republic,  encouraged  Charles  to 
act  with  vigour  in  Germany ;  more  especially  as  he  foresaw  that  Henry  II., 
who  had  succeeded  his  farther  in  the  throne  of  France,  though  a  prince  of 
vigour  and  ability,  would  be  so  much  occupied  at  home  in  forming  his  new 
ministry,  that  he  had  nothing-  to  fear  for  some  time,  either  from  the  negotia- 
tions or  personal  efforts  of  that  young  monarch. 

This  interval  of  security  the  emperor  seized  to  take  vengeance  on  the 
elector  and  the  landgrave :  and  as  he  was  uncertain  how  long  the  calm  might 
continue,  he  instantly  marched  into  Saxony,  at  the  head  of  sixteen  thousand 
veterans.  The  elector's  forces  were  more  numerous,  but  they  were  divided. 
Charles  did  not  allow  them  time  to  assemble.  He  attacked  the  main  body 
at  Mulhausen,  near  Mulb'erg ;  defeated  it  after  an  obstinate  dispute,  and  took 
the  elector  prisoner.  The  captive  prince  was  immediately  conducted  to 
the  emperor,  whom  he  found  standing  on  the  field  of  battle,  in  the  full  ex- 
ultation of  victory.  The  elector's  behaviour,  even  in  his  present  unfortunate 
and  humbling  condition,  was  alike  equal,  magnanimous,  and  decent.  It  was 
worthy  of  his  gallant  resistance.  He  alike  avoided  a  sullen  pride  and  a  mean 
submission.  "  The  fortune  of  war,"  said  he,  "  most  gracious  emperor,  has 
made  me  your  prisoner,  and  I  hope  to  be  treated" — Here  Charles  rudely 
interrupted  him : — "  And  am  I  then,  at  last,  acknowledged  to  be  emperor  ? 
Charles  of  Ghent  was  the  only  title  you  lately  allowed  me.  You  shall  be 
treated  as  you  deserve!"  turning  from  him  with  a  haughty  air.  To  this 
cruel  repulse  the  king  of  the  Romans  added  reproaches  in  his  own  name, 
using  expressions  still  more  harsh  and  insulting.  The  elector  made  no 
reply ;  but  with  an  unaltered  countenance,  which  discovered  neither  aston- 
ishment nor  dejection,  accompanied  the  Spanish  soldiers  appointed  to  guard 
him.  (2) 

The  emperor  speedily  marched  towards  Wittemberg  (the  capital,  in  that 
age,  of  the  electoral  branch  of  the  Saxon  family)  hoping  that,  while  the  con- 
sternation occasioned  by  his  victory  was  still  recent,  the  inhabitants  would 
submit  as  soon  as  he  appeared  before  their  walls.  But  Sybilla  of  Cleves,  the 
elector's  wife,  a  woman  equally  distinguished  by  her  virtue  and  abilities,  in- 
stead of  obeying  the  imperial  summons,  or  abandoning  herself  to  tears  and 
lamentation  on  account  of  her  husband's  misfortunes,  animated  the  citizens 
by  her  example,  as  well  as  exhortation,  to  a  vigorous  defence ;  and  Charles, 
finding  that  he  could  not  suddenly  reduce  the  place  by  force,  had  recourse  to 
means  at  once  ungenerous  and  unwarlike,  but  more  expeditious  and  certain. 
He  summoned  Sybilla  a  second  time  to  open  the  gates ;  informing  her,  that 
in  case  of  refusal,  the  elector  should  answer  with  his  head  for  her  obstinacy. 
And,  in  order  to  convince  her  that  he  was  in  earnest,  he  brought  his  prisoner 
to  an  immediate  trial,  subjecting  the  greatest  prince  in  the  empire  to  the 

(1)  Sleidan.    Thuan.    Mm.jit  Ribier. 

'21  Hortens.  de  Bell.  Germ.    Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.,  book  ix. 


LET.  LXI.l  MODERN    EUROPE.  399 

jurisdiction  of  a  court-martial,  cpmposed  of  Spanish  and  Italian  officers;  who, 
founding  their  charge  against  him  upon  the  imperial  ban,  a  sentence  pro- 
nounced by  the  sole  authority  of  Charles,  and  destitute  of  every  legal  for- 
mality which  could  render  it  valid,  presumed  the  elector  convicted  of  treason 
and  rebellion,  and  condemned  him  to  suffer  death  by  being  beheaded.  (1) 

Frederic  was  amusing  himself  in  playing  at  chess  with  his  fellow-prisoner, 
Ernest  of  Brunswick,  when  this  decree  was  intimated  to  him.  He  paused  for 
a  moment,  though  without  any  symptom  of  surprise  or  terror;  and  after 
taking  notice  of  the  irregularity  as  well  as  injustice  of  the  proceedings  against 
him,  •'  It  is  easy,"  said  he,"  "  to  comprehend  the  emperor's  scheme.  I  must 
die  because  Wittemberg  refuses  to  surrender:  and  I  will  lay  down  my  life 
with  pleasure,  if  by  that  sacrifice  I  can  preserve  the  dignity  of  my  house, 
and  transmit  to  my  posterity  the  inheritance  which  I  received  from  my 
ancestors.  Heaven  grant,"  continued  he,  "  that  this  sentence  may  affect  my 
wife  and  children  no  more  than  it  does  me  !  that  they  may  not,  for  the  sake  of 
adding  a  few  years  to  a  life  already  too  long,  renounce  honours  and  terri- 
tories which  they  were  born  to  possess !"  He  then  turned  to  his  antagonist, 
challenged  him  to  continue  the  game,  and  played  with  his  usual  attention  and 
ingenuity.(2) 

It  happened  as  the  elector  had  feared :  the  account  of  his  condemnation  was 
not  received  with  the  same  indifference  at  Wittemberg.  Sybilla,  who  had 
supported  with  such  undaunted  fortitude  her  husband's  misfortunes,  while 
she  imagined  his  person  was  free  from  danger,  felt  all  her  resolution  fail  the 
moment  his  life  was  threatened.  Anxious  for  his  safety,  she  despised  every 
other  consideration ;  and  was  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice  in  order  to  appease 
the  rage  of  an  incensed  conqueror.  Meantime,  Charles,  perceiving  that  the 
expedient  he  had  tried  began  to  produce  the  intended  effect,  fell  by  degrees 
from  his  former  firmness,  and  allowed  himself  to  soften  into  promises  of  cle- 
mency and  forgiveness,  if  the  elector  would  show  himself  worthy  of  favour, 
by  submitting  to  certain  conditions.  Frederic,  on  whom  the  consideration 
of  what  he  himself  might  suffer  had  made  no  impression,  was  melted  by  the 
tears  of  a  wife  whom  he  loved.  He  could  not  resist  the  entreaties  of  his 
family.  In  compliance  with  their  repeated  solicitations,  he  agreed  to  articles 
of  accommodation,  which  he  would  otherwise  have  rejected  with  disdain;— 
to  resign  the  electoral  dignity,  to  put  the  imperial  troops  immediately  in  pos- 
session of  his  capital,  and  to  remain  the  emperor's  prisoner.  In  return  for 
these  important  concessions,  the  emperor  promised  not  only  to  spare  his  life, 
but  to  settle  on  him  and  his  posterity  the  city  of  Gotha  and  its  territory,  to- 
gether  with  a  revenue  of  fifty  thousand  florins.(3)  The  Saxon  electorate  was 
instantly  bestowed  upon  Maurice.  This  sacrifice,  though  with  no  small 
reluctance,  Charles  was  obliged  to  make :  as  it  would  neither  have  been  safe 
nor  prudent  to  violate  his  engagements  with  a  warlike  prince,  whom  he  had 
seduced  by  ambitious  hopes  to  abandon  his  natural  allies,  and  whose  friend- 
ship was  still  necessary. 

The  lando-rave  of  Hesse,  Maurice's  father-in-law,  was  still  in  asms,  but  n 
thouo-ht  no  more  of  resistance.     Alarmed  at  the  fate  of  the  elector  of^Saxony, 
his  only  care  was  how  to  procure  favourable  terms  from  the  emperor,  whom 
he  now  viewed  as  a  conqueror,  to  whose  will  there  was  a  necessity  of  sub- 
mitting.    Maurice  encouraged  this  tame  spirit,  by  magnifying  Charles  s , 
power,  and  boasting  of  his  own  interest  with  his  victorious  ally.     The  land 
crrave  accordingly  threw  himself  at  the  emperor's  feet,  after  ratifying  what 
Terms  he  was  pleased  to  impose,  Maurice  and  the  elector  of  Brandenburg 
beino-  sureties  for  his  personal  freedom.    But  his  submission  was  no  sooner 
made,  than  Charles  ordered  him  to  be  arrested,  and  detained  prisoner  under 
the  custody  of  a  Spanish  guard;  and  when  the  elector  and  Maurice,  fill' 
with  indignation  at  being  made  the  instruments  of  deceiving  and  ruining 
their  friend,  represented  the  infamy  to  which  they  would  be  exposed,  unles 

(1)  Horte.i9.  de  Bell.  Qerm.    Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.  book  ix.  (2)  Thuanus,  lib  i 

(3)  Du  Mont,  Corps  Diplont.  torn.  iv. 


400  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  I. 

the  landgrave  was  set  at  liberty ;  that  they  were  bound  to  procure  his  release, 
having  pledged  their  faith  to  that  effect,  and  even  engaged  their  own  persons 
as  sureties  for  his,  the  emperor,  who  no  longer  stood  in  need  of  their  services, 
coolly  replied,  that  he  was  ignorant  of  their  particular  or  private  transactions 
with  the  landgrave,  nor  was  his  conduct  to  be  regulated  by  theirs.  "  I  know," 
added  he, in  a  decisive  tone,  "what  I  myself  have  promised;  for  that  alone  I 
am  answerable."(  1)  These  words  put  an  end  to  the  conference,  and  all  future 
entreaties  proved  ineffectual. 

Charles  having  now  in  his  power  the  two  greatest  princes  of  the  empire, 
carried  them  about  with  him  in  triumph ;  and  having  humbled  all  whom  he 
had  not  attached  to  his  interest,  proceeded  to  exercise  the  rights  of  a  con- 
queror. He  ordered  his  troops  to  seize  the  artillery  and  military  stores  of 
all  who  had  been  members  of  the  Smalkaldic  league ;  and  he  levied,  by  his 
sole  authority,  large  sums,  as  well  upon  those  who  had  served  him  with 
fidelity,  as  upon  such  as  had  appeared  in  arms  against  him.  Upon  the  former, 
as  their  contingent  towards  a  war  undertaking,  as  he  pretended,  for  the  common 
benefit ;  upon  the  latter,  as  a  fine,  by  way  of  punishment,  for  their  rebellion. 
His  brother  Ferdinand  tyrannized  with  still  more  severity  over  his  Bohemian 
subjects,  who  had  taken  arms  in  support  of  their  civil  and  religious  liberties  : 
he  stripped  them  of  all  their  ancient  privileges,  and  loaded  them  with  oppres- 
sive taxes.  (2) 

The  good  fortune,  or,  as  it  has  been  called,  the  STAR  of  the  house  of  Austria, 
was  now  at  its  height.  The  emperor  having  humbled,  and,  as  he  imagined, 
subdued  the  independent  spirit  of  the  Germans,  summoned  a  diet  to  meet  at 
Augsburg,  "  in  order  to  compose  finally  the  controversies  with  regard  to 
religion,  which  had  so  long  disturbed  the  empire ;"  or,  in  other  words,  to 
enslave  the  minds  of  those  whose  persons  and  properties  were  already  at  his 
disposal.  He  durst  not,  however,  commit  to  the  free  suffrage  of  the  Germans, 
broken  as  their  spirit  was  by  subjection,  the  determination  of  a  matter  so 
interesting.  He  therefore  entered  the  city  at  the  head  of  his  Spanish  troops, 
and  assigned  them  quarters  there.  He  cantoned  the  rest  of  his  army  in  the 
adjacent  villages ;  and  he  took  possession  by  force  of  the  cathedral,  together 
with  one  of  the  principal  churches,  where  his  priests  re-established  with  great 
pomp  the  rites  of  the  Romish  worship.  These  preliminary  steps  being  taken, 
in  order  to  intimidate  the  members,  and  to  make  them  acquainted  with  the 
emperor's  pleasure,  he  opened  the  diet  with  a  speech,  in  which  he  pointed  out 
the  fatal  effects  of  the  religious  dissensions  which  had  arisen  in  Germany ; 
exhorted  them  to  recognise  the  authority  of  the  general  council,  which  he 
had  taken  so  much  pains  to  procure ;  and  to  stand  the  award  of  an  assembly 
to  which  they  had  originally  appealed,  as  having  the  sole  right  of  judgment  in 
the  case. 

But  the  council,  to  which  Charles  wished  to  refer  all  controversies,  had 
undergone  by  this  time  a  violent  change.  The  same  jealousy,  which  had 
made  the  pope  recall  his  troops,  had  also  made  him  translate  the  council  to 
Bologna,  a*  city  subject  to  his  own  jurisdiction.  The  diet  of  Augsburg,  over- 
awed by  threats,  and  influenced  by  promises,  petitioned  the  pope,  at  the 
emperor's  desire,  in  the  name  of  the  whole  Germanic  body,  to  enjoin  the 
prelates  who  had  retired  to  Bologna  to  return  again  to  Trent,  and  renew  their 
•deliberations  in  that  place.  But  Paul  eluded  the  demand.  He  made  the 
fathers  at  Bologna,  to  whom  he  referred  the  petition  of  the  diet,  put  a  direct 
negative  upon  the  request ;  and  Charles,  as  he  could  no  longer  hope  to  acquire 
such  an  ascendant  in  the  council  as  to  render  it  subservient  to  his  ambi- 
tious aim,  and  to  prevent  the  authority  of  so  venerable  an  assembly  from 
being  turned  against  him,  sent  two  Spanish  lawyers  to  Bologna,  who,  in  pre- 
sence of  the  legates,  protested,  that  the  translation  of  the  council  to  that  place 
had  been  unnecessary,  and  founded  on  false  or  frivolous  pretexts ;  that  while 
it  continued  to  meet  there,  it  ought  to  be  deemed  an  unlawful  and  schismatical 
conventicle,  and  all  its  decisions  held  null  and  void ;  and  that  as  the  pope, 

(1)  Thuanus,  lib.  iv.    Struv.  Corps,    ftitt.  Germ,  tom.ii.  (2)  Id.  'Aid. 


LET.  LXI.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  401 

together  with  the  corrupt  ecclesiastics  who  depended  upon  him  (those  who 
depended  upon  Charles  having  remained  at  Trent),  had  abandoned  the  care  of 
the  church,  the  emperor,  as  its  protector,  would  employ  all  the  power  which 
God  had  committed  to  him,  in  order  to  preserve  it  from  those  calamities  with 
which  it  was  threatened. 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  Charles  employed  some  divines  of  known 
abilities  and  learning,  to  prepaid  a  system  of  doctrine,  which  he  presented  to 
the  diet,  as  what  all  should  conform  to,  "  until  a  council,  such  as  they  wished 
for,  could  be  called."  Hence  the  name  Interim,  by  which  this  system  is 
known.  It  was  conformable  in  almost  every  article  to  the  tenets  of  the 
Romish  church,  and  the  Romish  rites  were  enjoined ;  but  all  disputed  doc- 
trines were  expressed  in  the  softest  words,  in  Scripture  phrases,  or  in  terms 
of  studied  ambiguity.  In  regard  to  two  points  only,  some  relaxation  of 
popish  rigour  was  granted,  and  some  latitude  in  practice  admitted.  Such 
ecclesiastics  as  had  married,  and  did  not  choose  to  part  from  their  wives, 
were  allowed  nevertheless  to  perform  their  sacred  functions ;  and  those  pro 
viuces  which  had  been  accustomed  to  partake  of  the  cup  as  well  as  of  the 
bread  in  the  communion  were  still  indulged  the  privilege  of  receiving  both.(l) 
This  treatise  being  read  in  presence  of  the  members,  according  to  form, 
the  archbishop  of  Mentz,  president  of  the  electoral  college,  rose  up  hastily, 
as  soon  as  it  was  finished,  and  having  thanked  the  emperor  for  his  unwearied 
endeavours  to  restore  peace  to  the  church,  signified,  in  the  name  of  the  diet, 
their  approbation  of  the  system  of  doctrine  which  his  imperial  majesty  had 
prepared,  together  with  their  resolution  of  conforming  to  it  in  every  par- 
ticular. And  although  the  whole  assembly  was  amazed  at  a  declaration  so 
unprecedented  and  unconstitutional,  as  well  as  at  the  elector's  presumption, 
in  pretending  to  deliver  the  sense  of  the  diet  upon  a  point  which  had  not 
hitherto  been  the  subject  of  consultation  or  debate,  not  one  member  had  the 
courage  to  contradict  what  he  had  said.  Charles  therefore  held  the  arch- 
bishop's declaration  to  be  a  ratification  of  the  Interim,  and  prepared  to  enforce 
the  observance  of  it  as  a  decree  of  the  empire.(2) 

The  Interim  was  accordingly  published,  immediately  after  the  dissolution 
of  the  diet,  in  the  German  as  well  as  in  the  Latin  language;  but,  like  all  con- 
ciliatino-  schemes  proposed  to  men  heated  by  disputation,  it  pleased  neither 
party  °The  Protestants  thought  it  granted  too  little  indulgence ;  the  Catho- 
lics, too  much;  both  were  dissatisfied.  The  emperor,  however,  fond  of  his 
plan,  adhered  to  his  resolution  of  carrying  it  into  execution.  But  this  proved 
one  of  the  most  difficult  and  dangerous  undertakings  m  his  reign ;  for 
although  three  Protestant  princes,  Maurice,  the  elector  Palatine,  and  the 
elector"  of  Brandenburg,  agreed  to  receive  the  Interim,  several  others  remon- 
strated against  it:  and  the  free  cities, with  one  voice,  joined  in  refusing  to 
admit  it,  till  force  taught  them  submission.  Augsburg  and  Ulm  being  bar- 
barously stripped  of  their  privileges,  on  account  of  th3ir  opposition, many  other 
cities  feigned  compliance.  But  this  obedience,  extorted  by  the  rigour  of 
minority?  produced  no  change  in  the  sentiments  of  the  Germans.  They  sub- 
rnitted  with  reluctance  to  the  power  that  oppressed  them;  and  although  for 
me  they  concealed  their  resentment,  it  was  daily  gathering  force,  and 
soon  broke  forth  with  a  violence  that  shook  the  imperial  throne. 

In  this  moment  of  general  submission  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  though  the  emperor's  prisoner,  and  tempted  both  by 
threats  and  promises,  refused  to  lend  his  sanction  to  fe  Interim     His  rea- 
sons were  those  of  a  philosopher,  not  of  a  bigot.     After  declaring  his  fL 
belief  m  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  "  I  cannot  now,"  said  he,      in  m> 
old  age,  abandon  the  principles  for  which  1  early  contended ;  nor,  m  order  to 
procure  freedom  during  a  few  declining  years,  will  I  betray  that  good  cause, 
on  account  of  which  I  have  suffered  so  much,  and  am  still  willing  to  suffer 
better  for  me  to  enjoy,  in  this  solitude,  the  esteem  of  virtuous  men,  together 
with  the  approbation  of  my  own  conscience,  than  to  return  into  the  world 

(!)  Father  Paul,  lib.  iii.    Goldast.    Const.  Imp.  vol.  i.  (2)  M-  «"<*• 

VOL.  I.— C  c 


402  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

with  the  imputation  and  guilt  of  apostacy,  to  disgrace  and  imbitter  the 
remainder  of  my  days."(l) 

The  contents  of  the  Interim  were  no  sooner  known  at  Rome  than  the  mem- 
bers of  the  sacred  college  were  filled  with  rage  and  indignation.  They 
exclaimed  against  the  emperor's  profane  encroachment  on  the  sacerdotal 
function,  in  presuming  with  the  concurrence  of  an  assembly  of  laymen,  to 
define  articles  of  faith,  and  regulate  modes  of*  worship.  They  compared  this 
rash  deed  to  that  of  Uzziah,  who,  with  an  unhallowed  hand,  had  touched  the 
ark  of  God.  But  the  pope,  whose  judgment  was  improved  by  longer  expe- 
rience in  great  transactions,  and  more  extensive  observation  of  human  affairs, 
though  displeased  at  the  emperor's  encroachment  on  his  jurisdiction,  viewed 
the  matter  with  more  indifference.  He  perceived  that  Charles,  by  joining  any 
one  of  the  contending  parties  in  Germany,  might  have  had  it  in  his  power  to 
have  crushed  the  other,  but  that  the  presumption  of  success  had  now  inspired 
him  with  the  vain  thought  of  being  able  to  domineer  over  both ;  and  he  fore- 
saw that  a  system,  which  all  attacked  and  none  defended,  could  not  be  of 
long  duration.(2)  He  was  more  sensibly  affected  by  the  emperor's  political 
measures,  and  his  own  domestic  concerns. 

Charles,  as  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice,  had  married  Margaret 
of  Austria,  his  natural  daughter,  to  Octavio  Farnese,  the  pope's  grandson. 
On  his  own  son  Lewis,  Octavio's  father,  whose  aggrandizement  he  had  sin- 
cerely at  heart,  Paul  bestowed  the  dutchies  of  Parma  and  Placentia,  then  part 
of  St.  Peter's  patrimony.  But  the  emperor  less  fond  of  aggrandizing  his 
daughter,  whose  children  were  to  succeed  to  the  inheritance,  refused  to  grant 
to  Lewis  the  investiture  of  those  territories,  under  pretence  that  they  were 
appendages  of  the  dutchy  of  Milan.  Enraged  at  such  ungenerous  conduct, 
the  pope  undertook  to  bestow  himself  that  investiture  which  he  craved,  and 
the  emperor  persisted  in  refusing  to  confirm  the  deed.  Hence  a  secret  enmity 
took  place  between  Paul  and  Charles,  but  one  still  stronger  between  Charles 
and  Lewis.  To  complete  the  pope's  misfortunes,  Lewis  became  one  of  the 
most  detestable  tyrants  that  ever  disgraced  human  nature,  and  justly  fell  a 
sacrifice  to  his  own  crimes,  and  to  the  injuries  of  his  oppressed  subjects. 
Gonzaga,  governor  of  Milan,  who  had  watched  for  such  an  opportunity,  and 
even  abetted  the  conspirators,  immediately  took  possession  of  Placentia  in 
the  emperor's  name,  and  reinstated  the  inhabitants  in  their  ancient  privileges. 
The  imperialists  likewise  attempted  to  surprise  Parma,  but  were  disappointed 
by  the  vigilance  and  fidelity  of  the  garrison.  (3) 

Paul  was  deeply  afflicted  for  the  loss  of  a  son,  whom,  notwithstanding  his 
vices,  he  loved  with  an  excess  of  parental  affection,  and  immediately 
demanded  of  the  emperor  the  punishment  of  Gonzaga,  and  the  restitution  of 
Placentia  to  his  grandson  Octavio,  its  rightful  heir.  But  Charles  evaded 
both  demands ;  he  chose  rather  to  bear  the  infamy  of  defrauding  his  own 
son-in-law  of  his  patrimonial  inheritance,  and  even  to  expose  himself  to  the 
imputation  of  being  accessery  to  the  crime  which  had  given  an  opportunity 
of  seizing  it,  than  quit  a  possession  of  such  value.  An  ambition  so  rapacious 
and  which  no  consideration  either  of  decency  or  justice  could  restrain, 
transported  Paul  beyond  his  usual  moderation.  Eager  to  take  arms  against 
the  emperor,  but  conscious  of  his  own  inability  to  contend  with  such  an 
enemy,  he  warmly  solicited  the  king  of  France  and  the  republic  of  Venice  to 
take  part  in  his  quarrel;  but  finding  all  his  negotiations  ineffectual,  he 
endeavoured  to  acquire  by  policy  what  he  could  not  recover  by  force.  Upon 
a  supposition  that  Charles  would  not  dare  to  detain  the  possessions  of  the 
holy  see,  he  proposed  to  reunite  to  it  Parma  and  Placentia,  by  recalling  his 
grant  of  Parma  from  Octavio,  whom  he  could  indemnify  in  the  mean  time 
for  the  loss,  by  a  new  establishment  in  the  ecclesiastical  state ;  and  by  de- 
manding Placentia  from  the  emperor,  as  part  of  the  patrimony  of  the  church. 
But  while  Paul  was  priding  himself  in  this  happy  device,  Octavio,  an  ambi- 

(1)  Sleid.  p.  4fi2.    Robertson,  Charles  V.,  book  ix  (2)  Father  Paul,  lib.  iii.    Palavicini,  lib.  ii 

,:3)  Thuanus,  lib.  iv.    Mem.  de  Kibier. 


LET.  LXI.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  403 

tious  and  high-spirited  young  man,  having  little  faith  in  such  a  refinement  in 
policy,  and  not  choosing  to  abandon  certainty  for  hope,  applied  to  the  emperor 
to  protect  him  in  his  dutchy.(l) 

This  unexpected  defection  of  one  of  his  own  family,  of  the  grandson 
whose  fortune  it  had  been  the  care  of  his  declining  years  to  build,  to  an 
enemy  whom  he  hated,  agitated  the  venerable  pontiff  beyond  his  strength, 
and  is  said  to  have  occasioned  that  illness  of  which  he  soon  after  died.  (2) — 
An  historian  more  sprightly  than  profound,  and  more  keen  than  candid,  has 
here  affected  to  raise  a  smile,  that  "  any  other  cause  than  old  age  should  he 
assigned  for  the  death  of  a  man  of' fourscore;" (3)  and  a  more  respectable 
historian,  one  equally  elegant  and  learned,  and  no  less  intelligent  than  judi- 
cious, has  taken  much  pains  to  prove  that  the  pope's  "  disease  was  the 
natural  effect  of  old  age,  not  one  of  those  occasioned  by  violence  of  passion  "(4) 
But  both  allow  that  Paul  was  violently  affected  when  informed  of  Octavio's 
undutiful  conduct ;  and  the  latter  informs  us,  that  "  he  was  seized  with  such 
a  transport  of  passion,  and  cried  so  bitterly,  that  his  voice  was  heard  in  several 
apartments  of  the  palace;"  that  "his  mind  was  irritated  almost  to  mad- 
ness."(5)  And  weak  and  credulous  as  some  historians  may  be,  and  fond  of 
"  attributing  the  death  of  illustrious  persons  to  extraordinary  causes," — 
there  is  surely  nothing  extraordinary  in  supposing  that  mental  irritation  and 
bitter  crying  might  occasion  a  catarrh,  the  distemper  of  which  the  pope  died, 
or  a  violent  transport  of  passion  increase  the  natural  imbecility  of  old  age, 
and  hasten  a  man  of  fourscore  to  the  grave.  It  is  more  extraordinary,  how 
violently  some  great  men,  from  a  desire  of  being  thought  superior  to  vulgar 
prejudices,  will  struggle  against  common  sense. 

Paul  was  succeeded  in  the  papacy  by  the  cardinal  de  Monte,  who  had  been 
employed  as  principal  legate  in  the  council  of  Trent,  and  owed  his  election 
to  the  Farnese  party.  He  assumed  the  name  of  Julius  III.,  and  in  order  to 
express  his  gratitude  towards  his  benefactors,  he  put  Octavio  Farnese  in 
possession  of  Parma,  which  had  been  delivered  up  to  his  predecessor.  "  I 
would  rather,"  replied  he,  when  told  what  injury  he  did  the  holy  see  by 
alienating  a  territory  of  such  value,  "  be  a  poor  pope  with  the  reputation  of 
a  gentleman,  than  a  rich  one  with  the  infamy  of  having  forgot  the  obliga- 
tions conferred  upon  me,  and  the  promises  I  made. (6)  He  discovered  less 
inclination,  however,  to  observe  the  oath  which  each  cardinal  had  taken 
when  he  entered  the  conclave,  that  if  the  choice  should  fall  on  him,  he 
would  immediately  call  the  general  council  to  resume  its  deliberations.  He 
knew,  by  experience,  how  difficult  it  was  to  confine  the  inquiries,  or  even 
the  decisions  of  such  a  body  of  men,  within  the  narrow  limits  which  it  was 
the  interest  of  the  court  of  Rome  to  prescribe.  But  as  the  emperor  persisted 
in  his  resolution  of  forcing  the  Protestants  to  return  into  the  bosom  of  the 
church,  and  earnestly  solicited  that  a  council  might  be  called,  in  order  to 
combat  their  prejudices,  and  to  support  his  pious  intentions,  Julius  could 
not  with  decency  reject  his  request ;  and,  willing  to  assume  to  himself  the 
merit  of  a  measure  become  necessary,  and  also  to  ingratiate  himself  more 
particularly  with  Charles,  he  pretended  to  move,  and  to  deliberate  on 
the  matter,  and  afterward  issued  a  bull  for  the  council  to  reassemble  at 
Trent.  (7) 

Meanwhile,  the  emperor  held  a  diet  at  Augsburg,  m  order  to  enforce  the 
observation  of  the  Interim,  and  to  procure  a  more  authentic  act  of  the 
empire,  acknowledging  the  jurisdiction  of  the  council,  as  well  as  an  explicit 
promise  of  conforming  to  its  decrees.  And  such  absolute  ascendancy  had 
Charles  acquired  over  the  members  of  the  Germanic  body,  that  he  procured 
a  recess,  in  which  the  authority  of  the  council  was  recognised,  and  declared 
to  be  the  proper  remedy  for  the  evils  which  afflicted  the  church.  The  ob- 
servation of  the  Interim  was  more  strictly  enjoined  than  ever;  and  the 
emperor  threatened  all  who  had  hitherto  neglected  or  refused  to  conform  to 

m  Thuanus,  lib.  vi.    Palav.  lib.  ii.  (2)  Id.  ibid  (3)  Voltaire,  Hist.  Gen. 

(4)  Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.  book  x.        (5)  Id.  ibid.  (6)  Mem.  de  Ribttr 

(T)  Father  Pavl,  lib.  iii. 

Cc  2 


404  T  H  E    H I  S  T  O  R  Y    O  F  [PART  f , 

it  with  the  severest  effects  of  his  vengeance,  if  they  persisted  in  their  dis 
obedience. 

During  the  meeting  of  this  diet,  a  new  attempt  was  made  to  procure  liberty 
to  the  landgrave.  Nowise  reconciled  by  time  to  his  condition,  he  grew 
every  day  more  impatient  of  restraint;  and  having  often  applied  to  his 
sureties,  Maurice  and  the  elector  of  Brandenburg,  who  took  every  oppor- 
tunity of  soliciting  the  emperor  in  his  behalf,  though  without  effect,  he  now 
commanded  his  sons  to  summon  them,  with  legal  formality,  to  perform  their 
engagements,  by  surrendering  themselves  to  be  treated  as  the  emperor  had 
treated  him.  Thus  pushed  to  extremity,  the  sureties  renewed  their  appli- 
cation to  Charles.  Resolved  not  to  grant  their  request,  but  anxious  to  get 
rid  of  their  incessant  importunity,  the  emperor  endeavoured  to  prevail  on 
the  landgrave  to  give  up  the  obligation  which  he  had  received  from  them  ; 
and  when  that  prince  refused  to  part  with  a  security  which  he  deemed  essen- 
tial to  his  safety,  Charles,  by  a  singular  act  of  despotism,  cut  the  knot  which 
he  could  not  untie.  As  if  faith,  honour,  and  conscience  had  been  subjected 
to  his  sway,  he,  by  a  public  deed,  annulled  the  bond  which  Maurice  and  the 
elector  of  Brandenburg  had  granted,  and  absolved  them  from  all  their  obli- 
gations to  the  landgrave  !(1)  A  power  of  cancelling  those  solemn  contracts,, 
which  are  the  foundation  of  that  mutual  confidence  whereby  men  are  held 
together  in  social  union,  was  never  claimed  by  the  most  despotic  princes  or 
arrogating  priests  of  heathen  antiquity:  that  enormous  usurpation  AV;H- 
reserved  for  the  Roman  pontiffs,  who  had  rendered  themselves  odious  by  the 
exercise  of  such  a  pernicious  prerogative.  All  Germany  was  therefore  filled 
with  astonishment  when  Charles  assumed  the  same  right.  The  princes  who 
had  hitherto  contributed  to  his  aggrandizement  began  to  tremble  for  their 
own  safety,  and  to  take  measures  for  preventing  the  danger. 

The  first  check  which  Charles  met  with  in  his  ambitious  projects,  and  which 
convinced  him  that  the  Germans  were  not  yet  slaves,  was  in  his  attempt  to 
transmit  the  empire,  as  well  as  the  kingdom  of  Spain,  and  his  dominions  in 
the  Low  Countries,  to  his  son  Philip.  He  had  formerly  assisted  his  brother 
Ferdinand  in  obtaining  the  dignity  of  king  of  the  Romans  ;  and  that  prince 
had  not  only  studied  to  render  himself  acceptable  to  the  people,  but  had  a 
son,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  grown  up  to  the  years  of  manhood,  and  who 
possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  such  qualities  as  rendered  him  the  darling  of 
his  countrymen.  The  emperor,  however,  warmed  with  contemplating  this 
vast  design,  flattered  himself  that  it  was  not  impossible  to  prevail  on  the 
electors  to  cancel  their  former  choice  of  Ferdinand,  or  at  least  to  elect  Philip 
a  second  king  of  the  Romans,  substituting  him  as  next  in  succession  to  his 
uncle.  With  this  view  he  took  Philip,  who  had  been  educated  in  Spain, 
along  with  him  to  the  diet  at  Augsburg,  that  the  Germans  might  have  an 
opportunity  to  observe  and  become  acquainted  with  the  prince  in  whose 
behalf  he  solicited  their  interest;  but  no  sooner  was  the  proposal  made 
known,  than  all  the  electors,  the  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  secular.,  concurred 
in  expressing  such  strong  disapprobation  of  the  measure,  that  Charles  was' 
obliged  to  drop  his  project  as  impracticable. (2)  They  foresaw,  that  by  con- 
tinuing the  imperial  crown,  like  an  hereditary  dignity,  in  the  same  family, 
they  should  give  the  son  an  opportunity  of  carrying  on  that  system  of  op- 
pression which  the  father  had  begun,  and  put  it  in  his  power  to  overturn 
whatever  was  yet  left  entire  in  the  ancient  and  venerable  fabric  of  the  Ger- 
man constitution. 

This  plan  of  domestic  ambition,  which  had  long  engrossed  his  thoughts, 
being  laid  aside,  Charles  imagined  he  should  now  have  leisure  to  turn  all  his 
attention  towards  his  grand  scheme  of  establishing  uniformity  of  religion 
in  the  empire,  by  forcing  all  the  contending  parties  to  acquiesce  in  the 
decisions  of  the  council  of  Trent.  But  the  machine  which  he  had  to  conduct 
was  so  great  and  complicated,  that  an  unforeseen  irregularity,  or  obstruction 
HI  one  of  the  inferior  wheels,  often  disconcerted  the  motion  of  the  whole,  and 
disappointed  him  of  the  effect  which  he  depended  upon  with  most  confidence. 

(1}  Thuanus,  lib.  vi.  (1)  Thuanus,  lib.  vi.     .Mem.  dc.  Ribier 


LET.  LXL]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  405 

fSuch  an  unlooked-for  occurrence  now  happened,  and  created  new  obstacles 
against  the  execution  of  his  plan  in  regard  to  religion. 

Though  Julius  III.  during  the  first  effusions  of  joy  and  gratitude  on  his 
promotion  to  the  papal  throne,  had  confirmed  Octavio  Farnese  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  dutchy  of  Parma,  he  soon  began  to  repent  of  his  generosity. 
The  emperor  still  retained  possession  of  Placentia ;  and  Gonzaga,  governor 
of  Milan,  a  sworn  enemy  to  the  family  of  Farnese,  was  preparing,  by  Charles's 
permission,  to  make  himself  master  of  Parma.  Octavio  saw  his  danger; 
and,  sensible  of  his  inability  to  defend  himself  against  the  imperial  troops,  he 
'applied  to  the  pope  for  protection,  as  a  vassal  of  the  holy  see.  But  the  impe- 
rial minister  having  already  preoccupied  the  ear  of  Julius,  Octavio's  petition 
met  with  a  cold  reception.  Despairing,  therefore,  of  support  from  his  holi- 
ness, he  began  to  look  elsewhere  for  assistance  :  and  Henry  II.  of  France, 
the  only  prince  powerful  enough  to  protect  him,  was  fortunately  in  a  situation 
to  lend'him  that  assistance. 

Having  not  only  settled  his  own  domestic  concerns,  but  brought  his  trans- 
actions with  the  two  British  kingdoms,  which  had  hitherto  diverted  his 
attention  from  the  affairs  of  the  continent,  to  such  an  issue  as  he  desired, 
Henry  was  at  full  leisure  to  pursue  the  measures  which  his  hereditary 
jealousy  of  the  emperor's  power  naturally  suggested.  He  accordingly 
listened  to  the  overtures  of  Octavio;  and,  glad  of  an  opportunity  of  regaining 
footing  in  Italy,  furnished  him  with  what  assistance  he  desired. 

The  war  of  Parma,  where  the  French  took  the  field  as  the  allies  of  the 
duke,  and  the  imperialists  as  the  protectors  of  the  koly  see,  the  pope  having 
declared  Octavio's  fief  forfeited,  was  distinguished  by  no  memorable  event; 
but  the  alarm  which  it  occasioned  in  Italy  prevented  most  of  the  Italian 
prelates  from  repairing  to  Trent  on  the  day  appointed  for  reassembling  the 
council ;  so  that  the  legate  and  nuncios  found  it  necessary  to  adjourn  to  a 
future  day,  hoping  that  such  a  number  might  then  assemble  as  would  enable 
them  in  decency  to  begin  their  deliberations.  When  that  day  came,  the 
French  ambassador  demanded  audience,  and  protested,  in  his  master's  name, 
against  an  assembly  called  at  such  an  improper  juncture;  when  a  war,  wan- 
tonly kindled  by  the  pope,  made  it  impossible  for  the  deputies  from  the  Gallican 
church  to  resort  to  Trent  in  safety,  or  to  deliberate  concerning  articles  of 
faith  and  discipline  with  the  requisite  tranquillity.  He  declared,  that  Henry 
did  not  acknowledge  this  to  be  a  general  cecumenic  council,  but  must  consider 
and  would  treat  it  as  a  particular  and  partial  convention.(l) 

That  declaration  gave  a  deep  wound  to  the  credit  of  the  council,  at  the 
commencement  of  its  deliberations.  The  legate,  however,  affected  to  despise 
Henry's  protest ;  the  prelates  proceeded  to  determine  the  great  points  in  con- 
troversy concerning  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  penance,  and 
extreme  unction ;  and  the  emperor  strained  hie  authority  to  the  utmost,  in 
order  to  establish  the  reputation  and  jurisdiction  of  that  assembly.  The 
Protestants  were  prohibited  to  teach  any  doctrine  contrary  to  its  decrees,  or 
to  the  tenets  of  the  Romish  church ;  and  on  their  refusing  compliance,  their 
pastors  were  ejected  and  exiled ;  such  magistrates  as  had  distinguished 
themselves  by  their  attachment  to  the  new  opinions  were  dismissed  ;  their 
offices  were  filled  with  the  most  bigoted  of  their  adversaries ;  and  the  people 
were  compelled  to  attend  the  ministration  of  priests,  whom  they  regarded  as 
idolaters,  and  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  rulers,  whom  they  detested  as 
usurpers.  (2) 

These  tyrannical  measures  fully  opened  the  eyes  of  Maurice  of  Saxony  and 
other  Lutheran  princes,  who,  allured  by  the  promise  of  liberty  of  conscience, 
and  the  prospect  of  farther  advantages,  had  assisted  the  emperor  in  the  war 
against  the  confederates  of  Smalkalde.  Maurice,  in  particular,  who  had  long 
beheld  with  jealous  concern  the  usurpations  of  Charles,  now  saw  the  neces- 
sity of  setting  bounds  to  them ;  and  he  who  had  perfidiously  stripped  his  nearest 
relation  and  benefactor  of  his  hereditary  possessions,  and  been  chiefly  instru- 

(1)  Father  Paul,  lib.  iv.    Robertson,  Hitt.  Charles  V.,  book  «. 

(2)  Id.  ibid. 


406  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I, 

mental  in  bringing  to  the  brink  of  ruin  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  his 
country,  became  the  deliverer  of  Germany. 

The  policy  with  which  Maurice  conducted  himself  in  the  execution  of  his 
design  was  truly  admirable.  He  was  so  perfect  a  master  of  address  and 
dissimulation,  that  he  retained  the  emperor's  confidence,  while  he  recovered 
the  good  opinion  of  the  Protestants.  As  he  knew  Charles  to  be  inflexible 
with  respect  to  the  submission  which  he  required  to  the  Interim,  he  did  not 
hesitate  a  moment  whether  he  should  establish  that  form  of  doctrine  and 
worship  in  his  dominions :  he  even  undertook  to  reduce  to  obedience  the 
citizens  of  Magdeburg,  who  persisted  in  rejecting  it ;  and  he  was  chosen 
general,  by  a  diet  assembled  at  Augsburg,  of  the  imperial  army  levied  for 
that  purpose.  But  he  at  the  same  time  issued  a  declaration,  containing  pro- 
fessions of  his  zealous  attachment  to  the  reformed  religion,  as  well  as  of  his 
resolution  to  guard  against  all  the  errors  and  encroachments  of  the  papal 
see;  and  he  entered  his  protest  against  the  authority  of  the  council  of  Trent, 
unless  the  Protestant  divines  had  a  full  hearing  granted  them,  and  were 
allowed  a  decisive  voice  in  that  assembly ;  unless  the  pope  renounced  his 
pretensions  to  preside  in  it,  should  engage  to  submit  to  its  decrees,  and  to 
absolve  the  bishops  from  their  oath  of  obedience,  that  they  might  deliver 
their  sentiments  with  greater  freedom.  He  reduced  Magdeburg,  after  a  siege 
of  twelve  months,  protracted  by  design,  in  order  that  his  schemes  might  be 
ripened  before  his  army  was  disbanded.  (1)  The  public  articles  of  capitu- 
lation were  perfectly  conformable  to  the  emperor's  views,  and  sufficiently 
severe.  But  Maurice  ga,ve  the  magistrates  secret  assurances  that  their  city 
should  not  be  dismantled,  and  that  the  inhabitants  should  neither  be  disturbed 
in  the  exercise  of  their  religion,  nor  deprived  of  any  of  their  ancient  privi- 
leges ;  and  they,  in  their  turn,  elected  him  their  burgrave — a  dignity  which 
had  formerly  belonged  to  the  electoral  house  of  Saxony,  and  which  entitled 
its  possessor  to  very  ample  jurisdiction  both  in  the  city  and  its  dependencies. 

Far  from  suspecting  any  thing  fraudulent  or  collusive  in  the  terms  of  ac- 
commodation, the  emperor  ratified  them  without  hesitation,  freely  absolving 
the  Magdeburgers  from  the  sentence  of  ban  denounced  against  them ;  and 
Maurice,  under  various  pretences,  kept  his  veteran  troops  in  pay;  while 
Charles,  engaged  in  directing  the  affairs  of  the  council,  entertained  no  appre- 
hension of  his  designs.  But,  previous  to  the  unfolding  of  these  designs,  some 
account  must  be  given  of  a  new  revolution  in  Hungary,  which  contributed 
not  a  little  towards  the  extraordinary  success  of  Maurice's  operations. 

When  Solyman  deprived  the  young  king  of  Hungary  of  the  dominions 
which  his  father  had  left  him,  he  granted  that  unfortunate  prince,  as  has  been 
already  related,  the  country  of  Transylvania,  a  province  of  his  paternal 
kingdom.  The  government  of  this  province,  together  with  the  care  of  edu- 
cating the  infant  king  (for  the  sultan  still  allowed  him  to  retain  that  title,) 
was  committed  to  Isabella  the  queen-mother,  and  Martinuzzi,  bishop  of  Wa- 
radin,  whom  the  late  king  of  Hungary  had  appointed  his  son's  guardians,  and 
regents  of  his  dominions.  This  co-ordinate  jurisdiction  occasioned  the 
same  dissensions  in  a  small  principality  which  it  would  have  excited  in  a 
great  monarchy.  The  queen  and  bishop  grew  jealous  of  each  other's  autho- 
rity :  both  had  their  partisans  among  the  nobility ;  but  as  Martinuzzi  by  his 
superior  talents,  began  to  acquire  the  ascendant,  Isabella  courted  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Turks.  The  politic  prelate  saw  his  danger,  and,  through  the 
mediation  of  some  of  the  nobles,  who  were  solicitous  to  save  their  country 
from  the  calamities  of  civil  war,  he  concluded  an  agreement  with  the  queen. 
But  he,  at  the  same  time,  secretly  despatched  one  of  his  confidants  to  Vienna, 
and  entered  into  a  negotiation  with  the  king  of  the  Romans,  whom  he  offered 
to  assist  in  expelling  the  Turks,  and  in  recovering  possession  of  the  Hunga- 
rian throne. 

Allured  by  such  a  flattering  prospect,  Ferdinand  agreed,  notwithstanding 
his  truce  with  Solyman,  to  invade  the  principality  of  Transylvania.  The 

1)  Sebast.     Besselm.     Obrid.  Magdeb.     Arnold!,  Vit.  Mattrit 


Lfc-r.  LXL]  M  0  D  E  R  N  E  U  R  O  P  E.  407 

troops  destined  for  that  service,  consisted  of  veteran  Spanish  and  German 
soldiers,  were  commanded  by  Castaldo  marquis  de  Piadena,  an  officer  of  great 
knowledge  in  the  art  of  war,  who  was  powerfully  seconded  by  Martinuzzi 
and  his  faction  among-  the  Hungarians ;  and  the  sultan  being  then  at  the  head 
of  his  forces  on  the  borders  of  Persia,  the  Turkish  bashaws  could  not  afford 
the  queen  such  immediate  or  effectual  assistance  as  the  exigency  of  her  affairs 
required.  She  Avas,  therefore,  obliged  to  listen  to  such  conditions  as  she 
would  at  any  other  time  have  rejected  with  disdain.  She  agreed  to  give  up 
Transylvania  to  Ferdinand,  and  to  make  over  to  him  her  son's  title  to  the 
crown  of  Hungary,  in  exchange  for  the  principalities  of  Oppelen  and  Ratibor 
in  Silesia,  for  which  she  immediately  set  out. 

Martinuzzi,  as  the  reward  of  his  services,  was  appointed  governor  oi 
Transylvania,  with  almost  unlimited  authority:  and  he  proved  himself 
worthy  of  it.  He  conducted  the  war  against  the  Turks  with  equal  ability  and 
success :  he  recovered  some  places  of  which  they  had  taken  possession ;  he 
rendered  their  attempts  to  reduce  others  abortive ;  and  he  established  the 
dominion  of  the  king  of  the  Romans,  not  only  in  Transylvania,  but  in  several 
of  the  adjacent  countries.  Always,  however,  afraid  of  the  talents  of  Mar- 
tinuzzi, Ferdinand  now  became  jealous  of  his  power ;  and  Castaldo,  by  im- 
puting to  the  governor  designs  which  he  never  formed,  and  charging  him 
with  actions  of  which  he  was  not  guilty,  at  last  convinced  the  king  of  the 
Romans  that,  in  order  to  preserve  his  Hungarian  crown,  he  must  cut  off  that 
ambitious  prelate.  The  fatal  mandate  was  accordingly  issued:  Castaldo 
willingly  undertook  to  execute  it :  Martinuzzi  was  assassinated.  But  Fer- 
dinand, instead  of  the  security  which  he  expected  from  that  barbarous 
measure,  found  his  Hungarian  territories  only  exposed  to  more  certain 
danger.  The  nobles,  detesting  such  jealous  and  cruel  policy,  either  retired 
to  their  own  estates,  or  grew  cold  in  the  service,  if  they  continued  with  the 
Austrian  army ;  while  the  Turks,  encouraged  by  the  death  of  an  enemy 
whose  vigour  and  abilities  they  dreaded,  prepared  to  renew  hostilities  with 
fresh  vigour.  (1) 

Maurice,  in  the  mean  time,  having  almost  finished  his  intrigues  and  pre- 
parations, was  on  the  point  of  taking  the  field  against  the  emperor.  He  had 
concluded  a  treaty  with  Henry  II.  of  France,  who  wished  to  distinguish 
himself,  by  trying  his  strength  against  the  same  enemy  whom  it  had  been 
the  glory  of  his  father's  reign  to  oppose.  But  as  it  wouldjiave  been  indecent 
in  a  popish  prince  to  undertake  the  defence  of  the  Protestant  church,  the 
interests  of  religion,  how  much  soever  they  might  be  affected  by  the  treaty, 
were  not  once  mentioned  in  any  of  the  articles.  The  only  motives  assigned 
for  now  leaguing  against  Charles  were  to  procure  the  landgrave's  liberty,  and 
to  prevent  the  subversion  of  the  ancient  constitution  and  laws  of  the  German 
empire.  Religious  concerns  the  confederates  pretended  to  commit  entirely 
to  the  care  of  Providence. 

Having  secured  the  protection  of  the  French  monarch,  Maurice  proceeded 
with  great  confidence,  but  equal  caution,  to  execute  his  plan.  As  he  judged 
it  necessary  to  demand  once  more,  before  he  took  off  the  mask,  that  the 
landgrave  should  be  set  at  liberty,  he  sent  a  solemn  embassy,  in  which  most 
of  the  German  princes  joined,  to  the  emperor  at  Inspruck,  in  order  to  enforce 
his  request.  Constant  to  his  system  with  regard  to  the  captive  prince, 
Charles  eluded  the  demand,  though  urged  by  such  powerful  intercessors. 
But  this  application,  though  of  no  benefit  to  the  landgrave,  was  of  infinite 
sen  ice  to  Maurice.  It  served  to  justify  his  subsequent  proceedings,  and  to 
demonstrate  the  necessity  of  taking  arms,  in  order  to  extort  that  equitable 
concession  which  his  mediation  or  entreaty  could  not  obtain.  He  accord- 
ingly despatched  Albert  of  Brandenburg  to  Paris,  to  hasten  the  march  of  the 
French  army  •  he  took  measures  to  bring  his  own  troops  together  on  the  first 
summons ;  and  he  provided  for  the  security  of  Saxony,  while  he  should  be 
absent. 

(1)  fetuanliaffi,  Hist.  Reg  Hung.  lib.  xvi.    Mem.  de  Ribier,  torn.  U 


408  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

All  these  complicated  operations  were  carried  on  with  so  much  secrecy,  as 
to  elude  the  observation  of  Charles,  whose  sagacity  in  observing-  the  conduct 
of  all  around  him  commonly  led  him  to  excess  of  distrust.  He  remained  in 
perfect  tranquillity  at  Inspruck,  solely  occupied  in  counteracting  the  in- 
trigues of  the  pope's  legate  at  Trent,  and  in  settling  the  conditions  on  which 
the  Protestant  divines  should  be  admitted  into  the  council.  Even  Granville, 
bishop  of  Arras,  his  prime  minister,  though  one  of  the  most  subtle  statesmen 
of  that,  or  perhaps  of  any  age,  was  deceived  by  the  exquisite  addross  with 
which  Maurice  concealed  his  designs.  "A  drunken  German  head,"  replied 
he  to  the  duke  of  Alva's  suspicions,  concerning  the  elector's  sincerity,  "  is 
too  gross  to  form  any  scheme  which  I  cannot  easily  penetrate  and  baffle." 
Granville  was  on  this  occasion,  however,  the  dupe  of  his  own  artifice.  He 
had  bribed  two  of  Maurice's  ministers,  on  whose  information  he  depended 
for  their  master's  intentions ;  but  that  prince  having  fortunately  discovered 
their  perfidy,  instead  of  punishing  them  for  their  crime,  dexterously  availed 
himself  of  the  fraud.  He  affected  to  treat  these  ministers  with  greater  con- 
fidence than  ever :  he  admitted  them  into  his  consultations,  and  seemed  to 
lay  open  his  heart  to  them ;  but  he  took  care  all  the  while  to  make  them 
acquainted  with  nothing  but  what  it  was  his  interest  should  be  known,  and 
they  transmitted  to  Inspruck  such  accounts  as  lulled  the  crafty  Granville  in 
security.  (1) 

At  last,  Maurice's  preparations  were  completed :  and  he  had  the  satisfac- 
tion to  find,  that  his  intrigues  and  designs  were  still  unknown.  But  although 
ready  to  take  the  field,  he  did  not  yet  lay  aside  the  arts  he  had  hitherto 
employed.  Pretending  to  be  indisposed,  he  despatched  one  of  the  ministers 
whom  Granville  had  bribed  to  inform  the  emperor  that  he  meant  soon  to  wait 
upon  him  at  Inspruck,  and  to  apologize  for  his  delay.(2)  In  the  mean  time, 
he  assembled  his  army,  which  amounted  to  twenty  thousand  foot  and  five 
thousand  horse,  publishing  at  the  same  time  a  manifesto,  containing  his 
reasons  for  taking  arms ;  namely,  to  secure  the  Protestant  religion,  to  main- 
tain the  German  constitution,  and  deliver  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  from  the 
miseries  of  a  long  and  unjust  imprisonment.  To  this  the  king  of  France,  in 
his  own  name,  added  a  manifesto,  in  which  he  assumed  the  extraordinary 
appellation  of  Protector  of  the  Liberties  of  Germany  and  its  captive  Princes. (3) 

No  words  can  express  the  emperor's  astonishment  at  events  so  unexpected. 
He  was  not  in  a  condition  to  oppose  such  formidable  enemies.  His  embar- 
rassment increased  their  confidence :  their  operations  were  equally  bold  and 
successful.  The  king  of  France  immediately  entered  Lorrain,  made  himself 
master  of  Toul,  Verdun,  and  Metz;  while  Maurice,  no  less  intrepid  and 
enterprising  in  the  field  than  cautious  and  crafty  in  the  cabinet,  traversed  all 
Upper  Germany,  every  where  reinstating  the  magistrates  whom  Charles  had 
deposed,  and  putting  the  ejected  Protestant  ministers  in  possession  of  the 
churches. 

The  emperor  had  recourse  to  negotiation,  the  only  recourse  of  the  weak, 
and  Maurice,  conscious  of  his  own  political  talents,  and  willing  to  manifest 
a  pacific  disposition,  agreed  to  an  interview  with  the  king  of  the  Romans,  in 
the  town  of  Lintz,  in  Austria,  leaving  his  army  to  proceed  on  its  march, 
under  the  command  of  the  duke  of  Mecklenburg.  Nothing  was  determined 
in  the  conference  at  Lintz,  except  that  another  should  be  held  at  Passau. 
Meanwhile,  Maurice  continued  his  operations  with  vigour.  He  marched 
directly  towards  Inspruck ;  and  hoping  to  surprise  the  emperor  in  that  open 
town,  he  advanced  with  the  most  rapid  motion  that  could  be  given  to  so  great 
a  body  of  men,  forcing  several  strong  passes,  and  bearing  down  all  resistance. 

Charles  was  happily  informed  of  his  danger  a  few  hours  before  the  enemy's 
arrival ;  and  although  the  night  was  far  advanced,  dark,  and  rainy,  he  imme- 
diately fled  over  the  Alps  in  a  litter,  being  so  much  afflicted  with  the  gout  as 
to  be  incapable  of  any  other  mode  of  travelling.  Enraged  that  his  prey 
should  escape  him,  when  he  was  just  on  the  point  of  seizing  it,  Maurice  pur- 

(11  MelviPa  Memoir*.  (2)  Id.  Ibid.  (3)  JUcm.  dt  Ribier,  torn.  ii. 


LET.  LX1.J  MODERN    El"  ROPE.  405 

sued  the  emperor  and  his  attendants  some  miles  :  but  finding  it  impossible  to 
overtake  men  whose  flight  was  hastened  by  fear,  he  returned  to  Inspruck, 
and  abandoned  the  emperor's  baggage  to  the  pillage  of  his  soldiers.(l) 
Meantime,  Charles  pursued  his  journey,  and  arrived  in  safety  at  Villach  in 
Carinthia,  where  he  continued  till  matters  were  finally  settled  with  the  Pro- 
testant princes. 

In  consequence  of  Maurice's  operations,  the  council  of  Trent  broke  up. 
The  German  prelates,  anxious  for  the  safety  of  their  territories,  returned 
home ;  the  rest  were  extremely  impatient  to  be  gone ;  and  the  legate,  who 
had  hitherto  disappointed  all  the  endeavours  of  the  imperial  ambassadors  to 
procure  the  Protestant  divines  an  audience  in  the  council,  gladly  laid  hold  on 
such  a  plausible  pretext  for  dismissing  an  assembly,  which  he  had  found  it  so 
difficult  to  govern. (2)  The  breach  which  had  unhappily  been  made  in  the 
church,  instead  of  being  closed,  was  widened ;  and  all  mankind  were  made 
sensible  of  the  inefficacy  of  a  general  council  for  reconciling  the  contending 
parties. 

The  victorious  Maurice  repaired  to  Passau,  on  the  day  appointed  for  the 
second  conference  with  the  king  of  the  Romans;  and  as  matters  of  the 
greatest  consequence  to  the  future  peace  and  independency  of  the  empire 
were  then  to  be  agitated,  thither  resorted  the  ministers  of  all  the  electors, 
together  with  deputies  from  most  of  the  considerable  princes  and  free  cities. 
The  elector  limited  his  demand  to  three  articles  set  forth  in  his  manifesto ; 
namely,  the  liberty  of  the  landgrave,  the  public  exercise  of  the  Protestant 
religion,  and  the  re-establishment  of  the  ancient  constitution  of  Germany. 

These  demands  appearing  extravagant  to  the  imperial  ambassadors,  they 
were  presented  by  Ferdinand  to  the  emperor  in  person,  at  Villach,  in  the 
name  of  all  the  princes  of  the  empire,  Popish  as  well  as  Protestant ;  in  the 
name  of  such  as  had  assisted  in  forwarding  his  ambitious  schemes,  as  well 
as  those  who  had  viewed  the  progress  of  his  power  with  jealousy  and  dread. 
Unwilling,  however,  to  forego  at  once  objects,  which  he  had  long  pursued 
with  ardour  and  hope,  Charles,  notwithstanding  his  need  of  peace,  was  deaf 
to  the  united  voice  of  Germany.  He  rejected  the  proffered  terms  with  dis- 
dain ;  and  Maurice,  well  acquainted  with  the  emperor's  arts,  suspecting  that 
he  meant  only  to  amuse  and  deceive  by  a  show  of  negotiation,  immediately 
rejoined  his  troops,  and  laid  siege  to  Frankfort  on  the  Maine.  This  measure 
had  the  desired  effect.  Firm  and  haughty  as  his  nature  was,  Charles  found 
it  necessary  to  make  concessions ;  and  Maurice  thought  it  more  prudent  to 
accept  of  conditions  less  advantageous  than  those  he  had  proposed,  than 
again  commit  all  to  the  doubtful  issue  of  \var.(3)  He  therefore  repaired  once 
more  to  Passau,  renewed  the  congress,  and  concluded  a  peace  on  the  following 
terms :— "The  confederates  shall  lay  down  their  arms  before  the  12th  day  of 
-Yuo-ust ;  the  landgrave  shall  be  set  at  liberty,  on  or  before  that  day ;  a  diet 
shall  be  held  within  six  months,  in  order  to  deliberate  concerning  the  most 
effectual  method  of  preventing  for  the  future  all  dissensions  concerning 
religion;  in  the  mean  time,  no  injury  shall  be  offered  to  such  as  adhere 
to  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  nor  shall  the  Catholics  be  molested  in  the 
exercise  of  their  religion;  the  imperial  chamber  shall  administer  justice  im- 
partially to  persons  of  both  parties,  and  Protestants  be  admitted  indiscrimi- 
nately with  Catholics  to  sit  as  judges  in  that  court;  the  encroachments,  said 
to  have  been  made  upon  the  constitution  and  liberties  of  Germany,  shall  be 
remitted  to  the  consideration  of  the  approaching  diet  of  the  empire ;  and  it 
that  diet  should  not  be  able  to  terminate  the  disputes  respecting  religion,  tti 
stipulations  in  the  present  treaty,  in  behalf  of  the  Protestants,  shall  continue 
for  ever  in  full  force. "(4) 

Such,  my  dear  Philip,  was  the  memorable  treaty  of  Passau,  which  se 
limits  to  the  authority  of  Charles  V.,  overturned  the  vast  fabric  which  he  had 
employed  so  many  years  in  erecting,  and  established  the  Protestant  church 

(1)  Arnoldi,  Vit.  Maurit.  (2)  Father  Paul,  lib.  iv.  (3)  Thuanus,  lib.i 

'4)  Reeueil  de  Ti-aitez,  torn.  ii.  ,  Q 


410  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

in  Germany,  upon  a  firm  and  secure  basis.  It  is  singular,  that  in  this  treaty 
no  article  was  inserted  in  favour  of  the  king  of  France,  to  whom  the  confede- 
rates had  been  so  much  indebted  for  their  success.  But  Henry  II.  expe- 
rienced only  the  treatment  which  every  prince,  who  lends  his  aid  to  the 
authors  of  a  civil  war,  may  expect.  (1)  As  soon  as  the  rage  of  faction  began 
to  subside,  and  any  prospect  of  accommodation  to  open,  his  services  were  for- 
gotten, and  his  associates  made  a  merit  with  their  sovereign  of  the  ingratitude 
with  which  they  had  abandoned  their  protector. 

The  French  monarch,  however,  sensible  that  it  was  more  his  interest  to 
keep  on  good  terms  with  the  Germanic  body  than  to  resent  the  indignities 
offered  him  by  any  particular  member  of  it,  concealed  his  displeasure  at  the 
perfidy  of  Maurice  and  his  associates.  He  even  affected  to  talk,  in  the  same 
strain  as  formerly,  of  his  zeal  for  maintaining  the  ancient  constitution  and 
liberties  of  the  empire.  And  he  prepared  to  defend,  by  force  of  arms,  his 
conquest  in  Lorrain,  which  he  foresaw  Charles  would  take  the  first  opportu- 
nity of  wresting  from  him.  But  before  I  relate  the  events  of  the  new  wars 
to  which  those  conquests  gave  birth,  we  must  take  a  view  of  the  affairs  of 
our  own  island ;  a  more  contracted  but  not  less  turbulent  scene,  and  dis 
coloured  by  more  horrors  and  cruelties  than  the  continent,  during  the  dark 
and  changeable  period  that  followed  the  death  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  terminated 
in  the  steady  government  of  Elizabeth. 


LETTER   LXII. 

England,  from  the  Death  of  Henry  VllL  until  the  Accession  of  Elizabeth,  in  1558, 
together  with  an  Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland,  during  that  Period,  and  of 
the  Progress  of  the  Reformation  in  both  the  British  Kingdoms. 

HENRY  VIII.  by  his  will,  made  near  a  month  before  his  death,  left  the  crown, 
first  to  prince  Edward,  his  son  by  Jane  Seymour;  then  to  the  princess  Mary, 
his  daughter  by  Catharine  of  Arragon ;  and  lastly  to  the  princess  Elizabeth, 
his  daughter  by  Anne  Boleyn,  though  both  princesses  had  been  declared  ille- 
gitimate by  parliament.  These  particulars,  my  dear  Philip,  are  necessary  to 
be  mentioned  here,  in  order  to  the  better  understanding  of  the  disputes  which 
afterward  arose  in  regard  to  the  succession. 

Edward  VI.  being  only  nine  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death, 
the  government  of  the  kingdom  was  committed  to  sixteen  executors,  among 
whom  was  Cranmer,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  chancellor,  chamberlain, 
and  all  the  great  officers  of  state.  They  chose  one  of  their  number,  namely, 
the  earl  of  Hertford,  the  king's  maternal  uncle,  instantly  created  duke  of 
Somerset,  to  represent  the  royal  majesty,  under  the  title  of  Protector ;  to 
whom  despatches  from  English  ministers  abroad  should  be  directed,  and 
whose  name  should  be  employed  in  all  orders  and  proclamations.  Him  they 
invested  with  all  the  exterior  symbols  of  regal  dignity;  and  he  procured  a 
patent  from  the  young  king,  investing  him  also  with  regal  power.  (2) 

This  patent,  in  which  the  executors  are  not  so  much  as  mentioned,  being 
surreptitiously  obtained  from  a  minor,  the  protectorship  of  Somerset  was  a 
palpable  usurpation ;  but  as  the  executors  acquiesced  in  the  new  establish- 
ment, and  the  king  discovered  an  extreme  attachment  to  his  uncle,  who  was 
a  man  of  moderation  and  probity,  few  objections  were  made  to  his  power  or 
title.  Other  causes  conspired  to  confirm  both.  Somerset  had  long  been 
regarded  as  the  secret  partisan  of  the  Reformers,  become  by  far  the  most 
numerous  and  respectable  body  of  men  in  the  kingdom ;  and,  being  now  freed 
from  restraint,  he  scrupled  not  to  discover  his  intention  of  correcting  all 
abuses  in  the  ancient  religion,  and  of  adopting  still  more  of  the  Protestant 
innovations.  He  also  took  care  that  the  king  should  be  educated  in  the 

(I)  Bobertton,  Hitt.  Charles  V.t  book  jc.  t2)  Bumet,  Hist.  Ilefornat.  vol.  H. 


LET.  LXIL]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  0  P  E.  41 , 

same  principles.     To  these  Edward  soon  discovered  a  zealous  attachment 
and  all  men  foreseeing,  in  the  course  of  his  reign,  the  total  abolition  of  the 
Catholic  faith  in  England,  they  began  early  and  very  generally  to  declare 
themselves  in  favour  of  those  tenets,  which  were  likely  to  become  in  the  end 
triumphant,  and  of  that  authority  by  which  they  were  propagatecl. 

In  his  schemes  for  advancing  the  progress  of  the  Reformation,  the  pro- 
tector had  always  recourse  to  the  counsels  of  Cranmer,  whose  moderation  and 
prudence  made  him  averse  against  all  violent  changes,  and  determined  him 
to  draw  over  the  people,  by  insensible  gradations,  to  that  system  of  doctrine 
and  discipline  which  he  esteemed  the  most  pure  and  perfect.(l)  And  to 
these  moderate  counsels  we  are  indebted,  not  only  for  the  full  establishment 
of  the  Protestant  religion  in  England,  but  also  for  that  happy  medium  between 
superstition  and  enthusiasm  observable  in  the  constitution  of  the  English 
church.  The  fabric  of  the  secular  hierarchy  was  left  and  maintained  entire  ; 
the  ancient  liturgy  was  preserved,  as  far  as  was  thought  consistent  with  the 
new  principles ;  many  ceremonies,  become  venerable  from  age  and  preceding 
use,  were  retained ;  and  the  distinctive  habits  of  the  clergy,  according  to 
their  different  ranks,  were  continued.  No  innovation  was  admitted  merely 
from  a  spirit  of  opposition,  or  a  fanatical  love  of  novelty.  The  establishment 
of  the  Church  of  England  was  a  work  of  reason. 

As  soon  as  the  English  government  was  brought  to  some  degree  of  com- 
posure, Somerset  made  preparations  for  a  war  with  Scotland;  determined 
to  execute,  if  possible,  that  project  of  uniting  the  two  kingdoms  by  marriage, 
on  which  the  late  king  had  been  so  intent,  and  which  seemed  once  so  near  a 
happy  issue,  but  which  had  been  defeated  by  the  intrigues  of  cardinal  Bea- 
toun.  This  politic  and  powerful  prelate,  though  not  able  to  prevent  the  par- 
liament of  Scotland  from  agreeing  to  the  treaty  of  marriage  and  union  with 
England,  being  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Protestant  party,  afterward  regained 
his  authority,  and  acquired  sufficient  influence,  not  only  to  oblige  the  earl  of 
Arran,  who  had  succeeded  him  in  the  regency,  to  renounce  his  alliance  with 
Henry  VIII.,  but  also  to  abjure  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  to  which 
he  seemed  zealously  attached,  and  to  reconcile  himself  in  1543,  to  the  Romish 
communion,  in  the  Franciscan  church  at  Stirling. (2) 

The  fatal  effects  of  this  change  in  the  religious  and  political  sentiments  of 
the  regent  were  long-  felt  in  Scotland.  Arran's  apostacy  may  even  perhaps 
be  considered  as  the  remote  cause  of  all  the  civil  broils  which  afflicted  both 
kingdoms  in  the  subsequent  century,  and  which  terminated  in  the  final 
expulsion  of  the  house  of  Stuart,  of  which  the  infant  queen  of  Scots  was 
now  the  sole  representative.  The  southern  and  most  fertile  parts  of  the 
kingdom  were  suddenly  laid  waste  by  an  English  army.  Various  hostilities 
ensued  with  various  success,  but  without  any  decisive  event.  At  last  an  end 
was  put  to  that  ruinous  and  inglorious  warfare,  by  the  peace  concluded 
between  Henry  VIII.  and  Francis  I.,  at  Campe,  in  1546;  the  French  monarch 
generously  stipulating,  that  his  Scottish  allies  should  be  included  in  the  treaty. 
The  religious  consequences  were  more  serious  and  lasting,  and  their  political 
influence  was  great. 

The  Scottish  regent  consented  to  every  thing  that  the  zeal  of  the  cardinal 
thought  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  established  religion.  The 
Reformers  were  every  where  cruelly  persecuted,  and  many  were  condemned 
to  that  dreadful  punishment  which  the  church  has  appointed  for  its  enemies. 
Among  those  committed  to  the  flames  was  a  popular  preacher  named  George 
Wishart ;  a  man  of  honourable  birth,  and  of  primitive  sanctity,  who  pos- 
sessed in  an  eminent  degree  the  talent  of  seizing  the  attention  and  engaging 
the  affections  of  the  multitude.  Wishart  suffered  with  the  patience  of  a 
martyr;  but  he  could  not  forbear  remarking  the  barbarous  triumph  of  his 
insulting  adversary,  who  beheld,  from  a  window  of  his  sumptuous  palace,  the 
inhuman  spectacle : — and  he  foretold,  that  in  a  few  days  the  cardinal  should, 

(1)  Burnet,  Hist.  Reformat,  vol.  ii.  (2)  Robertson,  Hist.  Scot,  book  ii 


412  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

in  the  same  palace,  lie  as  low  as  now  he  was  exalted  high,  in  opposition  to 
trne  piety  and  religion.  (1) 

This  prophecy,  like  many  others,  was  probablj  the  cause  of  the  event  which 
it  foretold.  The  disciples  of  Wishart,  enraged  at  his  cruel  execution,  formed 
a  conspiracy  against  Beatoun;  and  having  associated  with  them  Norman 
Lesley,  eldest  son  of  the  earl  of  Rothes,  who  was  instigated  by  revenge  on 
account  of  private  injuries,  they  surprised  the  cardinal  in  his  palace  or  castle 
at  St.  Andrews,  and  instantly  put  him  to  death.  One  of  the  assassins,  named 
James  Melvil,  before  he  struck  the  fatal  blow,  turned  the  point  of  his  sword 
towards  Beatoun,  and  in  a  tone  of  pious  exhortation  called  to  him,  "repent 
thee,  thou  wicked  cardinal !  of  all  thy  sins  and  iniquities ;  but  especially  of 
the  murder  of  George  Wishart,  that  instrument  of  Christ  for  the  conversion 
of  these  lands.  It  is  his  death  which  now  cries  for  vengeance.  We  are 
sent  by  God  to  inflict  the  deserved  punishment  upon  thee."(2) 

The  conspirators,  though  only  sixteen  in  number,  took  possession  of  the 
castle,  after  turning  out  one  by  one  the  cardinal's  formidable  retinue ;  and 
being  reinforced  by  their  friends,  they  prepared  themselves  for  a  vigorous 
defence,  and  sent  a  messenger  to  London,  craving  assistance  from  Henry  VIII. 
The  death  of  that  prince,  which  happened  soon  after,  blasted  all  their  hopes. 
They  received,  however,  during  the  siege,  supplies  both  of  money  and  pro- 
visions from  England ;  and  if  they  had  been  able  to  hold  out  only  a  few 
weeks  longer,  they  would  have  escaped  that  severe  capitulation  to  which 
they  were  reduced,  not  by  the  regent  alone,  but  by  a  body  of  troops  sent  to 
his  assistance  from  France. 

Somerset  entered  Scotland  at  the  head  of  eighteen  thousand  men ;  while 
a  fleet  of  sixty  sail,  one  half  of  which  consisted  of  ships  of  war,  and  the  other 
of  vessels  laden  with  provisions  and  military  stores,  appeared  on  the  coast, 
in  order  to  second  his  operations,  and  supply  his  army.  The  earl  of  Arran, 
regent  of  Scotland,  had  for  some  time  observed  this  storm  gathering,  and 
was  prepared  to  meet  it.  He  had  summoned  together  the  whole  force  of  the 
kingdom ;  and  his  army,  double  in  number  to  that  of  the  enemy,  was  posted 
to  the  greatest  advantage  on  a  rising  ground,  guarded  by  the  banks  of  the 
river  Eske,  a  little  above  Mnsselburgh,  when  the  protector  came  in  view. 
Alarmed  at  the  sight  of  a  force  so  formidable,  and  so  happily  disposed, 
Somerset  made  an  overture  of  peace  to  the  earl  of  Arran,  on  conditions  very 
admissible  He  offered  to  withdraw  his  troops,  and  compensate  the  damage 
he  had  done  by  his  inroad,  provided  the  Scottish  regency  would  engage  to 
keep  their  young  queen  at  home,  and  not  to  contract  her  to  any  foreign 
prince,  until  she  should  arrive  to  the  age  of  maturity,  when  she  might  choose 
a  husband  without  the  consent  of  her  council.  But  this  moderate  demand 
was  rejected  by  the  Scottish  regent  with  disdain,  and  merely  on  account  of 
its  moderation.  It  was  imputed  to  fear;  and  Arran,  confident  of  success, 
was  afraid  of  nothing  but  the  escape  of  the  English  army.  He  therefore  left 
his  strong  camp,  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  protector  begin  to  move  towards  the 
sea,  suspecting  that  he  intended  to  embark  on  board  his  fleet ;  and  passing 
the  river  Eske,  advanced  into  the  plain,  and  attacked  the  English  army  near 
the  village  of  Pinkey,  with  no  better  success  than  his  rashness  deserved. 

Having  drawn  up  his  troops  on  an  eminence,  Somerset  had  now  the 
advantage  of  ground  on  his  side.  The  Scottish  army  consisted  chiefly  of 
infantry,  whose  principal  weapon  was  a  long  spear,  and  whose  files  for  that 
reason  were  deep,  and  their  ranks  close.  A  body  so  compact  and  firm  easily 
resisted  the  attack  of  the  English  cavalry,  broke  them,  and  drove  them  off 
the  field.  Lord  Grey,  their  commander,  was  dangerously  wounded;  lord 
Edward  Seymour,  son  of  the  protector,  had  his  horse  killed  under  him,  and 
the  royal  standard  was  near  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  But  the 
Scots  being  galled  by  the  protector's  artillery  in  front,  and  by  the  fire  from 
the  ships  in  flank,  while  the  English  archers,  and  a  body  of  foreign  fusileers 

U)  Spotswood.    Buchanan.  (2)  Knox.    Keith. 


LET.  LXII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  413 

poured  in  vollies  of  shot  upon  them  from  all  quarters,  they  at  last  tegan  to 
give  way :  the  rout  became  general,  and  the  whole  field  was  soon  a  scene  of 
confusion,  terror,  flight,  and  consternation.  The  pursuit  was  long  and  bloody, 
Ten  thousand  of  the  Scots  are  said  to  have  fallen,  and  but  a  very  inconsider- 
able number  of  the  conquering  enemy.(l) 

This  victory,  however,  which  seemed  to  threaten  Scotland  with  final  SUD- 
jection,  was  of  no  real  utility  to  England.  It  served  only  to  make  the  Scots 
throw  themselves  inconsiderately  into  the  arms  of  France,  and  send  their 
young  queen  to  be  educated  in  that  kingdom  ;  a  measure  universally  regarded 
as  a  prelude  to  her  marriage  with  the  dauphin,  and  which  effectually  disap- 
pointed the  views  of  Somerset,  and  proved  the  source  of  Mary's  accomplish- 
ments as  a  woman,  and  of  her  misfortunes  as  a  queen.  The  Scottish  nobles, 
in  taking  this  step,  hurried  away  by  the  violence  of  resentment,  seem  to  have 
forgot  that  zeal  for  the  independency  of  their  crown  which  had  made  them 
violate  their  engagements  with  Henry  VIII. ,  and  oppose  with  so  much  ardour 
the  arms  of  the  protector. 

The  cabals  of  the  English  court  obliged  the  duke  of  Somerset  to  return 
before  he  could  take  any  effectual  measures  for  the  subjection  of  Scotland ; 
and  the  supplies  which  the  Scots  received  from  France  enabled  them,  in  a 
great  measure,  to  expel  their  invaders,  while  the  protector  was  employed  in 
re-establishing  his  authority,  and  in  quelling  domestic  insurrections.  His 
brother,  lord  Seymour,  a  man  of  insatiable  ambition,  had  married  the  queen- 
dowager,  and  openly  aspired  at  the  government  of  the  kingdom.  In  order  to 
attain  this  object,  he  endeavoured  to  seduce  the  young  king  to  his  interests  ; 
found  means  to  hold  a  private  correspondence  with  him,  and  publicly  decried 
the  protector's  administration.  He  had  brought  over  to  his  party  many  of 
the  principal  nobility,  together  with  some  of  the  most  popular  persons  of 
inferior  rank ;  and  he  had  provided  arms  for  ten  thousand  men,  whom  it  was 
computed  he  could  muster  from  among  his  own  domestics  and  retainers.(2) 

Though  apprized  of  all  these  alarming  circumstances,  Somerset  showed  no 
inclination  to  proceed  to  extremities.  He  endeavoured  by  the  most  friendly 
expedients,  by  reason,  entreaty,  and  even  by  loading  Seymour  with  new 
favours,  to  make  him  desist  from  such  dangerous  politics.  But  finding  all  his 
endeavours  ineffectual,  he  began  to  think  of  more  serious  remedies ;  and  the 
earl  of  Warwick,  who  hoped  to  raise  his  own  fortune  on  the  ruin  of  both, 
inflamed  the  quarrel  between  the  brothers.  By  his  advice  lord  Seymour  was 
committed  to  the  tower,  attainted  of  high-treason,  condemned,  and  exe- 
cuted. (3) 

The  protector  had  now  leisure  to  complete  the  Reformation,  the  great 
work  which  he  had  so  successfully  begun,  in  conjunction  with  Cranmer,  the 
primate,  and  which  was  now  the  chief  object  of  concern  throughout  the 
nation.  A  committee  of  bishops  and  divines  had  been  appointed  by  the 
privy-council  to  compose  a  liturgy :  they  had  executed  the  work  committed 
to  them,  as  already  observed,  with  judgment  and  moderation ;  and  they  not 
unreasonably  flattered  themselves,  that  they  had  framed  a  service  in  which 
every  denomination  of  Christians  might  concur.  This  form  of  worship,  which 
was  nearly  the  same  with  that  at  present  authorized  by  law,  was  established 
by  parliament  in  all  the  churches,  and  uniformity  was  ordered  to  be  observed 
in  all  the  rites  and  ceremonies. (4) 

Thus,  my  dear  Philip,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  was  the  Reformation 
happily  completed  in  England ;  and  its  civil  and  religious  consequences  have 
since  been  deservedly  valued.  But  there  is  no  abuse  in  society  so  great  as 
not  to  be  attended  with  some  advantages ;  and  in  the  beginnings  of  innova- 
tion the  loss  of  those  advantages  is  always  sensibly  felt  by  the  bulk  of  a 
nation,  before  it  can  perceive  the  benefits  resulting  from  the  desirable  change. 

No  institution  can  be  imagined  less  favourable  to  the  interests  of  mankind 
than  that  of  the  monastic  life ;  yet  was  it  followed  by  many  effects,  which 
having  ceased  with  the  suppression  of  monasteries,  were  much  regretted  by 

(1)  Patten.    Holtngsned.  (2)  Haynes,  p.  105, 106  (3)  Burnet,  voL  ii. 

(4)  2  &  3  Edw.  VI.  cap.  i. 


4U  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

the  people  of  England.  The  monks,  by  always  residing  at  their  convents, 
in  the  centre  of  their  estates,  spent  their  money  in  the  country,  and  afforded 
a  ready  market  for  commodities.  They  were  also  acknowledged  to  have 
oeen  in  England,  what  they  still  are  in  kingdoms  where  the  Romish  religion 
is  established,  the  best  and  most  indulgent  landlords ;  being  limited  by  the 
rules  of  their  order  to  a  certain  mode  of  living,  and  consequently  having 
fewer  motives  for  extortion  than  other  men.  The  abbots  and  priors  were 
besides  accustomed  to  grant  leases  at  an  undervalue,  and  to  receive  a  pre- 
sent in  return.  But  the  abbey-lands  fell  under  different  management,  when 
distributed  among  the  principal  nobility  and  gentry  ;  the  rents  of  farms  were 
raised,  while  the  tenants  found  not  the  same  facility  in  disposing  of  the  pro- 
duce. The  money  was  often  spent  in  the  capital ;  and,  to  increase  the  evil, 
pasturage  in  that  age  being  found  more  profitable  than  tillage,  whole  estates 
were  laid  waste  by  enclosure.  The  farmers,  regarded  as  a  useless  burden, 
were  expelled  their  habitations:  and  the  cottagers,  deprived  even  of  the 
commons,  on  which  they  had  formerly  fed' their  cattle,  were  reduced  to  beg- 
gary.(l) 

These  grievances  of  the  common  people  occasioned  insurrections  in  several 
parts  of  England ;  and  Somerset,  who  loved  popularity,  imprudently  encou- 
raged them,  by  endeavouring  to  afford  that  redress  which  was  not  in  his 
power.  Tranquillity,  however,  was  soon  restored  to  the  kingdom  by  the 
vigilance  of  lord  Russel  and  the  earl  Warwick,  who  cut  many  of  the  unhappy 
malecontents  in  pieces,  and  dispersed  the  rest.  But  the  protector  never  reco- 
vered his  authority.  The  nobility  and  gentry  were  in  general  displeased  with 
the  preference  which  he  seemed  to  have  given  to  the  people ;  and  as  they 
ascribed  all  the  insults  to  which  they  had  been  lately  exposed  to  his  procras- 
tination, and  to  the  countenance  shown  to  the  multitude,  they  apprehended  a 
renewal  of  the  same  disorders  from  his  passion  for  popular  fame.  His  ene- 
mies even  attempted  to  turn  the  rage  of  the  populace  against  him,  by  working 
upon  the  lower  class  among  the  Catholics ;  and  having  gained  over  to  their 
party  the  lord-mayor  of  London,  the  lieutenant  of  the  tower,  and  many  of 
the  great  officers  of  state,  they  obliged  Somerset  to  resign  the  protectorship, 
and  committed  him  to  custody.  A  council  of  regency  was  formed,  in  which 
the  earl  of  Warwick,  who  had  conducted  this  revolution,  bore  the  chief 
sway,  and  who  actually  governed  the  kingdom  without  the  invidious  title  of 
protector.  (2) 

The  first  act  of  Warwick's  administration  was  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  France  and  with  Scotland.  Henry  II.  had  taken  advantage  of 
the  disturbances  in  England  to  recover  several  places  in  the  Boulonnois,  and 
even  to  lay  siege,  though  without  effect,  to  Boulogne  itself.  He  now  took 
advantage,  in  treating,  of  the  state  of  the  English  court.  Sensible  of  the 
importance  of  peace  to  Warwick  and  his  party,  the  French  monarch  abso- 
lutely refused  to  pay  the  two  millions  of  crowns  which  his  predecessor  had 
acknowledged  to  be  due  to  the  crown  of  England,  as  arrears  of  former  sti- 
pulations. He  would  never  consent,  he  said,  to  render  himself  tributary  to 
any  prince,  alluding  to  the  reversion  of  annual  payments  demanded ;  but  he 
offered  a  large  sum  for  the  immediate  restitution  of  Boulogne  and  its  territory. 
F'our  hundred  thousand  crowns  were  agreed  on  as  the  equivalent.  Scotland 
was  comprehended  in  this  treaty.  The  English  stipulated  to  restore  some 
fortresses,  which  they  still  held  in  that  kingdom. (3) 

Having  thus  established  his  administration,  freed  the  kingdom  from  all 
foreign  danger,  and  gained  partisans,  who  were  disposed  to  second  him  in 
every  domestic  enterprise,  the  earl  of  Warwick  began  to  think  of  carrying 
into  execution  those  vast  projects  which  he  had  formed  for  his  own  aggran- 
dizement. The  last  earl  of  Northumberland  had  died  without  issue ;  and  as 
his  brother,  sir  Thomas  Percy,  had  been  attainted  on  account  of  the  share 
which  he  took  in  the  Yorkshire  insurrection  during  the  late  reign,  the  title 
was  at  present  extinct,  and  the  estate  was  vested  in  the  crown.  Warwick 

(T\  Strype  vol.  11.          t2)  Stowe.    Burnet.    Holingshcd.          (3)  Burnet,  vol.  ii     Rymer,  vol.  xv 


LET.  LXIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  415 

procured  for  himself  a  grant  of  that  large  estate,  which  lay  chiefly  in  the 
North,  the  most  warlike  part  of  the  kingdom,  and  was  dignified  with  the  title 
of  duke  of  Northumberland.  This  was  a  great  step ;  but  there  was  yet  a 
strong  bar  in  the  way  of  his  ambition.  Somerset,  though  degraded,  and 
lessened  in  the  public  esteem  in  consequence  of  his  spiritless  conduct,  con- 
tinued to  possess  a  considerable  share  of  popularity.  Northumberland, 
therefore,  resolved  to  ruin  the  man  he  had  injured,  and  whom  he  still  regarded 
as  the  chief  obstacle  against  the  full  attainment  of  his  views.  For  that 
purpose,  he  employed  his  emissaries  to  suggest  desperate  projects  to  this 
unguarded  nobleman,  and  afterward  accused  him  of  high-treason  for  seeming 
to  acquiesce  in  them.  Somerset  was  tried,  condemned,  and  executed  on 
Tower-hill ;  and  four  of  his  friends  shared  the  same  unjust  and  unhappy 
fate.  His  death  was  sincerely  lamented  by  the  people,  to  whom  he  had  been 
peculiarly  indulgent,  and  who  regarded  him  as  a  martyr  in.  their  cause.  Many 
of  them  dipped  their  handkerchiefs  in  his  blood,  which  they  long  preserved 
as  a  precious  relic. (1) 

Northumberland  might  seem  to  have  now  attained  the  highest  point  of 
elevation  to  which  a  subject  could  aspire,  and  the  greatest  degree  of  power. 
His  rank  was  second  only  to  the  royal  family,  his  estate  was  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  kingdom,  and  the  government  was  entirely  under  his  direction. 
But  he  aspired  after  yet  greater  power  and  consequence :  his  ambition  knew 
no  bounds.  Having  procured  a  parliament,  which  ratified  his  most  despotic 
measures,  and  regulated  its  proceedings  according  to  his  will,  he  next  en- 
deavoured to  ingratiate  himself,  particularly  with  the  young  king,  by  mani- 
festing an  uncommon  zeal  for  the  reformed  religion ;  to  which  the  opening 
mind  of  Edward  was  warmly  devoted,  and  the  interests  of  which  more  sen- 
sibly touched  him  than  all  other  objects. 

In  his  frequent  conversations  on  this  subject,  North umberJand  took  occa- 
sion to  represent  to  that  pious  prince,  whose  health  began  visibly  to  decline, 
the  danger  to  which  the  Reformation  would  be  exposed,  should  his  sister 
Mary,  a  bigoted  Catholic,  succeed  to* the  throne  of  England;  that  although 
no  such  objection  lay  against  the  princess  Elizabeth,  he  could  not,  with  any 
degree  of  propriety,  exclude  one  sister,  without  also  excluding  the  other : 
that  both  had  been  declared  illegitimate  by  parliament ;  that  the  queen  of 
Scots  stood  excluded  by  the  late  king's  will,  and  was  besides  attached  to  the 
church  of  Rome ;  that  these  three  princesses  being  set  aside  for  such  solid 
reasons,  the  succession  devolved  on  the  marchioness  of  Dorset,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  duke  of  Suffolk  and  the  French  queen,  his  father's  youngest 
sister ;  that  the  apparent  successor  to  the  marchioness  was  her  daughter, 
lady  Jane  Gray,  who  was  every  way  worthy  of  a  crown. 

These  arguments  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  mind  of  Edward.  He 
had  long  lamented  the  obstinacy  of  his  sister  Mary,  in  adhering  to  the 
Romish  communion,  and  seemed  to  foresee  all  the  horrors  of  her  reign.  He 
respected,  and  even  loved,  Elizabeth.  But  lady  Jane  Gray,  being  of  the  same 
age,  had  been  educated  along  with  him,  and  had  commanded  his  esteem  and 
admiration,  by  the  progress  which  she  made  in  every  branch  of  literature. 
He  had  enjoyed  full  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  purity  of 
her  religious  principles,  a  circumstance  that  weighed  with  him  above  every 
other  consideration  in  the  choice  of  a  successor ;  and  it  seems  besides  pro- 
bable, that  her  elegant  person  and  amiable  disposition  had  inspired  his  heart 
with  a  tender  affection.  He  therefore  listened  to  the  proposal  of  disin- 
heriting his  sisters,  with  a  patience  which  would  otherwise  have  been  highly 
criminal. 

Meanwhile,  Northumberland,  finding  he  was  likely  to  carry  his  principal 
point  with  the  king,  began  to  propose  the  other  parts  of  his  scheme.  Two 
sons  of  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  by  a  marriage  subsequent  to  the  death  of  the 
French  queen,  having  died  this  season  of  the  sweating  sickness  (an  epide- 
mical malady  which  raged  all  over  the  kingdom),  that  title  was  become 

U)  Hayward,  p.  324,  325.    Holingshed,  j   1068. 


116  T HE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  i, 

extinct.  Northumberland  persuaded  the  king  to  bestow  it  on  the  marquia 
of  Dorset ;  and  by  means  of  this  and  other  favours,  he  obtained  from  the 
new  duke  and  dutchess  of  Suffolk  their  eldest  daughter  lady  Jane,  in  marriage 
to  his  fourth  son,  lord  Guilford  Dudley. ( 1) 

In  order  to  complete  his  plan  of  ambition,  it  now  only  remained  for  North- 
umberland to  procure  the  desired  change  in  the  succession ;  and,  in  the 
present  languishing  state  of  the  king's  health,  after  all  the  arguments  that 
had  been  used,  it  was  no  difficult  matter  to  obtain  a  deed  to  that  effect  from 
Edward.  He  met  with  more  opposition  from  the  judges,  and  other  persons 
necessary  to  the  execution  of  such  a  deed.  But  they,  at  last,  were  all 
silenced,  either  by  threats  or  promises ;  and  the  great  seal  was  affixed  to  the 
king's  letters  patent,  settling  the  crown  on  the  heirs  of  the  dutchess  of  Suf- 
folk, she  herself  being  content  to  give  place  to  her  daughters,  or,  in  other 
words,  to  lady  Jane,  for  whom  she  was  sensible  the  change  in  the  succession 
had  been  projected. 

The  king  died  soon  after  this  singular  transaction;  and  so  much  the  sooner 
by  being  put  into  the  hands  of  an  ignorant  woman,  who  undertook  to  restore 
him,  in  a  little  time,  to  his  former  state  of  health. — Most  of  our  historians 
out  especially  such  as  were  well  affected  to  the  Reformation,  dwell  with  pe 
culiar  pleasure  on  the  excellent  qualities  of  this  young  prince,  whom  (as  HI. 
elegant  writer  observes)  the  flattering  promises  of  hope,  joined  to  many  rea; 
virtues,  had  made  an  object  of  fond  regard  to  the  public  :  and  making  allow 
ance  for  the  delicacy  of  his  frame,  and  the  manners  of  the  age  in  which  he 
lived,  he  seems  to  have  possessed  all  the  accomplishments  that  could  be 
exp •".•ted  in  a  youth  of  sixteen 

:  re  of  the  opposition  that  would  be  made  to  the  concerted  change  IL 
the  succession,  Northumberland  had  carefully  concealed  the  destination  of 
the  crown  signed  by  Edward.  He  even  kept  that  prince's  death  secret  for 
a  while,  in  hopes  of  getting  the  two  princesses  into  his  power.  With  this 
view,  he  engaged  the  council  to  desire  their  attendance  at  court,  under  pre- 
tence that  the  king's  infirm  state  of  health  required  the  assistance  of  their 
advice,  and  the  consolation  of  their  company.  All  obedience  or  anxiety, 
they  instantly  left  their  several  retreats  in  the  country,  and  set  out  for  Lon- 
don; but  happily,  before  their  arrival,  they  both  got  intelligence  of  their 
brother's  death,  and  of  the  conspiracy  formed  against  themselves.  Mary, 
who  had  advanced  as  far  as  Hodsdon,  Avhen  she  received  this  notice,  made 
haste  to  retire,  and  wrote  letters  to  the  nobility  and  most  considerable  gentry 
m  every  county  of  England,  commanding  them  to  assist  her  in  the  defence 
of  her  crown  and  person.  (2) 

Farther  dissimulation,  Northumberland  now  saw,  would  be  fruitless ;  he 
therefore  went  to  Sion-house,  where  lady  Jane  Gray  resided,  accompanied 
hy  a  body  of  the  nobility,  and,  approaching  her  with  the  respect  usually 
paid  to  the  sovereign,  informed  her  of  her  elevation  to  the  throne.  Lady 
Jane,  who  was  in  a  great  measure  ignorant  of  the  intrigues  of  her  father- 
in-law,  received  this  information  with  equal  grief  and.  surprise.  She  even 
refused  to  accept  the  crown ;  pleaded  the  preferable  title  of  the  two  prin- 
cesses ;  expressed  her  dread  of  the  consequences  attending  an  enterprise  so 
dangerous,  nay,  so  criminal,  and  begged  to  remain  in  that  private  station  in 
which  she  was  born.  Her  heart,  full  of  the  passion  for  literature  and  the 
elegant  arts,  and  of  affection  for  her  husband,  who  was  worthy  of  all  her 
regard,  had  never  opened  itself  to  the  flattering  allurements  of  ambition. 
Overcome,  however,  at  last,  by  the  entreaties  rather  than  the  reasons  of  her 
relations,  she  submitted  to  their  will ;  and  Northumberland  immediately  con 
veyed  her  to  London,  where  she  was  proclaimed  queen,  but  without  one  ap 
plauding  voice. 

The  people  heard  the  proclamation  with  silence  and  concern ;  the  very 
preachers  employed  their  eloquence  in  vain  to  convince  their  auditors  of  the 
justice  of  lady  Jane's  title.  Respect  for  the  royal  line,  and  indignation 

(1)  Strypc.    Hcylin.    Stowe.  (2)  Burnet     Fox.    Heylin. 


LET.  LX1I.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  417 

against  the  Dudleys,  Ayas  stronger,  even  in  the  breasts  of  the  Protestants, 
than  the  dread  of  popery.(l) 

Meantime,  the  inhabitants  of  Suffolk,  whither  the  princess  Mary  had  fled, 
resorted  to  her  in  crowds ;  and  when  she  assured  them,  that  she  never  meant 
to  alter  the  laws  of  Edward  VI.  concerning  religion,  they  zealously  enlisted 
themselves  in  her  cause.  The  nobility  and  gentry  daily  flocked  to  her  with 
reinforcements.  Sir  Edward  Hastings,  brother  to  the  earl  of  Huntingdon, 
carried  over  to  her  four  thousand  men,  levied  for  the  support  of  her  rival. 
The  fleet  declared  for  her.  Even  the  earl  of  Suffolk,  who  commanded  in 
the  tower,  finding  resistance  fruitless,  opened  the  gates  of  that  fortress :  and 
lady  Jane,  after  the  vain  pageantry  of  wearing  a  crown  during  ten  days, 
returned  without  a  sigh  to  the  privacy  of  domestic  life.  The  council  ordered 
Mary  to  be  proclaimed ;  and  Northumberland,  deserted  by  his  followers,  and 
despairing  of  success,  complied  with  that  order  with  exterior  marks  of  joy 
and  satisfaction.  He  was  brought  to  trial,  however,  and  condemned  and 
executed  for  high-treason.  Sentence  was  also  pronounced  against  lady  Jane 
Gray  and  lord  Guilford  Dudley ;  but  they  were  respited  on  account  of  their 
youth,  neither  of  them  having  attained  the  age  of  seventeen.(2) 

No  sooner  was  Mary  seated  on  the  throne  than  a  total  change  took  place 
both  in  men  and  measures.  They  who  had  languished  in  confinement  were 
lifted  to  the  helm  of  power,  and  intrusted  with  the  government  of  the  church 
as  well  as  of  the  state.  Gardiner,  Bonner,  and  other  Catholic  bishops  were 
restored  to  their  sees,  and  admitted  to  the  queen's  favour  and  confidence ; 
while  the  most  eminent  Protestant  prelates  and  zealous  reformers,  Ridley, 
Hooper,  Latimer,  Coverdale,  and  Cranmer,  were  thrown  into  prison.  The 
men  of  Suffolk  were  brow-beaten,  because  they  presumed  to  plead  the  queen  s 
promise  of  maintaining  the  reformed  religion ;  and  one,  more  bold  than  the 
rest,  in  recalling  to  her  memory  the  engagements  into  which  she  had  entered, 
when  they  enlisted  themselves  in  her  service,  was  set  in  the  pillory.  A 
parliament  was  procured  entirely  conformable  to  the  sentiments  of  the  court, 
and  a  bill  passed  declaring  the  queen  to  be  legitimate ;  ratifying  the  mar- 
riage of  Henry  VIII.  with  Catharine  of  Arragon,  and  annulling  the  divorce 
pronounced  by  Cranmer.  All  the  statutes  of  Edward  VI.  respecting  religion 
were  repealed ;  and  the  queen  sent  assurances  to  the  pope  of  her  earnest 
desire  of  reconciling  herself  and  her  kingdoms  to  the  holy  see,  and  request- 
ing that  cardinal  Pole  might  be  appointed  legate  for  the  performance  o  tha£ 

P1°Reg^nald  Pole  was  descended  from  the  royal  family  of  England,  being 
fourth  son  of  the  countess  of  Salisbury,  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Clarence. 
He  gave  early  indications  of  that  fine  genius,  and  generous  disposition,  by 
which  he  was  so  much  distinguished  during  his  more  advanced  age ;  an< 
Henrv  VIII.,  having  conceived  great  friendship  for  him,  proposed  to  raise  mm 
to  the  highest  ecclesiastical  dignities.  As  a  pledge  of  future  favours,  Henry 
conferred  on  him  the  deanery  of  Exeter, the  better  to  support  hnnin his  edu- 
cation. But  when  the  king  of  England  broke  with  the  court  of  Rome,  Pole 
not  only  refused  to  second  his  measures,  but  wrote  against  him  in  a  treatise 
on  the  Unity  of  the  Church.  This  performance  produced  an  irreparable  bre^h 
between  the  young  ecclesiastic  and  his  sovereign,  and  blasted  all  Pole  s  hopes 
of  rising  in  the  English  church.  He  was  not,  however,  allowed  to  sink. 
The  pope  and  the  emperor  thought  themselves  bound  to  provide  for  a  man  oi 
so  much  eminence  ;  who,  in  support  of  their  cause,  had  sacrificed  all  his  pre- 
tensions to  fortune  in  his  own  country.  Pole  was  create  da  car  dinal,  and 
sent  legate  into  Flanders.  But  he  took  no  higher  than  deacon's  orders,  whi 
did  not  condemn  him  to  celibacy ;  and  he  was  suspected  of  having  aspir 
to  the  English  crown,  by  means  of  a  marriage  with  the  princes  s  Mary,  during 
the  life  of  her  father.  The  marquis  of  Exeter,  lord  Montacute,  the  cardinal  s 
b  other,  and  several  other  persons  of  rank,  suffered  for  this  conspirg, 
whether  real  or  pretended.  To  hold  a  correspondence  with  that  obnoxioi 

(DBurnet    Fox.    Heylin.  Cft  Heylin     Bumel  «1  Bumet,  voL  tt 

Vol.  I.— D  A 


418  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PiRT  i. 

fugitive  was  deemed  perhaps  sufficient  guilt.  It  was  enough  at  least  to  expose 
them  to  the  indignation  of  Henry ;  and  his  will,  on  many  occasions,  is  known 
to  have  usurped  the  place  of  both  law  and  equity. 

But  whatever  doubt  may  remain  of  Pole's  intrigues  for  obtaining  the 
crown  of  England,  through  an  alliance  with  Mary,  it  is  certain  SHE  was  no 
sooner  seated  upon  the  throne  than  she  thought  of  making  him  the  partner 
of  her  sway.  The  cardinal,  however,  being  now  in  the  decline  of  life,  was 
represented  to  the  queen  as  unqualified  for  the  bustle  of  a  court,  and  the 
fatigue  of  business.  She  therefore  laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  him  as  a  hus- 
band :  but  as  she  entertained  a  high  esteem  for  his  wisdom  and  virtue,  she 
still  proposed  to  reap  the  benefits  of  his  counsels  in  the  administration  of  her 
government ; — and  hence  her  request  to  the  pope. 

This  alliance,  and  one  with  the  earl  of  Devonshire,  being  rejected  for 
various  reasons,  the  queen  turned  her  eye  towards  the  house  of  Austria,  and 
there  found  a  ready  correspondence  with  her  views.  Charles  V.  whose  am- 
bition was  boundless,  no  sooner  had  heard  of  the  accession  of  his  kins- 
woman Mary  to  the  crown  of  England,  than  he  formed  the  scheme  of  obtain- 
ing the  kingdom  for  his  son  Philip ;  hoping  by  that  acquisition  to  balance 
the  losses  he  had  sustained  in  Germany :  and  Philip,  although  eleven  years 
younger  than  Mary,  who  was  destitute  of  every  external  beauty  or  grace, 
gave  his  consent  without  hesitation,  to  the  match  proposed  by  his  father. 
The  emperor,  therefore,  immediately  sent  over  an  agent  to  signify  his  inten- 
tions to  the  queen  of  England ;  who,  flattered  with  the  prospect  of  marrying 
the  presumptive  heir  of  the  greatest  monarch  in  Europe,  pleased  with  the 
support  of  so  powerful  an  alliance,  and  happy  to  unite  herself  more  closely 
to  her  mother's  family,  to  which  she  had  always  been  warmly  attached,  gladly 
embraced  the  proposal.  The  earls  of  Norfolk  and  Arunde],,  lord  Paget, 
whom  she  had  promoted,  and  bishop  Gardiner,  now  become  prime  minister, 
finding  how  Mary's  inclinations  leaned,  gave  their  opinion  in  favour  of  the 
Spanish  alliance  ;  but  as  they  were  sensible  the  prospect  of  it  diffused  uni- 
versal apprehension  and  terror,  for  the  liberty  and  independency  of  the  king- 
dom, the  marriage  articles  were  drawn  up  with  all  possible  attention  to  the 
interest  and  security,  and  even  to  the  grandeur,  of  England.  The  emperor 
agreed  to  whatever  was  thought  necessary  to  sooth  the  fears  of  the  people 
or  quiet  the  jealousies  of  the  nobility.  The  chief  articles  were,  that  Philip, 
during  his  marriage  with  Mary,  should  bear  the  title  of  king,  but  that  the  ad- 
^linistration  should  be  vested  solely  in  the  queen ;  that  no  foreigner  shouM 
be  capable  of  holding  any  office  in  the  kingdom ;  that  no  innovation  should 
be  made  in  the  English  laws,  customs,  or  privileges ;  that  Philip  should  not 
carry  the  queen  abroad  without  her  consent,  nor  any  of  her  children  without 
the  consent  of  the  nobility;  that  the  male  issue  of  the  marriage  should 
inherit,  together  with  England,  Burgundy  and  the  Low  Countries ;  that  if 
Don  Carlos,  Philip's  son  by  a  former  marriage,  should  die  without  issue, 
Mary's  issue  whether  male  or  female,  should  succeed  to  the  crown  of 
Spain,  and  all  the  emperor's  hereditary  dominions ;  and  that  Philip,  if  the 
Dueen  should  die  before  him,  without  issue,  should  leave  the  crown  of 
England  to  the  lawful  heir,  without  claiming  any  right  of  administration 
whatsoever.  (1) 

But  this  treaty,  though  framed  with  so  much  caution  and  skill,  was  far 
from  reconciling  the  English  nation  to  the  Spanish  alliance.  It  was  univer- 
sally said,  that  the  emperor,  in  order  to  get  possession  of  England,  would 
agree  to  any  terms ;  and  that  the  more  favourable  the  conditions  which  he 
had  granted,  the  more  certainly  might  it  be  concluded  he  had  no  serious 
intention  of  observing  them.  His  general  character  was  urged  in  support  of 
these  observations;  and  it  was  added  that  Philip,  while  he  inherited  his 
father's  vices,  fraud  and  ambition,  united  to  them  more  dangerous  vices  of 
his  own,  sullen  pride  and  barbarity.  England  seemed  already  a  province  of 
Spain,  groaning  under  the  load  of  despotism,  and  subjected  to  all  the  horrors 

Hi  Rvmer  vol.  xv.    Burnet  vo' 


LET.  LXIL]  MODERN   EUROPE.  419 

of  the  inquisition.  The  people  were  every  where  ripe  for  rebellion,  and 
wanted  only  an  able  leader  to  have  subverted  the  queen's  authority.  No  such 
leader  appeared.  The  more  prudent  part  of  the  nobility  thought  it  would  be 
soon  enough  to  correct  ills  when  they  began  to  be  felt.  Some  turbulent 
spirits,  however,  judged  it  safer  to  prevent  than  to  redress  grievances.  They 
accordingly  formed  a  conspiracy  to  rise  in  arms,  and  declare  against  the 
queen's  marriage  with  Philip.  Sir  Thomas  Wyat  proposed  to  raise  Kent ; 
sir  Peter  Carew,  Devonshire ;  and  the  duke  of  Suffolk  Avas  engaged,  by  the 
hopes  of  recovering  the  crown  for  lady  Jane  Gray,  to  attempt  raising  the 
midland  counties.  But  these  conspirators  imprudently  breaking  concert,  and 
rising  at  different  times,  were  soon  humbled.  Wyat  and  Suffolk  lost  their 
heads,  as  did  lady  Jane  Gray  and  her  husband  lord  Guilford  Dudley,  to  whom 
the  duke's  guilt  was  imputed. 

This  fond  and  unfortunate  couple  died  with  much  piety  and  fortitude.  It 
had  been  intended  to  execute  them  on  the  same  scaffold  on  Tower-hill ;  but 
the  council,  dreading  the  compassion  of  the  people  for  their  youth,  beauty, 
and  innocence,  changed  its  orders,  and  gave  directions  that  lady  Jane  should 
be  beheaded  within  the  verge  of  the  tower.  She  refused  to  take  leave  of 
her  husband  on  the  day  of  their  execution ;  assigning  as  a  reason,  that  the 
tenderness  of  parting  might  unbend  their  minds  from  that  firmness  which  their 
approaching  doom  required  of  them.  "  Our  separation,"  added  she,  "  will 
be  but  for  a  moment,  we  shall  soon  rejoin  each  other  in  a  scene  where  our 
affections  will  be  for  ever  united,  and  where  death,  disappointment,  and  mis- 
fortune can  no  longer  disturb  our  felicity."(l)  She  saw  lord  Guilford  led  to 
execution,  without  discovering  any  sign  of  weakness;  she  even  calmly  met 
his  headless  body,  as  she  was  going  to  execution  herself,  returning  to  be 
interred  in  the  chapel  of  the  tower,  and  intrepidly  desired  to  proceed  to  the 
fatal  spot,  emboldened  by  the  reports  which  she  had  received  of  the  magna- 
nimity of  his  behaviour.  On  that  occasion  she  wrote  in  her  table-book  three 
sentences ;  one  in  Greek,  one  in  Latin,  and  one  in  English. 

The  meaning  of  them  was,  that  although  human  justice  was  against  her 
husband's  body,  divine  mercy  would  be  favourable  to  his  soul ;  that  if  her  fault 
deserved  punishment,  her  youth  and  inexperience  ought  to  plead  her 
excuse;  and  that  God  and  posterity,  she  trusted,  would  show  her  favour. 
On  the  scaffold  she  behaved  with  great  mildness  and  composure,  and  sub- 
mitted herself  to  the  stroke  of  the  executioner  with  a  steady  and  serene 
countenance. (2) 

The  queen's  authority  was  much  strengthened  by  the  suppression  of  this 
rebellion,  commonly  called  Wyat's  from  the  figure  which  he  made  in  it; 
and  the  arrival  of  Philip  in  England  gave  still  more  stability  to  her  govern- 
ment. For  although  that  prince's  behaviour  was  ill  calculated  to  remove  the 
prejudices  which  the  English  nation  had  entertained  against  him,  being  dis- 
tant in  his  address,  and  so  intrenched  in  form  and  ceremony  as  to  be  in  a 
manner  inaccessible,  his  liberality,  if  money  disbursed  for  the  purposes  of 
corruption  can  deserve  that  name,  made  him  many  friends  among  the  nobi- 
lity and  o-entry.  Cardinal  Pole  also  arrived  in  England  about  the  same  time, 
with  legantine  powers  from  the  pope ;  and  both  houses  of  parliament  voted 
an  address  to  Philip  and  Mary,  acknowledging  that  the  nation  had  been  guilty 
of  a  most  horrible  defection  from  the  true  church;  declaring  their  resolu- 
tion  to  repeal  all  laws  enacted  in  prejudice  of  the  Romish  religion;  and 
praying  their  majesties,  happily  uninfected  with  that  criminal  schism  !  to  inter- 
cede with  the  holy  father  for  the  absolution  and  forgiveness  of  their  penitent 
subjects.  The  request  was  readily  granted.  The  legate,  in  the  name  of  his 
holiness,  gave  the  parliament  and  kingdom  absolution,  freed  them  from  all  eccle- 
siastical censures,  and  received  them  again  into  the  bosom  of  the  church.(3) 

In  consequence  of  this  reconciliation  with  the  see  of  Rome,  the  punish, 
ment  by  fire,  that  frightful  expedient  of  superstition  for  extending  her  empire, 

<1)  Heylin,  p.  167.    Fos  «*  Hi.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  v3)  Burnet  vol.  ii.    Foi,  vol.  iii 


420  THE    HISTORY   OF 

and  preserving  her  dominion,  was  rigorously  employed  against  the  most  emi- 
nent Reformers.  The  mild  councils  of  cardinal  Pole,  who  was  inclined  to 
toleration,  were  overruled  by  Gardiner  and  Bonner,  and  many  persons,  of  all 
conditions,  ages,  and  sexes,  were  committed  to  the  flames.  The  persecutors 
made  their  first  attack  upon  Rogers,  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's ;  a  man  equally 
distinguished  by  his  piety  and  learning,  but  whose  domestic  situation,  it  was 
hoped,  would  bring  him  to  compliance.  He  had  a  wife  whom  he  tenderly 
loved,  and  ten  children :  yet  did  he  continue  firm  in  his  principles ;  and  such 
was  his  serenity  after  condemnation,  that  the  jailers,  it  is  said,  waked  him 
from  a  sound  sleep,  when  the  hour  of  his  execution  approached.  He  suffered 
in  Smithfield.  Hooper,  bishop  of  Gloucester,  was  condemned  at  the  same 
time  with  Rogers,  but  sent  to  his  own  diocess  to  be  punished,  in  order  to 
strike  the  greater  terror  into  his  flock.  The  constancy  of  his  death,  however, 
had  a  very  contrary  effect.  It  was  a  scene  of  consolation  to  Hooper  to  die 
in  their  sight,  bearing  testimony  to  that  doctrine  which  he  had  formerly 
taught  among  them.  He  continued  to  exhort  them,  till  his  tongue,  swollen 
by  the  violence  of  his  agony,  denied  him  utterance :  and  his  words  were  long 
remembered.(l) 

Ferrar,  bishop  of  St.  David's,  also  suffered  this  terrible  punishment  in 
his  own  diocess.  And  Ridley,  bishop  of  London,  and  Latimer,  formerly 
bishop  of  Worcester,  two  prelates  venerable  by  their  years,  their  learning. 
and  their  piety,  perished  together  in  the  same  fire  at  Oxford,  supporting 
each  other's  constancy  by  their  mutual  exhortations.  Latimer,  when  tied  to 
the  stake,  called  to  his  companion,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  my  brother '.  We 
shall  this  day  kindle  such  a  flame  in  England,  as,  I  trust  in  God,  will  nevei 
be  extinguished."(2) 

Sanders,  a  respectable  clergyman,  was  committed  to  the  flames  at  Coventry. 
A  pardon  was  offered  him  if  he  would  recant :  but  he  rejected  it  with  disdain, 
and  embraced  the  stake,  saying,  "  Welcome,  cross  of  Christ !  welcome,  ever- 
lasting life  !"  Cranmer  had  less  courage  at  first.  Overawed  by  the  prospect 
of  those  tortures  which  awaited  him,  or  overcome  by  the  fond  love  of  life, 
and  by  the  flattery  of  artful  men,  who  pompously  represented  the  dignities 
to  which  his  character  still  entitled  him,  if  he  would  merit  them  by  a  recant- 
ation, he  agreed,  in  an  unguarded  hour,  to  subscribe  the  doctrines  of  the 
papal  supremacy  and  the  real  presence.  But  Mary  and  her  council,  no  less 
perfidious  than  cruel,  determined  that  this  recantation  should  avail  him 
nothing;  that  he  should  acknowledge  his  errors  in  the  church  before  the 
people,  and  afterward  be  led  to  execution.  Whether  Cranmer  received  secret 
intelligence  of  their  design,  or  repented  of  his  weakness,  or  both,  is  uncer- 
tain, but  he  surprised  the  audience  by  a  declaration  very  different  from  that 
which  was  expected  from  him.  After  explaining  his  sense  of  what  he  owed 
to  God  and  his  sovereign,  "  There  is  one  miscarriage  in  my  life,"  said  he, 
"of  which,  above  all  others,  I  severely  repent — the  insincere  declaration  of 
faith  to  which  I  had  the  weakness  to  subscribe ;  but  I  take  this  opportunity 
of  atoning  for  my  error  by  a  sincere  and  open  recantation,  and  am  willing  to 
seal  with  my  blood  that  doctrine  which  I  firmly  believe  to  have  been  commu- 
nicated from  Heaven." 

As  his  hand,  he  added,  had  erred,  by  betraying  his  heart,  it  should  first 
be  punished  by  a  severe  but  just  doom.  He  accordingly  stretched  out  his 
arm,  as  soon  as  he  came  \o  the  stake,  to  which  he  was  instantly  led ;  and 
without  discovering,  either  by  his  looks  or  motions,  the  least  sign  of  com- 
punction, or  even  of  feeling,  he  held  his  right  hand  in  the  flames,  till  it  was 
utterly  consumed.  His  thoughts  appeared  to  be  totally  occupied  in  reflect- 
ing on  his  former  fault ;  and  he  called  aloud  several  times,  "  This  hand  has 
offended!"  When  it  dropped  off,  he  discovered  a  serenity  in  his  counte- 
nance, as  if  satisfied  with  sacrificing  to  divine  justice  the  instrument  of  his 
firime ;  and  when  the  fire  attacked  his  body,  his  soul,  wholly  collected  within 

(1)  Burnet,  vol.  ii.    Fox,  vol.  iii.  «i  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  LXII.]  MODERNEUROPE.  421 

itself,  seemed  fortified  against  every  external  accident,  and  altogether  inac 
•eessible  to  pain.(l) 

It  would  be  endless,  my  dear  Philip,  to  enumerate  all  the  cruelties  prac- 
tised in  England  during  this  bigoted  reign,  near  three  hundred  persons  having 
been  brought  to  the  stake  in  the  first  rage  of  persecution.  Besides,  the 
savage  barbarity  on  one  hand,  and  the  patient  constancy  on  the  other,  are  so 
similar,  in  all  those  martyrdoms,  that  a  narration,  very  little  agreeable  in 
itself,  would  become  altogether  disgusting  by  its  uniformity.  It  is  sufficient 
to  have  mentioned  the  sufferings  of  our  ntost  eminent  Reformers,  whose  cha- 
racter and  condition  make  such  notice  necessary.  I  shall  therefore  conclude 
this  cubject  with  observing,  that  human  nature  appears  on  no  occasion  so 
detestable,  and  at  the  same  time  so  absurd,  as  in  these  religious  horrors, 
which  sink  mankind  below  infernal  spirits  in  wickedness,  and  beneath  the 
brutes  in  folly.  Bishop  Bonner  seemed  to  rejoice  in  the  torments  of  the 
victims  of  persecution.  He  sometimes  whipped  the  Protestant  prisoners, 
with  his  own  hands,  till  he  was  tired  with  the  violence  of  the  exercise :  he 
tore  out  the  beard  of  a  weaver  who  refused  to  relinquish  his  religion ;  and, 
in  order  to  give  the  obstinate  heretic  a  more  sensible  idea  of  burning,  he  held 
his  finger  to  the  candle,  till  the  sinews  and  veins  shrunk  and  burst. (2)  All 
these  examples  prove  that  no  human  depravity  can  equal  revenge  and  cruelty, 
inflamed  by  theological  hate. 

But  the  members  of  the  English  parliament,  though  so  obsequious  to  the 
queen's  will  in  reuniting  the  kingdom  to  the  see  of  Rome,  and  in  authorizing 
the  butchery  of  their  fellow-subjects  who  rejected  the  Catholic  faith,  had  still 
some  regard  left  both  to  their  own  and  the  national  interest.  They  refused 
to  restore  the  possessions  of  the  church.  And  Mary  failed,  not  only  in  an 
attempt  to  get  her  husband  declared  presumptive  heir  to  the  crown,  and  to 
obtain  the  consent  of  parliament  for  vesting  the  administration  in  his  hands, 
but  in  all  her  political  hopes.  She  could  not  so  much  as  obtain  a  parliament- 
ary consent  to  his  coronation. 

The  queen  likewise  met  with  much  and  long*opposition  from  parliament 
in  another  favourite  measure;  namely,  in  an  attempt  to  engage  the  nation 
in  the  war  which  was  kindled  between  France  and  Spain.  The  motion  was 
for  a  time  laid  aside ;  and  Philip,  disgusted  with  Mary's  importunate  love, 
which  was  equal  to  that  of  a  girl  of  eighteen,  and  with  her  jealousy  and 
spleen,  which  increased  with  her  declining  years  and  her  despair  of  having 
issue,  had  gone  over  to  his  father  Charles  V.  in  Flanders.  The  voluntary 
resignation  of  the  emperor,  soon  after  this  visit,  put  Philip  in  possession  of 
all  the  wealth  of  America,  and  of  the  richest  and  most  extensive  dominions 
in  Europe.  He  did  not,  however,  lay  aside  his  attention  to  the  affairs  of 
Eno-land,  of  which  he  still  hoped  to  have  the  direction;  and  he  came  over  to 
London,  in  order  to  support  his  parliamentary  friends  in  a  new  motion  for  a 
French  war.  This  measure  was  zealously  opposed  by  several  of  the  queen 
most  able  counsellors,  and  particularly  by  cardinal  Pole,  who,  having  taken 
priest's  orders,  had  been  installed  in  the  see  of  Canterbury,  on  the  death 
Cranmer.  But  hostilities  having  been  begun  in  France,  as  was  pretended, 
war  was  at  last  denounced  against  that  kingdom;  and  an  army  of  ten  thpn 
sand  men  was  sent  over  to  the  Low  Countries,  under  the  command  of  the 
earl  of  Pembroke.(3) 

A  like  attempt  was  made  in  Scotland  by  the  French  monarch  to  engage 
that  kingdom  in  a  war  with  England.    Mary  of  Guise,  the  queen  dowager, 
had  obtained  the  regency  through  the  intrigues  of  the  court  of  France,  ai 
Henry  II.  now  requested  her  to  take  part  in  the  common  quarrel, 
accordingly  summoned  a  convention  of  the  states,  and  asked  their  concurrence 
for  commencing  hostilities  against  England.    But  the  Scottish  nobles,  who 
were  become  as  jealous  of  the  French  as  the  English  were  of  Spanish  influ- 
ence, refused  their  assent;  and  the  regent  had  in  vain  recourse  to  stratagem 
in  order  to  accomplish  her  purpose. 

«)Fox,TOLiiL    Bumet,  vol.lt  (8)  M.  ibid.  (3)  Burnet,  vol.  ii.    Strype,  voL  U* 


422  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

The  French  monarch,  however,  without  the  assistance  of  his  ancient  allies, 
and  notwithstanding  the  unfortunate  battle  of  St.  Quintin,  of  which  I  shall 
afterward  have  occasion  to.  speak,  made  himself  master  of  Calais,  which  the 
English  had  held  upwards  of  two  hundred  years ;  and  which,  as  it  opened  to 
them  an  easy  and  secure  entry  into  the  heart  of  France,  was  regarded  as  the 
most  valuable  foreign  possession  belonging  to  the  crown.  This  important 
place  was  recovered  by  the  vigilance  and  valour  of  the  duke  of  Guise ;  who, 
informed  that  the  English,  trusting  to  the  strength  of  the  town,  deemed  in 
that  age  impregnable,  were  accustomed  to  recall,  towards  the  close  of  sum- 
mer, great  part  of  the  garrison,  and  to  replace  it  in  the  spring,  undertook, 
in  the  depth  of  winter,  and  succeeded  in  an  enterprise  that  surprised  his  own 
countrymen  no  less  than  his  enemies.  As  he  knew  that  success  depended 
upon  celerity,  he  pushed  his  attacks  with  such  vigour,  that  the  governor  was 
obliged  to  surrender  on  the  eighth  day  of  the  siege. (1) 

The  joy  of  the  French  on  that  occasion  was  extreme.  Their  vanity  in- 
dulged itself  in  the  utmost  exultation  of  triumph,  while  the  English  gave 
vent  to  all  the  passions  which  agitate  a  high-spirited  people,  when  any  great 
national  misfortune  is  evidently  the  consequence  of  the  misconduct  of  their 
rulers.  They  murmured  loudly  against  the  queen  and  her  council,  who, 
after  engaging  the  nation  in  a  fruitless  war,  for  the  sake  of  foreign  interest, 
had  thus  exposed  it,  by  their  negligence,  to  so  severe  a  disgrace. 

This  event,  together  with  the  consciousness  of  being  hated  by  her  sub- 
jects, and  despised  by  her  husband,  so  much  affected  the  queen  of  England, 
whose  health  had  long  been  declining,  that  she  fell  into  a  low  fever,  which 
put  an  end  to  her  short  and  inglorious  reign.  "  When  I  am  dead,"  said  she 
to  her  attendants,  "you  will  find  Calais  at  my  heart."  Mary  possessed  few 
qualities  either  estimable  or  amiable.  Her  person  was,  as  little  engaging  as 
her  manners ;  and  amid  that  complication  of  vices  which  entered  into  her 
composition,  namely,  obstinacy,  bigotry,  violence,  and  cruelty,  we  scarcely 
find  any  virtue  but  sincerity. 

Before  the  queen's  death,4iegotiations  had  been  opened  for  a  general  peace. 
Among  other  conditions,  the  king  of  France  demanded  the  restitution  of 
Navarre  to  its  lawful  owner ;  the  king  of  Spain,  that  of  Calais  and  its  terri- 
tory to  England.  But  the  death  of  Mary  somewhat  altered  the  firmness  of 
the  Spanish  monarch  in  regard  to  that  capital  article.  And  before  I  speak  of 
the  treaty  which  was  afterward  signed  at  Chateau  Cambresis,  and  which 
restored  tranquillity  to  Europe,  I  must  carry  forward  the  affairs  of  the  conti- 
nent. Meantime,  it  will  be  proper  to  say  a  few  words  of  the  princess  Eliza- 
beth, who  now  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  England. 

The  English  nation  was  under  great  apprehensions  for  the  life  of  this 
princess,  during  her  sister's  whole  reign.  The  attachment  of  Elizabeth  to 
the  reformed  religion  offended  Mary's  bigotry ;  and  menaces  had  been  em- 
ployed to  bring  her  to  a  recantation.  The  violent  hatred  which  the  queen 
entertained  against  her  broke  out  on  every  occasion ;  and  all  her  own  dis- 
tinguished prudence  was  necessary,  in  order  to  prevent  the  fatal  effects  of  it. 
She  retired  into  the  country;  and  knowing  that  she  was  surrounded  with 
spies,  she  passed  her  time  wholly  in  reading  and  study.  She  complied  with 
he  established  mode  of  worship,  and  eluded  all  questions  hi  regard  to  religion. 
\Vhen  asked,  on  purpose  to  gather  her  opinion  of  the  real  presence,  what 
she  thought  of  these  words  of  Christ,  "  This  is  my  body  ?" — and  whethei 
she  believed  it  the  true  body  of  Christ  that  was  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lords' 
Supper  1  she  replied  thus  : 

"  Christ  was  the  Word  that  spake  it ; 
He  took  the  bread  and  brake  it ; 
And  what  the  Word  did  make  it, 
That  I  believe  and  take  it."(2) 

U)  fhuanus,  lib.  xx.  cap  ii  •    "Jaker     Strype.    Camdea 


LET.  LXIII.1  MODERN    EUROPE.  433 

After  the  death  of  her  sister,  Elizabeth  delivered  her  sentiments  more 
freely :  arid  the  first  act  of  her  administration  was  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Protestant  religion.  The  liturgy  was  again  introduced  in  the  English  tongue, 
and  the  oath  of  supremacy  was  tendered  to  the  clergy.  The  number  of  bishops 
had  been  reduced  to  fourteen,  by  a  sickly  season  which  preceded  this  change  ; 
and  all  these,  except  the  bishop  of  Landaff,  having  refused  compliance,  were 
deprived  of  their  sees.  But  of  the  great  body  of  the  English  clergy,  only 
eighty  rectors  and  vicars,  fifty  prebendaries,  fifteen  heads  of  colleges,  twelve 
archdeacons,  and  as  many  deans,  sacrificed  their  livings  for  their  theological 
opinions. (1) 

This  change  in  religion  completed  the  joy  of  the  people,  on  account  of  the 
accession  of  Elizabeth ;  the  auspicious  commencement  of  whose  reign  may 
be  said  to  have  prognosticated  that  felicity  and  glory  which  uniformly  at- 
tended it.  These  particulars,  my  dear  Philip,  will  make  all  retrospect  in  the 
aft'airs  of  England  unnecessary,  beyond  the  treaty  of  Chateau  Cambresis. 


LETTER  LXIII. 

Tlie  Continent  of  Europe,  from  the  Peace  of  Passau,  in  1552,  to  the  Peace  of 
Ch&teau  Cambresis,  in  1559. 

THE  treaty  of  Passau  was  no  sooner  signed,  than  Maurice,  the  deliverer 
of  Germany,  marched  into  Hungary  against  the  Turks,  at  the  head  of  twenty 
thousand  men,  in  consequence  of  his  engagements  with  Ferdinand,  whom  the 
hopes  of  such  assistance  had  made  the  most  zealous  advocate  of  the  confe- 
derates. But  the  vast  superiority  of  the  Turkish  armies,  together  with  the 
dissensions  between  Maurice  and  Castaldo,  the  Austrian  general,  who  was 
piqued  at  being  superseded  in  the  command,  prevented  the  elector  from  per- 
forming any  thing  in  the  country  worthy  of  his  former  fame,  or  of  much 
benefit  to  the  king  of  the  Romans. 

In  the  mean  time,  Charles  V.,  deeply  affected  for  the  loss  of  Metz,  Toul,  and 
Verdun,  which  had  formed  the  barrier  of  the  empire  on  the  side  of  France, 
and  would  now  secure  the  frontier  of  Champagne,  left  his  inglorious  retreat 
at  Villach,  and  put  himself  at  the  head  of  those  forces  which  he  had  assembled 
against  the  confederates,  determined  to  recover  the  three  bishopricks.  In 
order  to  conceal  the  destination  of  his  army,  he  circulated  a  report  that  he 
intended  to  lead  it  into  Hungary,  to  second  Maurice  in  his  operations  against 
the  infidels  ;  and  as  that  pretext  failed  him  when  he  began  to  approach  the 
Rhine,  he  pretended  that  he  was  marching  first  to  chastise  Albert  of  Branden- 
burg, who  had  refused  to  be  included  in  the  treaty  of  Passau,  and  whose  cruel 
exactions  in  that  part  of  Germany  called  loudly  for  redress. 

The  French,  however,  were  not  deceived  by  these  artifices.  Henry  II. 
immediately  guessed  the  true  object  of  the  emperor's  armament,  and  resolved 
to  defend  his  conquests  with  vigour.  The  defence  of  Metz,  against  which  k 
was  foreseen  the  whole  weight  of  the  war  would  be  turned,  was  committed 
to  Francis  of  Lorrain,  duke  of  Guise,  who  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  all 
the  qualities  that  render  men  great  in  military  command.  To  courage, 
sagacity,  and  presence  of  mind,  he  added  that  magnanimity  of  soul  which 
delights  in  bold  enterprises,  and  aspires  after  fame  by  splendid  and  extraor- 
dinary actions.  He  repaired  with  joy  to  the  dangerous  station ;  and  many 
of  the  French  nobility,  and  even  princes  of  the  blood,  eager  to  distinguish 
themselves  under  such  a  leader,  entered  Metz  as  volunteers.  They  were  all 
necessary.  The  city  was  of  great  extent,  ill  fortified,  and  the  suburbs  large. 
For  all  these  defects  the  duke  endeavoured  to  provide  a  remedy.  He  repaired 
the  old  fortifications  with  all  possible  expedition,  labouring  with  his  own 
hands :  the  officers  imitated  his  example ;  and  the  soldiers,  thus  encouraged, 

Haker.    Strype.    Camden 


424  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  1. 

cheerfully  submitted  to  the  most  severe  toils.  He  erected  new  works,  and 
he  levelled  the  suburbs  with  the  ground.  At  the  same  time  he  filled  the 
magazines  with  provisions  and  military  stores,  compelled  all  useless  persons 
to  leave  the  place,  and  laid  waste  the  neighbouring  country  ;  yet  such  were 
his  popular  talents,  and  his  power  of  acquiring  an  ascendant  over  the  minds 
of  men,  that  the  citizens  not  only  refrained  from  murmuring,  but  seconded 
him  with  no  less  ardour  than  the  soldiers,  in  all  his  operations — in  the  .ruin  of 
their  estates,  and  in  the  havoc  of  their  public  and  private  buildings. (1) 

Meanwhile,  the  emperor  continued  his  inarch  towards  Lorrain  at  the  head 
of  sixty  thousand  men.  On  his  approach,  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  whose 
army  did  not  exceed  twenty  thousand,  withdrew  into  that  dutchy,  as  if  he 
intended  to  join  the  French  king;  and  Charles,  notwithstanding  the  declining 
season,  it  being  the  month  of  October,  laid  siege  to  Metz,  contrary  to  the 
advice  of  his  most  experienced  officers. 

The  attention  of  both  the  besiegers  and  the  besieged  was  turned  for  a  time 
to  the  motions  of  Albert,  who  still  hovered  in  the  neighbourhood,  undeter- 
mined which  side  to  take,  though  resolved  to  sell  his  services.  Charles  at 
last  came  up  to  his  price,  and  he  joined  the  imperial  army.  The  emperor 
now  flattered  himself  that  nothing  could  resist  his  force ;  but  he  found  himself 
deceived.  After  a  siege  of  almost  sixty  days,  during  which  he  had  attempted 
all  that  was  thought  possible  for  art  or  valour  to  effect,  and  had  lost  upward 
of  thirty  thousand  men  by  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  diseases,  or  the 
sword  of  the  enemy,  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  "  Fortune," 
said  Charles,  "  I  now  perceive,  like  other  fine  ladies,  chooses  to  confer  her 
favours  on  young  men,  and  forsake  those  advanced  in  years."(2) 

This  saying  has  been  thought  gallant,  and  perhaps  it  is  so ;  but  the  occasion 
merited  more  serious  reflections.  When  the  French  sallied  out  to  attack  the 
enemy's  rear,  a  spectacle  presented  itself  to  their  view  which  extinguished  at 
once  all  hostile  rage,  and  melted  them  into  compassion.  The  imperial  camp 
was  filled  with  the  sick  and  wounded,  with  the  dead  and  the  dying.  All  the 
roads  by  which  the  army  retired  were  strewed  with  the  same  miserable 
objects ;  who  having  made  an  effort  beyond  their  strength  to  escape,  and  not 
being  able  to  proceed,  were  left  to  perish  without  assistance.  Happily,  that, 
and  all  the  kind  offices  which  their  friends  had  not  the  power  to  perform,  they 
received  from  their  enemies.  The  duke  of  Guise  ordered  them  all  to  be 
taken  care  of,  and  supplied  with  every  necessary.  He  appointed  physicians 
to  attend,  and  direct  what  treatment  was  proper  for  the  sick  and  wounded, 
and  what  refreshments  for  the  feeble ;  and  such  as  recovered  he  sent  home, 
under  a  safe  escort,  and  with  money  to  bear  their  charges. (3)  By  these  acts 
of  humanity,  less  common  in  that  age  than  the  present,  the  duke  of  Guise 
completed  that  heroic  character  which  he  had  justly  acquired  by  his  brave  and 
successful  defence  of  Metz. 

The  emperor's  misfortunes  were  not  confined  to  Germany.  During  his 
residence  at  Villach  he  had  been  obliged  to  borrow  two  hundred  thousand 
crowns  from  Cosmo  of  Medicis ;  and  so  low  was  his  credit,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  put  that  prince  in  possession  of  the  territory  of  Piombino,  as  a 
security  for  the  repayment  of  the  money.  By  this  step  he  lost  the  footing 
he  had  hitherto  maintained  in  Tuscany,  and  nearly  at  the  same  time  he  lost 
Sienna.  The  Siennese,  who  had  long  enjoyed  a  republican  government,  rose 
against  the  Spanish  garrison,  which  they  had  admitted  as  a  check  upon  the 
tyranny  of  the  nobility,  but  which  they  now  found  was  meant  to  enslave 
them.  Forgetting  their  domestic  animosities,  they  recalled  the  exiled  no- 
bles, demolished  the  citadel,  and  putt  hemselves  under  the  protection  of 
France.  (4) 

These  unfortunate  events  were  followed  by  the  most  aKrmipg  danger? 
The  severe  administration  of  the  Viceroy  of  Naples  had  filled  that  kingdom 

(1)  Thuan.  lib.  xi.  (2)  Id.  ibid. 

(3)  Thuan.  lib.  vi.    P.  Daniel,  Ifist.  de  France,  torn.  iv.    Father  Daniel's  act  one  to/"  tbii  siege  is  coplec 
from  the  Journal  of  the  Sieur  de  Salignac,  who  was  present  at  it. 
'4%  Mem.  de  Ribier. 


LET.  LXIII.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  425 

with  murmuring'  and  dissatisfaction.  The  prince  of  Salerno,  the  head  of  the 
malecontents,  fled  to  the  court  of  France.  The  French  monarch,  after  the 
example  of  his  father,  had  formed  an  alliance  with  the  grand-seignior ;  and 
Solyman,  at  that  time  highly  incensed  against  the  house  of  Austria,  on  ac- 
count of  the  proceedings  in  Hungary,  sent  a  powerful  fleet  into  the  Mediter- 
ranean, under  the  command  of  the  corsair  Dragut,  an  officer  trained  up 
under  Barbarossa,  and  litle  inferior  to  his  master  in  courage,  talents,  or  in 
good  fortune.  Dragut  appeared  on  the  coast  of  Calabria,  where  he  expected 
to  be  joined  by  a  French  squadron ;  but  not  meeting  with  it  according  to 
concert,  he  returned  to  Constantinople,  after  plundering  and  burning  several 
places,  and  filling  Naples  with  consternation.(l) 

Highly  chagrined  by  so  many  disasters,  Charles  retired  into  the  Low 
Countries,  breathing  vengeance  against  France.  Meantime,  Germany  was 
still  disturbed  by  the  restless  ambition  of  Albert  of  Brandenburg ;  and  as  that 
prince  obstinately  continued  his  violences,  notwithstanding  a  decree  of  the 
imperial  chamber,  a  league  was  formed  against  him  by  the  most  powerfu/ 
princes  in  the  empire,  of  which  Maurice  was  declared  the  head.  This  con- 
federacy, however,  wrought  no  change  in  the  sentiments  of  Albert.  But  as 
he  knew  that  he  could  not  resist  so  many  princes,  if  they  had  leisure  to  unite 
their  forces,  he  marched  directly  against  Maurice,  whom  he  dreaded  most, 
and  hoped  to  crush  before  he  could  receive  support  from  his  allies ;  though  in 
that  he  was  deceived.  Maurice  was  ready  to  oppose  him. 

These  hostile  chiefs,  whose  armies  were  nearly  equal  in  numbers,  each 
consisting  of  twenty-four  thousand  men,  met  at  Siverhausen,  in  the  dutchy 
of  Luneifburg.  There  an  obstinate  battle  was  fought,  in  which  the  combat 
long  remained  doubtful,  each  gaining  ground  upon  the  other  alternately ;  but 
at  last  victory  declared  for  Maurice,  who  was  superior  in  cavalry.  Albert's 
army  fled  in  confusion,  leaving  four  thousand  men  dead  on  the  field,  and 
their  baggage  and  artillery  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  But  the  allies  bought 
their  victory  dear.  Their  best  troops  suffered  greatly  ;  several  persons  of 
distinction  fell ;  and  Maurice  himself  received  a  wound  of  which  he  died 
two  days  after,  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his  age.  No  prince,  ancient  01 
modern,  ever  perhaps  discovered  such  deep  political  sagacity  at  so  early  a 
period  of  life.  As  he  left  only  one  daughter,  afterward  married  to  the  fa- 
mous William  prince  of  Orange,  John  Frederic,  the  degraded  elector,  claimed 
the  electoral  dignity,  and  that  part  of  his  patrimonial  estate  of  which  he  had 
oeen  stripped  during  the  Smalkaldic  war ;  but  the  states  of  Saxony,  forget- 
ting the  merits  and  sufferings  of  their  former  master,  declared  in  favour  of 
Augustus,  Maurice's  brother.  The  unfortunate,  but  magnanimous,  John 
Frederic  died  soon  after  this  disappointment,  which  he  bore  with  his  usual 
firmness  ;(2)  and  the  electoral  dignity  is  still  possessed  by  the  descendants 
of  Augustus. 

The  consternation  which  Maurice's  death  occasioned  among  his  troops 
prevented  them  from  making  a  proper  use  of  their  victory;  so  that  Albert, 
havin^  reassembled  his  broken  forces,  and  made  fresh  levies,  renewed  his 
depredations  with  additional  fury.  But  being  defeated  in  a  second  battle, 
scarce  less  bloody  than  the  former,  by  Henry  of  Brunswick,  who  had  taken 
the  command  of  the  allied  army,  he  was  driven  from  all  his  hereditary  do- 
minions, as  well  as  from  those  he  had  usurped;  was  laid  under  the  ban  of 
the  empire,  and  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  France,  where  he  lingered  out  a  few 
years  in  an  indigent  and  dependent  state  of  exile.(3) 

Durin^  these  transactions  in  Germany,  war  was  carried  on  in  the  Low 
Countries  with  considerable  vigour.    Impatient  to  efface  the  stain  which  hi 
military  reputation  had  received  before  Metz,  Charles  laid  siege  to  Terouane, 
and  the  fortifications  being  out  of  repair,  that  important  place  was  carried  by 
assault.     Hesden  also  was  invested,  and  carried  in  the  same  manner.     H 
kin?  of  France  was  too  late  in  assembling  his  forces,  to  afford  relief  to  either 
of  these  places;  and  the  emperor  afterward  cautiously  avoided  an  engage 
ment,  during  the  remainder  of  the  campaign. 

Q    Mem.  d,  Ribier.        (2)  Avnoldi,  Vit.  Maurit.  Robertson,  Hist  Charles  V.  book  x.        (3)  Id.  Ibid. 


426  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

The  imperial  arms  were  less  successful  in  Italy.  The  viceroy  of  Naples 
failed  in  an  attempt  to  recover  Sienna ;  and  the  French  not  only  established 
themselves  more  firmly  in  Tuscany,  but  conquered  part  of  the  island  of 
Corsica.  Nor  did  the  affairs  of  the  house  of  Austria  wear  a  better  aspect 
in  Hungary  during  the  course  of  this  year.  Isabella  and  her  son  appeared 
once  more  in  Transylvania,  at  a  time  when  the  people  were  ready  for  revolt, 
in  order  to  revenge  the  death  of  Martinuzzi,  whose  loss  they  had  severely 
felt.  Some  noblemen  of  eminence  declared  in  favour  of  the  young  king : 
and  the  bashaw  of  Belgrade,  by  Solyman's  order,  espousing  his  cause,  Cas- 
taldo,  the  Austrian  general,  was  obliged  to  abandon  Transylvania  to  Isabella 
and  the  Turks.(l) 

In  order  to  counterbalance  these  and  other  losses,  the  emperor,  as  has  been 
already  related,  concerted  a  marriage  between  his  son  Philip  and  Mary  of 
England,  in  hopes  of  adding  this  kingdom  to  his  other  dominions.  Meanwhile, 
the  war  between  Henry  and  Charles  was  carried  on  with  various  success 
in  the  Low  Countries,  and  in  Italy  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  France. 
The  French,  under  the  command  of  Strozzi,  a  Florentine  nobleman,  were 
defeated  in  the  battle  of  Marciano ;  Sienna  was  reduced  by  Medicino,  the 
imperial  general,  after  a  siege  of  ten  months,  and  the  gallant  Siennese  were 
again  subjected  to  the  Spanish  yoke.  Nearly  at  the  same  time  a  plot  was 
formed  by  the  Franciscans,  but  happily  discovered  before  it  could  be  carried 
into  execution,  for  betraying  Metz  to  the  imperialists.  The  father  guardian 
and  twenty  other  monks  received  sentence  of  death  on  account  of  this  con- 
spiracy ;  but  the  guardian,  before  the  time  appointed  for  his  execution,  was 
murdered  by  his  incensed  accomplices,  whom  he  had  seduced  from  their  alle- 
giance, and  six  of  the  youngest  were  pardoned. (2) 

While  war  thus  raged  in  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries,  accompanied  with 
all  its  train  of  miseries,  and  all  the  crimes  to  which  ambition  gives  birth, 
Germany  enjoyed  such  profound  tranquillity,  as  afforded  the  diet  full  leisure 
to  confirm  and  perfect  the  plan  of  religious  pacification  agreed  upon  at 
Passau,  and  referred  to  the  consideration  of  the  next  meeting  of  the  [Ger 
manic  body.  For  this  purpose  a  diet  had  been  summoned  to  meet  at  Augs- 
burg, soon  after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  ;  but  the  commotions  excited  by 
Albert  of  Brandenburg,  and  the  attention  which  Ferdinand  was  obliged  to 
pay  to  the  affairs  of  Hungary,  had  hitherto  obstructed  its  deliberations. 
The  following  stipulations  were  at  last  settled,  and  formally  published ; 
namely,  "  That  such  princes  and  cities  as  have  declared  their  approbation 
of  the  Concession  of  Augsburg  shall  be  permitted  to  profess  and  exercise, 
without  molestation,  the  doctrine  and  worship  which  it  authorizes ;  that  the 
popish  ecclesiastics  shall  claim  no  spiritual  jurisdiction  in  such  cities  or 
principalities,  nor  shall  the  Protestants  molest  the  princes  and  states  that 
adhere  to  the  church  of  Rome ;  that  no  attempt  shall  be  made  for  the 
future  towards  terminating  religious  differences,  except  by  the  gentle  and 
pacific  methods  of  persuasion  and  conference  ;  that  the  supreme  civil  power 
in  every  state  may  establish  what  form  of  doctrine  and  Avorship  it  shall 
deem  proper,  but  shall  permit  those  who  refuse  to  conform  to  remove  their 
effects ;  that  such  as  had  seized  the  benefices  or  revenues  of  the  church,  pre- 
vious to  the  treaty  of  Passau,  shall  retain  possession  of  them,  and  be  subject 
to  no  prosecution  in  the  imperial  chamber  on  that  account ;  but  if  any  prelate 
or  ecclesiastic  shall  hereafter  abandon  the  Romish  religion,  he  shall  instantly 
relinquish  his  diocess  or  benefice,  and  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for  those  in 
whom  the  right  of  nomination  is  vested  to  proceed  immediately  to  an  elec- 
tion, as  if  the  office  was  vacant  by  death  or  translation."(3) 

These,  my  dear  Philip,  are  the  principal  articles  in  the  famous  recess  of 
Augsburg,  which  is  the  basis  of  religious  peace  in  Germany.  The  followers 
of  Luther  were  highly  pleased  with  that  security  which  it  afforded  them,  and 
the  Catholics  seemed  to  have  had  no  less  reason  to  be  satisfied.  That  article 
which  preserved  entire  to  the  Romish  church  the  benefices  of  such  eccle- 

<1)  Thu«nus,lib.  xv.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Father  Paul,  lib.  v.    Pallavic'ni,  !ib.  xiit 


LKT.  LXIII.]  MODERN   EUROPL.  427 

siastics  as  should  hereafter  renounce  its  doctrines,  at  once  placed  a  hedge 
around  its  patrimony,  and  effectually  guarded  against  the  defection  of  its 
dignitaries.  But  cardinal  Caraffa,  who  was  now  raised  to  the  papal  throne, 
under  the  name  of  Paul  IV.,  full  of  high  ideas  of  his  apostolic  jurisdiction, 
and  animated  with  the  fiercest  zeal  against  heresy,  regarded  the  indulgence 
given  to  the  Protestants,  by  an  assembly  composed  of  laymen,  as  an  impious 
act  of  that  power  which  the  diet  had  usurped.  He  therefore  threatened  the 
emperor  and  the  king  of  the  Romans  with  the  severest  effects  of  his  ven- 
geance, if  they  did  not  immediately  declare  the  recess  of  Augsburg  illegal 
and  void ;  and  as  Charles  showed  no  disposition  to  comply  with  this  demand, 
the  pope  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  French  king,  in  order  to  ruin  the 
imperial  power  in  Italy. 

During  the  negotiation  of  that  treaty,  an  event  happened  which  astonished 
all  Europe,  and  confounded  the  reasonings  of  the  wisest  politicians.  The 
emperor  Charles  V.,  though  no  more  than  fifty-six,  an  age  when  objects  of 
ambition  operate  with  full  force  on  the  mind,  and  are  generally  pursued  with 
the  greatest  ardour,  had  for  some  time  formed  the  resolution  of  resigning  his 
hereditary  dominions  to  his  son  Philip.  He  now  determined  to  put  it  in  exe- 
cution. Various  have  been  the  opinions  of  historians  concerning  a  resolution 
so  sino-ular  and  unexpected ;  but  the  most  probable  seem  to  be,  the  disappoint- 
ments which  Charles  had  met  with  in  his  ambitious  hopes,  and  the  daily 
decline  of  his  health.  He  had  early  in  life  been  attacked  with  the  gout ;  and 
the  fits  were  now  become  so  frequent  and  severe,  that  not  only  the  vigour  of 
his  constitution  was  broken,  but  the  faculties  of  his  mind  were  sensibly 
impaired.  He  therefore  judged  it  more  decent  to  conceal  his  infirmities  in 
some  solitude,  than  to  expose  them  any  longer  to  the  public  eye :  and  as  he 
was  unwillina  to  forfeit  the  fame,  or  lose  the  acquisitions  of  his  better  years, 
by  attempting  to  guide  the  reins  of  government,  when  he  was  no  longer  able 
to  hold  them  with  steadiness,  he  prudently  determined  to  seek  in  the  tran- 
quillity of  retirement  that  happiness  which  he  had  in  vain  pursued  amid  the 
tumults  of  war  and  the  intrigues  of  state. 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  Charles,  who  had  already  ceded  to  his 
son  Philip  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and  the  dutchy  of  Milan,  assembled  the 
states  of  the  Low  Countries  at  Brussels:  and  seating  himself,  for  the  last 
time,  in  the  chair  of  state,  he  explained  to  his  subjects  the  reasons  , 
resignation,  and  solemnly  devolved  his  authority  upon  Philip.  He  recounted 
with  dignity,  but  without  ostentation,  all  the  great  things  which  he  had  under 
taken  and  performed  since  the  commencement  of  his  admimstra  ion:  and  that 
enumeration  gives  us  the  highest  idea  of  his  activity  and  mdustry.  I  have 
dedicated,"  observed  he,  "from  the  seventeenth  year  of  my .age,  all  my 
thoughts  and  attention  to  public  objects,  reserving  no  portion  of  my  tin 

I  indulgence  of  ease,  and  very  little  for  the  enjoyment  of  private  pleasure. 
Either  in  a  pacific  or  hostile  manner,  I  have  visited  Germany  nine  times 
Snain  six  times-  France  four  times;  Italy  seven  times;  the  Low  I 
fen  toet  Sand  twice;  Africa  as  often:  and  while  my  health  permitted 

B   discharge  the  duties  of  a  sovereign,  and  the  vigour  of  my  constitution 
was  equal I  in  Sy  degree  to  the  arduous  office  of  governing  such  extensive 

wi«  T  npver  shunned  labour,  nor  repined  under  fatigue;  butnow,Avne 
mTheaUh  is  broken,  and  my  vigour  exhausted  by  the  rage  of 'an  incurable 
distemper  my  grow  ng  infirmities  admonish  me  to  retire;  nor  am  1  so  fond 
of  reSning^?  to  retain  the?sceptre  in  an  impotent  hand,  which  is  no  longer 

^VnTaTof^ 

half Tve  I  give  you  one  in  the  prime  of  life,  already  accustomed  to  govern, 
ami  who  -idds  to  the  vigour  of  youth  all  the  attention  and  sagacity  of  maturer 
wars  "  Then  turning  towards  Philip,  who  fell  on  his  knees  and  kissed  his 
fathers  hand  "  lUs  hi  your  power,"  said  Charles,  "  by  a  wise  and  virtuous 


428  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

gion;  maintain  the  Catholic  faith  in  its  purity  ;  let  the  laws  of  your  country 
be  sacred  in  your  eyes ;  encroach  not  on  the  rights  of  your  people :  and  if 
the  time  should  ever  come,  when  you  shall  wish  to  enjoy  the  tranquillity 
of  private  life,  may  you  have  a  son  to  whom  you  can  resign  your  sceptre  with 
as  much  satisfaction  as  I  give  mine  to  you."  A  few  weeks  after  the  emperor 
also  resigned  to  Philip  the  Spanish  crown,  with  all  the  dominions  depending 
upon  it,  in  the  Old  as  well  as  in  the  New  World ;  reserving  nothing  to  him- 
self, out  of  all  those  vast  possessions,  but  an  annual  pension  of  one  hundred 
thousand  ducats.(l) 

Charles  was  now  impatient  to  embark  for  Spain,  where  he  had  fixed  on  a 
place  of  retreat.  But,  by  the  advice  of  his  physicians,  he  put  off  his  voyage 
for  some  months,  on  account  of  the  severity  of  the  season :  and  by  yielding 
to  their  judgment,  he  had  the  satisfaction,  before  he  left  the  Low  Countries, 
of  taking  a  considerable  step  towards  a  peace  with  France.  This  he  ardently 
longed  for ;  not.  only  on  his  son's  account,  whose  administration  he  wished 
to  commence  in  quietness,  but  that  he  might  have  the  glory,  when  quitting 
the  world,  of  restoring  to  Europe  that  tranquillity  which  his  ambition  had 
banished  from  it,  almost  since  the  day  that  he  assumed  the  reins  of  government. 

The  great  bar  against  such  a  pacification,  on  the  part  of  France,  was  the 
treaty  which  Henry  II.  had  concluded  with  the  court  of  Rome ;  and  the 
emperor's  claims  were  too  numerous  to  admit  any  hope  of  adjusting  them 
suddenly.  A  truce  of  five  years  was  therefore  proposed  by  Charles,  during 
which  term,  without  discussing  their  respective  pretensions,  each  should 
retain  what  was  in  his  possession ;  and  Henry,  through  the  persuasion  of  the 
constable  Montmorency,  who  represented  the  imprudence  of  sacrificing  the 
true  interests  of  his  kingdom  to  the  rash  engagements  he  had  come  under 
with  the  pope,  authorized  his  ambassadors  to  sign  at  Vaucelles  a  treaty  which 
would  ensure  to  him,  for  so  considerable  a  period,  the  important  conquests 
which  he  had  made  on  the  German  frontier,  together  with  the  greater  part  of 
the  duke  of  Savoy's  dominions. 

Paul  IV.,  when  informed  of  this  transaction,  was  filled  no  less  with  terror 
and  a$tonishment  than  with  rage  and  indignation.  But  he  took  equal  care 
to  conceal  his  fear  and  hrs  anger.  He  affected  to  approve  highly  of  the  truce ; 
and  he  offered  his  mediation,  as  the  common  father  of  Christendom,  in  order 
to  bring  about  a  permanent  peace.  Under  this  pretext  he  despatched  car- 
dinal Rebiba,  as  his  nuncio,  to  the  court  of  Brussels ;  and  his  nephew,  cardinal 
Caraffa,  to  that  of  Paris.  The  public  instructions  of  both  were  the  same ; 
but  Caraffa,  besides  these,  received  a  private  commission,  to  spare  neither 
entreaties,  promises,  nor  bribes,  in  order  to  induce  the  French  monarch  to 
renounce  the  truce,  and  renew  his  engagements  with  the  court  of  Rome. 
He  flattered  Henry  with  the  conquest  of  Naples :  he  gained,  by  his  address, 
the  Guises,  the  queen,  and  even  the  famous  Diana  of  Poictiers,  dutchess 
of  Valentinois,  the  king's  mistress  :  and  they  easily  swayed  the  king  him- 
self, who  already  leaned  to  that  side,  towards  which  they  wished  to  incline 
him.  All  Montmorency's  prudent  remonstrances  were  disregarded.  The 
nuncio,  by  powers  from  Rome,  absolved  Henry  from  his  oath  of  truce ;  and 
that  rash  prince  signed  a  new  treaty  with  the  pope,  which  rekindled  with 
fresh  violence  the  flames  of  war,  both  in  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries. 

No  sooner  was  Paul  made  acquainted  with  the  success  of  this  negotiation, 
than  he  proceeded  to  the  most  indecent  extremities  against  Philip  II.  He 
ordered  the  Spanish  ambassador  to  be  imprisoned :  he  excommunicated  the 
Colonnas,  because  of  their  attachment  to  the  imperial  house ;  and  he  con- 
sidered Philip  as  guilty  of  high-treason,  and  to  have  forfeited  his  right  to  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  which  he  was  supposed  to  hold  of  the  holy  see,  for 
afterward  affording  them  a  retreat  in  his  dominions. (2) 

Alarmed  at  a  quarrel  with  the  pope,  whom  he  had  been  taught  to  regard 
with  the  most  superstitious  veneration,  as  the  vicegerent  of  Christ,  and  the 

(1)  Godlev.    Relat.  Jtbdicat.  Car.  V .    Thuan.  lib.  xvi.     Sandov.  vol.  ii.    Robertson,  book  U. 

(2)  Pallav.  lib.  xiii. 


LET.  LXIIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  429 

common  father  of  Christendom,  Philip  tried  every  gentle  method  before  he 
made  use  of  force.  He  even  consulted  some  Spanish  divines  on  the  lawful- 
ness of  taking  arms  against  a  person  so  sacred.  They  decided  in  his  favour ; 
and  Paul  continuing  inexorable,  the  duke  of  Alva,  to  whom  the  conduct  of 
the  negotiation  as  well  as  of  the  war  had  been  committed,  entered  the  eccle- 
siastical state  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  veterans,  and  carried  terror  to  the 
gates  of  Rome. 

The  haughty  pontiff,  though  still  obstinate  and  undaunted  himself,  was 
force  dto  give  way  to  the  fears  of  the  cardinals,  and  a  truce  was  concluded 
for  forty  days.  Meantime,  the  duke  of  Guise  arriving  with  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  French  troops,  Paul  became  more  arrogant  than  ever,  and  banished 
from  his  mind  all  thoughts  but  those  of  war  and  revenge.  The  duke  of 
Guise,  however,  who  is  supposed  to  have  given  his  voice  for  this  war,  chiefly 
from  a  desire  of  acquiring  a  field  where  he  might  display  his  military  talents, 
was  able  to  perform  nothing  in  Italy  worthy  of  his  former  fame.  He  was 
obliged  to  abandon  the  siege  of  Civetella;  he  could  not  bring  the  duke  of 
Alva  to  a  general  engagement ;  his  army  perished  by  diseases,  and  the  pope 
neglected  to  furnish  the  necessary  reinforcements.  He  begged  to  be  recalled : 
and  France  stood  in  need  of  his  abilities. 

Philip  II.,  though  willing  to  have  avoided  a  rupture,  was  no  sooner  in 
formed  that  Henry  had  violated  the  truce  of  Vaucelles,  than  he  determined 
to  act  with  such  vigour  as  should  convince  all  Europe  that  his  father  had  not 
erred  in  resigning  to  him  the  reins  of  government.  He  immediately  as- 
sembled in  the  Low  Countries  a  body  of  fifty  thousand  men:  he  obtained  a 
supply  of  ten  thousand  from  England,  which  he  had  engaged,  as  we  have 
seen, "in  this  quarrel;  and  not  being  ambitious  of  military  fame,  he  gave  the 
command  of  his  army  to  Emanuel  Philibert,  duke  of  Savoy,  one  of  the 
greatest  generals  of  that  warlike  age. 

The  duke  of  Savoy  kept  the  enemy  for  a  time  in  utter  ignorance  of  his 
destination.  At  length  he  seemed  to  threaten  Champagne,  towards  which  the 
French  drew  all  their  troops ;  a  motion  which  he  no  sooner  perceived,  than, 
turning  suddenly  to  the  right,  he  advanced  by  rapid  marches  into  Picardy, 
and  laid  siege  to  St.  Quintin.  It  was  deemed  in  that  age  a  place  of  consi- 
derable strength,  but  the  fortifications  had  been  much  neglected,  and  the 
garrison  did  not  amount  to  a  rifth  part  of  the  number  requisite  for  its  defence ; 
it  must  therefore  have  surrendered  in  a  few  days,  if  the  admiral  de  Coligny 
had  not  taken  the  gallant  resolution  of  throwing  himself  into  it  with  such  a 
body  of  men  as  could  be  suddenly  collected  for  that  purpose.  He  effected 
his  design  in  spite  of  the  enemy,  breaking  through  their  main  body  with 
seven  hundred  horse  and  two  hundred  foot.  The  town,  however,  was  closely 
invested ;  and  the  constable  Montmorency,  anxious  to  extricate  his  nephew 
out  of  that  perilous  situation,  in  which  his  zeal  for  the  public  good  had 
engaged  him,  as  well  as  to  save  a  place  of  great  importance,  rashly  advanced 
to  its  relief  with  forces  one  half  inferior  to  those  of  the  enemy.  His  army 
was  cut  in  pieces,  and  he  himself  made  prisoner.(l) 

The  cautious  temper  of  Philip,  on  this  occasion,  saved  France  from  devas- 
tation, if  not  ruin.  The  duke  of  Savoy  proposed  to  overlook  all  inferior 
objects,  and  march  directly  to  Paris — of  which,  in  its  present  consternation, 
he  could  not  have  failed  to  make  himself  master.  But  the  Spanish  monarch, 
afraid  of  the  consequences  of  such  a  bold  enterprise,  desired  him  to  continue 
the  siege  of  St.  Quintin,  in  order  to  secure  a  safe  retreat,  in  case  of  any 
disastrous  event.  The  town,  long  and  gallantly  defended  by  Coligny,  was  at 
last  taken  by  storm ;  but  not  before  France  was  in  a  state  of  defence. 

Phili  -  was  now  sensible  he  had  lost  an  opportunity,  that  could  never  be 
recalled,  of  distressing  his  enemy,  and  contenting  himself  with  reducing 
Horn  and  Catelet,  two  petty  towns,  which,  together  with  St.  Quintin,  were 
the  sole  fruits  of  one  of  the  most  decisive  victories  gained  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  Catholic  king,  however,  continued  in  high  exultation,  on 

'  •>  Thuan.  lib.  six. 


430  THE    HISTORY   OF  |PART  I- 

account  of  his  success;  and  as  all  his  passions  were  tinged  with  superstition, 
he  vowed  to  build  a  church,  a  monastery,  and  a  palace  in  honour  of  St. 
Lawrence,  on  the  day  sacred  to  whose  memory  the  battle  of  St.  Quintin 
had  been  fought.  He  accordingly  laid  the  foundation  of  an  edifice,  in  which 
all  these  buildings  were  included,  and  which  he  continued  to  forward  at  a 
vast  expense,  for  twenty-two  /ears.  The  same  principle  that  dictated  the 
vow  directed  the  construction  of  the  fabric.  It  was  so  formed  as  to  resemble 
a  gridiron ! — on  which  culinary  instrument,  according  to  the  legendary  tale, 
St.  Lawrence  had  suffered  martyrdom. (1)  Such,  my  dear  Philip,  is  the  origin 
of  the  famous  Escurial,  near  Madrid,  the  royal  residence  of  the  kings  of 
Spain. 

The  earliest  account  of  that  fatal  blow  which  France  had  received  at  St. 
Quintin  was  carried  to  Rome  by  the  courier  whom  Henry  had  sent  to  recall 
the  duke  of  Guise.  Paul  remonstrated  warmly  against  the  departure  of  the 
French  army;  but  Guise's  orders  were  peremptory.  The  arrogant  pontiff 
therefore  found  it  necessary  to  accommodate  his  conduct  to  the  exigency  of 
his  affairs,  and  to  employ  the  mediation  of  the  Venetians,  and  of  Cosmo  of 
Medicis,  in  order  to  obtain  peace  from  Spain.  The  first  overtures  to  this 
purpose  were  easily  listened  to  by  the  Catholic  king,  who  still  doubted  the 
justice  of  his  cause,  and  considered  it  as  his  greatest  misfortune  to  be  obliged 
to  contend  with  the  pope.  Paul  agreed  to  renounce  his  league  with  France ; 
and  Philip  stipulated,  on  his  part,  that  the  duke  of  Alva  shouid  repair  in 
person  to  Rome ;  and  after  asking  pardon  of  the  holy  father,  in  his  own 
name,  and  in  that  of  his  master,  for  having  invaded  the  patrimony  of  the 
church,  should  receive  absolution  from  that  crime ! — Thus  the  pope,  through 
the  superstitious  timidity  of  Philip,  not  only  finished  an  unpropitious  war 
without  any  detriment  to  the  apostolic  see,  but  saw  his  conqueror  humbled 
at  his  feet :  and  so  excessive  was  the  veneration  of  the  Spaniards  in  that  age 
for  the  papal  character,  that  the  duke  of  Alva,  the  proudest  man  perhaps  of 
his  time,  and  accustomed  from  his  infancy  to  converse  with  princes,  acknow- 
ledged, that,  when  he  approached  Paul,  he  was  so  much  overawed,  that  his 
voice  failed,  and  his  presence  of  mind  forsook  him.(2) 

But  although  this  war,  which  at  its  commencement  threatened  mighty 
revolutions,  was  terminated  without  occasioning  any  alteration  in  those  states 
which  were  its  immediate  object,  it  produced  effects  of  considerable  conse- 
quence in  other  parts  of  Italy.  In  order  to  detach  Octavio  Farnese,  duke  of 
Parma,  from  the  French  interest,  Philip  restored  to  him  the  city  of  Placentia 
and  its  territory,  which  had  been  seized,  as  we  have  seen,  by  Charles  V. ; 
and  he  granted  to  Cosmo  of  Medicis  the  investiture  of  Sienna,  as  an  equi- 
valent for  the  sums  due  to  him. (3)  By  these  treaties  the  balance  of  power 
among  the  Italian  states  was  poised  more  equally,  and  rendered  less  variable, 
than  it  had  been  since  it  received  the  first  violent  shock  from  the  invasion  of 
Charles  VIII.,  and  Italy  henceforth  ceased  to  be  the  theatre  on  which  the 
sovereigns  of  Spain,  France,  and  Germany  contended  for  fame  and  domi- 
nion. Their  hostilities,  excited  by  new  objects,  stained  other  regions  of 
Europe  with  blood,  and  made  other  states  feel,  in  their  turn,  the  calamities 
of  war. 

The  duke  of  Guise,  who  left  Rome  the  same  day  that  his  adversary  the 
duke  of  Alva  made  his  humiliating,  submission  to  the  pope,  was  received  in 
France  as  the  guardian  angel  of  the  kingdom.  He  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief,  with  a  jurisdiction  almost  unlimited  ;  and,  eager  to  justify 
the  extraordinary  confidence  which  the  king  had  reposed  in  him,  as  well  as 
to  perform  something  suitable  to  the  high  expectations  of  his  countrymen, 
he  undertook  the  siege  of  Calais.  The  extraordinary  success  of  that  enter- 
prise, and  its  different  effects  upon  the  English  and  French  nations,  we  have 
already  had  occasion  to  observe.  Guise  next  invested  Thionville,  in  the 
dutchy  of  Luxembourg,  one  of  the  strongest  towns  on  the  frontier  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  forced  it  to  capitulate  after  a  siege  of  three  weeks.  But 

Oh  Ooltnenar.    Annal.  d'Espagn.  torn.  ii.  (9   "allav.  lib.  xiii.  (31  Thuan.  lib.  xvili. 


LET.  LXI1I.]  MODERNEUROPE.  431 

the  advantages  in  this  quarter  were  more  than  balanced  by  an  event  which 
happened  in  another  part  of  the  Low  Countries.  The  mareschal  de  Termes, 
governor  of  Calais,  who  had  penetrated  into  Flanders,  and  taken  Dunkirk, 
was  totally  routed  near  Gravelines,  and  taken  prisoner  by  count  Egmont.(l) 
This  disaster  obliged  the  duke  of  Guise  to  relinquish  all  his  other  schemes, 
and  hasten  to  the  frontier  of  Picardy,  that  he  might  there  oppose  the  progress 
of  the  enemy. 

The  eyes  of  France  were  now  anxiously  turned  towards  the  operations  of 
a  general  on  whose  arms  victory  had  always  attended,  and  in  Avhose  conduct, 
as  well  as  good  fortune,  his  countrymen  could  confide  in  every  danger. 
Guise's  strength  was  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  duke  of  Savoy,  each  com- 
manding about  forty  thousand  men.  They  encamped  at  the  distance  of  a 
few  leagues  from  one  another ;  and  the  French  and  Spanish  monarchs  having 
joined  their  respective  armies,  it  was  expected  that,  after  the  vicissitudes  of 
war,  a  single  victory  would  at  last  determine  which  of  the  rivals  should  take 
the  ascendant  for  the  future  in  the  affairs  of  Europe.  But  both  monarchs, 
as  if  by  agreement,  stood  on  the  defensive  ;  neither  of  them  discovering  any 
inclination,  though  each  had  it  in  his  power,  to  rest  the  decision  of  a  point 
of  such  importance  on  the  issue  of  a  single  battle. 

During  this  state  of  inaction,  peace  began  to  be  mentioned  in  each  camp, 
and  both  Henry  and  Philip  discovered  an  equal  disposition  to  listen  to  any 
overture  that  tended  to  re-establish  it.  The  private  inclinations  of  both 
kings  concurred  with  their  political  interests  and  the  wishes  of  their  people. 
Philip  languished  to  return  to  Spain,  the  place  of  his  nativity ;  and  peace 
only  could  enable  him,  either  with  decency  or  safety,  to  quit  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. Henry  was  no  less  desirous  of  being  freed  from  the  avocations  of  war, 
that  he  might  have  leisure  to  turn  the  whole  force  of  his  government  to  the 
suppressing  of  the  opinions  of  the  Reformers,  which  were  spreading  with  such 
rapidity  in  Paris  and  the  other  great  towns,  that  the  Protestants  began  to  grow 
formidable  to  the  established  church.  Court  intrigues  conspired  with  these 
public  and  avowed  motives  to  hasten  the  negotiation,  and  the  abbey  of  Cer- 
camp  was  fixed  on  as  a  place  of  congress. (2) 

While  Philip  and  Henry  were  making  these  advances  towards  a  treaty, 
which  restored  tranquillity  to  Eurppe,  Charles  V.,  whose  ambition  had  so 
long  disturbed  it,  but  who  had  been  for  some  time  dead  to  all  such  pursuits, 
ended  his  days  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Justus,  in  Estramadura,  which  he 
had  chosen  as  the  place  of  his  retreat.  It  was  seated  in  a  valley  of  no  great 
extent,  watered  by  a  small  brook,  and  surrounded  by  rising  grounds,  covered 
with  lofty  trees.  In  this  solitude  Charles  lived  on  a  plan  that  would  have 
suited  a  private  gentleman  of  moderate  fortune.  His  table  was  plain,  his 
domestics  few,  and  his  intercourse  with  them  familiar.  Sometimes  he  culti- 
vated the  plants  in  his  garden  with  his  own  hands,  sometimes  he  rode  out  to 
the  neio-hbourino-  wood  on  a  little  horse,  the  only  one  which  he  kept,  attended 
by  a  single  servant  on  foot :  and  when  his  infirmities  deprived  him  of  these 
more  active  recreations,  he  admitted  a  few  gentlemen  who  resided  near  the 
monastery  to  visit  him,  and  entertained  them  as  equals ;  or  he  employed  him- 
self in  studying  the  principles,  and  in  framing  curious  works  of  mechanism, 
of  which  he  had  always  been  remarkably  fond,  and  to  which  his  genius  was 
peculiarly  turned.  But,  however  he  was  engaged,  or  whatever  might  be  the 
state  of  his  health,  he  always  set  apart  a  considerable  portion  of  his  t>me  for 
religious  exercises,  regularly  attending  divine  service  in  the  chapel  ot 
monastery  morning  and  evening.  . 

In  this  manner,  not  unbecoming  a  man  perfectly  disengaged  from  the  aftairs 
of  the  world,  did  Charles  pass  his  time  in  retirement.  But  some  months 
-efore  his  death,  the  gout,  after  a  longer  intermission  than  usual,  returned 
f  with  a  proportional  increase  of  violence,  and  enfeebled  both  his  body  and 
jiind  to  such  a  degree  as  to  leave  no  traces  of  that  sound  and  masculine 
understanding,  which  had  distinguished  him  among  his  contemporaries. 

•     (1)  Thuan.  lib.  xx  (21  Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.  book  xii 


432  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  1. 

sunk  into  a  deep  melancholy.  An  illiberal  and  timid  superstition  depressed 
his  spirit.  He  lost  all  relish  for  amusements  of  every  kind,  and  desired  no 
other  company  but  that  of  monks.  With  them  he  chanted  the  hymns  in  the 
Missal,  and  conformed  to  all  the  rigours  of  monastic  life,  tearing  his  body 
with  a  whip,  as  an  expiation  for  his  sins  ! — Not  satisfied  with  these  acts  of 
mortification,  and  anxious  to  merit  the  favour  of  Heaven  by  some  new  and 
singular  instance  of  piety,  he  resolved  to  celebrate  his  own  obsequies.  His 
tomb  was  accordingly  erected  in  the  chapel  of  the  monastery :  his  attendants 
walked  thither  in  funeral  procession.  Charles  followed  them  in  his  shroud. 
He  was  laid  in  his  coffin,  and  the  service  of  the  dead  was  chanted  over  him ; 
he  himself  joined  in  the  prayers  that  were  put  up  for  the  repose  of  his  soul, 
and  mingling  his  tears  with  those  which  his  attendants  shed,  as  if  they  had 
been  celebrating  a  real  funeral. (l) 

The  fatiguing  length  of  the  ceremony,  or  the  awful  sentiments  which  it 
inspired,  threw  Charles  into  a  fever,  of  which  lie  died  in  the  fifty-ninth  year 
of  his  age.  His  enterprises  speak  his  most  eloquent  panegyric,  and  his 
history  forms  his  highest  character.  As  no  prince  ever  governed  so  extensive 
an  empire,  including  his  American  dominions,  none  seems  ever  to  have  been 
endowed  with  a  superior  capacity  for  sway.  His  abilities  as  a  statesman, 
and  even  as  a  general,  were  of  the  first  class ;  and  he  possessed  in  the  most 
eminent  degree,  along  with  indefatigable  industry,  the  science  which  is  of 
the  greatest  importance  to  a  monarch,  that  of  discerning  the  characters  of 
men,  and  of  adapting  their  talents  to  the  various  departments  in  which  they 
are  to  be  employed.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  reputation  of  Charles,  his 
insatiable  ambition,  which  kept  himself,  his  neighbours,  and  his  subjects  in 
perpetual  inquietude,  not  only  frustrated  the  chief  end  of  government,  the 
felicity  of  the  nations  committed  to  his  care,  but  obliged  him  to  have  recourse 
to  low  artifices,  unbecoming  his  exalted  station,  and  led  him  into  such  devia- 
tions from  integrity  as  were  unworthy  of  a  great  prince.  This  insidious  policy, 
in  itself  sufficiently  detestable,  was  rendered  still  more  odious  by  a  comparison 
with  the  open  and  undesigning  character  of  Francis  I.;  and  served,  by  way  of 
contrast,  to  turn  on  the  French  monarch  a  degree  of  admiration,  to  which 
neither  his  own  talents  nor  his  virtues  as  a  sovereign  seem  to  have  entitled  him 

Before  Charles  left  the  Low  Countries  he  made  a  second  attempt  to  induce 
his  brother  Ferdinand  to  give  up  his  title  to  the  imperial  throne  to  Philip  II., 
and  to  accept  the  investiture  of1  some  provinces,  either  in  Italy  or  the  Nether- 
lands, as  an  equivalent.  But  finding  Ferdinand  inflexible  on  that  point,  he 
desisted  finally  from  his  scheme,  and  resigned  to  him  the  government  of  the 
empire.  The  electors  made  no  hesitation  in  recognising  the  king  of  the 
Romans,  whom  they  put  in  possession  of  all  the  ensigns  of  the  imperial  dig- 
nity, as  soon  as  the  deed  of  resignation  was  presented  to  them  ;  but  Paul  IV.. 
whose  lofty  ideas  of  the  papal  prerogative  neither  experience  nor  disappoint- 
ments could  moderate,  refused  to  confirm  the  choice  of  the  diet.  He  pre- 
tended that  it  belonged  alone  to  the  pope,  from  whom,  as  vicegerent  of 
Christ,  the  imperial  power  was  derived,  to  nominate  a  person  to  the  vacant 
throne  :  and  this  arrogance  and  obstinacy  he  maintained  during  his  whole 
pontificate.  Ferdinand  I.,  however,  did  not  enjoy  the  less  authority  as 
emperor. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Charles  V.,  Mary  of  England  ended  her  short  and 
inglorious  reign,  and  her  sister  Elizabeth,  as  we  have  already  seen,  succeeded 
to  the  throne,  to  the  general  joy  of  the  nation,  notwithstanding  some  sup- 
posed defects  in  her  title.  Henry  and  Philip  beheld  Elizabeth's  elevation 
with  equal  solicitude ;  and,  equally  sensible  of  the  importance  of  gaining  her 
favour,  both  set  themselves  with  emulation  to  court  it.  Henry  endeavoured, 
by  the  warmest  expressions  of  regard  and  friendship,  to  detach  her  from  the 
Spanish  alliance,  and  to  engage  her  to  consent  to  a  separate  peace  with  him ; 
while  Philip,  unwilling  to  lose  his  connexion  in  England,  not  only  vied  with 
in  declarations  of  esteem  for  Elizabeth,  and  in  professions  of  hb 

J)  Zunlg.  Vit.  de  Carlos     Robertson,  ubi  sup. 


LET.  LXIIL]  M  O  D  E  R  N   E  U  R  O  P  E.  433 

resolution  to  cultivate  the  strictest  amity  with  her,  but,  in  order  to  confirm 
and  perpetuate  their  union,  he  offered  himself  to  her  in  marriage,  and  under- 
took to  procure  a  dispensation  from  the  pope  for  that  purpose. 

Elizabeth  weighed  the  proposals  of  the  two  monarchs  with  that  provident 
discernment  of  her  true  interest  which  was  conspicuous  in  all  her  delibera- 
tions ;  and  although  secretly  determined  to  yield  to  the  solicitations  of  neither, 
she  continued  for  a  time  to  amuse  both.  By  this  happy  artifice,  as  well  as  by 
the  prudence  with  which  she  at  first  concealed  her  intentions  concerning 
religion,  the  young  queen  so  far  gained  upon  Philip,  that  he  warmly  espoused 
her  interest  in  the  conferences  at  Cercamp,  and  afterward  at  Chateau  Cam- 
bresis,  whither  they  were  removed.  The  earnestness,  however,  with  which 
lie  seconded  the  arguments  of  the  English  plenipotentiaries  began  to  relax  in 
proportion  as  his  prospect  of  espousing  the  queen  became  more  distant ;  and 
the  vigorous  measures  that  Elizabeth  took,  as  soon  as  she  found  herself 
firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  not  only  for  overturning  all  that  her  sister  had 
done  in  favour  of  popery,  but  for  establishing  the  Protestant  church  on  a  sure 
foundation,  convinced  Philip  that  his  hopes  of  a  union  with  her  had  been 
from  the  beginning  vain,  and  were  now  desperate.  Henceforth  decorum 
alone  made  him  preserve  the  appearance  of  interposing  in  her  favour. 
Elizabeth,  who  expected  such  an  alteration  in  his  conduct,  quickly  perceived 
it.  But  as  peace  Avas  necessary  to  her,  instead  of  resenting  this  coolness, 
she  became  more  moderate  in  her  demands,  in  order  to  preserve  the  feeble 
tie  by  which  she  was  still  united  to  him  ;  and  Philip,  that  he  might  not  seem 
to  have  abandoned  the  English  queen,  insisted  that  the  treaty  of  peace  between 
Henry  and  Elizabeth  should  be -concluded  in  form,  before  that  between  France 
and  Spain. (1) 

The  treaty  between  Henry  and  Elizabeth  contains  no  article  of  importance, 
except  that  which  respected  Calais.  It  was  stipulated  that  the  king  of  France 
should  retain  possession  of  that  town,  with  all  its  dependencies,  during  eight 
years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  term  he  should  restore  it  to  England.  But 
as  the  force  of  this  stipulation  was  made  to  depend  on  Elizabeth's  preserving 
inviolate,  during  the  same  number  of  years,  the  peace  both  with  France  and 
Scotland,  all  men  of  discernment  saw,  that  it  was  but  a  decent  pretext  for 
abandoning  Calais  ;  and,  instead  of  blaming  her,  they  applauded  her  wisdom, 
in  palliating  what  she  could  not  prevent. 

The  expedient  which  Montmorency  employed,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
conclusion  of  peace  between  France  and  Spain,  was  the  negotiating  two 
treaties  of  marriage  ;  one  between  Elizabeth,  Henry's  eldest  daughter,  and 
Philip  II.— the  other  between  Margaret,  Henry's  only  sister,  and  the  duke  of 
Savoy.  The  principal  articles  of  the  treaty  of  peace  were,  that  all  conquests 
made  by  either  party,  on  this  side  of  the  Alps,  since  the  commencement  of 
the  war  in  1551,  should  be  mutually  restored  ;  that  the  dutchy  of  Savoy,  the 
principality  of  Piedmont,  the  county  of  Bresse,  and  all  the  other  territories 
formerly  subject  to  the  dukes  of  Savoy,  should  be  restored  to  Emanuel 
Philibert,  immediately  after  the  celebration  of  his  marriage  with  Margaret  of 
France  (a  few  towns  excepted,  which  Henry  should  retain,  till  his  claims  on 
that  prince  were  decided  in  a  court  of  law) ;  that  the  French  king  should  im- 
mediately evacuate  all  the  places  which  he  held  in  the  dutchy  of  Tuscany  and 
the  territory  of  Sienna,  and  renounce  all  future  pretensions  to  them;  that  he 
should  receive  the  Genoese  into  favour,  and  give  up  to  them  the  towns  which 
he  had  conquered  in  the  island  of  Corsica.  But  he  was  allowed  to  keep  pos- 
session of  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun,  because  Philip  had  little  at  heart  the 
interests  of  his  uncle  Ferdinand.  All  past  transactions,  either  of  princes  or 
subjects,  it  was  agreed  should  be  buried  in  oblivion. (2)  Thus  the  great 
causes  of  discord  that  had  so  long  embroiled  the  powerful  monarchs  of  France 
and  Spain  seemed  to  be  wholly  removed,  or  finally  annihilated,  by  this  famous 
treaty,  which  re-established  peace  in  Europe  ;  almost  every  prince  and  state 
in  Christendom  being  comprehended  in  the  treaty  of  Chateau  Cambresis,  as 
allies  either  of  Henry  or  of  Philip. 

'  r.  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.    Forbes's  Full  View,  vol.  i.  (2)  Recueil  des  Trotter,  torn.  ii. 

VOL.  I.— Ee  19 


434  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART! 

Among  these  contracting  powers  were  included  the  kings  of  Denmark, 
Sweden,  and  Poland.  This  circumstance  naturally  leads  us  to  cast  an  eye 
on  those  countries,  which  we  have  not  for  some  time  had  an  opportunity  of 
noticing,  as  they  had  no  connexion  with  the  general 'system  of  European 
affairs.  Meantime,  I  must  observe,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  that  Henry 
II.  being  killed  in  a  tournament,  while  celebrating  the  espousals  of  his  sister 
with  the  duke  of  Savoy,  his  son  Francis  II.,  a  weak  prince,  and  under  age, 
already  married  to  the  queen  of  Scots,  succeeded  to  the  crown  of  France. 
A  few  weeks  after,  Paul  IV.  ended  his  violent  and  imperious  pontificate  : — 
and  thus,  as  a  learned  historian  observes,(l)  all  the  personages  who  had  long 
sustained  the  principal  characters  on  the  great  theatre  of  Europe  disappeared 
nearly  at  the  same  time. 

At  this  era,  my  dear  Philip,  a  more  known  period  of  history  opens.  Other 
actors  appeared  on  the  stage,  with  different  views  and  passions ;  new  contests 
arose ;  and  new  schemes  of  ambition,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see, 
occupied  and  disquieted  mankind. — But,  before  we  enter  on  that  period,  we 
must  take  a  view  of  the  state  of  the  North. 


LETTER  LXIV. 

Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Norway,  from  the  Union  of  these  Kingdoms,  under 
Margaret  Waldemar,  surnamed  the  Semiramis  of  the  North,  to  the  Death  of 
Gustavus  Vasa;  together  with  an  Account  of  the  State  of  Russia,  Poland,  and 
Prussia,  in  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

THE  kingdoms  of  the  north  of  Europe,  that  great  storehouse  of  nations,  1 
have  hitherto  chiefly  considered  as  dependencies  on  the  German  empire,  to 
which  they  long  continued  to  pay  some  degree  of  homage.  In  what  manner 
they  were  subjected  to  that  homage  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe, 
and  also  to  notice  the  union  of  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Norway,  the  ancient 
Scandinavia,  under  Margaret  Waldemar,  surnamed  the  Semiramis  of  the 
North. 

Margaret  was  daughter  of  Waldemar  III.,  king  of  Denmark.  She  had 
been  married  to  Hacquin,  king  of  Norway,  and  son  of  Magnus  IH.,  king  of 
Sweden.  On  the  death  of  her  son  Olaus,  the  hst  male  heir  of  the  three 
northern  crowns,  (which  were,  however,  more  elective  than  hereditary)  she 
succeeded,  by  the  consent  of  the  states,  to  the  Danish  throne.  She  was 
elected  soon  after  queen  of  Norway,  which  she  had  governed  as  regent ;  and 
the  Swedes  being  oppressed  by  Albert  of  Mecklenburg,  whom  they  had 
chosen  king,  made  Margaret  a  solemn  tender  of  their  crown.  She  marched 
to  their  assistance,  expelled  Albert,  and  assumed  the  reins  of  government.(2) 

Margaret's  ambition,  however,  was  not  yet  satisfied.  The  three  northern 
crowns  were  no  sooner  seated  upon  her  head,  than  she  laboured  to  render 
their  union  perpetual.  For  this  purpose,  after  taking  preparatory  measures, 
she  convoked  the  states  of  all  the  three  kingdoms  to  meet  at  Calmar ;  where 
it  was  established,  as  a  fundamental  law  of  the  whole,  that  Sweden,  Denmark, 
and  Norway  should  thenceforth  have  but  one  and  the  same  sovereign,  who 
should  be  chosen  successively  by  each  of  these  kingdoms,  and  then  approved 
by  the  other  two ;  that  each  nation  should  retain  Us  own  laws,  customs,  pri- 
vileges, and  dignities ;  and  that  the  natives  of  one  kingdom  should  not  be 
raised  to  posts  of  honour  or  profit  in  another,  but  should  be  reputed  foreigners, 
except  in  their  own  country. (2) 

But  this  union,  seemingly  so  well  calculated  for  the  tranquillity  as  well  as 
security  of  the  North,  proved  the  source  of  much  discontent,  and  of  many 
barbarous  wars.  The  national  antipathy  between  the  Swedes  aad  Danes, 
now  heightened  by  national  jealousy,  was  with  difficulty  restrained  by  the 

(n  Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.  book  xii.  (21  Puffend.    Fontan.  (3)  Meurs,  lib.  y 


LET.  LXIV.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  435 

vigorous  administration  of  Margaret,  whose  partiality  to  the  natives  of  Den- 
mark is  said  to  have  been  but  too  evident;  and  under  her  successor  Eric, 
still  more  unjustly  partial  to  the  Danes,  the  Swedes  openly  revolted,  choosing 
their  grand-marshal,  Charles  Canutson,  descended  from  the  illustrious  family 
of  Bonde,  which  had  formerly  given  kings  to  Sweden,  first  regent  and  after- 
ward king.  The  Swedes,  however,  returned  to  their  allegiance  under  Chris- 
tian I.  of  Denmark.  But  they  again  revolted  from  the  same  prince ;  again 
renewed  the  union  of  Calmar,  under  John  his  successor ;  revolted  a  third 
time ;  and  were  finally  subdued  by  the  arms  of  Christian  II.,  who  reduced 
them  to  the  condition  of  a  conquered  people. (1) 

The  circumstances  of  this  last  revolution  are  sufficiently  singular  to  merit 
our  attention  ;  and  the  consequences  by  which  it  was  followed  render  a  reca- 
pitulation necessary. 

The  Swedes,  on  revolting  from  Christian  I.,  had  conferred  the  administra- 
tion of  the  kingdom  on  Steen  Sture,  whose  son,  of  the  same  name,  succeeded 
him  in  the  regency.  The  authority  of  young  Sture  was  acknowledged  by 
th*  body  of  the  nation,  but  disputed  by  Gustavus  Trolle,  archbishop  of  Upsal, 
and  primate  of  Sweden,  whose  father  had  been  a  competitor  for  the  adminis- 
tration, and  whom  Christian  II.  of  Denmark  had  brought  over  to  his  interest. 
Besieged  in  his  castle  of  Stecka,  and  obliged  to  surrender,  notwithstanding 
the  interposition  of  the  Danish  monarch,  the  archbishop  was  degraded  by  the 
diet,  and  deprived  of  all  his  benefices.  In  his  distress  he  applied  to  Leo  X., 
who  excommunicated  the  regent  and  his  adherents,  committing  the  execution 
of  the  bull  to  the  king  of  Denmark.  Pursuant  to  this  decree,  the  Nero  of 
the  North  (as  Christian  II.  is  deservedly  called)  invaded  Sweden  with  a 
powerful  army ;  but  being  worsted  in  a  great  battle,  he  pretended  to  treat, 
and  offered  to  go  in  person  to  Stockholm,  in  order  to  confer  with  the  regent, 
provided  six  hostages  were  sent  as  a  pledge  for  his  safety.  The  proposal 
was  accepted,  and  six  of  the  first  nobility  (among  whom  was  Gustavus 
Vasa,  grand-nephew  to  king  Canutson)  were  put  on  board  the  Danish  fleet. 
These  hostages  Christian  carried  prisoners  to  Denmark.  Next  year  he 
returned  with  a  more  formidable  armament,  and  invaded  West  Gothland ; 
where  Steen  Sture,  advancing  to  gire  him  battle,  fell  into  an  ambuscade,  and 
received  a  wound,  which  proved  mortal.  The  Swedish  army,  left  without  a 
head,  first  treated,  and  afterward  dispersed.  The  senate  was  divided  about 
the  choice  of  a  new  regent,  and  the  conqueror  allowed  them  no  leisure  to 
deliberate.  He  immediately  marched  towards  the  capital,  wasting  every  thing 
before  him  with  fire  and  sword.  Stockholm  surrendered;  and  Gustavus 
Trolle,  resuming  his  archiepiscopal  function,  crowned  Christian  king  of 
Sweden. 

This  coronation  was  followed  by  one  of  the  most  tragical  scenes  m  tfc 
history  of  the  human  race.  Christian,  affecting  clemency,  went  to  the 
cathedral  and  swore  that  he  would  govern  Sweden,  not  with  the  severe  hand 
of  a  conqueror,  but  with  the  mild  and  beneficent  disposition  of  a  prince  raised 
to  the  throne  by  the  universal  voice  of  the  people :  after  which  he  invite 
the  senators  and  grandees  to  a  sumptuous  entertainment,  that  lasted  for  three 
days.  Meanwhile,  a  plot  was  formed  for  extirpating  the  Swedish  nobility. 
On  the  last  day  of  the  feast,  in  order  to  afford  some  pretext  for  the  mtende 
massacre,  archbishop  Trolle  reminded  the  king,  that  though  his  majesty  by 
a  general  amnesty,  had  pardoned  all  past  offences,  no  satisfaction  had  yet 
been  given  to  the  pope,  and  demanded  justice  in  the  name  of  his  holiness. 
The  hall  was  immediately  filled  with  armed  men,  who  secured  the  guests : 
the  primate  proceeded  against  them  as  heretics ;  a  scaffold  was  erected 
before  the  palace  gate ;  and  ninety-four  persons  of  distinction,  among  whom 
was  Eric  Vasa,  father  of  the  celebrated  Gustavus,  were  publicly  executed 
for  defending  the  liberties  of  their  country.  Other  barbarities  succeeded 
to  these  •  the  rage  of  the  soldiery  was  let  loose  against  the  citizens,  who  were 
butchered  without  mercy;  and  the  body  of  the  late  regent  was  dug  from  th 

(1)  Vertot    Revolut.  Sued. 

Ee2 


436  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PiBT  I. 

grave,  exposed  on  a  gibbet,  quartered,  and  nailed  up  in  different  parts  of  the 
kingdom.(l) 

But  Sweden  soon  found  a  deliverer  and  an  avenger.  Gustavus  Vasa  had 
escaped  from  his  prison  in  Denmark,  and  concealed  himself  in  the  habit  of  a 
peasant,  among  the  mountains  of  Dalecarlia.  There,  deserted  by  his  sole 
companion  and  guide,  who  carried  off  his  little  treasure  ;  bewildered,  desti- 
tute of  every  necessary,  and  ready  to  perish  of  hunger,  he  entered  himself 
among  the  miners,  and  worked  under  ground  for  bread,  without  relinquishing 
the  hope  of  one  day  ascending  the  throne  of  Sweden.  Again  emerging  to 
light,  and  distinguished  among  the  Dalecarlians  by  his  lofty  mien  and  by  the 
strength  and  agility  of  his  body,  he  had  acquired  a  considerable  degree  of 
ascendancy  over  them,  before  they  were  acquainted  with  his  rank.  He 
made  himself  known  to  them  at  their  annual  feast,  and  exhorted  them  to 
assist  him  in  recovering  the  liberties  of  their  country.  They  listened  to  him 
with  admiration :  they  were  all  rage  against  their  oppressors.  But  they  did 
not  resolve  to  join  him,  till  some  of  the  old  men  among  them  observed  (so 
inconsiderable  often  are  the  causes  of  the  greatest  events !)  that  the  wind 
had  blown  directly  from  the  north,  from  the  moment  that  Gustavus  began  to 
speak.  This  they  considered  as  an  infallible  sign  of  the  approbation  of 
Heaven,  and  an  order  to  take  up  arms  under  the  banners  of  the  hero :  tliej 
already  saw  the  wreath  of  victory  on  his  brow,  and  begged  to  be  led  againsi 
the  enemy.  Gustavus  did  not  suffer  their  ardour  to  cool.  He  immediately 
attacked  the  governor  of  the  province  in  his  castle,  took  it  by  assault,  and 
sacrificed  the  Danish  garrison  to  the  just  vengeance  of  the  Dalecarlians. 
Like  animals  that  have  tasted  the  blood  of  their  prey,  they  were  now  furious, 
and  fit  for  any  desperate  enterprise.  Gustavus  every  where  saw  himself 
victorious,  and  gained  partisans  in  all  corners  of  the  kingdom.  Every  thing 
yielded  to  his  valour  and  good  fortune.  His  popularity  daily  increased.  He 
was  first  chosen  regent,  and  afterward  king  of  Sweden.(2) 

Meanwhile,  Christian  II.,  become  obnoxious  by  his  tyrannies  even  to  hi» 
Danish  subjects,  was  degraded  from  the  throne.  The  inhabitants  of  Jutland 
first  renounced  his  authority.  They  deputed  Munce,  their  chief  justice,  to 
signify  to  the  tyrant  the  sentence  of  deposition.  "  My  name,"  said  Munce, 
glorying  in  the  dangerous  commission,  "ought  to  be  written  over  the  gates  of 
all  wicked  princes !"  and  it  ought  certainly  to  be  transmitted  to  posterity,  as  a 
warning  to  both  kings  and  inferior  magistrates,  of  the  danger  of  abusing 
power.  The  whole  kingdom  of  Denmark  acquiesced  in  the  decree;  and 
Christian,  hated  even  by  his  own  officers,  and  not  daring  to  trust  any  one, 
retired  into  the  Low  Countries,  the  hereditary  dominions  of  his  brother-in-law 
Charles  V.,  whose  assistance  he  had  long  implored  in  vain.(3) 

Frederick,  duke  of  Holstein,  Christian's  uncle,  was  elected  king  of  Den- 
mark and  Norway.  He  aspired  also  to  the  sovereignty  of  Sweden;  but 
finding  Gustavus  firmly  seated  on  the  throne  of  that  kingdom,  he  laid  aside 
his  claim.  Frederick  afterward  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Gustavus  and 
the  Hanse-towns,  against  the  deposed  king,  Christian  II.,  who,  after  several 
unsuccessful  attempts  to  recover  his  crown,  died  in  prison :  a  fate  too  gentle 
for  so  barbarous  a  tyrant. 

Frederick  was  succeeded  in  the  Danish  throne  by  his  son,  Christian  III., 
one  of  the  most  prudent  and  prosperous  princes  of  his  age.  He  established 
the  Protestant  religion  at  the  same  time  in  Denmark  and  Norway,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  example  of  Gustavus,  who  had  already  introduced  it  into  Sweden. 
The  doctrines  of  Luther  had  spread  themselves  over  both  kingdoms,  and  both 
princes  saw  the  advantage  of  retrenching  the  exorbitant  power  of  the  clergy. 
Christian  died  in  1558,  and  Gustavus  in  1560,  leaving  behind  him  the  glorious 
character  of  a  patriot  king.(4)  He  rescued  Sweden  from  the  Danish  yoke, 
by  his  valour;  he  made  commerce  and  arts  flourish,  by  his  wise  policy;  and 
me  liberality  of  his  bold  and  independent  spirit,  by  making  him  superior  to 

(1)  Vertot.    Revolut.  Sued.  (2)  Loccen.    Puffend.    Vcrtot. 

13)  Id.  ibid.  C4)  Vertot 


LET.  LXV.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  437 

vulgar  prejudices,  enabled  him  to  break  the  fetters  of  priestly  tyranny,  and 
enfranchise  the  minds  as  well  as  the  bodies  of  his  countrymen. 

While  Denmark  and  Sweden  were  thus  rising1  to  distinction,  Russia 
remained  buried  in  that  barbarism  and  obscurity,  from  which  it  was  called 
about  the  beginning-  of  the  last  century,  by  the  creative  genius  ot  Peter  the 
Great,  who  made  his  country  known  and  formidable  to  the  rest  of  Europe. 
But  the  names  of  patriots  and  of  heroes,  however  rude  or  enlightened,  ought 
to  be  transmitted  to  posterity.  John  Basilowitz  I.,  great  duke  of  Muscovy 
threw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Tartars,  to  whom  Russia  had  been  long  tributary; 
expelled  the  Tartar  officers  from  Moscow ;  invaded  their  territories ;  made 
himself  master  of  Novogorod,  and  also  of  Cassan,  where  he  was  crowned 
with  the  diadem  of  that  country;  and  assumed  the  title  of  czar,  which,  in 
the  Sclavonian  language,  signifies  king  or  emperor.  To  these  acquisitions 
his  grandson,  John  Basilowitz  II.,  added  Astracan,  and  also  Siberia,  hitherto 
as  little  known  to  the  Russians  as  Mexico  was  to  the  Spaniards  before  the 
expedition  of  Cortez,  and  as  easily  conquered.  This  prince  sent  ambassa- 
dors to  the  court  of  England,  and  concluded  a  treaty  of  commerce  with 
Elizabeth  ;(1)  Richard  Chancellor,  an  English  navigator,  having  discovered 
some  years  before,  by  doubling  the  North  Cape,  the  port  of  Archangel  in  the 
river  Dwina. 

Poland,  still  a  scene  of  anarchy,  began  to  be  of  some  consideration  in  the 
North,  after  the  race  of  the  Jagellons  came  to  the  throne,  and  united 
Lithuania  to  that  kingdom.  Though  the  crown  is  elective,  the  succession 
continued  uninterrupted  in  the  same  family  for  almost  two  hundred  years, 
and  Sigismund  I.,  contemporary  with  Charles  V.,  was  esteemed  a  great 
prince.  (2)  But  while  the  most  inconsiderate  of  the  nobles,  by  the  word  veto, 
can  prevent  the  enacting  of  the  most  salutary  law;  and  while  the  great  body 
of  people  remain  in  a  state  of  slavery,  Poland  can  never  obtain  any  rank 
among  the  civilized  nations. — So  true  it  is,  my  dear  Philip,  that  the  character 
of  a  people,  their  virtue,  their  genius,  and  their  industry,  depend  chiefly  on 
their  civil  and  political  institutions ! 

Prussia,  which  has  lately  made  so  great  a  figure  in  the  affairs  of  Europe, 
was  only  erected  into  a  kingdom  in  the  year  1700.  It  was  originally  con- 
quered from  the  Pagans  of  the  North,  by  the  knights  of  the  Teutonic  order, 
wHo  held  it  upwards  of  three  hundred  years.  At  last  Albert,  margrave  of 
Brandenburg,  grand-master  of  the  order,  embracing  the  doctrines  of  Luther, 
and  willing  to  aggrandize  himself  at  the  expense  of  the  knights,  agreed  to 
share  Prussia  with  his  uncle,  Sigismund  I.,  king  of  Poland,  on  condition  of 
paying  homage  for  the  protection  of  that  crown.  The  proposal  was  accepted. 
Alberf  took  the  title  of  duke  in  his  new  territory;  hence  the  present  kingdom 
is  called  Ducal  Prussia,  and  that  part  in  the  possession  of  Poland,  and  on  the 
western  side  of  the  Vistula,  Regal  Prussia.(3) 

The  future  transactions  of  the  kingdoms  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia  1 
have  occasion  to  relate,  as  formerly,  in  treating  of  the  affairs  of  the  empire 
and  the  house  of  Austria.    More  interesting  objects  at  present  claim  oui 
attention. 


LETTER  LXV. 

England,  Scotland,  and  France,  from  the  Peace  of  CMteau-Cambresis,  in  1559, 
to  the  Death  of  Francis  #.,  and  the  Return  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  to  her 
native  Kingdom. 

THE  treaty  of  Chateau-Cambresis,  my  dear  Philip,  though  it  re-established 
peace,  by  settling  the  claims  of  the  contending  powers,  by  no  means  secured 
lasting  tranquillity  to  Europe.  The  Protestant  opinions  had  already  made 

a)Petnh»     Caraden.  (2)  Flor.  Polon  '3)  JWm.  de  Brandenburff ,  torn.  i. 


438  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I 

considerable  progress  both  in  France  and  the  Low  Countries,  and  Philip  and 
Henry  were  equally  resolved  to  extirpate  heresy  throughout  their  dominions. 
The  horrors  of  the  inquisition,  long  familiar  to  Spain,  were  not  only  increased 
in  that  kingdom,  but  extended  to  Italy  and  the  Netherlands ;  and  although  the 
premature  death  of  Henry  II.  suspended  for  a  while  the  rage  of  persecution 
in  France,  other  causes  of  discontent  arose,  and  religion  was  made  use  of  by 
each  party  to  light  the  flames  of  civil  war.(l) 

A  new  source  of  discord  also  arose  between  France  and  England.  Thr 
princes  of  Lorrain,  the  ambitious  family  of  Guise  whose  credit  had  long  been 
great  at  the  French  court,  and  who  had  negotiated  the  marriage  between  the 
dauphin,  now  Francis  II.,  and  their  niece  the  queen  of  Scots,  extended  still 
further  their  ambitious  views.  No  less  able  than  aspiring,  they  had  governed 
both  the  king  and  kingdom,  since  the  accession  of  the  young  and  feeble 
Francis.  But  they  had  many  enemies.  Catharine  of  Medicis,  the  queen- 
mother,  a  woman  who  scrupled  at  no  violence  or  perfidy  to  accomplish  her 
ends ;  the  two  princes  of  the  blood,  Anthony  de  Bourbon  king  of  Navarre, 
and  his  brother  Lewis  prince  of  Conde,  besides  the  constable  Montmorency 
and  his  powerful  family,  were  alike  desirous  of  the  administration,  and 
envious  of  the  power  of  the  Guises. (2) 

In  order  to  acquire  this  power,  the  duke  of  Guise  and  his  five  brothers,  the 
cardinal  of  Lorrain,  the  duke  of  Aumale,  the  cardinal  of  Guise,  the  marquia 
of  Elbeuf,  and  the  grand  prior,  men  no  less  ambitious  than  himself,  had  not 
only  employed  the  greatest  military  and  political  talents,  but  to  all  the  arts 
of  insinuation  and  address  had  added  those  of  intrigue  and  dissimulation. 
In  negotiating  the  marriage  between  their  niece,  Mary  Stuart,  and  the  dau- 
phin, these  artful  princes,  while  they  prevailed  on  the  French  court  to  grant 
the  Scottish  nation  every  security  for  the  independency  of  that  crown, 
engaged  the  young  queen  of  Scots  to  subscribe  privately  three  deeds,  by 
which,  failing  the  heirs  of  her  own  body,  she  conferred  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland,  with  whatever  inheritance  or  succession  might  accrue  to  it,  in  free 
gift  upon  the  crown  of  France ;  declaring  any  deed  which  her  subjects  had, 
or  might,'  extort  from  her  to  the  contrary,  to  be  void,  and  of  no  obligation.(S) 

By  the  succession  mentioned  in.  these  deeds,  the  crown  of  England  seems 
to  have  been  meant ;  for  no  sooner  were  the  Guises  informed  of  the  death 
of  queen  Mary,  and  the  accession  of  her  sister  Elizabeth  (whose  birth  in  the 
opinion  of  every  good  Catholic,  excluded  her  from  any  legal  right  to  the 
throne),  than  they  formed  a  project  worthy  of  their  ambition.  In  order  to 
exalt  still  higher  their  credit,  and  secure  their  power,  they  attempted  to 
acquire  also  for  France  the  southern  British  kingdom.  For  this  purpose, 
they  solicited  at  Rome,  and  obtained  a  bull,  declaring  Elizabeth's  birth  ille- 
gitimate ;  and  as  the  queen  of  Scots,  then  married  to  the  dauphin,  was  the 
next  heir  by  blood,  they  persuaded  Henry  II.  to  permit  his  son  and  daughter 
in-law  to  assume  the  title  and  arms  of  England.  (4) 

Elizabeth  complained  of  this  insult,  by  her  ambassador  at  the  court  of 
France,  but  could  obtain  only  an  evasive  answer.  No  obvious  measure,  how- 
ever, was  taken,  during  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  in  support  of  the  claim  of  the 
queen  of  Scots ;  but  no  sooner  were  the  princes  of  Lorrain  in  full  possession 
of  the  administration  under  his  successor,  Francis  II.,  than  more  vigorous  and 
less  guarded  counsels  were  adopted.  Sensible  that  Scotland  was  the  quarter 
whence  they  could  attack  England  to  most  advantage,  they  gave,  as  a  prepara- 
tory step,  orders  to  their  sister,  the  queen-regent,  and  encouraged  her  by 
promises  of  men  and  money,  to  take  effectual  measures  for  humbling  the 
Scottish  malecontents,  and  suppressing  the  Protestant  opinions  in  that  king- 
dom ;  hoping  that  the  English  Catholics,  formidable  at  that  time  by  their  zeal 
and  numbers,  and  exasperated  against  Elizabeth,  on  account  of  the  change 
which  she  had  made  in  the  national  religion,  would  rise  in  support  of  the 
succession  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  when  animated  by  the  prospect  of  protec- 

(1)  Thuanus.    Cabrera.    Davila.  (2)  Davila,  lib.  i.    Mezeray,  torn.  V 

(3)  Du  Mont,  Corps  Diplomat,  torn  v.     Robertson,  Hist.  Scot,  book  ii. 
14)  Robertson,  Hist.  Scot.     Anderson.  Diplom.  Scot-  No-  68  and  164. 


LET.  LXV.J  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  ROP  E.  439 

lion,  and  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  France,  as  the  only  power  that 
church*  a)"1"6  t0  anCiCnt  W0rship'  and  the  Privileges  of  ^e  Romish 

No  stranger  to  these  violent  counsels,  Elizabeth  saw  her  danger,  and  de- 
ttrmmed  to  provide  against  it.  Meanwhile,  the  situation  of  affairs  in  Scotland 
tfforded  her  a  favourable  opportunity,  both  of  revenging  the  insult  offered  to 
her  crown,  and  of  defeating  the  ambitious  views  of  France. 

The  Reformation  was  fast  advancing  in  Scotland.  All  the  Low  Country  was 
deeply  tinctured  with  the  Protestant  opinions ;  and  as  the  converts  to  the  new 
religion  had  been  guilty  of  no  violation  of  public  peace  since  the  murder  of 
cardinal  Beaton,  whose  death  was  partly  occasioned  by  private  revenue,  the 
queen-regent,  willing  to  secure  their  favour,  in  order  to  enable  her  to  maintain 
that  authority  which  she  had  found  so  much  difficulty  to  acquire,  connived  at 
the  progress  of  doctrines  which  she  wanted  power  utterly  to  suppress.  Too 
cautious,  however,  to  trust  to  this  precarious  indulgence  for  the  safety  of 
their  religious  principles,  the  heads  of  the  Protestant  party  in  Scotland  entered 
privately  into  a  bond  of  association,  for  the  mutual  protection  and  the  propa- 
gation of  their  tenets,  styling  themselves  the  Congregation  of  the  Lord,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  established  church,  which  they  denominated  the  Congre- 
gation of  Satan.  (2) 

Such  associations  are  generally  the  forerunners  of  rebellion;  and  it  appears 
that  the  heads  of  the  Congregation  in  Scotland  carried  their  views  farther 
than  a  mere  toleration  of  the  new  doctrines.  So  far  they  were  to  blame,  as 
enemies  to  civil  authority ;  but  the  violent  measures  pursued  against  their 
sect,  before  this  league  was  known  or  avowed,  sufficiently  justified  the  assoy 
ciation  itself,  as  the  result  of  a  prudent  foresight,  and  a  necessary  step  to 
secure  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion.  Alarmed  at  the  progress  of  the 
Reformation,  the  popish  clergy  had  attempted  to  recover  their  sinking  autho- 
rity by  enforcing  the  tyrannical  laws  against  heresy ;  and  Hamilton,  the  pri- 
mate, formerly  distinguished  by  his  moderation,  had  sentenced  to  the  flames 
an  aged  priest,  convicted  of  embracing  the  Protestant  opinions.(3) 

This  was  the  last  barbarity  of  the  kind  that  the  Catholics  had  the  power  to 
exercise  in  Scotland.  The  severity  of  the  archbishop  rather  roused  than 
intimidated  the  Reformers.  The  Congregation  now  openly  solicited  subscrip- 
tions to  their  league ;  and  not  satisfied  with  new  and  more  solemn  promises 
of  the  regent's  protection,  they  presented  a  petition  to  her,  craving  a  reforma- 
tion of  the  church,  and  of  the  wicked,  scajidalous,  and  detestable  lives  of  the 
clergy.  They  also  framed  a  petition,  which  they  intended  to  present  to  par- 
liament, soliciting  some  legal  protection  against  the  exorbitant  and  oppressive 
jurisdiction  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  They  even  petitioned  the  convoca- 
tion ;  and  insisted  that  prayers  should  be  said  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  that  bishops 
should  be  chosen  by  the  gentry  of  the  diocess,  and  priests  with  the  consent 
of  the  parishioners. 

Instead  of  soothing  the  Protestants  by  any  prudent  concessions,  the  convo- 
cation rejected  their  demands  with  disdain ;  and  the  queen-regent,  who  had 
hitherto  wisely  temporized  between  the  parties,  and  whose  humanity  and 
sagacity  taught  her  moderation,  having  received  during  the  sitting  of  the 
assembly  the  violent  commands  of  her  brother,  prepared  to  carry  their 
despotic  plan  into  execution,  contrary  to  her  own  judgment  and  experience. 
She  publicly  expressed  her  approbation  of  the  decrees,  by  which  the  principles 
of  the  Reformers  were  condemned  in  the  convocation,  and  cited  the  most 
eminent  Protestant  teachers  to  appear  before  the  council  at  Stirling.(4) 

The  members  of  the  Congregation,  alarmed  but  not  overawed  by  this  dan- 
ger, assembled  in  great  numbers,  agreeable  to  the  custom  of  Scotland  at  that 
time,  in  order  to  attend  their  pastors  to  the  place  of  trial,(5)  to  protect  and 

(1)  Forbes,  vol.  i.    Thuan.  lib.  xxiv.  (2)  Keith.    Knox 

(3)  Id.  ibid.  (4)  Melvil.    Jebb.    Castelneau. 

(5)  In  consequence  of  this  custom,  originally  introduced  by  vassalage  and  clanship,  and  afterward  tola- 
rated  through  the  feebleness  of  government,  any  person  of  eminence  accused  of  a  crime  was  accompanied 
to  the  place  of  trial  by  a  body  of  his  friends  and  adherent.  Robertson,  Hist.  Scot,  book  ii. 


440  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

to  countenance  them :  and  the  queen-regent,  dreading  the  approach  of  so  for- 
midable a  body,  empowered  Erskine  of  Dun,  a  person  of  high  authority  with 
the  Reformers,  to  assure  them  that  she  would  put  a  stop  to  the  intended  pro- 
ceedings, provided  they  advanced  no  further.  They  listened  with  pleasure, 
and  perhaps  with  too  much  credulity,  to  so  pacific  a  proposition ;  for  men 
whose  grievances  obliged  them  to  fly  in  the  face  of  the  civil  power,  under 
whatever  plausible  pretext  their  purpose  may  be  concealed,  should  trust  to 
nothing  less  than  the  solemnity  of  a  contract.  The  regent  broke  her  promise, 
conformable  to  her  maxim,  that  "  the  promises  of  princes  ought  not  to  be  too 
carefully  remembered,  nor  the  performance  of  them  exacted,  unless  it  suits 
their  own  conveniency."  She  proceeded  to  call  to  trial  the  persons  formerly 
summoned ;  and  on  their  not  appearing,  though  purposely  prevented,  they 
were  pronounced  outlaws.  (1) 

By  this  ignoble  artifice,  the  queen-regent  forfeited  the  esteem  and  confi- 
dence of  the  whole  nation.  The  Protestants  boldly  prepared  for  their  own 
defence;  and  Erskine,  enraged  at  being  made  the  instrument  of  deceiving 
his  party,  instantly  repaired  to  Perth,  whither  the  leaders  of  the  Congregation 
had  retired,  and  inflamed  the  zeal  of  his  associates,  by  his  representations  of 
the  regent's  inflexible  resolution  to  suppress  their  religion.  His  ardour  was 
powerfully  seconded  by  the  rhetoric  of  John  Knox,  a  preacher  possessed  of 
a  bold  and  popular  eloquence.  Having  been  carried  prisoner  into  France, 
together  with  other  persons  taken  in  the  castle  of  St.  Andrews  soon  after  the 
murder  of  cardinal  Beaton,  Knox  made  his  escape  out  of  that  kingdom;  and, 
after  residing  sometimes  in  England,  sometimes  in  Scotland,  had  found  it 
necessary,  in  order  to  avoid  the  vengeance  of  the  popish  clergy,  to  retire  to 
Geneva.  There  he  imbibed  all  the  enthusiasm,  and  heightened  the  natural 
ferocity  of  his  own  character  by  the  severe  doctrines  of  Calvin,  who  had 
succeeded  Zuinglius  in  the  apostleship  of  that  republic,  and  completed  its 
ecclesiastical  establishment. 

Invited  home  by  the  heads  of  the  Protestant  party  in  Scotland,  Knox  had 
arrived  in  his  native  country  a  few  days  before  the  trial  appointed  at  Stir- 
ling, and  immediately  joined  his  brethren,  that  he  might  share  with  them  in 
the  common  danger,  as  well  as  in  the  glory  of  promoting  the  common  cause. 
In  the  present  ferment  of  men's  minds,  occasioned  by  the  regent's  deceitful 
conduct,  and  the  sense  of  their  own  danger,  he  mounted  the  pulpit,  and  de- 
claimed with  such  vehemence  against  the  idolatry  and  other  abuses  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  that  his  audience  were  strongly  incited  to  attempt  its  utter  subver- 
sion. During  those  movements  of  holy  indignation,  the  indiscreet  bigotry  of 
a  priest,  who  immediately  after  that  violent  invective  was  preparing  to  cele- 
brate mass,  and  had  opened  all  his  repository  of  images  and  reliques,  hurried 
the  enthusiastic  populace  into  immediate  action.  They  fell  with  fury  upon 
the  de*vout  Catholic,  broke  the  images,  tore  the  pictures,  overthrew  the  altars, 
and  scattered  about  the  sacred  vases.  They  next  proceeded  to  the  monasteries, 
against  which  their  zeal  more  particularly  pointed  its  thunder.  Not  content 
with  expelling  the  monks,  and  defacing  every  instrument  of  idolatrous  wor- 
ship, as  they  termed  it,  they  vented  their  rage  upon  the  buildings  which  had 
been  the  receptacles  of  such  abomination ;  and,  in  a  few  hours,  those  superb 
edifices  were  level  with  the  ground.(2) 

Provoked  at  these  violences,  and  others  of  a  like  kind,  the  queen-regent 
assembled  an  army  composed  chiefly  of  French  troops ;  and  being  assisted 
by  such  of  the  nobility  as  still  adhered  to  her  cause,  she  determined  to  inflict 
the  severest  vengeance  on  the  whole  Protestant  party.  Intelligence  of  her 
preparations,  as  well  as  of  the  spirit  by  which  she  was  actuated,  soon  reached 
Perth ;  and  the  heads  of  the  Congregation,  who  had  given  no  countenance  to 
the  late  insurrection  in  that  city,  would  gladly  have  soothed  her  by  the  most 
dutiful  and  submissive  addresses ;  but  finding  her  inexorable,  they  prepared 
for  resistance,  and  their  adherents  flocked  to  them  in  such  numbers,  tha' 

(1)  Knox,  p.  127.    Robertson,  book  li 

(2)  Spotswood,  p.  121.    Knox  o  127  128     Robertoon  book  ii.    Huwe,  chap,  xsjcviii. 


LET.  LXV.]  M  ODE  RN   E  U  ROPE.  441 

within  a  few  days  they  were  in  a  condition  not  only  to  defend  the  town,  but  to 
take  the  field  with  superior  forces.  Neither  party,  however,  discovered  much 
inclination  to  hazard  a  battle,  both  being  afraid  of  the  dangerous  consequences 
of  such  a  trial  of  strength ;  and  through  the  mediation  of  the  earl  of  Argyle, 
and  of  James  Stuart,  prior  of  St.  Andrews,  the  young  queen's  natural  brother, 
who,  although  closely  connected  with  the  Reformers,  had  not  yet  openly 
leserted  the  regent,  a  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  Congregation. 

In  this  treaty  it  was  stipulated,  among  other  provisions,  that  indemnity 
should  be  granted  to  all  persons  concerned  in  the  late  insurrection,  and  that 
the  parliament  should  immediately  be  assembled;  in  order  to  compose  religious 
differences.  Both  these  stipulations  the  queen-regent  broke — by  neglecting 
to  call  the  parliament,  by  fining  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Perth,  banishing 
others,  turning  the  magistrates  out  of  office,  and  leaving  a  garrison  in  the 
town,  with  orders  to  allow  the  exercise  of  no  other  religion  but  the  Roman 
Catholic. (1)  The  Protestants  renewed  the  league,  ami  had  again  recourse 
to  arms  ;  despoiling,  wherever  they  turned  their  route,  the  churches  of  their 
sacred  furniture,  and  laying  the  monasteries  in  ruins.  New  treaties  were 
concluded,  and  again  broken,  and  new  ravages  were  committed  on  the  monu- 
ments of  ecclesiastical  pride  and  luxury. 

Meanwhile,  the  Congregation  had  been  joined  not  only  by  the  earl  of  Argyle 
and  the  prior  of  St.  Andrews,  but  also  by  the  duke  of  Chatelrault  and  his  son 
the  earl  of  Arran,  the  presumptive  heirs  of  the  crown,  and  had  possessed 
themselves  of  the  capital.  They  now  aimed  at  the  redress  of  civil  as  well  as 
religious  grievances ;  requiring,  as  a  preliminary  towards  settling  the  kingdom, 
and  securing  its  liberties,  the  immediate  expulsion  of  the  French  forces  out 
of  Scotland.  The  queen-regent,  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  giving  way  to 
a  torrent  which  she  could  not  resist,  amused  them  for  a  time, with  fair  pro- 
mises and  pretended  negotiations;  but  being  reinforced  with  a  thousand 
foreign  troops,  and  encouraged  by  the  court  of  France  to  expect  soon  the 
arrival  of  an  army  so  powerful  as  the  zeal  of  her  adversaries,  however  des- 
perate, would  not  dare  to  encounter,  she  listened  to  the  rash  counsels  of  her 
brothers,  and  at  last  gave  the  Congregation  a  positive  denial.  She  was  not 
answerable  to  the  confederate  lords,  she  said,  for  any  part  of  her  conduct; 
nor  should  she,  upon  any  representation  from  them,  abandon  measures  which 
she  deemed  necessary,  or  dismiss  forces  that  she  found  useful ;  ordering  them, 
at  the  same  time,  on  pain  of  her  displeasure,  and  a3  they  valued  their  alle- 
giance, to  disband  the  troops  which  they  had  assembled. 

This  haughty  reply  to  their  earnest  and  continued  solicitations  determined 
the  leaders  of  the  Congregation  to  take  a  step  worthy  of  a  brave  and  free 
people.  They  assembled  the  whole  body  of  peers,  barons,  and  representa- 
tives of  boroughs,  that  adhered  to  their  party ;  and  the  members  of  this  bold 
convention  (which  equalled  in  number,  and  exceeded  in  dignity,  the  usual 
meetings  of  parliament),  after  examining  the  most  delicate  and  important  ques- 
tion that  can  possibly  fall  under  the  consideration  of  subjects—"  the  obedience 
due  to  an  unjust  and  oppressive  administration,"  gave  their  suffrage,  without 
one  dissenting  voice,  for  depriving  Mary  of  Guise  of  the  office  of  regent, 
which  she  had  exercised  so  much  to  the  detriment  of  the  kingdom. (2) 

The  queen-dowager  had  already  retired  into  Leith,  the  sea-port  of  Edin- 
burgh, which  she  had  fortified  and  garrisoned  with  French  troops,  and  where 
she  daily  expected  new  reinforcements.  Leith  was  immediately  invested  by 
the  forces  of  the  Congregation ;  but  the  confederate  lords  soon  found  that 
their  zeal  had  engaged  them  in  an  undertaking  which  exceeded  their  ability 
to  accomplish.  The  French  garrison,  despising  the  tumultuous  efforts  of 
raw  and  undisciplined  troops,  refused  to  surrender  the  town :  and  the  Pro- 
testant leaders  were  neither  sufficiently  skilful  in  the  art  of  war,  nor  possessed 
of  the  artillery  or  magazines  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  a  siege.  Norw 
this  their  only  misfortune :  their  followers,  accustomed  to  decide  every  quarrel 

(1)  Buchanan,  lib.  xvi.    Robertson,  book  ii. 

(2)  Buchanan,  lib  xvi.    Robertson,  book  ii.    Knox,  p.  184. 


442  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

by  immediate  action,  were  strangers  to  the  fatigues  of  a  long  campaign,  and 
soon  became  impatient  of  the  severe  and  constant  duty  which  a  siege  requires. 
They  first  murmured,  then  mutinied;  the  garrison  took  advantage  of  their 
discontents;  and,  making  a  bold  sally,  cut  many  of  them  in  pieces,  and 
obliged  the  rest  to  abandon  the  enterprise. 

Sooiv  after  this  victory  the  queen-dowager  received  from  France  a  new 
reinforcement  of  a  thousand  veteran  foot,  and  some  troops  of  horse.  These, 
together  with  a  detachment  from  the  garrison  of  Leith,  were  sent  out  to 
scour  the  country,  and  to  pillage  and  lay  waste  the  houses  and  lands  of  the 
Protestants.  Already  broken  and  dispirited,  and  hearing  that  the  marquis  of 
Elbeuf,  the  queen-dowager's  brother,  was  suddenly  expected  with  a  great 
army,  the  leaders  of  the  Congregation  began  to  consider  their  cause  as  des- 
perate, unless  the  Lord,  whose  holy  name  they  had  assumed,  should  miracu- 
lously interpose  in  their  behalf.  But  whatever  confidence  they  might  place 
in  divine  aid,  they  did  not  neglect  human  means. 

The  Scottish  Protestants,  in  this  pressing  extremity,  thought  themselves 
excusable  in  craving  foreign  help.  They  turned  their  eyes  towards  England, 
which  had  already  supplied  them  with  money,  and  resolved  to  implore  the 
assistance  of  Elizabeth  to  enable  them  to  finish  an  undertaking  in  which 
they  had  so  fatally  experienced  their  own  weakness ;  and  as  the  sympathy  of 
religion,  as  well  as  regard  to  civil  liberty,  had  now  counterbalanced  the  ancient 
animosity  against  that  sister-kingdom,  this  measure  was  the  result  of  incli- 
nation no  less  than  of  interest  or  necessity.  Maitland  of  Lethington,  formerly 
the  regent's  principal  secretary,  and  Robert  Melvil,  already  acquainted  with 
the  intrigues  of  courts,  were  therefore  secretly  despatched,  as  the  most  able 
negotiators  of  the  party,  to  solicit  succours  from  the  queen  of  England. 

The  wise  counsellors  of  Elizabeth  did  not  long  hesitate  in  agreeing  to  a 
request,  which  corresponded  so  perfectly  with  the  views  and  interests  of  theii 
mistress.  Secretary  Cecil,  in  particular,  represented  to  the  English  queen 
the  necessity,  as  well  as  equity,  of  interposing  in  the  affairs  of  Scotland,  and 
of  preventing  the  conquest  of  that  kingdom,  at  which  France  openly  aimed. 
Every  society,  he  observed,  has  a  right  to  defend  itself,  not  only  from  present 
dangers,  but  from  such  as  may  probably  ensue ;  that  the  invasion  of  England 
would  immediately  follow  the  reduction  of  the  Scottish  malecontents,  by  the 
abandoning  of  whom  to  the  mercy  of  France,  Elizabeth  would  open  a  way 
for  her  enemies  into  the  heart  of  her  own  kingdom,  and  expose  it  to  all  the 
calamities  of  war,  and  the  danger  of  conquest.  Nothing  therefore  remained, 
he  added,  but  to  meet  the  enemy  while  yet  at  a  distance;  and,  by  sup- 
porting the  leaders  of  the  Congregation  with  an  English  army,  to  render 
Scotland  the  scene  of  hostilities  ;  to  crush  the  designs  of  the  princes  of  Lor- 
rain  in  their  infancy ;  and,  by  such  an  early  and  unexpected  effort,  finally  to 
expel  the  French  out  of  Britain,  before  their  power  had  time  to  grow  up  to 
any  formidable  height.(l) 

Elizabeth,  throughout  her  whole  reign,  was  cautious  but  decisive;  ana 
by  her  promptitude  in  executing  her  resolutions,  joined  to  the  deliberation 
with  which  she  formed  them,  her  administration  became  as  remarkable  for 
its  vigour  as  for  its  wisdom.  No  sooner  did  she  determine  to  afford  assist- 
ance to  the  leaders  of  the  Congregation,  a  measure  to  which  the  reasoning 
of  Cecil  effectually  swayed  her,  than  they  experienced  the  activity  as  well  as 
the  extent  of  her  power.  The  season  of  the  year  would  not  permit,  her 
troops  to  take  the  field :  but,  lest  the  French  army  should,  in  the  mean  time, 
receive  an  accession  of  strength,  she  instantly  ordered  a  squadron  to  cruise 
in  the  Frith  of  Forth;  and  early  in  the  spring,  an  English  army  consisting  of 
six  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse,  entered  Scotland,  under  the  com- 
mand of  lord  Grey  of  Wilton. 

The  leaders  of  the  Congregation  assembled  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom 
to  meet  their  new  allies ;  and  having  joined  them  with  vast  numbers  of  their 
followers,  the  combined  army  advanced  towards  Leith.  The  French,  little 

(11  Keith,  Append.  No.  XVII.    Forbes,  vol.  i.    Jebb,  vol.  i. 


LET.  LXV.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  443 

able  to  keep  the  field  against  so  superior  a  force,  confined  themselves  within 
the  walls  of  the  fortification.  The  place  was  immediately  invested;  and 
although  the  fleet  that  carried  the  reinforcement  under  the  marquis  of  Elbeul 
had  been  scattered  by  a  violent  storm,  and  was  either  wrecked  on  the  coast 
of  France,  or  with  difficulty  recovered  the  ports  of  that  kingdom,  the  garri 
son,  by  an  obstinate  defence,  protracted  the  siege  to  a  great  length.(l) 

Meantime,  the  queen-dowager  died;  and  many  of  the  Catholic  nobles, 
jealous  of  the  French  power,  and  more  zealous  for  the  liberty  and  indepen- 
dency of  their  country  than  for  their  religion,  subscribed  the  alliance  with 
England.  Nothing  therefore  could  now  save  the  garrison  of  Leith  but  the 
immediate  conclusion  of  a  treaty,  or  the  arrival  of  a  powerful  army  from 
France ;  and  the  situation  of  that  kingdom  constrained  the  princes  of  Lorrain 
to  turn  their  thoughts,  though  with  reluctance,  towards  pacific  measures. 

The  Protestants  in  France  were  become  formidable  by  their  numbers,  and 
still  more  by  the  valour  and  enterprising  genius  of  their  leaders.    Among 
these,  the  most  eminent  were  the  prince  of  Conde,  the  king  of  Navarre  (no 
less  distinguished  by  his  abilities  than  his  rank),  the  admiral  de  Coligny,  and 
his  brother  Andelot,  who  no  longer  scrupled  to  make  open  profession  of  the 
reformed  opinions,  and  whose  high  reputation  both  for  valour  and  conduct 
gave  great  credit  to  the  cause.     Animated  with  zeal,  and  inflamed  with 
resentment  against  the  Guises,  who  had  persuaded  Francis  II.  to  imitate  the 
rigour  of  his  father,  by  reviving  the  penal  statutes  against  heresy,  the  Protes- 
tants or  Hugenots,  as  they  were  styled  by  way  of  reproach,  not  only  pre- 
pared for  their  own  defence,  but  resolved,  by  some  bold  action,  to  anticipate 
the  execution  of  those  schemes  which  threatened  the  extirpation  of  their 
religion,  and  the  ruin  of  those  who  professed  it.     Hence  the  famous  conspi- 
racy of  Amboise,  where  they  intended  to  seize  the  person  of  the  king,  and 
wrest  the  government  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Guises,  if  not  to  despatch  them ; 
and  although  the  vigilance  and  good  fortune  of  the  princes  of  Lorrain  dis- 
covered and  disappointed  that  design,  the  spirit  of  the  Protestant  party  was 
rather  roused  than  broken  by  the  tortures  inflicted  upon  the  conspirators.(2) 
The  admiral  de  Coligny  had  even  the  boldness  to  present  to  the  king,  in  a 
grand  council  at  Fontainebleau,  a  petition  from  the  Hugenots,  demanding  the 
public  exercise  of  their  religion,  unless  they  were  allowed  to  assemble  pri- 
vately with  impunity.     He  was  treated  as  an  incendiary  by  the  cardinal  of 
Lorrain  ;  but  his  request  was  warmly  seconded  by  Monluc  bishop  of  Valence, 
and  by  Marillac  archbishop  of  Vienne,  who  both  spoke  with  force  against  the 
abuses  which  had  occasioned  so  many  troubles  and  disorders,  as  well  as 
against  the  ignorance  and  vices  of  the  French  clergy.    An  assembly  of  the 
states  was  convoked,  in  order  to  appease  the  public  discontents  ;  the  edicts 
against  heretics  were,  in  the  mean  time,  suspended,  and  an  appearance  of 
toleration  succeeded  to  the  rage  of  persecution ;  but  the  sentiments  of  the 
court  were  well  known,  and  it  was  easy  to  observe  new  storms  gathering  in 
every  province  of  the  kingdom,  and  ready  to  break  forth  with  all  the  violence 
of  civil  war.  (3) 

This  distracted  state  of  affairs  called  off  the  ambition  of  the  princes  ol 
Lorrain  from  the  view  of  foreign  conquests,  in  order  to  defend  the  honoiu 
and  dignity  of  the  French  crown,  and  made  it  necessary  to  withdraw  t! 
few  veteran  troops  already  employed  in  Scotland,  instead  of  sending  lien 
reinforcements  into  that  kingdom.     Plenipotentiaries  were  thereiore  sent  to 
Edinburgh,  where  a  treaty  was  signed  with  the  ambassadors  of  Llizabetl 
In  this  treaty  it  was   stipulated  that   the  French   forces  should  instantly 
evacuate  Scotland,  and  that  Francis  and  Mary  should  thenceforth  abstain  from 
assuming  the  title  of  king  and  queen  of  England,  or  bearing  the  arms  of  t 
kingdom.     Nor  were  the  concessions  granted  to  the  Congregation  less  im- 
portant ;  namely,  that  an  amnesty  should  be  published  for  all  past  offences ; 
that  none  but  natives  should  be  put  into  any  office  in  Scotland;  that  no 
foreign  troops  should  be  hereafter  introduced  into  the  kingdom  without  the 

(I)  Mem.  de  Castelneau.  (2)  Davila,  lib.  i.  ii.     Mezeray,  torn  v. 

(3)  Davila,  lib.  ii.    Mezeray,  torn.  v. 


444  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART!. 

consent  of  parliament ;  that  the  parliament  should  name  twenty-four  per 
sons,  out  of  whom  the  queen  should  choose  seven,  and  the  parliament  five ; 
and  in  the  hands  of  these  twelve,  so  elected,  should  the  whole  administra- 
tion be  vested  during  Mary's  absence ;  that  she  should  neither  make  peace 
nor  war  without  the  consent  of  parliament ;  and  that  the  parliament  at  its  first  • 
meeting,  which  was  fixed  to  a  certain  day,  should  take  into  consideration  the 
religious  differences,  and  represent  its  sense  of  them  to  the  king  and  queen.(l) 

A  few  days  after  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  both 'the  French  and 
English  armies  quitted  Scotland ;  and  the  leaders  of  the  Congregation  being 
now  absolute  masters  of  the  kingdom,  made  no  further  scruple  or  ceremony 
in  completing  the  work  of  reformation.  The  parliament,  which  was  properly 
an  assembly  of  the  nobles,  or  great  barons,  and  dignified  clergy,  met  on  the 
day  named ;  and  on  this  occasion  the  burgesses  and  less  barons,  who  had 
also  a  right  to  be  present  in  that  assembly,  but  who  seldom  exercised  it,  stood 
forth  to  vindicate  their  civil  and  religious  liberties,  eager  to  aid  with  their 
voice  in  the  senate  that  cause  which  they  had  defended  with  their  sword 
in  the  field.  The  Protestant  members,  who  greatly  out-numbered  their 
adversaries,  after  ratifying  the  principal  articles  of  the  late  treaty,  and  giving 
their  sanction  to  a  confession  of  faith  presented  to  them  by  their  teachers, 
prohibited  the  exercise  of  religious  worship  according  to  the  rites  of  the 
Romish  church,  under  the  penalty  of  forfeiture  of  goods,  as  the  punishment 
of  the  first  act  of  disobedience ;  banishment  as  the  punishment  of  the 
second;  and  death  as  the  reward  of  the  third.(2)  With  such  indecent  haste 
did  the  very  persons  who  had  just  escaped  the  rigour  of  ecclesiastical 
tyranny,  proceed  to  imitate  those  examples  of  severity,  of  which  they  had  so 
justly  complained !  A  law  Was  also  passed  for  abolishing  the  papal  jurisdic- 
tion in  Scotland;  and  the  Presbyterian  form  of  worship  was  established, 
nearly  as  now  constituted  in  that  kingdom. 

Francis  and  Mary  refused  to  ratify  these  proceedings ;  which,  by  the  treaty 
of  Edinburgh  ought  to  have  been  presented  for  approbation,  in  the  form  of 
deliberations,  not  of  acts.  But  the  Scottish  Protestants  gave  themselves 
little  trouble  about  their  sovereign's  refusal.  They  immediately  put  the 
statutes  in  execution  ;  they  abolished  the  mass ;  they  settled  their  ministers  ; 
and  they  committed  furious  devastations  on  the  sacred  buildings,  which  they 
considered  as  dangerous  relics  of  idolatry,  laying  waste  every  thing  vene- 
rable and  magnificent,  that  had  escaped  the  storm  of  popular  insurrection. 
Abbeys,  cathedrals,  churches,  libraries,  records,  and  even  the  sepulchres  of 
the  dead,  perished  in  one  common  ruin.(3) 

United  by  the  consciousness  of  such  unpardonable  stretches  of  authority, 
and  well  acquainted  with  the  imperious  character  of  the  princes  of  Lorrain, 
the  Protestant  part  of  the  Scottish  parliament,  seeing  no  safety  for  themselves 
but  in  the  protection  of  England,  despatched  ambassadors  to  Elizabeth,  to 
express  their  sincere  gratitude  for  her  past  favours,  and  represent  to  her  the 
necessity  of  continuing  them.  Elizabeth,  on  her  part,  had  equal  reason  to 
desire  a  union  with  these  northern  Reformers.  Though  the  disorders  in 
France  had  obliged  the  princes  of  Lorrain  to  remit  their  efforts  in  Scotland, 
and  had  been  one  chief  cause  of  the  success  of  the  English  arms,  they  were 
determined  not  to  relinquish  their  authority,  or  yield  to  the  violence  of  their 
enemies.  Nor  had  they  yet  laid  aside  their  design  of  subverting  Elizabeth's 
throne.  Francis  and  Mary,  whose  councils  were  still  wholly  directed  by 
them,  obstinately  refused  to  ratify  the  treaty  of  Edinburgh,  and  persisted  in 
assuming  the  title  and  arms  of  England.  Aware  of  the  danger  attending  such 
pretensions,  Elizabeth  not  only  promised  support  to  the  Protestant  party  in 
Scotland,  but  secretly  encouraged  the  French  malecontents  :(4)  and  it  was 
with  pleasure  that  she  heard  of  the  violent  factions  which  prevailed  in  the 
court  of  France,  and  of  the  formidable  opposition  against  the  measures  of  the 
duke  of  Guise. 

But  that  opposition  must  soon  have  been  crushed  by  the  vigorous  and 

(1)  Keith.    Spotewood.    Knox.  (3)  Id.  ibid. 

(3)  Robertson,  book  iii.    Hume,  chap,  xxiviii.  (4)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  LXV.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  445 

decisive  administration  of  the  princes  of  Lorrain,  if  an  unexpected  event  had 
not  set  bounds  to  their  power.  They  had  already  found  an  opportunity  of 
seizing  the  king-  of  Navarre  and  the  prince  of  Conde  ;  they  had  thrown  the ' 
former  into  prison ;  they  had  obtained  a  sentence  of  death  against  the  latter ; 
and  they  were  proceeding  to  put  it  in  execution,  when  the  sudden  death  of 
Francis  II.  arrested  the  uplifted  blow,  and  brought  down  the  duke  of  Guise  to 
the  level  of  a  subject.  Catharine  of  Medicis,  the  queen-mother,  was  appointed 
guardian  to  her  son  Charles  IX.,  only  ten  years  of  age  at  his  accession,  and 
invested  with  the  administration  of  the  realm,  though  not  with  the  title  of 
regent.  In  consequence  of  her  maxim,  "  divide  and  govern !"  the  king  of 
Navarre  was  named  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom ;  the  sentence  against 
Conde  was  annulled;  the  constable  Montmorency  was  recalled  to  court;  and 
the  princes  of  Lorrain,  though  they  still  enjoyed  high  offices  arid  great  power, 
found  a  counterpoise  to  the  weight  of  their  influence.(l) 

The  death  of  Francis  II.,  without  issue  by  the  queen  of  Scots,  and  the 
change  which  it  produced  in  the  French  councils,  at  once  freed  the  queen  of 
England  from  the  perils  attending  a  union  of  Scotland  with  France,  and  the 
Scottish  Protestants  from  the  terror  of  the  French  power.  The  joy  of  the 
Congregation  was  extreme.  They  ascribed  those  events  to  the  immediate 
interposition  of  Providence  in  favour  of  his  chosen  people ;  and  Elizabeth, 
without  looking  so  high  for  their  causes,  determined  to  take  advantage  of 
their  effects,  in  order  more  firmly  to  establish  her  throne.  She  still  regarded 
the  queen  of  Scots  as  a  dangerous  rival,  on  account  of  the  number  of  English 
Catholics,  who  were  generally  prejudiced  in  favour  of  Mary's  title,  and  would 
now  adhere  to  her  with  more  zealous  attachment,  when  they  saw  that  hei 
succession  no  longer  endangered  the  liberties  of  the  kingdom.  She  there- 
fore gave  orders  to  her  ambassador  at  the  court  of  France  to  renew  his  appli 
cations  to  the  queen  of  Scots,  and  to  require  her  immediate  ratification  of  the 
treaty  of  Edinburgh. (2) 

Mary,  slighted  by  the  queen-mother,  who  imputed  to  that  princess  all  the 
mortifications  she  had  met  with  during  the  life  of  Francis ;  forsaken  by  the 
swarm  of  courtiers,  who  appear  only  in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity ;  and  over- 
whelmed with  all  the  sorrow  which  so  sad  a  reverse  of  fortune  could  occa- 
sion, had  retired  to  Rheims ;  and  there,  in  solitude,  indulged  her  grief,  or  hid 
her  indignation.  But  notwithstanding  her  disconsolate  condition,  and  though 
she  had  desisted  after  her  husband's  death  from  bearing  the  arms  or  assuming 
the  title  of  England,  she  still  eluded  ratifying  the  treaty  of  Edinburgh,  and 
refused  to  make  any  solemn  renunciation  of  her  pretensions  to  the  English 
crown.  (3) 

Meanwhile,  James  Stuart,  prior  of  St.  Andrews,  her  natural  brother,  arrived 
at  Rheims,  in  deputation  from  the  states  of  Scotland,  inviting  the  queen  to 
return  into  her  native  kingdom,  and  assume  the  reins  of  government.  But 
Mary,  though  severely  sensible  she  was  no  longer  queen  of  France,  was  in 
no  haste  to  leave  a  country  where  she  had  been  educated  from  her  earliest 
infancy,  and  where  so  many  attentions  had  been  paid  to  her  person  as  well 
as  to  her  rank.  Accustomed  to  the  elegance,  gallantry,  and  gayety  of  a 
splendid  court,  and  to  the  conversation  of  a  polished  people,  by  whom  she  had 
been  loved  and  admired,  she  still  fondly  lingered  in  the  scene  of  all  these 
enjoyments,  and  contemplated  with  horror  the  barbarism  of  her  own  country, 
and  the  turbulence  of  her  native  subjects,  who  had  so  violently  spurned  all 
civil  and  religious  authority.  By  the  advice  of  her  uncles,  however,  she 
determined  at  last  to  set  out  for  Scotland  ;  and  as  the  course,  in  sailing  from 
France  to  that  kingdom,  lies  along  the  English  coast,  she  demanded  of  Eliza- 
beth, by  the  French  ambassador  D'Oisel,  a  safe-conduct  during  her  voyage. 
That  request,  which  decency  alone  obliged  one  sovereign  to  grant  to  another 
Elizabeth  rejected  in  such  a  manner  as  gave  rise  to  no  slight  suspicion  of  a 
design  either  to  obstruct  the  passage  or  intercept  the  person  of  the  queen  of 
Scots.(4) 

(l)Mem.deCastelneau.    Davila,  lib.  ii.  (2)  Keith.    Castelneau.  (3)  Id.  ibii. 

(4)  Keith.    Caniden.    Robertson,  Append.  No.  VL 


446  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

This  ungenerous  behaviour  of  Elizabeth  filled  Mary  with  indignation,  but 
did  not  retard  her  departure  from  France.  Having  cleared  the  room  of  her 
attendants,  she  said  to  Throgmorton,  the  English  ambassador,  "How  weak 
I  may  prove,  or  how  far  a  woman's  frailty  may  transport  me,  1  cannot  tell; 
however,  I  am  resolved  not  to  have  so  many  witnesses  of  my  infirmity  as 
your  mistress  had  at  her  audience  of  my  ambassador  D'Oisel.  There  is 
nothing  disturbs  me  so  much,  as  having  asked  with  so  much  importunity  a 
favour,  which  it  was  of  no  consequence  for  me  to  obtain.  I  can,  with  God's 
leave,  return  to  my  own  country,  without  her  leave,  as  I  came  to  France  in 
spite  of  all  the  opposition  of  her  brother,  king  Edward :  neither  do  I  want 
friends  both  able  and  willing  to  conduct  me  home,  as  they  have  brought  me 
hither;  though  I  was  desirous  rather  to  make  an  experiment  of  your  mis- 
tress's friendship,  than  of  the  assistance  of  any  other  person."(l)  She 
embarked  on  board  a  galley  at  Calais ;  and  passing  the  English  fleet,  under 
cover  of  a  thick  fog,  arrived  safely  at  Leith,  attended  by  the  duke  of  Aumale, 
the  grand  prior,  and  the  marquis  of  Elbeuf,  three  of  her  uncles  of  the  house  of 
Lorrain,  together  with  the  marquis  of  Damville,  and  other  French  courtiers.  (2) 

The  circumstances  of  Mary's  departure  from  France  are  truly  affecting. 
The  excess  of  her  grief  seems  to  have  proceeded  from  a  fatal  presage  of  that 
scene  of  misfortune  on  which  she  was  about  to  enter.  Not  satisfied  with 
mingling  tears  with  her  mournful  attendants,  and  bidding  them  adieu  with  a 
sorrowful  heart,  she  kept  her  eyes  fixed  upon  the  French  coast  after  she  was 
at  sea,  and  never  turned  them  from  that  darling  object  till  darkness  fell  and 
intercepted  it  from  her  view.  Even  then  she  would  neither  retire  to  the 
cabin,  nor  take  food ;  but,  commanding  a  couch  to  be  placed  on  the  deck,  she 
there  waited,  with  fond  impatience,  the  return  of  day.  Fortune  soothed  her 
on  this  occasion.  The  weather  proving  calm,  the  galley  made  but  little  way 
during  the  night,  so  that  Mary,  at  morning,  had  once  more  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  the  French  coast.  She  sat  upon  her  couch,  and,  still  anxiously  look- 
ing towards  the  land,  often  repeated  with  a  sigh,  "  Farewell,  France !  farewell, 
beloved  country,  which  I  shall  never  more  behold  !"(3) 

The  reception  of  the  queen  of  Scots  in  her  native  kingdom,  the  civil  wars 
of  France,  and  the  share  which  Elizabeth  took  in  the  affairs  of  both  king- 
doms must  furnish  the  subject  of  another  Letter. 


LETTER  LXVI. 

/Vance,  England,  and  Scotland,  from  the  Return  of  Mary  Stuart  to  her  native 
Kingdom,  in  1561,  till  her  Imprisonment,  and  the  Proclamation  of  her  Son 
James  VI.,  together  with  a  retrospective  View  of  the  Jtjff'airs  of  Spain. 

THE  first  appearance  of  affairs  in  Scotland  was  more  favourable  than  M 
had  reason  to  expect.     She  was  received  by  her  subjects  with  the  loud 
acclamations  of  joy,  and  every  demonstration  of  welcome  and  regard.     Bern 
now  in  her  nineteenth  year,  the  bloom  of  youth,  and  the  beauty  and  grace 
fulness  of  her  person,  drew  universal  admiration,  while  her  elegant  manners 
and  enlightened  understanding  commanded  general  respect.     To  the  accom- 
plishments of  her  own  sex  she  added  many  of  the  acquisitions  of  ours.     She 
was  skilled  in  most  languages,  ancient  as  well  as  modern.     The  progress 
she  had  made  in  poetry,  music,  rhetoric,  and  all  the  arts  and  sciences  then 
esteemed  useful  or  ornamental,  was  far  beyond  what  is  commonly  attained 
by  the  eons  or  daughters  of  royalty,  who  are  born  and  educated  as  the  imme- 
diate heirs  of  a  crown    and  a  courteous  affability,  which,  without  lessening 
the  dignity  of  a  sovereign,  steals  on  the  hearts  of  subjects  with  a  bewitching 
insinuation,  rendered  all  her  other  qualities  more  engaging.(4) 

(])  Cabala,  p.  374.    Spotswood,  p.  177.  (2)  Robertson,  book  lil 

(3)  Brantome.— He  himself  was  in  the  same  galley  with  the  queen. 

(4)  Robertson,  book  iii.  from  Brantome. 


LET.  LXVI.]  MODE  RN   E  UROPE.  447 

The  first  measures  of  Mary's  administration  confirmed  the  prepossessions 
entertained  in  her  favour.  According  to  the  advice  of  D'Oisel  and  her  uncles, 
she  bestowed  her  confidence  entirely  on  the  leaders  of  the  Protestant  party,(l) 
who  were  alone  able,  she  found,  to  support  her  government.  The  prior  of 
St.  Andrews,  her  natural  brother,  whom  she  soon  after  created  earl  of  Murray, 
obtained  the  chief  authority ;  and  under  him,  Maitland  of  Lethington,  a  man 
of  great  sagacity,  had  a  principal  share  in  her  confidence.  Her  choice  could 
not  have  fallen  upon  persons  more  agreeable  to  her  people. 

But  there  was  one  circumstance  which  blasted  all  these  promising  appeai- 
ances,  and  deprived  Mary  of  that  general  favour  which  her  amiable  manners 
and  prudent  measures  gave  her  just  reason  to  expect.  She  was  still  a  papist ; 
and  although  she  published,  soon  after  her  arrival,  a  proclamation  enjoining 
every  one  to  submit  to  the  reformed  religion,  as  established  by  parliament,(2) 
the  more  zealous  Protestants  could  neither  be  reconciled  to  a  person  polluted 
by  such  an  abomination,  nor  lay  aside  their  jealousies  of  her  future  conduct. 
It  was  with  much  difficulty  she  obtained  permission  to  celebrate  mass  in  her 
own  chapel.  "  Shall  that  idol  again  be  suffered  to  be  erected  within  the 
realm  ?"  was  the  common  cry ;  and  the  usual  prayers  within  the  churches 
were,  that  God  would  turn  the  queen's  heart,  which  was  obstinate  against  his 
truth  :  or,  if  his  holy  will  were  otherwise,  that  he  would  strengthen  the 
hearts  and  hands  of  the  elect,  stoutly  to  oppose  the  rage  of  all  tyrants.(3) 
Nay,  lord  Lindsey  and  the  gentlemen  of  Fife  exclaimed,  "  The  Idolater  shall 
die  the  death  I" 

The  ringleader  in  all  these  insults  on  majesty  was  John  Knox,  who  pos- 
sessed an  uncontrolled  authority  in  the  church,  and  even  in  the  civil  affairs 
of  the  nation,  and  who  triumphed  in  the  contumelious  usage  of  his  sovereign. 
His  usual  appellation  for  the  queen  was  JEZEBEL;  and  though  she  endeavoured 
by  the  most  gracious  condescension  to  win  his  favour,  all  her  kind  advances 
could  gain  nothing  on  his  obdurate  heart.  The  pulpits  became  mere  stages 
for  railing  against  the  vices  of  the  court ;  among  which  were  always  noted  as 
the  principal,  feasting,  finery,  dancing,  balls,  and  whoredom,  their  necessary 
attendant.  (4) 

Curbed  in  all  amusements,  by  the  absurd  severity  of  these  Reformers,  Mary, 
whose  age,  condition,  and  education  invited  her  to  liberty  and  cheerfulness, 
found  reason  every  moment  to  look  back  with  a  sigh  to  that  country  which 
she  had  left.  After  the  departure  of  the  French  courtiers,  her  life  was  one 
scene  of  bitterness  and  sorroAV.  And  she  perceived  that  her  only  expedient 
for  maintainingtranquillity,  while  surrounded  by  a  turbulent  nobility,  a  bigoted 
people,  and  insolent  ecclesiastics,  was  to  preserve  a  friendly  correspondence 
with  Elizabeth,  who,  by  former  connexions  and  services,  had  acquired  much 
authority  over  all  ranks  of  men  in  Scotland.  She  therefore  sent  Maitland  of 
Lethington  to  London,  in  order  to  pay  her  compliments  to  the  English  queen, 
and  express  a  desire  of  future  good  understanding  between  them.  Maitland 
was  also  instructed  to  signify  Mary's  willingness  to  renounce  all  present  right 
to  the  crown  of  England,  provided  she  was  declared,  by  act  of  parliament, 
next  heir  to  the  succession,  in  case  the  queen  should  die  without  offspring. (5) 
But  so  great  was  the  jealous  prudence  of  Elizabeth,  that  she  never  would 
hazard  the  weakening  of  her  authority  by  naming  a  successor,  or  allow  the 
parliament  to  interpose  in  that  matter ;  much  less  would  she  make,  or  permit 
such  a  nomination  to  be  made,  in  favour  of  a  rival  queen,  who  possessed  pre- 
tensions so  plausible  to  supplant  her,  and  who,  though  she  might  verbally 
renounce  them,  could  easily  resume  her  claim  on  the  first  opportunity.  Sen- 
sible, however,  that  reason  would  be  thought  to  lie  wholly  on  Mary's  side,  as 
she  herself  had  frequently  declared  her  resolution  to  live  and  die  a  virgin- 
queen,  she  thenceforth  ceased  to  demand  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of 
Edinburgh ;  and  though  farther  concessions  were  never  made  by  either  prin- 
cess, they  put  on  all  the  appearance  of  a  cordial  reconciliation  and  friendship 
with  each  other.(6) 

(1)  Robertson,  book  iii.  from  Brantome.  (2)  Knox.    Spotsvvqod.    Keith.  '3)  Id.  ibid. 

(4)  Knox,  p.  333, 333,  (5)  Keith.    Camden.    fiaynea.  (6)  Id.  ibid. 


448  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

Elizabeth  saw,  that,  without  her  interposition,  Mary  was  sufficiently  de- 
pressed by  the  mutinous  spirit  of  her  own  subjects.  Having,  therefore,  no 
apprehensions  from  Scotland,  nor  any  desire  to  take  part  at  present  in  its 
affairs,  she  directed  her  attention  to  other  objects.  After  concerting  the 
necessary  measures  for  the  security  of  her  kingdom  and  the  happiness  of  her 
people,  she  turned  an  eye  of  observation  towards  the  great  powers  on  the 
continent.  France,  being  still  agitated  with  religious  factions,  big  with  all 
the  horrors  of  civil  war,  excited  less  the  jealousy  than  the  compassion  of  its 
neighbours ;  so  that  Spain,  of  all  the  European  kingdoms,  could  alone  be 
considered  as  the  formidable  rival  of  England.  Accordingly,  an  animosity, 
first  political,  then  personal,  soon  appeared  between  the  sovereigns  of  the  two 
crowns. 

Philip  IT.,  as  has  been  already  observed,  immediately  after  concluding  the 
peace  of  Chateau-Cambresis,  commenced  a  furious  persecution  against  the 
Protestants  in  Spain,  Italy,  and  the  Low  Countries.  That  violent  spirit  of 
bigotry  and  tyranny  by  which  he  was  actuated  gave  new  edge  even  to  the 
usual  cruelty  of  priests  and  inquisitors.  He  threw  into  prison  Constantine 
Ponce,  who  had  been  confessor  to  his  father  Charles  V.  and  in  whose  arms 
that  great  prince  had  breathed  his  last.  This  venerable  ecclesiastic  died  in 
confinement;  but  Philip  ordered,  nevertheless,  the  sentence  of  heresy  to  be  pro- 
nounced against  his  memory.  He  even  deliberated  whether  he  should  not  ex- 
ercise like  severity  against  the  memory  of  his  father,  who  was  suspected,  during 
his  latter  years,  of  indulging  a  propensity  towards  Lutheranism.  In  his 
unrelenting  zeal  for  orthodoxy,  he  spared  neither  age,  sex,  nor  condition.  He 
appeared  with  an  inflexible  countenance  at  the  most  barbarous  executions  ; 
and  he  issued  rigorous  orders  for  the  prosecution  of  heretics,  even  in  his 
American  dominions.  (1)  The  limits  of  the  globe  seemed  only  enlarged  to 
extend  human  misery. 

Having  founded  his  deliberate  tyranny  on  maxims  of  civil  policy,  as  well 
as  on  principles  of  religion,  Philip  made  it  evident  to  all  his  subjects,  that 
there  was  no  means  of  escaping  the  severity  of  his  vengeance,  except  by  the 
•  most  abject  compliance  or  obstinate  resistance.  And  by  thus  placing  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  Catholic  party,  the  determined  champion  of  the  Romish 
church,  he  every  where  converted  the  zealots  of  the  ancient  faith  into  parti- 
sans of  Spanish  greatness. 

Happily,  the  adherents  of  the  new  doctrines  were  not  without  a  supporter, 
nor  the  Spanish  greatness  without  a  counterpoise.  The  course  of  events  had 
placed  Elizabeth  in  a  situation  diametrically  opposite  to  that  of  Philip.  For- 
tune, guiding  choice,  and  concurring  with  policy  and  inclination,  had  raised 
her  to  the  glory,  the  bulwark,  and  the  stay  of  the  numerous  but  generally 
persecuted  Protestants  throughout  Europe.  And  she  united  her  interests, 
in  all  foreign  negotiations,  with  those  who  were  struggling  for  their  civil  and 
religious  liberties,  or  guarding  themselves  against  ruin  and  extermination. 
Hence  the  animosity  between  her  and  Philip. 

While  the  queen  of  Scots  continued  in  France,  and  asserted  her  claim  to 
the  southern  British  kingdom,  the  dread  of  uniting  England  to  the  French 
monarchy  engaged  the  king  of  Spain  to  maintain  a  good  correspondence  with 
Elizabeth.  But  no  sooner  did  the  death  of  Francis  II.  put  an  end  to  Philip's 
apprehensions  in  regard  to  Mary's  succession,  than  his  rancour  began  openly 
to  appear,  and  the  interests  of  Spain  and  England  were  found  opposite  in  every 
negotiation  and  public  transaction.  Philip,  contrary  to  the  received  maxims 
of  policy  in  that  age,  saw  an  advantage  in  supporting  the  power  of  the  French 
monarch ;  and  Elizabeth,  by  a  concurrence  of  circumstances  no  less  singular, 
in  protecting  a  faction  ready  to  subvert  it. 

Catharine  of  Medicis,  the  queen-mother  of  France,  in  consequence  of  hei 
maxim  of  dividing  in  order  to  govern,  only  increased  the  troubles  of  the  state. 
By  balancing  the  Catholics  against  the  Protestants,  the  duke  of  Guise  against 
the  prince  of  Cond6,  she  endeavoured  to  render  herself  necessary  to  both, 

(1)  Thuanas,  lib.  xxiii.    Grotius,  Annal.  lib.  ii.     Mariana,  lib.  v. 


LET.  LXVL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  449 

and  to  establish  her  own  dominion  on  their  constrained  obedience.  But  an 
equal  counterpoise  of  power,  which  among  foreign  nations  is  the  source  of 
tranquillity,  proves  always  the  cause  of  quarrel  among  domestic  factions ; 
and  if  the  animosities  of  religion  concur  with  the  frequent  occasions  of  mutual 
injury,  it  is  impossible  to  preserve,  for  any  time,  a  firm  concord  in  such  a 
situation.  Moved  by  zeal  for  the  ancient  faith,  the  constable  Montmorency 
joined  himself  to  the  duke  of  Guise ;  the  king  of  Navarre,  from  his  inconstant 
temper,  and  his  jealousy  of  the  superior  genius  of  his  brother,  embraced  the 
same  party ;  and  the  queen-mother,  finding  herself  depressed  by  this  com- 
bination, had  recourse  to  Conde  and  the  Hugonots,  who  gladly  embraced  the 
opportunity  of  fortifying  themselves  by  her  countenance  and  protection. (1) 

An  edict  had  been  published  in  the  beginning  of  the  year,  granting  to  the 
Hugonots,  or  Protestants,  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  without  the  walls 
of  towns ;  provided  they  taught  nothing  contrary  to  the  council  of  Nice,  to 
the  Apostles'  Creed,  or  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  This  edict 
had  been  preceded  by  a  famous  conference,  held  at  Poissy,  between  the  divines 
of  the  two  religions ;  in  which  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain,  on  the  part  of  the 
Catholics,  and  the  learned  Theodore  Beza,  on  that  of  the  Protestants,  dis- 
played, beyond  others,  their  eloquence  and  powers  of  argument.  The  Pro- 
testant divines  boasted  of  having  greatly  the  advantage  in  the  dispute,  and 
the  concession  of  liberty  of  conscience  made  their  followers  happy  in  that 
opinion.  But  the  interested  violence  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  or  the  intempe- 
rate zeal  of  his  attendants,  broke  once  more  the  tranquillity  of  religion,  and 
gave  a  beginning  to  a  frightful  civil  war.  Passing  by  the  little  town  of  Vassy, 
on  the  frontiers  of  Champagne,  where  some  Protestants,  having  assembled  in 
a  barn,  under  the  sanction  of  the  edict,  were  peaceably  worshipping  God  in 
their  own  way,  his  retinue  wantonly  insulted  them.  A  tumult  ensued :  the 
duke  himself  was  struck,  it  is  said  with  a  stone :  and  sixty  of  the  unarmed 
multitude  were  sacrificed  in  revenge  of  that  pretended  or  provoked  injury, 
and  in  open  violation  of  the  public  faith.  (2) 

The  Protestants,  over  all  the  kingdom,  were  alarmed  at  this  massacre,  and 
assembled  in  arms  under  Conde,  Coligny,  and  Andelot,  their  most  distin- 
guished leaders ;  while  the  duke  of  Guise  and  the  constable  Montmorency, 
having  got  possession  of  the  king's  person,  obliged  the  queen-mother  to  join 
the  Catholic  party.  Fourteen  armies  were  levied  and  put  in  motion  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  France.  Each  province,  each  city,  each  family,  was  dis- 
tracted with  intestine  rage  and  animosity.  The  father  was  divided  against 
the  son,  brother  against  brother ;  and  women  themselves,  sacrificing  their 
humanity,  as  well  as  their  timidity,  to  the  religious  fury,  distinguished  them- 
selves by  acts  of  valour  and  cruelty.  (3)  Wherever  the  Protestants  prevailed, 
the  images  were  broken,  the  altars  pillaged,  the  churches  demolished,  the 
monasteries  consumed  with  fire ;  and  where  success  attended  the  Catholics, 
they  burned  the  Bibles,  rebaptized  the  infants,  and  forced  married  persons 
to  pass  anew  through  the  ceremony. (4)  Plunder,  desolation,  and  bloodshed 
attended  equally  the  triumph  of  both  parties ;  and,  to  use  the  words  of  a 
profound  historian,  it  was  during  that  period,  when  men  began  to  be  some- 
what enlightened,  and  in  this  nation,  renowned  for  polished  manners,  that  the 
theological  rage,  which  had  long  been  boiling  in  men's  veins,  seems  to  have 
attained  its  last  stage  of  virulence  and  acrimony.(5) 

Philip  II.,  jealous  of  the  progress  of  the  Hugonots,  who  had  made  them- 
selves masters -of  Orleans,  Bourges,  Lyons,  Poitiers,  Tours,  Angers,  An- 
gouleme,  Rouen,  Dieppe,  Havre  de  Grace,  and  other  places  of  less  note ;  and 
afraid  that  the  contagion  might  spread  into  the  Low  Countries,  had  formed 
a  secret  alliance  with  the  princes  of  Lorrain,  for  the  protection  of  the  ancient 
faith,  and  the  suppression  of  heresy.  In  consequence  of  that  alliance,  he 
now  sent  six  thousand  men  to  reinforce  the  Catholic  party ;  and  the  prince 
of  Conde,  finding  himself  unable  to  oppose  so  strong  a  confederacy,  coun 

(1)  Davila,  lib.  ii.  (2)  Henault.    Mezeray     Dupleii.  0)  Davila,  lib.  iil    Ilayues,  p.  391. 

(4)  Id.  ibid.  (5)  Hume,  chap,  mix. 

VOL.  I.— F  f 


450  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

tenanced  by  royal  authority,  was  obliged  to  crave  the  assistance  of  the  queen 
of  England.  As  an  inducement,  he  offered  to  put  her  in  possession  of  Havre 
de  Grace ;  on  condition  that,  together  with  three  thousand  men  for  the  garri- 
son of  the  place,  she  should  likewise  send  over  other  three  thousand  to 
defend  Dieppe  and  Rouen,  and  furnish  him  with  a  supply  of  one  hundred 
thousand  crowns. (1) 

Elizabeth,  besides  the  general  and  essential  interest  of  supporting  the  Pro- 
testants, and  opposing  the  rapid  progress  of  her  enemy  the  duke  of  Guise, 
had  other  motives  to  induce  her  to  accept  of  this  proposal.  She  was  now 
sensible,  that  France  never  would  voluntarily  fulfil  the  article  in  the  treaty 
of  Chateau-Cambresis,  which  regarded  the  restitution  of  Calais ;  and  wisely 
concluded  that,  could  she  get  possession  of  Havre  de  Grace,  which  commands 
the  mouth  of  the  Seine»  she  should  easily  constrain  the  French  to  execute 
their  engagements,  and  have  the  honour  of  restoring  Calais  to  England.  She 
therefore  sent  over  immediately  three  thousand  men,  under  the  command  of 
sir  Edward  Poynings,  and  three  thousand  more  soon  after,  under  the  earl  of 
Warwick,- who  took  possession  of  Havre.  But  Rouen  having  been  invested 
by  the  Catholics,  under  the  command  of  the  king  of  Navarre  and  the  con- 
stable Montmorency,  before  the  arrival  of  the  English,  it  was  with  difficulty 
that  Poynings  could  throw  a  small  reinforcement  into  the  place ;  and 
although  the  king  of  Navarre  was  mortally  wounded  during  the  siege,  the 
Catholics  still  continued  the  attack  with  vigour.  The  town  was  at  last 
carried  by  assault,  and  the  garrison  and  inhabitants  put  to  the  sword. (2) 

It  was  now  expected  that  the  Catholics,  flushed  with  success,  would  im- 
mediately form  the  siege  of  Havre,  which  was  as  yet  in  no  state  of  defence ; 
but  the  intestine  disorders  of  the  kingdom  diverted  their  attention  to  another 
enterprise.  Andelot,  seconded  by  the  negotiations  of  Elizabeth,  had  'levied 
a  considerable  army  in  Germany ;  and  arriving  at  Orleans,  the  seat  of  the 
Protestant  power  in  France,  he  enabled  the  prince  of  Conde  and  Coligny  to 
take  the  field,  and  oppose  the  progress  of  their  enemies.  After  threatening 
Paris  for  some  time,  they  took  their  march  towards  Normandy,  with  a  view 
of  engaging  the  English  to  act  in  conjunction  with  them.  The  Catholics, 
commanded  by  Montmorency,  and  under  him  by  the  duke  of  Guise,  hung  on 
the  rear  of  the  Hugonots,  and,  overtaking  them  near  Dreux,  obliged  them  to 
give  battle.  The  field  was  disputed  with  much  obstinacy  on  both  sides,  and 
the  action  was  distinguished  by  a  very  singular  event.  Conde  and  Montmo- 
rency, the  commanders  of  the  opposite  armies,  both  remained  prisoners  in 
the  hands  of  their  enemies :  and  what  is  yet  more  singular,  the  prince  not 
only  supped  at  the  same  table,  but  lay  all  night  in  the  same  bed  with  his 
hostile  rival  the  duke  of  Guise  !(3)  So  unaccountable  were  the  manners  of 
that  age,  which  could  blend  the  most  rancorous  animosity  Avith  a  familiar 
hospitality,  that  appears  altogether  disgusting  in  these  days  of  superior 
refinement. 

The  semblance  of  victory  remained  with  the  Catholics.  But  Coligny, 
whose  lot  it  was  ever  to  be  defeated,  and  ever  to  rise  more  terrible  after  his 
misfortunes,  collected  the  remains  of  the  Protestant  army,  and  inspiring  his 
own  unconquerable  courage  into  every  breast,  not  only  kept  them  in  a  body, 
but  took  some  considerable  places  in  Normandy ;  and  Elizabeth,  in  order  to 
enable  him  to  support  the  cause  of  his  party,  sent  over  a  new  supply  of  a 
hundred  thousand  crowns.  Meanwhile,  the  duke  of  Guise,  aiming  a  mortal 
blow  at  the  power  of  the  Hugonots,  had  commenced  the  siege  of  Orleans,  of 
which  Andelot  was  governor,  and  where  Montmorency  was  detained  prisoner : 
and  he  had  the  prospect  of  speedy  success  in  his  undertaking,  when  he  was 
assassinated  by  a  young  gentleman,  named  Poltrot,  whose  fanatical  zeal  for 
the  interests  of  the  Protestant  religion  instigated  him  to  that  atrocious 
violence. (4) 

The  death  of  this  great  man  was  an  irreparable  loss  to  the  Catholic  party. 
His  brother,  the  cardinal  Lorrain,  though  eloquent,  subtle,  and  intriguing, 

(1)  Forbes,  vol.  ii  (2)  Davila,  lib.  iii.  (3)  Id.  ibid.  (t\  Mczeray,  torn  v. 


LET.  LXVL]  MODERN  EUROPE.  451 

wanted  that  enterprising  and  undaunted  spirit  which  had  rendered  the  ambition 
of  the  duke  so  formidable ;  and  therefore,  though  he  still  pursued  the  bold 
schemes  of  his  family,  the  danger  of  their  progress  appeared  not  now  so 
imminent  either  to  Elizabeth  or  the  French  Protestants.  Of  course,  the  union 
between  these  allies,  which  had  been  cemented  by  their  common  fears,  was 
in  some  measure  loosened ;  and  the  leaders  of  the  Hugonots  were  persuaded 
to  listen  to  terms  of  a  separate  accommodation.  Conde  and  Montmorency, 
equally  tired  of  captivity,  accordingly  held  conferences  for  that  purpose,  and 
soon  came  to  an  agreement  with  respect  to  the  conditions.  A  toleration  of 
their  religion,  under  certain  restrictions,  was  again  granted  to  the  Protestants ; 
a  general  amnesty  was  published,  and  every  one  was  reinstated  in  his  offices, 
dignities,  and  all  civil  rights  and  privileges.  (1) 

The  leaders  of  the  Protestants  only  comprehended  Elizabeth  so  far  in  this 
treaty,  as  to  obtain  a  promise,  that,  on  her  relinquishing  Havre  de-  Grace,  her 
charges  and  the  money  which  she  had  advanced  them  should  be  repaid  her 
by  the  king  of  France ;  and  that  Calais,  on  the  expiration  of  the  stipulated 
term,  should  be  restored  to  her.  Disdaining  to  accept  these  conditions,  she 
sent  Warwick  orders  to  prepare  himself  against  an  attack  from  the  now 
united  power  of  the  French  monarchy.  The  garrison  of  Havre  consisted  of 
six  thousand  men,  independent  of  seven  hundred  pioneers :  and  a  resolute 
defence  was  expected.  But  a  contagious  distemper  made  its  appearance 
among  the  English  troops ;  and,  being  increased  by  their  fatigue  and  bad  diet, 
made°such  ravages  in  a  short  time,  that  there  did  not  remain  fifteen  hundred 
men  in  a  condition  to  do  duty.  Warwick,  who  had  frequently  warned  the 
English  ministry  of  his  danger,  and  loudly  demanded  a  supply  of  men  and 
provisions,  was  therefore  obliged  to  capitulate,  and  content  himself  with  the 
liberty  of  withdrawing  his  garrison. (2) 

Elizabeth,  whose  usual  vigour  and  foresight  had  failed  her  in  this  transac- 
tion, now  found  it  necessary  to  accede  to  a  compromise ;  and  as  the  queenr 
mother  of  France  desired  to  obtain  leisure,  in  order  to  concert  measures  for 
the  extirpation  of  the  Hugonots,  she  readily  hearkened  to  any  reasonable 
terms  of  accommodation  with  England.  It  was  accordingly  agreed,  that  the 
hostages  which  the  French  had  given  for  the  restitution  of  Calais  should  be 
delivered  up  for  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  crowns ;  and  that  both 
parties  should  retain  all  their  pretensions. (3) 

Peace  still  subsisted  between  England  and  Scotland ;  and  a  cordial  friend- 
ship even  seemed  to  have  taken  place  between  Elizabeth  and  Mary, 
made  professions  of  the  most  sipoere  affection :  they  wrote  complimentary 
letters  every  week  to  each  o'ner;  and  had  adopted,  m  all  appearance,  the 
sentiments  as  Avell  as  the  style  of  sisters.  But  the  negotiations  for  the  mar- 
riaf  e  of  the  queen  of  Scots  awakened  anew  the  jealousy  of  Elizabeth,  and 
roused  the  zeal  of  the  Scottish  Reformers.  Mary's  hand  was  solicited  by  the 
archduke  Charles,  the  emperor's  third  son ;  by  Don  Carlos,  heir  apparent  to 
the  Spanish  monarchy ;  and  by  the  duke  of  Anjou,  her  former  husband's 
brother,  who  succeeded  soon  after  to  the  crown  of  France.  Either  of  those 
foreio-n  alliances  would  have  been  alarming  to  Elizabeth,  and  to  Mary's 
Protestant  subjects.  She  therefore  resolved,  notwithstanding  the  arguments 
of  her  uncle  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain,  to  sacrifice  her  ambition  to  domestic 
peace  ;  and  as  Henry  Stuart,  lord  Darnley,  eldest  son  of  the  earl  of  Lennox, 
was  the  first  British  subject  whom  sound  policy  seemed  to  point  out  to  her 
choice,  she  determined  to  make  him  the  partner  of  her  sway.(4) 

Darnley  was  Mary's  cousin-german  by  lady  Margaret  Douglas,  niece  to 
Henry  VIII.,  and  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Angus,  by  Margaret  queen  of  Scot- 
land. He  was,  after  herself,  next  heir  to  the  English  crown.  He  was  also, 
by  his  father,  a  branch  of  her  own  family:  and  would,  in  espousing  her,  pre- 
serve the  royal  dignity  in  the  house  of  Stuart.  He  had  been  born  and 
educated  in  England,  where  his  father  had  constantly  resided,  since  banished 
by  the  prevailing  power  of  the  house  of  Hamilton ;  and  as  Elizabeth  had  often 

(V  Davila,  lib.  iii.  (2)  Forbes,  vol.  ii.  (3)  Davila,  iib.  iii.  (4'  Forbes,  vol.  ii. 

Ff  2 


452  T  H  E   H I S  T  0  R  Y    0  F  [PART  I 

intimated  to  the  queen  of  Scots,  that  nothing  would  so  competely  allay  all 
jealousy  between  them  as  Mary's  espousing  an  English  nobleman,(l)  the 
prospect  of  the  ready  approbation  of  that  rival  queen  was  an  additional 
motive  for  the  proposed  marriage. 

But  although  Mary,  as  a  queen,  seemed  to  be  solely  influenced  by  political 
considerations  in  the  choice  of  a  royal  consort,  she  had  other  motives,  as  a 
woman,  for  singling  out  Darnley  as  a  husband.  He  was  in  the  full  bloom 
and  vigour  of  youth,  tall  and  well  proportioned,  and  surpassed  all  the  men 
of  his  time  in  every  exterior  grace.  He  eminently  excelled  in  all  the  arts 
which  display  a  handsome  person  to  advantage,  and  which,  in  polished 
nations,  are  dign  >ted  with  the  name  of  elegant  accomplishments.  Mary  was 
at  an  age  and  of  a  complexion  to  feel  the  force  of  such  attractions.  Lord 
Darnley  accordingly  made  a  conquest  of  her  heart  at  their  first  interview ;  and 
it  cannot  be.  doubted  but  she  made  a  deep  impression  upon  his.  Thus  inclina- 
tion conspired  with  policy  to  promote  their  union ;  nor  was  it  once  suspected 
that  any  opposition  would  be  made  by  the  English  queen. 

Secretly,  Elizabeth  was  not  displeased  with  Mary's  choice  ;  as  it  freed  her 
at  once  from  the  dread  of  a  foreign  alliance ;  and  from  the  necessity  of  part- 
ing with  the  earl  of  Leicester,  her  own  handsome  favourite,  whom  she  had  pro- 
posed as  a  husband  to  the  queen  of  Scots.  But  besides,  a  womanish  jealousy 
and  envy,  proceeding  from  a  consciousness  of  Mary's  superior  charms,  which 
led  her  on  all  occasions  to  thwart  the  matrimonial  views  of  that  princess, 
certain  ungenerous  political  motives  induced  her  to  show  a  disapprobation  of 
the  projected  marriage  with  Darnley,  though  she  either  did  not  wish,  or  was 
sensible  that  she  could  not  obstruct  it.  By  declaring  her  dissatisfaction  with 
Mary's  conduct,  Elizabeth  hoped  to  alarm  the  party  in  Scotland  that  was 
attached  to  the  English  interest ;  and  to  raise,  by  their  means,  intestine  com- 
motions, which  would  not  only  secure  her  own  kingdom  from  all  disturbance 
on  that  side,  but  enable  her  to  become  the  umpire  between  the  Scottish  queen 
and  her  contending  subjects.(2) 

The  scheme  immediately  succeeded  in  part,  and  afterward  had  its  full 
effect.  The  earl  of  Murtay,  and  other  Protestant  noblemen,  were  the  dupes 
of  Elizabeth's  intrigues.  Under  pretence  of  zeal  for  the  reformed  religion, 
because  the  family  of  Lennox  was  believed  to  adhere  to  the  Catholic  faith, 
but  in  reality  to  support  their  own  sinking  authority,  they  formed  among 
themselves  bonds  of  confederacy  and  mutual  defence.  They  entered  into  a 
secret  correspondence  with  the  English  resident,  in  order  to  secure  Eliza- 
beth's assistance  when  it  should  become  necessary ;  and,  despairing  of  being 
able  to  prevent  the  marriage  of  the  queen  of  S^ots  by  any  other  means,  they 
concerted  measures  for  seizing  Darnley,  and  carrying  him  prisoner  into  Eng- 
land.^) They  failed,  however,  in  the  attempt;  aivl  Mary,  having  obtained 
the  general  consent  of  the  Scottish  nation,  and  being  anxious  to  bring  to  a 
period  an  affair  which  had  long  engaged  her  heart  and  occupied  her  atten- 
tion, celebrated  her  marriage  with  the  captivating  young  nobleman  who  had 
been  the  object  of  their  conspiracy. 

Conscious  that  all  hopes  of  reconciliation  were  now  at  an  end,  the  asso- 
ciated lords  assembled  their  followers  and  flew  to  arms  ;  but  by  the  vigour 
and  activity  of  Mary,  who  appeared  herself  at  the  head  of  her  troops,  rode 
with  loaded  pistols,  and  endured,  with  admirable  fortitude,  all  the  fatigues  of 
war,  the  rebels  were  obliged  to  fly  into  England. (4)  There  they  met  with  a 
reception  very  different  from  what  they  expected,  and  which  strongly  marks 
the  character  of  Elizabeth.  That  politic  princess  had  already  effectually 
served  her  purpose,  by  exciting  in  Scotland,  through  their  means,  such  dis- 
cord and  jealousies  as  would  in  all  probability  long  distract  and  weaken  Mary's 
government.  It  was  now  her  business  to  save  appearances ;  and  as  the  male- 
contents  had  failed  of  success,  she  thought  proper  to  disavow  all  connexions 
with  them.  She  would  not  even  grant  an  audience  to  the  earl  of  Murray 
i»nd  the  abbot  of  Kilwinning,  appointed  by  the  other  fugitives  to  wait  on  her, 

II)  Keith.  (t)  Ibid.  (3)  Melvil.  (4)  Keith,  Append. 


MODERN   EUROPE.  453 

till  they  had  meanly  consented  to  acknowledge,  in  the  presence  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  ambassadors,  who  accused  her  of  fomenting  the  troubles  in 
Scotland  by  her  intrigues,  that  she  had  given  them  no  encouragement  to  take 
up  arms.  "  You  have  spoken  the  truth !"— replied  she,  as  soon  as  they  had 
made  this  declaration : — "  I  am  far  from  setting  an  example  of  rebellion  to 
my  own  subjects,  by  countenancing  those  who  rebel  against  their  lawful 
sovereign.  The  treason  of  which  you  have  been  guilty  is  detestable  ;  and, 
as  traitors,  I  banish  you  my  presence."(l)  So  little  feeling  had  she  for  men, 
who,  out  of  confidence  in  her  promises,  had  hazarded  their  lives  and  fortunes 
to  serve  her! 

The  Scottish  exiles,  finding  themselves  so  harshly  treated  by  Elizabeth, 
had  recourse  to  the  clemency  of  their  own  sovereign ;  and  Mary,  whose  tem- 
per naturally  inclined  her  to  lenity,  seemed  determined  to  restore  them  to 
favour,  when  the  arrival  of  an  ambassador  from  France  altered  her  resolu- 
tion. (2)  The  peace  granted  to  the  Reformers  in  that  kingdom  was  intended 
only  to  lull  them  asleep,  and  prepare  the  way  for  their  final  and  absolute 
destruction.  For  this  purpose  an  interview  had  been  appointed  at  Bayonne, 
between  Charles  IX.,  now  in  his  sixteenth  year,  and  his  sister  the  queen  of 
Spain.  Catharine  of  Medicis  accompanied  her  son;  the  duke  of  Alva  at- 
tended his  mistress.  Gayety,  festivity,  love,  and  joy  seemed  to  be  the  sole 
occupation  of  both  courts ;  but  under  these  smiling  appearances  was  hatched 
a  scheme  the  most  bloody  and  the  most  destructive  to  the  repose  of  mankind 
that  had  ever  been  suggested  by  superstition  to  the  human  heart.  Nothing 
less  was  resolved  upon  and  concerted  than  the  extermination  of  the  Hugo- 
nots  in  France,  the  Protestants  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  the  extinction  of 
the  reformed  opinions  throughout  all  Europe. (3) 

Of  this  Catholic  or  Holy  League  (for  so  that  detestable  conspiracy  was 
called)  an  account  was.  brought,  by  the  French  ambassador,  to  the  queen  of 
Scots;  conjuring  her  at  the  same  time,  in  the  name  of  the  king  of  France, 
and  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain,  not  to*  restore  the  leaders  of  the  Protestants  in 
her  kingdom  to  power  and  favour,  at  the  very  time  when  the  popish  princes 
on  the  continent  were  combined  for  the  total  extirpation  of  that  sect. (4) 
Deeply  tinctured  with  all  the  prejudices  of  popery,  and  devoted  with  the 
most  humble  submission  to  her  uncles  the  princes  of  Lorrain,  whose  counsels 
from  her  infancy  she  had  been  accustomed  to  receive  with  filial  respect,  Mary 
instantly  joined  the  confederacy: — and  hence  the  change  of  her  resolution 
in  regard  to  the  banished  lords. (5) 

The  effects  of  this  new  system  were  soon  visible  in  the  conduct  o£  the 
queen  of  Scots.  The  parliament  was  summoned  for  the  attainder  of  the 
rebels,  whose  guilt  was  palpable,  and  some  measures  were  concerted  for  re- 
establishing the  Romish  religion  in  Scotland  ;(6)  so  that  the  ruin  of  Murray 
and  his  party  seemed  now  inevitable,  and  the  destruction  of  the  reformed 
church  no  distant  event,  when  an  unexpected  incident  saved  both,  and  brought 
on,  in  the  sequel,  the  ruin  of  Mary  herself. 

The  incident  to  which  I  allude  is  the  murder  of  David  Rizzio,  a  man  whose 
hirth  and  education  afforded  little  reason  to  suppose  that  he  should  evei 
attract  the  historian's  notice,  but  whose  tragical  death,  and  its  consequences, 
make  it  necessary  to  record  his  adventures.  The  son  of  a  teacher  of  music 
at  Turin,  and  himself  a  musician,  Rizzio  had  accompanied  the  Piedmontese 
ambassador  into  Scotland,  where  he  gained  admittance  into  the  queen' 
family  by  his  skill  in  his  profession  ;  and  as  Mary  found  him  necessary  to 
complete  her  musical  band,  she  retained  him  in  her  service,  by  permission, 
after  the  departure  of  his  master.  Shrewd,  supple,  and  aspiring,  beyond  his 
condition,  he  quickly  crept  into  the  queen's  favour ;  and  her  French  secretary 
happening  to  retire  into  his  own  country,  she  promoted  Rizzio  to  that  office. 
which  gave  him  frequent  opportunity  of  approaching  her  person,  and  of  in- 
sinuating himself  still  farther  into  her  good  graces.  He  now  began  to  make 

(1)  Melvil.  (2)  Ibid.  (3)  Thuan,  lib  xxxvii.    Davila,  lib.  iii.  (4)  Melvil. 

<$)  Robertson,  Hist,  Scvt.  Append.  No.  XIII.  (6)  Keith,  p.  316. 


454  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

a  figure  at  court,  and  to  appear  as  a  man  of  weight  and  consequence :  and 
he  availed  himself  so  well  of  the  access  which  fortune  had  procured  him, 
that  he  was  soon  regarded  not  only  as  the  queen's  chief  confidant,  but  even 
as  her  minister.  To  him  the  whole  train  of  suitors  and  expectants  applied; 
and  among  the  rest  Darnley,  whose  marriage  Rizzio  promoted,  in  hopes  of 
acquiring  a  new  patron,  while  he  co-operated  with  his  mistress's  wishes. 

But  this  marriage,  so  natural  and  so  inviting  in  all  its  circumstances,  disap- 
pointed the  expectations  both  of  the  queen  and  her  favourite,  and  terminated 
in  events  the  most  shocking  to  humanity.  Allured  by  the  stature,  sym- 
metry, and  exterior  accomplishments  of  Darnley,  Mary,  in  her  choice,  had 
overlooked  the  qualities  of  his  mind,  which  corresponded  ill  with  those  of 
his  person.  Violent  yet  variable  in  his  temper,  she  could  neither  by  her 
gentleness  bridle  his  insolent  and  imperious  spirit,  nor  preserve  him  by  hei 
vigilance  from  rash  and  imprudent  actions.  Of  mean  understanding,  but 
like  most  fools,  conceited  of  his  own  abilities,  he  was  devoid  of  all  gratitude 
because  he  thought  no  favours  equal  to  his  merit ;  and  being  addicted  to  low 
pleasures,  to  drunkenness  and  debauchery,  he  was  incapable  of  any  true  sen 
timents  of  love  or  tenderness. (1)  All  Mary's  fondness  and  generosity  made 
no  lasting  impression  on  such  a  heart.  He  became,  by  degrees,  careless  of 
her  person,  and  a  stranger  to  her  company.  To  a  woman  and  a  queen  such 
behaviour  was  intolerable;  but  more  especially  to  Mary,  who  possessed  great 
sensibility  of  temper,  and  who,  in  the  first  effusions  of  her  love,  had  taken  a 
pride  in  exalting  her  husband  beyond  measure.  She  had  granted  him  the 
title  of  king,  and  had  joined  his  name  with  her  own  in  all  public  acts.  Hei 
disappointed  passion  was  therefore  as  violent,  when  roused  into  resentment, 
as  her  first  affection  had  been  strong;  and  his  behaviour  appeared  ungenerous 
and  criminal,  in  proportion  to  the  distance  she  had  stooped  to  raise  him,  and 
the  honour  and  consequence  to  which  she  had  lifted  him. 

The  heart,  sore  from  the  wounds  and  the  agitations  of  unrequited  love, 
naturally  seeks  the  repose,  the  consolation,  and  the  lenient  assuasives  of 
friendship.  Rizzio  still  possessed  the  confidence  of  Mary ;  and  as  the  brutal 
behaviour  of  her  husband  rendered  a  confidant  now  more  necessary,  she 
seems  not  only  to  have  made  use  of  her  secretary's  company  and  his  musical 
talents  to  sooth  her  disquieted  bosom,  but  to  have  imprudently  shared  with 
him  her  domestic  griefs.  To  suppose  that  lie  also  shared  her  embraces  is  to 
offer  an  injury  to  her  character,  for  which  history  affords  no  proper  foun- 
dation.^) But  the  assuming  vanity  of  the  upstart,  who  affected  to  talk  often 
amHamiliarly  with  the  queen  in  public,  and  who  boasted  of  his  intimacy  in 
private  ;  the  dark  and  suspicious  mind  of  Darnley,  who,  instead  of  imputing 
Mary's  coldness  to  his  own  misconduct,  which  had  so  justly  deserved  it, 
ascribed  the  change  in  her  behaviour  (so  different  from  the  first  and  happy 
days  of  their  union !)  to  the  influence  of  a  new  passion  ;  together  with  the 
rigid  austerity  of  the  Scottish  clergy,  who  could  admit  of  no  freedoms ;  con- 
tributed to  spread  this  opinion  among  the  people,  ever  ready  to  listen  to  any 
slander  on  the  court ;  and  the  enemies  of  the  favourite,  no  less  ready  to  take 
advantage  of  any  popular  clamour,  made  it  a  pretence  for  their  unjust  and 
inhuman  vengeance. 

Rizzio,  who  had  connected  his  interests  with  the  Roman  Catholics,  was  the 
declared  enemy  of  the  banished  lords  ;  and  by  promoting  the  violent  prose- 
cution against  them,  he  had  exposed  himself  to  the  animosity  of  their  nume 
rous  friends  and  adherents.  Among  these  were  the  lords  Ruthven  and 
Lindsay,  the  earl  of  Morton,  and  Maitland  of  Lethington.  While  they  were 
ruminating  upon  their  grievances,  and  the  means  of  redress,  the  king  commu- 
nicated his  resolution  to  be  avenged  of  Rizzio  to  lord  Ruthven,  and  implored 

(1)  Goodall,  vol.  i.    Robertson,  book  iv. 

(2)  Buchanan,  whose  prejudices  are  well  known,  is  the  only  Scottish  historian  who  directly  accuse* 
Mary  of  a  criminal  love  for  Rizzio.    Knox,  notwithstanding  his  violence  and  inveteracy,  only  slightly 
insintiates  that  such  a  suspicion  was  entertained.    But  the  silence  of  Randolph,  the  English  resident,  a 
man  abundantly  ready  to  mention,  and  to  aggravate,  Maiy's  faults,  and  who  does  not  once  insinuate  tint 
her  confidence  in  Rizzio  contained  any  tiling  criminal,  is  a  sufficient  vindication  of  her  innocence  against 
all  such  aspersions 


LET.  LXVI.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  455 

his  assistance  and  that  of  his  friends  towards  the  execution  of  his  design. 
Nothing  could  be  more  acceptable  to  the  whole  party  than  such  an  overture. 
The  murder  of  the  favourite  was  instantly  agreed  upon,  and  as  quickly 
carried  into  execution.     Morton  having  secured  the  gates  of  the  palace  with 
a  hundred  and  sixty  armed  men,  the  king,  accompanied  by  the  other  conspi 
rators,  entered  the  queen's  apartment,  by  a  private  passage,  while  she  was  at 
supper  with  her  natural  sister,  the  countess  of  Argyle,  Rizzio,  and  a  few 
more  of  her  courtiers.     Mary,  who  was  now  in  the  sixth  month  of  her  preg- 
nancy, alarmed  at  such  an  unusual  visit,  demanded  the  reason  of  this  rude 
intrusion.     They  answered  her  by  pointing  to  Rizzio ;  who,  immediately 
apprehending  that  he  was  the  devoted  victim,  retired  behind  the  queen's  chair, 
and  seized  her  by  the  waist,  hoping  that  the  respect  due  to  her  royal  person 
would  prove  some  protection  to  him.     But  the  conspirators  had  gone  too  far 
to  be  restrained  by  punctilios.     George  Douglas,  one  of  their  number,  laying 
hold  of  Darnley's  dagger,  stuck  it  in  the  body  of  Rizzio,  who,  screaming  with 
fear  and  agony,  was  torn  from  Mary,  and  pushed  into  the  antichamber,  where 
he  was  despatched  with  many  wounds."(l) 

"  I  will  weep  no  more,"  said  the  queen,  drying  her  tears,  when  informed  ol 
her  favourite's  fate ;— "  I  shall  now  think  of  revenge."  The  insult  on  her 
person,  the  stain  attempted  to  be  fixed  on  her  honour,  and  the  danger  to  which 
her  life  was  exposed  on  account  of  the  advanced  State  of  her  pregnancy, 
were  injuries  so  atrocious  and  complicated,  as  scarcely  indeed  to  admit  of 
pardon,  even  from  the  greatest  lenity.  Mary's  resentment,  however,  was 
implacable  against  her  husband  alone.  She  artfully  engaged  him,  by  her 
persuasions  and  caresses,  to  disown  all  connexion  with  the  conspirators, 
whom  he  had  promised  to  protect ;  to  deny  any  concurrence  in  their  crime ; 
nay,  to  publish  a  proclamation  containing  so  notorious  a  falsehood !(2)  And 
having  thus  made  him  expose  himself  to  universal  contempt,  and  rendered  it 
impracticable  for  him  to  acquire  the  confidence  of  any  party,  she  threw  him 
off  with  disdain  and  indignation. 

Meanwhile,  the  anger  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  absorbed  by  injuries  more 
recent  and  violent,  having  subsided  from  former  offenders,  she  had  been 
reconciled  to  the  banished  lords.  They  were  reinstated  in  their  honours  and 
fortunes.  The  accomplices  in  Rizzio's  murder,  who  had  fled  into  England 
on  being  deserted  by  Darnley,  also  applied  to  her  for  pardon :  and  although 
she  at  first  refused  compliance,  she  afterward,  through  the  intercession  of 
Bothwell,  a  new  favourite,  who  was  desirous  of  strengthening  his  party  by 
the  accession  of  their  interest,  permitted  them  to  return  into  their  own 

country-(3) 

The  hour  of  Mary's  labour  now  approached ;  and  as  it  seemed  imprudent 
to  expose  her  person,  at  such  a  time,  to  the  insults  which  she  might  suffer  in 
a  kingdom  torn  by  factions,  she  left  the  palace,  and  made  the  castle  of  Edin- 
buro-h  the  place  of  her  residence.  There  she  was  safely  delivered  of  a  son ; 
and°this  being  a  very  important  event  to  England  as  well  as  to  Scotland,  she 
instantly  despatched  sir  James  Melvil  to  London  with  the  interesting  intel- 
lio-ence.  It  struck  Elizabeth  forcibly  and  by  surprise.  She  had  given  a  ball 
tocher  court  at  Greenwich  on  the  evening  of  Melvil's  arrival,  and  was  dis- 
play ino-  all  that  spirit  and  gay ety  which  us  ually  attended  her  on  such  occasions ; 
but  no°sooner  was  she  informed  of  the  prince  of  Scotland's  birth,  than  all  her 
vivacity  left  her.  Sensible  of  the  superiority  her  rival  had  now  acquired,  she 
Btmk  into  deep  melancholy:  she  reclined  her  head  upon  her  hand,  the  tears 
trickling  down  her  cheek,  and  complained  to  some  of  her  attendants,  that  the 
queen  of  Scots  was  mother  of  a  fair  son,  while  she  herself  was  but  a  barren 
stock.  (4)  Next  morning,  however,  at  the  audience  of  the  ambassador,  she 
resumed  her  wonted  cheerfulness  and  dissimulation ;  thanked  Melvil  for  his 
haste  in  bringing  her  such  agreeable  news,  and  expressed  the  most  cordia? 
friendship  for  her  sister  Mary.  (5) 

(1)  Melvil.    Keith.    Crawfurd.  (2)  Keith,  Append.    Goodall,  vol.  i. 

(3)  Melvil.    Keith.    Knox.  (4)  Melvil.  (5)  Ibid 


456  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

The  birth  of  a  son,  as  Elizabeth  foresaw,  gave  additional  zeal  as  well  as 
weight  to  the  partisans  of  the  queen  of  Scots  in  England ;  and  even  men  of 
the  most  opposite  parties  began  to  call  aloud  for  some  settlement  of  the 
crown.  The  English  queen  had  now  reigned  eight  years,  without  discovering 
the  least  intention  to  marry.  A  violent  illness,  with  which  she  was  seized, 
had  lately  endangered  her  life,  and  alarmed  the  nation  with  a  prospect  of  all 
the  calamities  that  are  occasioned  by  a  disputed  and  dubious  succession.  In 
order  to  provide  against  those  evils,  a  motion  was  made,  and  eagerly  listened 
to  in  both  houses  of  parliament,  for  addressing  the  queen  on  the  subject. 
Her  love  for  her  people,  her  duty  to  the  public,  her  concern  to  posterity,  it 
was  urged,  equally  called  upon  her,  either  to  declare  her  own  resolution 
to  marry,  or  consent  to  an  act  establishing  the  order  of  succession  to  the 
crown.  (1) 

Elizabeth's  ambitious  and  masculine  character,  and  the  positive  affirma- 
tion, which  she  had  often  and  early  made,  as  already  observed,  that  she 
meant  to  live  and  die  a  VIRGIN-QUEEN,  rendered  it  improbable,  notwith 
standing  the  insinuations  of  her  ministers,  that  she  would  take  the  first  of 
these  steps  ;  and  as  no  title  to  the  crown  could,  with  any  colour  of  justice,  be 
set  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  most  of  the  English  nobility 
seemed  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  declaring  her  the  presumptive  suc- 
cessor. The  union  of  •the  two  kingdoms  was  a  desirable  object  to  all  dis- 
cerning men ;  and  the  birth  of  the  prince  of  Scotland  gave  hopes  of  its  per- 
petuity. Even  the  more  moderate  Protestants,  soothed  by  Mary's  lenity  to 
her  own  subjects,  concurred  with  the  Catholics  in  supporting  her  claim. (2) 
Nor  would  all  the  policy  and  address  of  Elizabeth  have  been  able  to  prevent 
the  settlement  of  the  crown  on  her  rival,  had  not  Mary's  indiscretions,  if 
not  her  crimes,  thrown  her  from  the  summit  of  prosperity,  and  plunged  her 
in  infamy  and  ruin. 

James  Hepburn,  earl  of  Bothwell,  the  head  of  an  ancient  family  in  Scot- 
land, but  a  man  of  profligate  manners,  and  by  no  means  eminent  for  talents 
either  civil  or  military,  had  distinguished  himself  by  his  attachment  to  the 
queen ;  and  since  the  death  of  Rizzio,  from  the  custody  of  whose  murderers 
he  had  been  the  chief  instrument  of  releasing  her,  Mary's  gratitude,  and 
perhaps  a  warmer  sentiment,  had  loaded  him  with  particular  marks  of  her 
favour  and  confidence.  She  had  raised  him  to  offices  of  power  and  of  trust, 
and  transacted  no  matter  of  importance  without  his  advice.  Bothwell  gained 
on  her  affection  (for  such  it  certainly  soon  became)  in  proportion  as  her 
regard  for  her  husband  declined ;  and  her  contempt  for  the  latter  appears  to 
have  been  completed,  though  not  occasioned,  by  her  love  for  the  former. 
The  attention  and  complaisance  of  a  man,  who  had  vindicated  her  authority, 
and  protected  her  person ;  who  entered  into  all  her  views,  and  watched  every 
opportunity  of  recommending  his  passion ;  could  scarce  indeed  fail  of  making 
an  impression  on  a  heart  naturally  too  susceptible,  or  of  rousing  to  the 
greatest  height  the  indignation  of  a  woman  and  a  queen  against  an  unworthy 
object,  on  whom  she  had  placed  her  love,  and  who  had  requited  it  with  neg 
lect,  with  insult,  and  with  brutality.  (3) 

Mary  was  not  only  suspected  of  a  criminal  commerce  with  Bothwell,  but 
so  indiscreet  had  her  familiarity  been,  and  so  strongly  marked  her  hatred 
against  her  husband,  that  when  Henry,  unable  to  bear  that  insignificance  into 
which  he  was  fallen,  left  the  court  and  retired  to  Glasgow,  a  distemper  of 
an  extraordinary  nature,  with  which  he  was  seized  soon  after  his  arrival,  was 
universally  ascribed  by  her  enemies  to  a  dose  of  poison,  which  it  was  pre- 
tended she  had  procured  to  be  administered  to  him.  The  king  himself 
however,  seems  to  have  had  no  such  suspicion ;  for  the  queen  having  paid 
him  a  visit  during  his  sickness,  and  discovered  great  anxiety  for  his  recovery, 
ae  accompanied  her  to  Edinburgh,  as  soon  as  he  could  be  moved,  in  ordei 

(1)  D'Ewes'  Jour*,  of  Par.iament  (?)  Melvii. 

IS)  Anderson,  vol.  i.  p.  93, 94.    Robertson,  book  iv. 


LET.  LXVL]  MODERNEUROPE.  457 

that  she  herself  might  be  able  to  attend  him  without  being  absent  from  her 
son.(l)  He  was  lodged  for  the  benefit  of  retirement  and  air,  as  was  pre- 
tended, in  a  solitary  house  called  the  Kirk  of  Field,  situated  on  a  rising 
ground  at  some  distance  from  the  palace  of  Holyrood  House.  There  he  was 
assiduously  attended  by  Mary,  who  slept  several  nights  in  the  chamber  under 
his  apartment.  But  on  the  ninth  of  February,  about  eleven  o'clock  at  night, 
she  left  the  Kirk  of  Field,  in  order  to  be  present  at  a  masque  in  the  palace ; 
and  about  two  o'clock  next  morning  the  house  in  which  the  king  lay  was 
blown  up  with  gunpowder,  and  his  dead  body  was  found  in  a  neighbouring 
enclosure.  (2) 

The  earl  of  Bothwell  was  generally  considered  as  the  author  of  this  horrid 
murder  ;(3)  some  suspicions  were  entertained  that  the  queen  herself  was  no 
stranger  to  the  crime ;  and  the  subsequent  conduct  of  both,  independent  of 
every  other  circumstance,  affords  a  strong  presumption  of  their  mutual  guilt. 
Mary  not  only  industriously  avoided  bringing  Bothwell  to  a  fair  and  legal 
trial,(4)  notwithstanding  the  earnest  entreaties  of  the  earl  of  Lennox,  the 
king's  father,  and  the  general  voice  of  the  nation,  but  allowed  the  man  pub 
Licly  accused  of  the  murder  of  her  husband,  to  enjoy  all  the  dignity  and 
power,  as  well  as  all  the  confidence  and  familiarity  of  a  favourite  !(5)  She 
committed  to  him  the  government  of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  ;(6)  which, 
with  the  offices  he  already  possessed,  gave  him  the  entire  command  of  the 
South  of  Scotland.  She  was  carried  off  by  him,  in  returning  from  a  visit 
to  her  son,  and  seemingly  with  her  own  consent  ;(7)  she  lived  with  him  for 
some  time  in  a  state  of  supposed  violation ;  and  as  soon  as  he  could  procure 
a  sentence  of  divorce,  separating  him  from  a  young  lady  of  virtue  and  merit 
to  whom  he  was  lawfully  married,  she  shamefully  gave  her  hand  to  this 
reputed  ravisher  and  regicide ! 

The  particular  steps  by  which  these  events  were  brought  about  are  of  little 
moment:  it  is  of  more  importance  to  mark  their  consequences.  Such  a 
quick  succession  of  incidents,  so  singular  and  so  detestable,  filled  all  Europe 
with  amazement,  and  threw  infamy  not  only  on  the  principal  actors  in  the 
guilty  scene,  but  also  on  the  whole  nation.  The  Scots  were  universally 
reproached  as  men  void  of  courage,  or  of  humanity ;  as  equally  regardless 
of  the  reputation  of  their  queen,  and  the  honour  of  their  country,  in  suffering 
so  many  atrocious  actions  to  pass  with  impunity. (8) 

These  reproaches,  so  justly  merited,  together  with  some  attempts  made  by 
Bothwell  to  get  the  young  prince  into  his  power,  roused  the  Scottish  nobles 
from  their  lethargy.  A  considerable  body  of  them  assembled  at  Stirling, 
and  entered  into  an  association  for  the  defence  of  the  prince's  person,  and 
for  punishing  the  king's  murderers. (9)  The  queen  and  Bothwell  were 
thrown  into  the  utmost  consternation  by  the  news  of  this  league.  They 
were  no  strangers  to  the  sentiments  of  the  nation  with  respect  to  their  con 
duct :  they  foresaw  the  storm  that  was  ready  to  burst  on  their  heads ;  and, 
in  order  to  provide  against  it,  Mary  issued  a  proclamation,  requiring  her 
subjects  to  take  arms  and  attend  her  husband  by  a  day  appointed.  She  pub- 
lished, at  the  same  time,  a  sort  of  manifesto,  in  which  she  endeavoured  to 
vindicate  her  government  from  those  imputations  with  which  it  had  been 

(1)  Goodall,  vol.  ii.    Dr.  Robertson  supposes  this  confidence  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  insidious 
blandishments  of  Mary.    Hist.  Scot,  book  iv. 

(2)  Crawfurd.    Spotswood.    Keith.  (3)  Melvil's  Mem.  p.  155.    Anderson,  vol.  i. 

(4)  A  kind  of  mock  trial  was  held,  but  hurried  on  with  indecent  precipitancy,  and  preceded  by  so  many 
indications  of  violence,  that  Lennox  was  afraid  to  appear  in  support  of  his  charge.  After  in  vain  craving 


j»       his  innocence.    Besides  other  suspicious  circumstances,  he  was  accompanied  to  the  place  of  trial  by  a 
large  body  of  armed  men.    Anderson,  vol.  i.    Keith,  p.  375,  376.       « 

(5)  Even  when  lying  under  the  accusation  of  the  king's  murder,  Bothwell  lived  for  sometime  in  the 
same  house  with  Mary,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  council  as  usual,  instead  of  being  confined  to  close  prison 
Anderson,  vol.  i.  ii.  (6)  Spotswood,  p.  201. 

(7)  Melvil's  Mem.  p.  158.  Melvil,  who  was  himself  one  of  Mary's  attendants,  tells  us  not  only  that  he 
*aw  no  signs  of  reluctance,  but  that  he  was  informed  the  whole  transaction  was  managed  in  concert 
with  her.  (8)  Anderson,  vol.  i.  Melvil,  p.  163.  Robertson,  Append.  No.  XX 

<ty  Keith,  p.  394. 

20 


458  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  I. 

loaded,  and  employed  the  strongest  terms  to  express  her  concern  for  the 
safety  and  welfare  of  the  prince  her  son.  But  neither  of  these  measures 
produced  any  considerable  effect.  The  associated  lords  had  assembled  an 
army,  before  the  queen  and  Bothwell  were  in  any  condition  to  face  them 
Mary  and  her  husband  fled  to  Dunbar ;  and  as  Bothwell  had  many  dependants 
in  that  quarter  he  gathered  in  a  short  time  such  strength  as  emboldened  him 
to  leave  the  town  and  castle,  and  advance  towards  the  confederates. 

The  two  armies  met  at  Carberry-hill,  about  six  miles  from  Edinburgh; 
and  Mary  was  soon  made  sensible,  that  her  own  troops,  nearly  equal  in 
number  to  those  of  the  confederates,  disapproved  of  her  cause,  and  were 
averse  to  spill  their  blood  in  her  quarrel.(l)  They  discovered  no  inclination 
to  fight.  She  endeavoured  to  animate  them :  she  wept,  she  threatened,  she 
reproached  them  with  cowardice ;  but  all  in  vain.  After  some  bravadoes  of 
Bothwell  to  vindicate  his  innocence  by  single  combat,  but  which  he  declined 
when  an  adversary  offered  to  enter  the  lists,  Mary  saw  no  resource  but  that 
of  holding  a  conference  with  Kirkaldy  of  Grange,  one  of  the  chief  of  the 
confederates,  and  of  putting  herself,  on  some  general  promises,  into  their 
hands. (2) 

Bothwell,  during  this  parley,  took  his  last  farewell  of  the  queen,  and  fled 
unattended  to  Dunbar ;  where,  finding  it  impossible  to  collect  fresh  forces, 
he  fitted  out  a  few  small  vessels,  set  sail  for  the  Orkneys,  and  there  subsisted 
some  time  by  piracy.  But  being  pursued  even  to  that  extreme  corner  by 
Kirkaldy,  the  greater  part  of  his  little  fleet  was  taken,  together  with  several 
of  his  servants,  who  afterward  discovered  all  the  circumstances  of  the  king's 
murder,  and  suffered  for  their  share  in  the  crime. (3)  Bothwell  himself  made 
his  escape  to  Norway  with  a  single  ship.  On  that  coast  he  attempted  to 
renew  his  piracies ;  was  there  taken,  thrown  into  prison,  lost  his  senses,  and 
died  miserably,  ten  years  after,  in  the  bottom  of  a  dungeon,  unpitied  by  his 
countrymen,  and  neglected  by  strangers.(4) 

Meanwhile,  the  queen  of  Scots,  now  in  the  hands  of  an  enraged  faction, 
met  with  such  treatment  as  a  sovereign  may  naturally  expect  from  subjects, 
who  have  their  future  security  ta  provide  for,  as  well  as  their  present  animosity 
to  gratify.  She  was  conducted  to  Edinburgh,  amid  the  insults  of  the  popu- 
lace ;  who  reproached  her  with  her  crimes,  and  held  up  before  her  eyes,  which 
way  soever  she  turned,  a  standard,  on  which  was  painted  the  dead  body  of 
her  late  husband,  and  her  infant  son  kneeling  before  it,  and  uttering  these 
words  :  "  Judge  and  revenge  my  cause,  O  Lord !"  Mary  shrunk  with  horror 
from  such  a  shucking  object;  but  notwithstanding  all  her  argument  and 
entreaties,  the  same  standard  was  held  to  view,  and  the  same  insults  and 
reproaches  repeated. (5)  Under  pretence  that  her  behaviour  was  unsuitable 
to  her  condition,  and  fearing  the  return  of  Bothwell,  to  whom  she  still  declared 
her  attachment,  the  confederates  sent  her  next  day  to  the  castle  of  Lochlevin, 
seated  on  a  small  island,  in  the  middle  of  the  lake  of  the  same  name,  and 
signed  a  warrant  to  William  Douglas,  the  owner  of  it,  to  detain  her  there 
prisoner.  (6) 

No  sooner  did  the  news  of  these  events  reach  England,  than  Elizabeth, 
apparently  laying  aside  all  her  jealousies  and  fears,  seemed  resolved  to  employ 
her  authority  for  alleviating  the  calamities  of  her  unhappy  kinswoman.  She 
instantly  despatched  sir  Nicholas  Throgmorton  into  Scotland,  with  power  to 
negotiate  both  with  the  queen  and  her  confederates.  In  his  instructions  there 
appears  a  remarkable  solicitude  for  Mary's  liberty,  and  even  for  her  reputa- 
tion^?) But  neither  Elizabeth's  interposition,  nor  Throgmorton's  zeal  and 
abilities,  were  of  much  benefit  to  the  Scottish  queen.  The  confederates  fore- 
saw that  Mary,  elated  by  the  prospect  of  protection,  would  reject  with  disdain  • 
the  overtures  which  they  intended  to  make  her ;  they  therefore  peremptorily 
denied  the  ambassador  access  to  their  prisoner,  and  either  refused  or  eluded 
what  proposals  he  made  them  in  herbehalf.(8) 

(1)  Spmswood,  ]).  207.    Keith,  p.  401,  402.  (2)  Caldcrwood,  vol.  ii.    Melvil,  p.  165. 

(3)  Anderson,  vol.  ii.  (4)  Melvil's  Mem.  p.  168. 

(3)  Crjiwfurd's  Mem.  p.  33.     Keith,  p.  409.  Robertson,  book  iv.  (6)  Keith,  p.  40a 

tt)  Keith,  p.  411.  (8)  Ibid,  p.  417 


LET.  LXVII.J  MODERN   EUROPE.  459 

The  queen  of  Scots,  in  the  mean  time,  endured  all  the  rigour  and  horrors 
of  a  prison.  No  prospect  of  liberty  appeared:  none  of  her  subjects  had 
either  taken  arms,  or  so  much  as  solicited  her  relief;  nor  was  any  person  in 
jvhom  she  could  confide  admitted  into  her  presence.  She  was  cut  off  from 
all  the  world.  In  this  melancholy  situation,  without  a  counsellor,  without  a 
friend,  under  the  pressure  of  misfortune,  and  the  apprehension  of  danger,  it 
was  natural  for  a  woman  to  listen  to  almost  any  overtures.  The  confederates 
took  advantage  of  Mary's  distress  and  of  her  fears.  They  employed  lord 
Lindsay,  the  fiercest  zealot  of  the  party,  to  make  her  acquainted  with  their 
pin-pose ;  and  they  threatened  to  prosecute  her,  as  the  principal  conspirator 
against  the  life  of  her  husband  and  the  safety  of  her  son,  if  she  refused  to 
comply  with  their  demands.  Mary,  overpowered  by  her  unhappy  condition, 
and  believing  that  no  deed  which  she  should  execute  during  her  captivity 
could  be  valid,  signed  a  resignation  of  the  crown ;  in  consequence  of  which 
the  earl  of  Murray  was  appointed  regent  under  the  young  prince,  who  was 
proclaimed  king,  by  the  name  of  James  VI.(l) 

Here,  my  dear  Philip,  I  must  make  a  pause,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity. 
The  subsequent  part  of  this  interesting  story,  the  continuation  of  the  civil 
wars  in  France,  and  the  rise  of  those  in  the  Low  Countries,  will  furnish 
materials  for  the  next  Letter. 


f 


LETTER  LXVII. 

Great  Britain,  from  the  Flight  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  into  England,  "with  an 
Account  of  the  Civil  Wars  on  the  Continent,  till  the  Death  of  Charles  IX.  of 
France,  in  1574. 

THE  condescension  of  the  queen  of  Scots  in  resigning  the  crown  to  her 
son,  and  the  administration  of  government  to  her  rebellious  subjects,  did  not 
procure  her  enlargement.  She  was  still  confined  in  the  castle  of  Lochleven. 
A  parliament,  summoned  by  the  earl  of  Murray,  even  declared  her  resignation 
valid,  and  her  imprisonment  lawful,  while  it  recognised  his  election  to  the 
office  of  regent  ;(2)  and  being  a  man  of  vigour  and  abilities,  he  employed 
himself  successfully  in  reducing  the  kingdom  to  obedience. 

But  although  most  men  seemed  to  acquiesce  in  Murray's  authority,  there 
still  abounded  in  Scotland  many  secret  murmurs  and  cabals.  The  duke  of 
Chatelheraut,  who,  as  first  prince  of  the  blood,  thought  he  had  an  undoubted 
right  to  the  regency,  bore  no  good-will  to  the  new  government :  and  the  same 
sentiments  were  embraced  by  his  numerous  friends  and  adherents.  All  who 
leaned  to  the  ancient  opinions  in  religion  were  inclined  to  join  this  part;  and 
the  length  and  rigour  of  Mary's  sufferings  began  to  move  many,  who  had  for- 
merly rfetested  her  crimes,  or  blamed  her  imprudence,  to  commiserate  hei 
present  condition.  (3)  Animated  by  these  different  motives,  a  body  of  the 
nobility  met  at  Hamilton,  and  concerted  measures  for  supporting  the  cause  of 
the  queen. 

While  the  Scottish  nation  seemed  thus  returning  to  sentiments  ot  duty 
and  loyalty  to  their  sovereign,  Mary  recovered  her  liberty,  in  a  manner 
no  less  surprising  to  her  friends  than  unexpected  by  her  enemies.  She  en- 
gaged, by  her  charms  and  caresses,  George  Douglas,  her  keeper's  brother, 
to  assist  her  in  attempting  her  escape.  He  conveyed  her  in  disguise  into  a 
small  boat,  and  himself  rowed  her  ashore.  She  hastened  to  Hamilton; 
and  the  news  of  her  arrival  at  that  place  being  immediately  spread  abroad, 
her  court  was  filled  in  a  few  days  with  a  great  and  splendid  train  of  nobility, 
accompanied  by  such  numbers  of  their  retainers  as  composed  an  army 
of  six  thousand  combatants.  Her  resignation  of  the  crown,  which  she 
declared  to  have  been  extorted  by  fear,  was  pronounced  illegal  and  void, 

(1)  Anderson.  Melvil.  Keith.   Crawford.  (2)  Andeison,  vol.  ii.  (3)  Buchanan,  lib.  xvii 


460  THE   HISTORY    OF  PART! 

by  a  council  of  the  nobles  and  chief  men  of  her  party;  and  an  association 
was  formed,  at  the  same  time,  for  the  defence  of  her  person  and  authority,  and 
subscribed  by  nine  earls,  nine  bishops,  eighteen  lords,  and  many  gentlemen 
of  distinction.(l)  • 

Elizabeth,  when  informed  of  the  escape  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  discovered 
a  resolution  of  persevering  in  the  same  generous  and  friendly  measures 
which  she  had  hitherto  pursued  since  the  confinement  of  that  princess.  She 
is  supposed  to  have  been  chiefly  withheld  from  employing  force  against  the 
regent,  by  the  fear  of  pushing  him  to  still  greater  extremities  against  his 
sovereign ;  and  she  now  despatched  Maitland  of  Lethington  into  Scotland,  to 
offer  her  good  offices  and  the  assistance  of  her  arms  to  Mary.  (2)  But  the 
regent  made  such  haste  to  assemble  forces,  that  the  fate  of  Scotland  was 
decided  before  any  English  succours  could  arrive.  Confiding  in  the  valour 
of  his  troops,  Murray  took  the  field  with  an  army  far  inferior  to  Mary's  in 
number ;  and  a  battle  was  fought  at  Langside  near  Glasgow,  which  proved 
decisive  in  his  favour,  and  was  followed  by  the  total  dispersion  of  the  queen's 
party. 

Mary,  who,  within  the  space  of  thirteen  days,  had  been  a  prisoner  at  the 
mercy  of  her  rebellious  subjects,  had  seen  a  powerful  army  under  her  com- 
mand and  a  numerous  train  of  nobles  at  her  devotion,  was  now  obliged  to 
flee,  in  the  utmost  danger  of  her  life,  and  lurk  with  a  few  attendants  in  a 
corner  of  her  kingdom.  She  had  beheld  the  engagement  from  a  neighbour- 
ing hill ;  and  so  lively  were  her  impressions  of  fear  when  she  saw  that  army 
broken  on  which  her  last  hope  rested,  that  she  never  closed  her  eyes  till  she* 
reached  the  abbey  of  Dundrenan,  in  Galloway,  above  sixty  miles  from  the 
field  of  battle. (3)  Not  thinking  herself  safe  even  in  that  obscure  retreat,  and 
still  haunted  by  the  horrors  of  a  prison,  she  embraced  the  rash  resolution  of 
retiring  into  England,  and  of  throwing  herself  on  the  generosity  of  her  kins- 
woman. 

Elizabeth  was  now  under  the  necessity  of  coming  to  some  decisive  deter 
mination  with  respect  to  her  treatment  of  the  queen  of  Scots ;  and  the  plea- 
sure of  mortifying,  while  in  her  power,  a  rival  whose  beauty  and  accom- 
plishments she  envied,  together  with  the  cautious  and  interested  councils  of 
Cecil  her  prime  minister,  determined  her  to  disregard  all  the  motives  of  friend- 
ship and  generous  sympathy,  and  to  regulate  her  conduct  solely  by  the  cruel 
maxims  of  an  insidious  policy.  In  answer,  therefore,  to  Mary's  message, 
notifying  her  arrival  in  England,  craving  leave  to  visit  the  queen,  and  claim- 
ing her  protection,  in  consequence  of  fcrn^er  promises  and  professions  of 
regard,  Elizabeth  artfully  replied,  That  while  the  queen  of  Scots  lay  under 
the  imputation  of  a  crime  so  horrid  as  the  murder  of  her  husband,  she  could 
not,  without  bringing  a  stain  on  her  own  reputation,  admit  her  into  her  pre- 
sence ;  but  as  soon  as  she  had  cleared  herself  from  that  aspersion,  she  might 
depend  on  a  reception  suitable  to  her  dignity,  and  support  proportioned  to  her 
necessities.(4) 

Mary  was  overwhelmed  with  sorrow  and  surprise  at  so  unexpected  a  man-  ' 
ner  of  evading  her  request :  nor  was  her  bosom  a  stranger  to  the  feelings  of 
indignation ;  but  the  distress  of  her  condition  obliged  her  to  declare,  that  she 
would  willingly  justify  herself  to  her  sister  from  all  imputations,  and  cheer- 
fully submit  her  cause  to  the  arbitration  of  so  good  a  friend.(S)  This  was 
the  very  point  to  which  Elizabeth  wished  to  bring  the  matter,  and  the  great 
object  of  her  intrigues.  She  now  considered  herself  as  umpire  between  the 
queen  of  Scots  and  her  subjects,  and  began  to  act  in  that  capacity.  She  pro- 
posed to  appoint  commissioners  to  hear  the  pleadings  on  both  sides,  and 
wrote  to  the  regent  of  Scotland,  to  appoint  proper  persons  to  appear  before 
them  in  his  name,  and  to  produce  what  he  could  allege  in  vindication  of  his 
proceedings  against  his  sovereign. 

Mary,  who  had  hitherto  relied  with  some  degree  of  confidence  on  Eliza- 
beth's professions,  and  who,  when  she  consented  to  submit  her  cause  to  that 

(1)  Keith,  p.  475.  (2)  Buchanan,  lib.  xix  '  Keith,  p.  477.  (3)  Keith,  p.  488. 

(4'  Anderson,  vol.  iv.  (5)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  LXVIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  461 

princess,  expected  that  the  queen  herself  would  receive  and  examine  her 
defences,  now  plainly  perceived  the  artifice  of  her  rival,  and  the  snare  that 
had  been  laid  for  her.(l)  She  therefore  retracted  the  offer  she  had  made, 
and  which  had  been  perverted  to  a  purpose  so  contrary  to  her  intention ;  she 
meant  to  consider  Elizabeth  as  an  equal,  for  whose  satisfaction  she  was 
willing  to  explain  any  part  of  her  conduct  that  seemed  liable  to  censure,  not 
to  acknowledge  her  as  a  superior.  But  her  own  words  will  best  express  her 
sentiments  on  this  subject.  "  In  my  present  situation,"  says  she,  in  a  letter  to 
the  English  queen,  "  I  neither  will  nor  can  reply  to  the  accusations  of  my 
subjects.  But  I  am  ready,  of  my  own  accord,  and  out  of  friendship  to  you, 
to  satisfy  your  scruples,  and  to  vindicate  my  own  conduct.  My  subjects  are 
not  my  equals :  nor  will  I,  by  submitting  my  cause  to  a  judicial  trial,  acknow- 
ledge them  to  be  so.  I  fled  into  your  arms  as  into  those  of  my  nearest  rela- 
tion, and  most  perfect  friend.  I  did  you  honour,  as  I  imagined,  in  choosing 
you  preferably  to  any  other  prince,  to  be  the  restorer  of  an  injured  queen. 
Was  it  ever  known  that  a  prince  was  blamed  for  hearing  in  person  the  com- 
plaints of  those  who  applied  to  his  justice,  against  the  false  accusations  of 
their  enemies  ?  You  admitted  into  your  presence  my  bastard  brother,  who 
had  been  guilty  of  rebellion ;  and  you  deny  me  that  honour !  God  forbid  that 
I  should  be  the  cause  of  bringing  any  stain  on  your  reputation!  I  expected 
that  your  manner  of  treating  me  would  have  added  lustre  to  it.  Suffer  me 
either  to  implore  the  aid  of  other  princes,  whose  delicacy  on  this  head  will 
be  less,  and  the  resentment  of  my  wrongs  greater;  or  let  me  receive  from 
your  hands  that  assistance  which  it  becomes  you  more  than  any  other  prince 
to  grant ;  and  by  that  benefit  bind  me  to  yourself  in  the  indissoluble  ties  of 
gratitude."(2) 

This  letter,  which  somewhat  disconcerted  her  plan,  the  English  queen  laid 
before  her  privy  council ;  and  it  was  there  agreed,  that  Elizabeth  could  not, 
consistently  with  her  own  honour,  or  with  the  safety  of  her  government, 
either  give  the  queen  of  Scots  the  assistance  which  she  demanded,  or  permit 
her  to  retire  out  of  the  kingdom,  before  the  inquiry  into  her  conduct  was 
finished.  It  was  also  agreed  to  remove  Mary,  for  the  sake  of  greater  safety, 
from  Carlisle,  where  she  had  taken  refuge,  to  Bolton,  a  castle  belonging  to 
lord  Scroop,  on  the  borders  of  Yorkshire.(S) 

The  resolution  of  the  English  privy  council,  in  regard  to  Mary's  person,  was 
immediately  carried  into  execution;  and  she  now  found  herself  entirely  in  her 
rival's  power.  Her  correspondence  with  her  friends  in  Scotland  was  become 
more  difficult ;  all  prospect  of  escape  was  cut  off;  and  although  she  was  still 
treated  with  the  respect  due  to  a  queen,  her  real  condition  was  that  of  a  pri- 
soner. She  knew  what  it  was  to  be  deprived  of  liberty,  and  dreaded  confine- 
ment as  the  worst  of  evils. 

Elizabeth  laid  hold  of  this  season  of  terror,  of  impatience,  and  despair,  to 
extort  Mary's  consent  to  the  projected  trial.  She  was  confident,  she  said,  that 
the  queen  of  Scots  would  find  no  difficulty  in  refuting  all  the  calumnies  of 
her  enemies  ;  and  though  her  apology  should  even  fall  short  of  conviction, 
she  was  determined  to  support  her  cause.  It  was  never  meant,  she  added, 
that  Mary  should  be  cited  to  a  trial  on  the  accusation  of  her  rebellious  sub- 
jects ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  would  be  summoned  to  appear  and  to 
justify  themselves  for  their  conduct  towards  her.(4)  Commissioners  were 
accordingly  appointed  by  the  English  ministry  for  the  examination  of  this 
great  cause ;  and  conferences  were  held  between  them  and  the  Scottish  com- 
missioners, part  in  the  name  of  the  queen,  and  part  in  behalf  of  the  king  and 
kingdom,  first  at  York,  and  afterward  at  Westminster. 

During  the  conferences  at  York,  Mary's  commissioners  seemed  to  triumph, 
as  the  regent  had  hitherto  declined  accusing  her  of  any  participation  in  the 
guilt  of  her  husband's  murder,  which  alone  could  justify  the  violent  proceed 
ings  of  her  subjects.  But  the  face  of  the  question  was  soon  changed,  on  the 
renewal  of  the  conferences  at  Westminster  immediately  under  the  eye  of 

(1)  Anderson,  ubi  sup  (2)  Anderson,  vol.  iv.  (3)    d.  ibid.  (4)  Id.  ibid. 


*62  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

the  English  queen.  Murray,  encouraged  by  the  assurances  of  Elizabeth's 
protection,  laid  aside  his  delicacy  and  his  fears,  and  not  only  charged  his 
sovereign  with  consenting  to  the  murder  of  her  husband,  but  with  being  acces- 
sary to  the  contrivance  and  execution  of  it.  The  same  accusation  was  offered 
hy  the  earl  of  Lennox,  who,  appearing  before  the  English  commissioners, 
craved  vengeance  for  the  blood  of  his  son.(l) 

But  accusations  were  not  enough  for  Elizabeth ;  she  wanted  to  have  proofs ; 
and  in  order  to  draw  them  Avith  decency  from  the  regent,  she  commanded 
her  commissioners  to  testify  her  indignation  and  displeasure  at  his  presump- 
tion, in  forgetting  so  far  the  duty  of  a  subject  as  to  accuse  his  sovereign  of 
such  atrocious  crimes.  Murray,  thus  arraigned  in  his  turn,  offered  to  show 
that  his  accusations  were  neither  false  nor  malicious.  He  produced,  among 
other  evidences  in  support  of  his  charge,  some  sonnets  and  love-letters,  from. 
Mary  to  Bothwell,  written,  partly  before,  partly  after,  the  murder  of  her 
husband,  and  containing  incontestable  proofs  of  her  consent  to  that  barba- 
rous deed,  of  her  criminal  amours,  and  her  concurrence  in  the  pretended 
rape. (2)  Stunned  by  this  latent  blow,  against  which  it  appears  they  were  not 
provided  with  any  proper  defence,  Mary's  commissioners  endeavoured  to 
change  the  inquiry  into  a  negotiation;  and  finding  that  attempt  impracticable, 
as  the  English  commissioners  insisted  on  proceeding,  they  finally  broke  off 
the  conferences  without  making  any  reply. 

Elizabeth,  having  got  into  her  possession  these  evidences  of  her  rival's  guilt, 
began  to  treat  her  with  less  delicacy.  Orders  were  given  for  removing  Mary 
from  Bolton,  a  place  surrounded  with  Catholics,  to  Tutbury  in  the  county  of 
Suffolk.  And  as  Elizabeth  entertained  hopes  that  the  queen  of  Scots,  de- 
pressed by  her  misfortunes,  and  scarce  recovered  from  the  shock  of  the  late 
attack  on  her  reputation,  would  now  be  glad  to  secure  a  safe  retreat  at  the 
expense  of  her  grandeur,  she  promised  to  bury  every  thing  in  oblivion, 
provided  Mary  would  agree  either  to  confirm  her  resignation  of  the  crown, 
or  to  associate  her  son  with  her  in  the  government,  and  let  the  administra- 
tion .emain  with  the  earl  of  Murray  during  the  minority  of  James.  But 
that  high-spirited  princess  refused  all  treaty  on  such  terms.  "  Death,"  said 
she,  "  is  less  dreadful  than  such  an  ignominious  step.  Rather  than  give  away 
with  my  own  hands  the  crown  which  descended  to  me  from  my  ancestors,* 
I  will  part  with  life :  but  the  last  words  which  I  utter  shall  be  those  of  a 
queen  of  Scotland."(3) 

After  an  end  had  been  put  to  the  conferences,  the  regent  returned  into 
Scotland,  and  Mary  was  confined  more  closely  than  ever.  In  vain  did  she 
still  demand,  that  Elizabeth  should  either  assist  her  in  recovering  her  autho- 
rity, or  permit  her  to  retire  into  France,  and  make  trial  of  the  friendship  of 
other  princes.  Aware  of  the  danger  attending  both  these  proposals,  Eliza- 
beth resolved  to  comply  with  neither,  but  to  detain  her  rival  still  a  prisoner; 

(1)  Goodall,  vol.  ii.    Anderson,  vol.  iv. 

(2)  Some  bold  attempts  have  lately  been  made  to  prove  these  letters  and  sonnets  to  be  forgeries ;  but  un- 
fortunately for  Mary's  reputation,  tin;  principal  arguments,  in  support  of  their  authenticity,  yet  remain  un- 
answered.   1.  They  were  examined  and  compared  with  her  acknowledged  handwriting,  in  many  letters 
to  Elizabeth,  not  only  by  the  English  commissioners,  and  by  the  Scottish  council  and  parliament,  but  by  the 
English  privy  council,  assisted  by  several  noblemen  well  affected  to  the  cause  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  who  all 
ndrnittcd  them  to  be  authentic.    (Anderson,  vol.  iv.)     This  circumstance  is  of  great  weight  in  the  dispute; 
for  although  it  is  not  very  difficult  to  counterfeit  a  subscription,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  counterfeit  any 
number  of  pages  so  perfectly  as  toelude  detection.    2.  Mary  and  her  commissioners,  by  declining  to  refute 
the  charge  of  the  regent,  though  requested  to  attempt  a  refutation  in  any  manner  or  form,  and  told  by 
Elizabeth  that  silence  would  be  considered  as  the  fullest  confession  of  guilt,  seemed  to  admit  the  justice  of 
the  accusation.    (Id.  ibid.)    3.  The  duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  been  favoured  with  every  opportunity  of 
examining  the  letters  in  question,  and  who  gave  the  strongest  marks  of  his  attachment  to  the  queen  of  Scuts, 
yet  believed  them  to  be  authentic.     (State  Trials,  vol.  i.)    4.  In  the  conferences  between  the  duke,  Mait- 
liiml  of  Lethington,  and  bishop  Lesley,  all  /.ealous  partisans  of  Mary,  the  authenticity  of  the  letters,  and 
IKT  participation  in  the  murder  of  her  husband,  are  always  taken  for  granted.     (Id.  ibid.)    5.  But,  incle- 
|«-'iident  of  all  other  evidence,  the  letters  themselves  contain  many  internal  proofs  of  their  authenticity ; 
many  minute  uud  unnecessary  particulars,  which  could  have  occurred  to  no  person  employed  to  forge 
them,  and  which,  as  the  English  commissioners  ingeniously  observed,  "were  unknown  to  any  other  than 
to  herself  and  Bothwell."    <;.  Their  very  indelicacy  is  a  proof  of  their  authenticity;  for  although  Mary, 
in  an  amorous  moment,  might  slide  into  a  gross  expression,  in  writing  to  a  man  to  whom  she  had  sacri- 
ficed her  honour,  the  framrr  of  no  forgery  could  hope  to  gain  it  credibility  by  imputing  such  expression* 
1o  go  polite  and  bccompllalied  n  princess  as  the  queen  of  Scots. 

13}  Baylies,  p.  497.    Goodall,  vol.  ii. 


LET.  LXVIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  463 

— and  the  proofs  produced  of  Mary's  guilt,  she  hoped,  would  apologize  for 
this  severity.  The  queen  of  Scots,  however,  before  the  regent's  departure, 
had  artfully  recriminated  upon  him  and  his  party,  by  accusing  them  of  having 
devised  and  executed  the  murder  of  the  king.  And  although  this  accusation, 
which  was  not  given  in  till  after  the  dissolution  of  the  conferences,  was 
generally  considered  as  a  mere  expression  of  resentment,(l)  Mary  had  be- 
haved with  so  much  modesty,  propriety,  and  even  dignity  during  her  con- 
finement, that  her  friends  were  enabled,  on  plausible  grounds,  to  deny  the 
reality  of  the  crimes  imputed  to  her;  and  a  scheme  was  formed,  in  both 
•kingdoms,  for  restoring  her  to  liberty,  and  replacing  her  on  her  throne. 

The  fatal  marriage  of  the  queen  of  Scots  with  Bothwell  was  the  grand 
source  of  all  her  misfortunes.  A  divorce  only  could  repair,  in  any  degree, 
the  injuries  her  reputation  had  suffered  by  that  step;  and  a  new  choice 
seemed  the  most  effectual  means  of  recovering  her  authority.  Her  friends 
therefore  looked  out  for  a  husband  whose  influence  \vould  be  sufficient  to 
accomplish  this  desirable  end.  A  foreign  alliance  was,  for  many  reasons,  to 
be  avoided;  and  as  the  duke  of  Norfolk  was,  without  comparison,  the  first 
subject  in  England,  and  enjoyed  the  rare  felicity  of  being  popular  with  the 
most  opposite  factions,  his  marriage  with  the  queen  of  Scots  appeared  so 
natural,  that  it  had  occurred  to  several  of  his  own  friends,  as  well  as  to  those 
of  Mary.  Maitland  of  Lethington  opened  the  scheme  to  him.  He  set  before 
that  nobleman  the  glory  of  composing  the  dissensions  in  Scotland,  and  at  the 
same  time  held  to  his  view  the  prospect  of  reaping  the  succession  of  Eng- 
land. The  duke  readily  closed  with  a  proposal  so  flattering  to  his  ambition , 
nor  was  Mary  herself  averse  against  a  measure  which  promised  so  desirable 
a  change  in  her  condition.(2) 

But  this  scheme,  like  all  those  formed  for  the  relief  of  the  queen  of  Scots, 
had  an  unfortunate  issue.  Though  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  who  possessed  in  an 
eminent  degree  the  good  graces  of  his  sovereign,  as  well  as  the  favour  of  the 
whole  nation,  had  declared  that  Elizabeth's  consent  should  be  obtained  before 
the  conclusion  of  his  marriage,  he  attempted  previously  to  gain  the  approba- 
tion of  the  most  considerable  English  nobility,  as  he  had  reason  to  apprehend 
a  violent  opposition  from  her  perpetual  and  unrelenting  jealousy  of  her  rival ; 
and  as  the  nation  now  began  to  despair  of  the  queen's  marrying,  and  Mary's 
rio-ht  to  the  succession  was  generally  held  to  be  undoubted,  her  alliance  with 
an  Eno-lishman,  and  a  zealous  Protestant,  seemed  so  effectually  to  provide 
ao-ainst  all  those  evils  which  might  be  apprehended  from  her  choice  of  a 
foreign  and  a  popish  prince,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  peers,  either  directly 
or  tacitly,  approved  of  it  as  a  salutary  project.  Even  the  earl  of  Leicester, 
Elizabeth's  avowed  favourite,  seemed  to  enter  zealously  into  Norfolk's  inter- 
ests, and  wrote,  with  his  own  hand,  a  letter  to  Mary,  subscribed  by  several 
other  nobleman,  warmly  recommending  the  match.(3) 

So  extensive  a  confederacy  could  not  escape  the  vigilance  of  Elizabeth,  or 
of  Cecil,  her  prime  minister,  a  man  of  the  deepest  penetration,  and  sincerely 
attached  to  her  person  and  government.  Norfolk,  however,  flattered  himself 
that  the  union  of  so  many  noblemen  would  make  it  necessary  for  the  queen 
to  comply ;  and  in  a  matter  of  so  much  consequence  to  the  nation,  the  taking 
a  few  steps  without  her  knowledge  could  scarce,  he  thought,  be  reckoned  cri- 
minal. But  Elizabeth  thought  otherwise.  Any  measure  to  her  appeared 
criminal,  that  tended  so  visibly  to  save  the  reputation  and  increase  the  power 
of  her  rival.  She  also  saw,  that,  how  perfect  soever  Norfolk's  allegiance 
might  be,  and  that  of  the  greater  part  of  the  noblemen  who  espoused  his 
cause,  they  who  conducted  the  intrigue  had  farther  and  more  dangerous 
views  than  the  relief  of  the  queen  of  Scots :  and  she  dropped  several  hints  to 

m  Hume  vol  v     If  Mary's  commissioners  could  have  produced  any  proofs  of  the  earl  of  Murray's 
guilt  thev  would  surely,  as  able  advocates  and  zealous  partisans,  have  prevented  the  accusations  of  In 
enemies ;"  or  they  would  have  confronted  accusation  with  accusation,  instead  of  breaking  off  the  con- 
ferences at  the  very  moment  the  charge  was  brought  against  their  mistress,  and  when  all  their  eloquence 

as  become  necessary  for  the  vindication  of  her  honour. 
»'  Camden.    Haynes,  (35  Lesley.    Haynes. 


464  THE   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I. 

the  duke,  that  she  was  acquainted  with  his  designs,  warning  him  frequently 
to  "  beware  on  what  pillow  he  reposed  his  head !"(!)  Certain  intelligence  of 
this  dangerous  combination  was  at  length  given  her  by  Leicester,  who  had 
perhaps  countenanced  the  project  with  no  other  intention  than  to  defeat  it. 
The  Scottish  regent,  threatened  with  Elizabeth's  displeasure,  also  meanly 
betrayed  the  duke ;  put  his  letters  into  her  hands,  and  furnished  all  the  in- 
formation in  his  power.  Norfolk  was  committed  to  the  tower;  several 
other  noblemen  were  taken  into  custody ;  and  the  queen  of  Scots  was  removed 
to  Coventry,  where  her  imprisonment  was  rendered  more  intolerable  by  an 
excess  of  vigilance  and  rigour.(2) 

This  intrigue  was  no  sooner  discovered  than  an  attempt  was  made  for  re 
storing  the  Scottish  queen  to  liberty  by  force  of  arms.  The  earls  of  North- 
umberland and  Westmoreland,  two  of  the  most  ancient  and  powerful  of  the 
English  peers,  were  both  attached  to  the  Romish  religion,  and  discontented 
with  the  court,  where  new  men  and  new  measures  prevailed.  Ever  since 
Mary's  arrival  in  England  they  had  warmly  espoused  her  interest,  and  had 
even  engaged  in  several  plots  for  her  relief.  They  were  privy  to  Norfolk's 
scheme ;  but  the  moderation  and  coolness  of  that  nobleman  did  not  suit  their 
ardour  and  impetuosity.  The  liberty  of  the  Scottish  queen  was  not  their 
sole  object :  they  aimed  at  bringing  about  a  change  in  the  religion,  and  a 
revolution  in  the  government  of  the  kingdom.  For  these  purposes  they  had 
solicited  the  aid  of  the  king  of  Spain,  the  avowed  patron  of  popery,  and  the 
natural  enemy  of  Elizabeth.  Glad  of  an  opportunity  of  disturbing  the  tran- 
quillity of  England,  Philip  ordered  the  duke  of  Alva,  governor  of  the  Low 
Countries,  to  encourage  the  two  earls  in  their  projected  rebellion,  by  a  pro- 
mise of  money  and  troops. (3)  But  Elizabeth  fortunately  got  intelligence  of 
their  design  before  they  were  ready  to  take  the  field,  and  though  they  imme- 
diately assembled  their  retainers,  and  flew  to  arms,  the  queen  acted  with  so 
much  prudence  and  vigour,  that  they  were  obliged  to  disperse  themselves 
without  striking  a  blow.(4)  The  common  people  retired  to  their  houses,  the 
leaders  fled  into  Scotland. 

Elizabeth  was  so  well  pleased  with  the  duke  of  Norfolk's  behaviour,  during 
this  insurrection,  that  she  released  him  from  the  tower,  and  allowed  him  to 
live  in  his  own  house,  though  under  some  show  of  confinement.  But  the 
queen  of  Scots  with  whom  he  promised  to  hold  no  farther  correspondence, 
was  only  more  strictly  guarded ;  and  Elizabeth,  sensible  of  the  danger  of 
detaining  her  any  longer  in  England,  resolved  to  give  up  Mary  into  the  hands 
of  the  regent,  whose  security,  no  less  than  the  English  queen's,  depended 
on  preventing  her  from  ascending  the  throne.  The  negotiation  for  this  pur- 
pose had  been  carried  some  length,  when  it  was  discovered  by  the  vigilance 
of  Lesly,  bishop  of  Ross,  who,  together  with  the  French  and  Spanish  am- 
bassadors, remonstrated  against  the  infamy  of  such  a  transaction.  A  delay 
was  by  that  means  procured  ;  and  the  violent  death  of  the  regent,  who  was 
shot,  in  revenge  of  a  domestic  injury,  by  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Ham- 
ilton, prevented  the  revival  of  the  project. (5) 

On  the  death  of  the  earl  of  Murray,  who  was  a  man  of  vigour  and  abilities, 
but  of  an  austere  and  unamiable  character,  Scotland  relapsed  into  a  state  of 
anarchy.  The  queen's  party  seemed  for  a  time  to  prevail :  but,  at  length, 
through  the  interposition  of  Elizabeth,  who  accompanied  her  recommenda- 
tion with  an  armed  force,  the  earl  of  Lennox,  the  king's  grandfather,  was 
elected  regent ;  and  Mary,  after  being  amused  during  ten  months  by  a  deceitful 
negotiation  and  the  hopes  of  liberty,  found  herself  under  stricter  custody 
than  ever,  and  without  any  hopes  of  escaping  from  it.(6)  In  that  joyless 

(1)  Camden.    Spotswood.  (2)  Haynes.  (3)  Carte,  vol.  iii.  (4)  Camden. 

;5)  Carte,  vol.  iii.  Anderson,  vol.  iii.  Part  of  Hamilton's  estate  had  been  bestowed  upon  one  of  the 
regent's  favourites,  who  seized  liis  house,  and  turned  out  his  wife  naked,  in  a  cold  night,  into  the  fields; 
where,  before  morning,  she  became  furiously  mad.  From  that  moment  lie  vowed  revenge  against  (be 
earl  of  Murray.  Party  rage  strengthened  and  inflamed  his  private  resentment;  and  the  maxims  of  that 
age  justified  the  most  desperate  course  he  could  take  to  obtain  vengeance.  He  followed  the  regent  for 
some  time,  watching  an  opportunity  to  strike  the  blow;  and  at  last  shot  him  from  a  window  as  he  wag 
passing  through  Linlithgow,  in  his  way  from  Stirling  to  Edinburgh.  Crawfurd's  Mem.  Buchanan, 
Robertson.  (6)  Spotswood.  Lesley. 


LET.  LXVII.j  M  O  D  E  R  N   E  II R  O  P  E.  465 

situation  we  must  leave  her  for  a  while,  and  take  a  view  of  the  civil  wars  on 
the  continent,  the  issue  of  which  nearly  concerned  both  the  British  queens. 

Elizabeth  was  sensible,  that,  as  the  head  of  the  Protestant  party,  her  safety 
in  a  great  measure  depended  on  the  continuance  of  the  commotions  in  France 
and  the  Low  Countries.  She  therefore  contributed,  as  we  have  seen,  both 
secretly  and  openly,  to  enable  and  encourage  the  Reformers  to  support  the 
struggle,  while  she  watched  the  motions  of  the  Catholics  with  a  jealous  eye. 
And°an  event  happened  about  this  time  which  increased  her  vigilance.  Pope 
Pius  V.  fafter  having  endeavoured  in  vain  to  conciliate,  by  gentle  means,  the 
friendship  of  Elizabeth,  issued  a  bull  of  excommunication  against  her;  de- 
priving her  of  all  title  to  the  crown,  and  absolving  her  subjects  from  their 
oath  of  allegiance.  This  bull,  which  had  no  doubt  been  fulminated  at  the 
instigation  of  the  Catholic  princes,  was  affixed  to  the  gates  of  the  bishop  of 
London's  palace  by  one  John  Felton,  a  zealous  papist ;  who,  scorning  either 
to  flee  or  deny  the  fact,  was  seized,  condemned,  and  executed.  He  not  only 
suffered  with  constancy,  but  seemed  to  consider  death,  in  such  a  cause,  as  a 
triumph.(l) 

Thus  roused  by  the  violent  spirit  of  popery,  Elizabeth,  who  had  never  been 
remiss,  fixed  her  eye  more  steadily  on  the  religious  wars  in  France  and  the 
Low  Countries.  The  league  concerted  at  Bayonne,  as  has  been  already 
noticed,  for  the  extermination  of  the  Protestants,  had  not  been  concluded  so 
secretly  but  intelligence  of  it  had  reached  Conde,  Coligny,  and  other  leaders 
of  that  party  in  France.  Finding  the  measures  of  the  court  correspond  with 
their  suspicions,  they  determined  to  prevent  the  cruel  perfidy  of  their  enemies, 
and  to  strike  a  blow  before  the  Catholics  were  aware  of  the  danger.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  resolution,  they  formed,  in  1567,  the  bold  design  of  surprising 
the  king  and  queen-mother,  who  were  living-  in  security  at  Monceaux  in  Bnc  ; 
and  had  not  the  court  received  some  accidental  information  of  the  conspiracy, 
which  induced  them  to  remove  to  Meaux,  and  been  besides  protected  by  a 
body  of  Swiss,  who  came  hastily  to  their  relief,  and  conducted  them  with 
great  intrepidity  to  Paris,  they  must  have  fallen  without  resistance  into  the 
hands  of  the  Hugonots. (2) 

A  battle  was  soon  after  fought  in  the  plains  of  St.  Dennis ;  where,  though 
the  old  constable  Montmorency,  the  general  of  the  Catholics,  was  slain,  the 
Hugonots  were  defeated,  by  reason  of  their  inferiority  m  numbers.  Conde, 
however,  still  undismayed,  collected  his  broken  troops ;  and,  haying  received 
a  strong  reinforcement  of  German  Protestants,  appeared  again  in  the  field  at 
the  head  of  a  formidable  force.  With  that  new  army  he  traversed  great  part 
of  the  kino-dom;  and  at  last,  laying  siege  to  Chartres,  a  place  of  much  im- 
portance, obliged  the  court,  in  1568,  to  agree  to  an  accommodation. (3) 

This  peace,  being  but  a  temporary  expedient,  and  sincere  on  neither  side, 
was  of  short  duration.  The  queen-mother,  deceitful  in  all  her  negotiations, 
had  laid  a  plot  for  seizing  Conde  and  Coligny.  They  received  intelligence 
of  their  danger,  fled  to  Rochelle,  and  summoned  their  partisans  to  their 
assistance.  Thither  the  Hugonots  resorted  in  great  numbers,  and  the  civil 
war  was  renewed  with  more  fury  than  ever.  The  duke  of  Anjou,  brother  to 
the  king,  commanded  the  Catholics;  and  gained,  in  1569,  under  the  direction 
of  the  mareschal  de  Tavannes,  the  famous  battle  of  Jamac,  after  a  struggle 
of  seven  hours.  The  prince  of  Conde  being  wounded  and  made  P«soner, 
was  carried  off  the  field,  and  killed  in  cold  blood  by  a  captain  of  the  duke 
of  Anjou's  guards. (4)  ,  ,. , 

But  this  defeat,  though  accompanied  with  the  loss  of  so  great  a  leader,  did 
not  break  the  spirit  of  the  Hugonots.  Coligny,  whose  courage  was  superior 
to  all  difficulties,  still  gallantly  supported  their  cause;  and  having  placed  at 
t!i"  head  of  the  party  the  king  of  Navarre,  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  the 
vmme  prince  of  Conde  to  both  of  whom  he  acted  as  a  father,  he  encouraged 
Protestants  rather  to  perish  bravely  in  the  field  than  by  the  hands  of  the 
«:> -cautioner.  Their  ardour  was  not  inferior  to  his  own;  and  being  strength 

I )  CaroUen,  p.  428.  (2)  Pavila,  lib.  iv.    Mezeray,  torn,  v 

(3)  Id.  ibid.  (4)  Mezeray,  ubi  sup.    Henaull,  torn.  L 

Vol.  I— GC 


466  T  H  E    H I  S  T  O  R  Y   O  F  [PART  I 

ened  by  a  new  reinforcement  of  Germans,  they  obliged  the  duke  of  Anjou  to 
retreat,  and  invested  Poitiers. (I) 

As. the  eyes  of  all  France  were  fixed  on  this  enterprise,  the  young  duke  of 
Guise,  emulous  of  the  renown  which  his  father  had  acquired  by  the  defence 
of  Metz,  threw  himself  into  Poitiers,  and  so  animated  the  garrison  by  his 
valour  and  conduct,  that  Coligny  was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  in  spite  of 
his  most  vigorous  efforts,  after  losing  three  thousand  men. (2)  Such  was  the 
rise  of  the  reputation  of  the  second  duke  of  Guise,  whom  we  shall  afterward 
see  attain  so  distinguished  a  height  of  fame  and  grandeur,  and  whose  ambi- 
Jtion  engaged  him  in  schemes  so  destructive  to  the  authority  of  his  sovereign, 
*and  the  repose  of  his  native  country. 

Elizabeth,  ever  watchful  of  the  civil  commotions  in  France,  was  by  no 
means  pleased  with  this  revival  of  the  power  of  the  house  of  Lorrain ;  and 
being  anxious  for  the  fate  of  the  Protestants,  whose  interests  were  so  inti- 
mately connected  with  her  own,  she  sent  them  secretly  a  sum  of  money, 
besides  artillery  and  military  stores.(3)  She  also  permitted  Henry  Cham- 
pernon  to  levy  and  transport  over  to  France  a  regiment  of  gentlemen  volun- 
teers. Meanwhile,  Coligny,  constrained  by  the  impatience  of  his  troops,  and 
the  difficulty  of  subsisting  them,  fought  with  the  duke  of  Anjou  and  the 
mareschal  de  Tavannes  the  memorable  battle  of  Moncontour,  in  which  he 
was  wounded  and  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  near  ten  thousand  men. (4) 

The  court  of  France,  and  the  Catholics,  elated  with  this  victory,  vainly 
flattered  themselves  that  the  power  of  the  Hugonots  was  finally  broken ;  and 
therefore  neglected  to  take  any  farther  steps  for  crushing  an  enemy  no  longer 
thought  capable  of  resistance.  What  was  then  their  surprise  to  hear  that 
Coligny,  still  undismayed,  had  suddenly  appeared  in  another  quarter  of  the 
kingdom ;  had  inspired  with  all  his.  valour  and  constancy  the  two  young 
princes,  whom  he  governed ;  had  assembled  a  formidable  army,  accomplished 
an  incredible  march,  and  was  ready  to  besiege  Paris ! — The  public  finances, 
diminished  by  the  continued  disorders,  and  wasted  by  so  many  fruitless  wars, 
could  not  bear  the  charge  of  a  new  armament.  The  king  was  therefore 
obliged,  in  1570,  notwithstanding  his  violent  animosity  against  the  Hugonots, 
to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  them  at  St.  Germain  en  Laye ;  to  grant  them 
a  pardon  for  all  past  offences  ;  to  declare  them  capable  of  all  offices,  both 
civil  and  military ;  to  renew  the  edicts  for  liberty  of  conscience ;  and  cede 
to  them  for  two  years,  as  places  of  refuge,  and  pledges  of  their  security, 
Rochelle,  La  Charite,  Montauban,  and  Coignac.(5)  The  first  of  these  cities 
kept  the  sea  open  for  receiving  succours  from  England,  in  case  of  a  new  war, 
the  second  preserved  the  passage  of  the  Loire ;  the  third  commanded  the 
frontiers  of  Languedoc  and  Querci ;  and  the  fourth  opened  a  passage  into 
Angoumois,  where  the  Hugonots  had  greater  strength  than  in  any  other 
province. 

Thus  an  end  was  seemingly  put  to  the  civil  wars  of  France.  But  Charles 
was  in  no  degree  reconciled  to  his  rebellious  subjects ;  and  this  accommoda- 
tion, like  all  the  foregoing,  was  employed  as  a  snare,  by  which  the  perfidious 
court  might  carry  more  securely  into  execution  that  project  which  had  been 
formed  for  the  destruction  of  the  Protestants.  Their  leaders  were  accord- 
ingly invited  to  Paris,  and  loaded  with  favours ;  and,  in  order  to  lull  the  party 
into  yet  greater  security,  Charles  not  only  declared,  that,  convinced  of  the 
impossibility  of  forcing  men's  consciences,  he  was  determined  to  allow  every 
one  the  free  exercise  of  his  religion,  but  affected  to  enter  into  close  con- 
nexions with  Elizabeth. (6)  Proposals  of  marriage  were  made  her  with  the 
duke  of  Anjou  ;  a  prince  whose  youth,  beauty,  and  valour,  qualities  to  which 
the  queen  never  appeared  insensible,  it  was  hoped,  would  serve  for  some  time 
to  amuse  the  court  of  England. 

Elizabeth,  whose  artful  politics  never  triumphed  so  much  as  in  those  in- 
trigues which  were  connected  with  her  coquetry,  immediately  founded  on 

8)  Davila,  lib.  v.       (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Camden,  p.  423,       (4)  Davila,  lib.  v.    Mezeray  torn  * 

)  Id.  ibid.  (6)  Camden.    Davila.    Digges 


LET.  LXVII.  MODERN   EUROPE.  467 

this  offer  the  project  of  deceiving  the  court  of  France.  Negotiations,  equally 
insincere  on  both  sides,  were  accordingly  entered  into  with  regard  to  the 
marriage,  and  broken  off  under  various  pretences.  Both  courts,  however, 
succeeded  in  their  schemes.  Charles's  artifices,  or  rather  those  of  the  queen- 
mother,  imposed  on  Elizabeth,  and  blinded  the  Hugonots  ;  and  the  prospect 
of  that  princess's  marriage,  as  she  expected,  and  of  an  alliance  between 
France  and  England,  discouraged  the  partisans  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  so 
ready  at  all  times  to  disturb  the  repose  of  the  latter  kingdom.(l) 

Elizabeth  had  also  other  motives  for  her  dissimulation.  The  violent  au- 
thority established  by  Philip  in  the  Low  Countries  made  her  desirous  of  for- 
tifying herself  even  with  the  shadow  of  a  new  confederacy.  Not  satisfied 
with  having  reduced  to  their  former  state  of  obedience  the  revolted  Flemings, 
whom  his  barbarous  persecutions  had  roused  to  arms,  that  bigoted  and 
yrannical  prince  seemed  determined  to  make  the  late  popular  disorders  a  pre- 
ence  for  utterly  abolishing  their  privileges,  and  ruling  them  thenceforth  with 
an  arbitrary  sway. 

The  duke  of  Alva,  a  fit  instrument  in  the  hands  of  such  a  despot,  being 
employed  by  Philip  to  carry  this  violent  design  into  execution,  had  conducted 
into  the  Low  Countries,  in  1568,  a  powerful  body  of  Spanish  and  Italian 
veterans.  The  appearance  of  such  an  army,  with  the  inexorable  and  vindic- 
tive character  of  its  leader,  struck  the  Flemings  with  terror  and  consterna- 
tion. Their  apprehensions  were  but  too  just.  The  privileges  of  the  pro- 
vinces were  openly  and  expressly  abolished  by  an  edict :  arbitrary  and  san- 
guinary tribunals  were  erected ;  the  counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  notwithstand- 
ing their  great  merit  and  former  services,  and  although  they  had  been  chiefly 
instrumental  in  quelling  the  late  revolt,  were  brought  to  the  block ;  multi- 
tudes were  daily  delivered  over  to  the  executioner ;  and  nothing  was  to  be 
heard  or  seen  but  seizure,  confiscation,  imprisonment,  torture,  and  death.  (2) 

Meanwhile,  William  of  Nassau,  prince  of  Orange,  surnamed  the  Silent, 
whose  estate  had  been  confiscated,  was  employed  in  raising  an  army  of 
German  Protestants,  in  order  to  attempt  the  relief  of  his  native  country ; 
and,  having  completed  his  levies,  he  entered  the  Netherlands  at  the  head  of 
twenty-eight  thousand  men,  and  offered  battle  to  the  duke  of  Alva.  But  that 
prudent  general,  sensible  of  the  importance  of  delay,  declined  the  challenge ; 
and  the  Spaniards  being  in  possession  of  all  the  fortified  towns,  the  prince 
was  obliged,  from  want  of  money,  to  disband  his  army,  without  being  able 
to  effect  any  thing  of  importance. (3) 

Alva's  good  fortune  only  increased  his  insolence  and  cruelty.  After  ente 
ing  Brussels  in  triumph,  he  ordered  diligent  search  to  be  made  after  all  who 
ha°d  been  aiding  to  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  put  them  to  death  by  various 
tortures.  He  next  commanded  citadels  to  be  built  in  all  the  principal  towns, 
in  order  to  overawe  the  inhabitants ;  and  in  that  of  Antwerp  he  caused  his 
own  statue  to  be  erected,  in  the  attitude  of  treading  on  the  necks  of  two 
smaller  statues,  representing  the  two  estates  of  the  Low  Countries,  accom- 
panied with  the  emblems  of  heresy  and  rebellion !  Not  satisfied  with  en- 
slaving and  insulting  a  free  people,  he  proceeded  to  pillage  and  oppress  them 
with  exactions  altogether  ruinous.  He  demanded  the  hundredth  penny,  as 
a  tax  on  all  goods,  whether  mcveable  or  immoveable,  to  supply  his  present 
exigencies  ;  and  for  the  future,  the  twentieth  penny  annually  on  all  immove- 
able goods  or  heritage ;  and  the  tenth  penny  on  all  moveable  goods,  to  b 
levied  at  every  sale.(4)  The  inhabitants  refused  to  submit  to  such  oppres- 
sive taxes.  Alva  had  recourse  to  his  usual  severities ;  and  the  Flemings 
seemed  in  danger  of  being  reduced  to  the  most  abject  state  of  wretchedness, 
while  the  courts  of  France  and  England  were  amusing  each  other  with  a 
marriage  treaty. 

Elizabeth,  however,  was  never  inattentive  to  the  affairs  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. She  was  equally  displeased  to  see  the  progress  of  the  scheme  laid 

(1)  Camden.    Davila.    Digges.  (2)  Temple.    Grotiiw 

(3)  Le  Clerc,  lib.  i.    Grotius,  lib.  U.  (4)  Id  ibid. 


468  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I 

for  the  extermination  of  the  Protestants,  and  to  observe  the  erection  of  so 
great  a  military  power  in  her  immediate  neighbourhood;  and  hence,  as  already 
observed,  she  endeavoured  to  guard  herself  against  the  ambition  of  Philip 
by  the  appearance  of  an  alliance  with  France.  But  her  danger  from  the  Low 
Countries  was  greater  than  she  was  aware  of. 

The  queen  of  Scots,  thinking  herself  abandoned  by  the  court  of  France, 
had  applied  for  protection  to  that  of  Spain ;  and  Philip,  whose  dark  and 
thoughtful  mind  delighted  in  the  mystery  of  intrigue,  had  held  for  some  time 
a  secret  correspondence  with  Mary,  by  means  of  Lesley,  bishop  of  Ross,  her 
ambassador  at  the  court  of  England,  and  had  supplied  both  herself  and  her 
adherents  in  Scotland  with  money.  At  length,  a  scheme  for  rescuing  Mary, 
and  subverting  the  English  government,  was  concerted  by  the  bishop  of 
Ross,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  and  Rodolphi,  a  Florentine  merchant,  who 
had  resided  long  in  London,  and  acted  privately  as  an  agent  for  the  pope. 
Their  plan  was,  that  the  duke  of  Alva  should  land  ten  thousand  men  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  London ;  that  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  whom  they  had  drawn 
into  their  measure,  and  who  had  renewed  his  engagements  with  the  queen 
of  Scots,  notwithstanding  his  solemn  promise  to  hold  no  correspondence 
with  her,  should  join  the  Spaniards  with  all  his  friends,  together  with  the 
English  Catholics  and  malecontents ;  that  they  should  march  in  a  body  to 
the  capital,  and  oblige  Elizabeth  to  submit  to  what  conditions  they  should 
think  fit  to  impose. (1) 

But  the  queen  and  nation  were  delivered  from  this  danger  by  the  suspi- 
cious temper  of  one  of  Norfolk's  servants.  Being  intrusted  with  a  bag  of 
money  under  the  denomination  of  silver,  he  concluded  it  to  be  gold  from  its 
weight,  and  carried  it  to  secretary  Cecil,  now  lord  Burleigh,  whose  pene- 
trating genius  soon  discovered,  and  whose  activity  brought  the  whole  con- 
spiracy to  light.  The  duke  of  Norfolk,  betrayed  by  his  other  servants,  who 
had  been  privy  to  the  plot,  was  seized,  convicted  of  high  treason,  condemned, 
and  executed.  The  bishop  of  Ross  was  committed  to  the  tower ;  the  Spanish 
ambassador  was  commanded  to  leave  England ;  and  the  earl  of  Northumber- 
land, being  delivered  up  to  Elizabeth  about  this  time  by  the  regent  of  Scot- 
land, was  brought  to  the  block  for  his  share  in  the  former  rebellion.  (2)  Ro- 
dolphi, then  on  his  journey  to  Brussels,  escaped  the  arm  of  vengeance. 

The  queen  of  Scats,  who  had  been  either  the  immediate  or  remote  cause 
of  all  these  disturbances,  was  kept  under  a  stricter  guard  than  formerly ;  the 
number  of  her  domestics  was  abridged,  and  no  person  was  permitted  to  see 
her  but  in  the  presence  of  her  keepers.  The  English  parliament  was  even 
so  enraged  against  her,  that  the  commons  made  a  direct  application  for  her 
instant  trial  and  execution. (3)  But  although  Elizabeth  durst  not  carry 
matters  to  such  extremity  against  Mary,  or  was  not  so  disposed,  the  restless 
spirit  of  the  captive  princess,  and  her  close  connexions  with  Spain,  made  the 
queen  of  England  resolve  to  act  without  disguise  or  ambiguity  in  the  affairs 
of  Scotland. 

That  kingdom  was  still  in  a  state  of  anarchy.  The  castle  of  Edinburgh, 
commanded  by  Kirkaldy  of  Grange,  had  declared  for  Mary ;  and  the  lords 
of  her  party,  encouraged  by  this  circumstance,  had  taken  possession  of  the 
capital,  and  carried  on  a  vigorous  war  against  the  regent.  By  a  sudden  and 
unexpected  enterprise,  they  seized  that  nobleman  at  Stirling,  and  slew  him 
in  revenge  of  former  injuries.  They  were,  however,  overpowered  by  a 
detachment  from  the  castle,  and  an  insurrection  of  the  townsmen,  and  obliged 
to  retire  with  precipitation. 

The  earl  of  Marre  was  chosen  regent  of  Scotland  in  the  room  of  Lennox, 
and  found  the  same  difficulties  to  encounter  in  the  government  of  that  divided 
kingdom.  He  was  therefore  glad  to  accept  the  mediation  of  the  French  and 
English  ambassadors,  and  to  conclude,  on  equal  terms,  a  truce  with  the 
queen's  party.  He  was  a  man  of  free  and  generous  spirit ;  and  finding  it 

(1)  State  Trials,  vol.  i.    Lesley,  p.  155. 

(2)  State  Trials,  vol.  i.    Lesley,  p.  155.    Strype,  vol.  ii.    Camden,  p.  34—40 

(3)  D'Ewes,  J<mm.  of  Part. 


LET  LXVIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  469 

impossible  to  accommodate  matters  between  the  parties,  or  maintain  his  own 
authority,  without  submitting  to  a  dependence  on  England,  he  died  of  melan- 
choly, occasioned  by  the  distracted  state  of  his  country. 

Marre  was  succeeded  in  the  regency  of  Scotland  by  the  earl  oi  Morton, 
who  had  secretly  taken  all  his  measures  in  concert  with  Elizabeth ;  and  as 
she  was  now  determined  to  exert  herself  effectually  in  support  of  the  king's 
party,  she  ordered  sir  William  Drury,  governor  of  Berwick,  to  march  with 
a  body  of  troops  and  a  train  of  artillery  to  Edinburgh,  and  to  besiege  the 
castle,  Kirkaldy,  after  a  gallant  defence  of  thirty-three  days,  against  all  the 
efforts  of  the  commanders  of  the  two  nations,  who  pushed  their  attacks  with 
courage  and  with  emulation,  was  obliged  to  surrender,  by  reason  of  a  mutiny 
in  the  garrison.  He  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of  his  countrymen,  by 
Elizabeth's  order,  expressly  contrary  to  his  capitulation  with  Drury,  and 
condemned  by  Morton  to  be  hanged  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh.  Maitland 
of  Lethington,  who  had  taken  part  with  Kirkaldy,  and  could  not  expect  to 
be  treated  more  favourably,  prevented  the  ignominy  of  a  public  execution 
by  a  voluntary  death.  "  He  ended  his  days,"  says  Melvil,  "  after  the  old 
Roman  fashion  I"  and  Scotland,  submitting  entirely  to  the  regent's  authority, 
gave  no  farther  inquietude,  for  many  years,  to  the  English  queen.(l) 

The  events  on  the  continent  were  not  so  favourable  to  the  interests,  or 
agreeable  to  the  inclinations,  of  Elizabeth.  After  the  negotiation  for  a  mar- 
riage between  the  English  queen  and  the  duke  of  Anjou  was  finally  broken 
off,  a  defensive  alliance  had  been  concluded  between  France  and  England. 
Charles  IX.  considered  this  treaty,  not  only  as  the  best  artifice  for  blinding 
the  Protestants,  the  conspiracy  against  whom  was  now  almost  ripe  for  exe- 
cution, but  also  a  good  precaution  against  the  dangerous  consequences  to 
which  that  atrocious  measure  might  expose  him.  Elizabeth,  who,  notwith- 
standing her  penetration  and  experience,  was  the  dupe  of  the  French  king's 
hypocrisy,  regarded  it  as  an  invincible  barrier  against  the  enemies  of  her 
throne,  and  as  one  of  the  chief  pillars  of  the  security  of  the  Protestant  cause. 
Even  the  leaders  of  the  Hugonots,  though  so  often  deceived,  gave  credit  to 
the  treacherous  promises  and  professions  of  the  court ;  and  Charles,  in  order 
to  complete  that  fatal  confidence  into  which  he  had  lulled  them  by  his  in- 
sidious caresses,  offered  his  sister  Margaret  in  marriage  to  the  young  king 
of  Navarre. (2) 

The  admiral  de  Coligny,  the  prince  of  Cond6,  and  all  the  most  consider- 
able men  of  the  Protestant  party,  went  cheerfully  to  Paris,  in  order  to  assist 
at  the  celebration  of  that  marriage;  which,  it  was  hoped,  would  finally 
appease  the  religious  animosities.  Coligny  was  wounded  by  a  shot  from  a 
window,  a  few  days  after  the  marriage;  yet  the  court  still ( found  means  to 
quiet  the  suspicions  of  the  Hugonots,  till  the  eve  of  St.  Bartholomew,  when 
a  massacre  commenced  to  which  there  is  nothing  parallel  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  either  for  the  dissimulation  that  led  to  it,  or  the  deliberate  cruelty 
and  barbarity  with  which  it  was  perpetrated.  The  Protestants,  as  a  body, 
were  devoted  to  destruction ;  the  young  king  of  Navarre  and  the  prince  of 
Conde  only  being  exempted  from  the  general  doom,  on  condition  that  they 
should  change  their  religion.  Charles,  accompanied  by  his  mother,  beheld 
from  a  window  of  his  palace  this  horrid  massacre,  which  was  chiefly  con- 
ducted by  the  duke  of  Guise.  The  royal  guards  were  ordered  to  be  under 
arms  at  the  close  of  day ;  the  ringing  of  a  bell  was  the  signal ;  and  the  Ca- 
tholic citizens,  who  had  been  secretly  prepared  by  their  leaders  for  such  a 
scene,  zealously  seconded  the  execution  of  the  soldiery,  imbruing  their  hands, 
without  remorse,  in  the  blood  of  their  neighbours,  of  their  companions,  and 
even  of  their  relations  ;  the  king  himself  inciting  their  fury,  by  firing  upon 
the  fugitives,  and  frequently  crying,  "  Kill,  kill!" — Persons  of  every  condition, 
age,  and  sex,  suspected  of  adhering  to  the  reformed  opinions,  were  involved 
in  one  undistinguished  ruin.  About  five  hundred  gentlemen,  and  men  of 
rank,  among  whom  was  Coligny,  with  many  other  heads  of  the  Protestant 

U)  Melvil.    CiawfunL    Caiuden.    Strype.  (2)  Davila.    Digges.    Mezcray 


470  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

party,  were  murdered  in  Paris  alone ;  and  near  ten  thousand  persons  of 
inferior  condition.  The  same  barbarous  orders  were  sent  to  all  the  provinces 
of  the  kingdom ;  and  a  like  carnage  ensued  at  Rouen,  Lyons,  Orleans,  and 
several  other  cities. (1)  Sixty  thousand  Protestants  are  supposed  to  have 
been  massacred  in  different  parts  of  France. 

As  an  apology  for  this  atrocious  perfidy  and  inhuman  butchery,  Charles 
pretended  that  a  conspiracy  of  the  Hugonots  to  seize  his  person  had  been 
suddenly  detected ;  and  that  he  had  been  necessitated,  for  his  own  safety,  to 
proceed  to  extremities  against  them.  The  parliament  accordingly  ordered 
an  annual  procession,  on  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  in  commemoration  of  the 
deliverance  of  the  kingdom ;  and  a  medal  was  struck  in  honour  of  the  same 
event,  with  this  inscription  (which  seems  to  bear  a  farther  meaning)  on  one 
side,  accompanied  with  the  royal  arms :  PIETAS  excitavit  JUSTITIAM  ;  "  Piety 
roused  JUSTICE."  On  the  other  side,  Charles  is  seated  on  a  throne,  with  the 
sword  of  Justice  in  his  right  hand,  and  the  balance  in  his  left,  with  a  groupe 
of  heads  under  his  feet,  surrounded  by  these  words :  Virtus  in  Rebelles ; 
"  Courage  in  punishing  Rebels."(2) 

At  Rome,  and  in  Spain,  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  which  no  popish 
writer  of  the  present  age  mentions  without  detestation,  was  the  subject  of 
public  rejoicings ;  and  solemn  thanks  were  returned  to  God  for  its  success, 
under  the  name  of  the  Triumph  of  the  Church  Militant .'  Among  the  Pro- 
testants it  excited  incredible  horror ;  a  striking  picture  of  which  is  drawn  by 
Fenelon,  the  French  ambassador  at  the  court  of  England,  in  his  account  of 
his  first  audience  after  that  barbarous  transaction.  "  A  gloomy  sorrow,"  says 
he,  "sat  on  every  face;  silence,  as  in  the  dead  of  night,  reigned  through  all 
the  chambers  of  the  royal  apartment :  the  ladies  and  courtiers  clad  in  deep 
mourning  were  ranged  on  each  side;  and  as  I  passed  by  them,  in  my 
approach  to  the  queen,  not  one  bestowed  on  me  a  favourable  look,  or  made 
the  least  return  to  my  salutations."(3) 

The  English  nobility  and  gentry  were  roused  to  such  a  pitch  of  resent- 
ment by  the  cruelty  and  perfidy  of  the  French  court,  that  they  offered  to  levy 
an  army  of  twenty-two  thousand  foot  and  four  thousand  horse ;  to  transport 
them  into  France,  and  to  maintain  them  for  six  months  at  their  own  expense. 
But  Elizabeth,  cautious  in  all  her  measures,  moderated  the  zeal  of  her  sub- 
jects. She  was  aware  of  the  dangerous  situation  in  which  she  now  stood,  as 
the  head  and  protectress  of  the  Protestant  body,  and  afraid  to  inflame  farther 
the  quarrel  between  the  two  religions,  by  a  hazardous  crusade ;  she  therefore 
judged  it  prudent,  not  only  to  refuse  her  consent  to  the  projected  invasion, 
but  to  listen  to  the  professions  of  friendship  still  made  her  by  the  French 
monarch.  Meantime,  she  prepared  herself  against  that  attack  which  seemed 
to  threaten  her  from  the  combined  force  and  violence  of  Charles  and  Philip : 
two  princes  as  nearly  allied  in  perfidy  and  barbarity  as  in  bigotry,  and  whose 
machinations  she  had  reason  to  dread  as  soon  as  they  had  quelled  their 
domestic  disturbances.  She  fortified  Portsmouth;  put  her  fleet  in  order; 
exercised  her  militia ;  and  renewed  her  alliance  with  the  German  princes,  no 
less  alarmed  than  herself  at  the  treacherous  and  sanguinary  measures  so  uni 
versally  embraced  by  the  Catholic  powers.(4) 

But  Elizabeth's  greatest  security  against  the  attempts  of  those  princes  was 
the  obstinate  resistance  made  by  the  Protestants  in  France  and  the  Low 
Countries.  The  massacre,  instead  of  annihilating  the  Hugonots,  only  ren- 
dered them  more  formidable.  Animated  by  the  most  ardent  spirit  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty,  inflamed  by  vengeance  and  despair,  they  assembled  in 
large  bodies,  or  crowded  into  the  cities  or  fortresses  in  the  possession  of  their 
party ;  and  finding  that  they  could  repose  no  faith  in  capitulations,  nor  expect 
any  clemency  from  the  court,  they  determined  to  defend  themselves  to  the  last 
extremity.  After  one  of  the  most  gallant  defences  recorded  in  history,  the 
town  of  Sancerre  was  obliged  to  surrender,  but  the  inhabitants  obtained 

(1)  Davila,  lib.  v.    P.  Daniel,  torn.  iv.    Mezeray,  torn.  v. 

(2)  Mathieu.     Dupleix.     Le  Gendrc.    Mezeray.  (?)  Carte,  from  Fenelcn's 
<4    ("amden. 


LET.  LXVIII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  471 

liberty  of  conscience.  Rochelle,  before  which  in  a  manner  was  assembled 
the  whole  force  of  France,  sustained  a  siege  of  eight  months.  During  that 
siege  the  citizens  repelled  nine  general  and  twenty  particular  assaults,  and 
oblio-ed  the  duke  of  Anjou,  who  conducted  the  attack,  and  lost  twenty-four 
thousand  men  in  the  course  of  his  operations,  to  grant  them  an  advantageous 
peace.(l)  Thus  ended  the  fourth  civil  war,  by  a  treaty  which  the  court  did 
not  intend  to  observe,  and  to  which  the  Protestants  never  trusted. 

The  miseries  of  France  increased  every  day  ;  Charles  grew  jealous  of  his 
brothers  •  and  many  of  the  most  considerable  men  among  the  Catholics,  dis- 
pleased with  the  measures  of  the  court,  favoured  the  progress  of  the  Hugo-- 
note.  All  things  tended  to  confusion.  In  the  midst  of  these  disorders  died 
Charles  IX.,  of  a  distemper  so  extraordinary,  that  it  was  universally  con- 
sidered by  the  Protestants  as  a  visible  stroke  of  divine  vengeance.  The 
blood  exuded  from  every  pore  of  his  body.  Though  the  author  of  so  many 
atrocious  crimes,  he  was  only  twenty-four  years  of  age;  and  that  unusual 
mixture  of  ferocity  and  dissimulation  which  distinguished  his  character, 
threatened  still  greater  mischiefs  both  to  his  native  country  and  to  Europe.(2) 
As  he  left  no  male  issue,  he  was  succeeded  in  the  throne  of  France  by  his 
brother,  the  duke  of  Anjou,  lately  elected  king  of  Poland. 

But  before  we  carry  farther  the  account  of  the  civil  wars  of  France,  or 
resume  the  history  of  those  in  the  Low  Countries,  I  must  turn  your  eye,  my 
dear  Philip,  back  to  the  affairs  of  the  empire,  Spam,  Italy,  and  Turkey. 

LETTER  LXVIII. 

Germany,  from  the  Resignation  of  Charles  V  »»  1556,  to  the  Death  of 
Maximilian  II.,  in  1576,  with  some  Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Spam,  Italy,  and 
Turkey  during  that  Period. 

CHARLES  V.,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne 
by  his  brother  Ferdinand  L,  the  beginning  of  whose  reign  was  distinguished 
by  the  diet  of  Ratisbon,  which  confirmed  the  peace  of  religion  by  reconciling 


H.  {f  T- 

decessor  Paul,  he  confirmed  the  imperial  dignity  to  Ferdinand.  He  also 
issued  II  bull  for  reassembling  the  council  of  Trent,  the  most  memorable 
fiofMirrpnpp  under  the  reign  of  this  emperor. 

On  the  puSation  of  £t  bull,  the  Protestant  princes  £-"**«£M» 
burg  in  Saxony,  and  came  to  a  resolution  of  adhering  *$«  «"&**"& 
Aiilsbunr  whatever  should  be  determined  in  the  council  of  Trent.     Mean- 

wboafiecteliberamyofseDUmenlto 


of 


to  the  gilbet,  he  commanded  torches  to  ^«  ^J^/J^^gSK  leh  us  many  otherlof  a 

BASTILB  !"    Davila,  lib.  v.    Mezeray,  torn.  v. 
(3)  Heiss,  Hv.  iii. 


472  THE   HISTORY   OF  , 

promoted  to  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  was  elected  king1  of  the  Romans, 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Germanic  body.  The  emperor  also  endea- 
voured, on  this  occasion,  but  in  vain,  to  persuade  the  Protestants  to  submit  to 
the  general  council.  They  continued  unshaken  in  their  resolution  of  rejecting 
its  decrees.  The  pope,  they  maintained,  had  no  right  to  convoke  such  an 
assembly ;  that  prerogative  belonging  to  the  emperor  alone,  to  whom,  as 
their  sovereign,  they  were  at  all  times  willing  to  explain  themselves  o  «nv 
subject,  either  civil  or  religious. (1) 

Finding  the  Protestants  obstinate  in  denying  the  authority  of  the  counci 
of  Trent,  Ferdinand  resolved  to  pursue  another  method  of  uniting  them  to 
the  church.  For  that  purpose,  he  presented  a  remonstrance  to  the  fathers  of 
the  council,  exhorting  them  to  attempt  a  reformation  of  manners  among  the 
Romish  clergy,  in  order  to  remove  those  abuses  of  which  the  Protestants  so 
justly  complained.  But  the  pope,  affirming  that  such  reformation  was  his 
peculiar  province,  would  not  allow  the  council  to  take  cognizance  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  emperor  was  also  disappointed  in  a  demand  which  he  made,  that 
the  council  should  permit  the  communion  both  with  and  without  the  cup, 
among  the  laity,  and  the  marriage  of  priests  in  the  imperial  dominions.  His 
holiness  would  consent  to  neither  of  these  requests. (2) 

This  famous  council,  which  had  been  so  often  suspended  and  renewed,  and 
which  proved  the  last  assembly  of  the  kind,  was  finally  dissolved  in  Decem- 
ber, 1563.  Its  decrees,  like  those  of  all  other  general  councils,  were  calcu- 
lated to  exalt  the  church  above  the  civil  power ;  but  being  little  suited  to  the 
spirit  of  the  times,  they  were  rejected  by  some  Catholic  princes,  coldly  re- 
ceived by  others,  and  deservedly  turned  into  ridicule  by  the  Reformers. (3) 
The  declared  Object  of  the  council  of  Trent,  in  this  meeting,  was  the  refor- 
mation of  the  church,  by  which  means  only  a  reconciliation  with  the  Protes- 
tants could  have  been  effected.  Instead,  however,  of  confining  themselves 
to  theological  errors,  or  attempting  to  eradicate  ecclesiastical  abuses,  the 
reverend  fathers  extended  their  deliberations  to  the  reformation  of  princes, 
and  composed  thirteen  articles  for  exalting  the  priesthood  at  the  expense  of 
the  royal  prerogative.  (4) 

Soon  after  the  dissolution  of  the  council  of  Trent  died  the  emperor  Fer- 
dinand I.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Maximilian  II.  who,  in  the  beginning 
of  his  reign,  was  obliged  to  engage  in  a  war  against  the  Turks.  Solyman 
II.  whose  valour  and  ambition  had  been  so  long  terrible  to  Christendom, 
though  now  unfit  for  the  field,  continued  to  make  war  by  his  generals.  He 
had  even  projected,  it  is  said,  the  conquest  of  the  German  empire.  The 
affairs  of  Transylvania  furnished  him  with  a  pretext  for  taking  arms.  John 
Sigismund,  prince  of  that  country,  had  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Hungary 
(which  his  mother  had  resigned,  as  we  have  seen,  for  some  possessions  in 
Silesia,)  and  put  himself  under  the  protection  of  the  Grand  Seignior.  Maxi- 
milian immediately  sent  an  army  against  Sigismund,  under  the  command  of 
Lazarus  Schuendi.  The  imperial  general  took  Tokay,  and  would  soon  have 
reduced  all  Transylvania,  had  not  Solyman  despatched  an  ambassador  to  the 
imperial  court,  to  negotiate  in  behalf  of  his  vassal.  By  this  envoy  matters 
were  seemingly  accommodated.  (5) 

The  sultan,  however,  had  not  laid  aside  his  ambitious  projects,  nor  happily 
the  emperor  his  suspicions.  While  Maximilian  convoked  a  diet  at  Augsburg, 
for  regulating  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  empire,  and  securing  it  against  the 
Turks,  Solyman  sent  a  fleet  and  army  to  reduce  the  island  of  Malta ;  whence 
he  hoped  to  drive  the  knights  of  St.  John,  whom  he  had  formerly  expelled 
from  Rhodes,  and  who  still  continued,  according  to  the  maxims  of  their  order, 
to  annoy  the  infidels.  But  the  rock  of  Malta  proved  fatal  to  Solyman's 
glory.  His  general,  Mustapha,  after  a  siege  of  almost  five  months,  and  the 
loss  of  twenty-four  thousand  men,  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  enterprise. 
La  Valette,  grand-master  of  Malta,  and  the  whole  body  of  knights,  signalized 
themselves  wonderfully  on  that  occasion ;  but  as  the  Turks  were  continually 

(1)  Thuanus,  lib  xxviii.    Barrc,  torn.  ix.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Thuanus.    Father  PauU 

(4\  Id.  Ibid.  (5)  Thuanus,  lib.  xxxvii. 


LET.  LXVIIL]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  473 

reinforced,  he  must  at  last  have  been  obliged  to  surrender  the  island,  if  Don 
Garcia,  governor  of  Sicily,  had  not  come  to  his  relief  with  twelve  thousand 
men.(l) 

Solyman,  in  revenge  of  this  disappointment  and  disgrace,  the  greatest  he 
had  ever  suffered,  sent  a  fleet  to  reduce  the  island  of  Scio,  and  ravage  the 
coast  of  Italy.  And  having  invaded  Hungary  with  a  powerful  army,  he  laid 
siege  to  Sigeth.  This  city  is  strongly  situated  in  a  marsh,  above  fifteen  miles 
to  the  north  of  the  Drave,  on  the  frontiers  of  Sclavonia,  and  was  then  the 
bulwark  of  Stiria  against  the  Turks.  It  had  a  garrison  of  two  thousand 
three  hundred  men,  under  the  brave  count  Zerini,  who  defended  it  long,  with 
incredible  valour,  against  the  whole  force  of  the  sultan.  Meanwhile,  the 
emperor  Maximilian  lay  in  the  neighbourhood,  with  an  army  not  inferior  to 
that  of  the  besiegers,  without  daring  to  attempt  its  relief.  At  length,  all  the 
works  being  destroyed,  and  the  magazine  set  on  fire  by  the  enemy,  Zerini 
sallied  out,  at  the  head  of  three  hundred  chosen  men,  and  died  gallantly  with 
his  sword  in  his  hand.  (2) 

During  the  siege  of  Sigeth,  before  which  the  Turks  lost  above  thirty  thou 
sand  men,  Solyman  expired  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.  But  the 
emperor,  being  unacquainted  with  this  circumstance,  which  was  kept  secret 
till  after  the  reduction  of  the  place,  had  retired  towards  the  frontiers  of  Austria, 
as  soon  as  informed  of  the  fate  of  Zerini.  Solyman  was  succeeded  in  the 
Ottoman  throne  by  his  son,  Selim  II.,  who  began  his  reign  with  concluding 
a  truce  of  twelve  years  with  Maximilian. (3) 

Inconsequence  of  this  truce,  and  the  pacific  disposition  of  the  emperor, 
Germany  long  enjoyed  repose,  while  all  the  neighbouring  nations  were  dis- 
quieted by  wars,  either  foreign  or  domestic.  Selim,  in  the  mean  time,  was  not 
idle.  After  attempting,  but  without  success,  to  subdue  the  kingdom  of  Persia, 
he  turned  his  arms  against  the  island  of  Cyprus,  which  at  that  time  belonged 
to  the  republic  of  Venice. 

The  pope  and  the  king  of  Spain,  on  the  first  rumour  of  this  invasion,  had 
entered  into  a  league  with  the  Venetians  for  the  defence  of  Cyprus.  But 
Nicosia,  the  capital,  was  taken  by  storm,  before  the  arrival  of  the  allied 
fleet;  and  the  commanders  being  afterward  divided  in  their  councils,  no 
attempt  was  made  for  the  relief  of  the  Cypriots.  Meanwhile,  the  Turks, 
•dailv  reinforced  with  fresh  troops,  had  reduced  all  the  towns  in  the  island, 
except  Famagosta.  That  city,  after  a  most  gallant  and  obstinate  defence, 
was  obliged  to  capitulate ;  and  Mustapha,  the  Turkish  general,  neither  re- 
specting courage  in  an  enemy  nor  the  faith  of  treaties,  ordered  Bragadino, 
the  governor,  to  be  flayed  alive,  and  the  companions  of  his  heroism  either  to 
be  butchered  or  chained  to  the  oar. (4)  This  conquest  is  said  to  have  cost  the 
Turks  a  hundred  thousand  lives. 

The  fate  of  Cyprus  alarmed  the  Christian  powers,  at  the  same  time  that 
it  inflamed  their  indignation.  Charles  IX.,  however,  excused  himself,  on  ac- 
count of  the  distracted  state  of  his  kingdom,  from  entering  into  the  league 
ao-ainst  the  Turks  j  the  emperor  pleaded  his  truce ;  and  the  German  princes 
were,  in  general,  too  much  interested  in  the  issue  of  the  religious  wars,  in 
France  and  the  Low  Countries,  to  enlist  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the 
cross.  But  Philip  II.  whose  Italian  dominions  were  in  danger,  entered  warmly 
into  the  cause,  and  engaged  to  bear  half  the  expense  of  the  armament. 
The  Venetians  fortified  their  city,  and  augmented  their  fleet.  Pope  Pius  V. 
who  was  the  soul  of  the  enterprise,  sent  twelve  galleys  under  the  command 
of  Mark  Anthony  Colonna.  Venieri  commanded  the  Venetian  galleys ; 
Doria  those  of  Philip.  The  chief  command  was  committed  to  Don  John  of 
Austria,  natural  son  to  Charles  V.,  who  had  lately  distinguished  himself  in 
Spain,  by  subduing  the  Morescoes,  or  descendants  of  the  Moors,  whom  the 
severity  of  the  inquisition  had  roused  to  arms. 
After  the  reduction  of  Cyprus,  the  Turks  not  only  ravaged  with  impunity 

(1)  Vertot,  Hist,  de  Chev.  de  Malik  torn  iv.    Tlnianus,  lib.  xxxviii. 

(2)  Heisfi,  liv  iii.    Barre,  torn.  ix.    Ricaut,  vol.  »  (3)  Id.  ibid. 
(4)  Thuanus,  lib.  xlix.    Can**mir,  Hist.  Ottoman  Emp.  torn.  ii. 


474  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART! 

the  coasts  of  Dalmatia  and  Istria,  but  also  those  of  Italy.  Their  fleet,  con- 
sisting of  two  hundred  and  thirty  galleys,  was  met  by  the  confederates  in  the 
gulf  of  Lepanto,  near  Corinth,  where  was  fought  the  greatest  naval  engage- 
ment £hat  modern  times  had  seen.  The  force  on  both  sides  was  nearly  equal, 
and  the  dispute  was  long,  fierce,  and  bloody.  All  the  passions  which  can 
animate  human  nature  were  roused ;  and  all  the  instruments  of  war  and 
destruction,  of  ancient  or  modern  invention,  were  employed ;  arrows,  javelins, 
fire-balls,  grappling  irons,  cannon,  muskets,  spears,  and  swords.  The  hostile 
combatants  fought  hand  to  hand  in  most  of  the  galleys,  and  grappled  together, 
as  on  a  field  of  battle.  Hali,  the  Turkish  admiral,  surrounded  by  four 
hundred  Janizaries,  and  Don  John  of  Austria,  with  an  equal  number  of  chosen 
men,  maintained  such  a  struggle  for  three  hours.  At  last  Hali  was  slain,  and 
his  galley  taken :  the  banner  of  the  cross  was  displayed  from  the  mainmast, 
and  the  Ottoman  admiral's  head  fixed  on  the  stern,  in  place  of  the  Turkish 
standard.  All  now  was  carnage  and  confusion.  The  cry  of  "  Victory ! 
Victory !"  resounded  through  the  Christian  fleet,  and  the  Turks  every  where 
gave  way.  They  lost  thirty  thousand  men  in  the  conflict ;  ten  thousand 
were  taken  prisoners ;  and  fifteen  thousand  Christian  slaves  were  set  at 
liberty.  Thirty  Turkish  galleys  were  sunk,  twenty-five  burnt,  one  hundred 
and  thirty  taken;  and  if  Uluzalli,  who  was  second  in  command,  had  not 
retired  with  twenty-eight  galleys,  the  Ottoman  fleet  had  been  utterly  destroyed. 
The  confederates  lost,  on  the  whole,  fifteen  galleys,  and  about  ten  thousand 
men.(l) 

This  victory,  which  filled  Constantinople  with  the  deepest  melancholy,  was 
celebrated  at  Venice  with  the  most  splendid  festivals.  And  Pius  V.  was  so 
transported  when  he  heard  of  it,  that  he  exclaimed,  in  a  kind  of  holy  ecstasy, 
"  There  was  a  man  sent  from  God,  and  his  name  was  John  !"(2)  alluding  to 
Don  John  of  Austria.  Philip's  joy  was  more  moderate.  "  Don  John,"  said 
he,  "has  been  fortunate,  but  he  ran  a  great  risk:"(3) — and  that  risk,  as 
appeared  in  the  issue,  was  run  merely  for  giory. 

The  battle  of  Lepanto,  though  purchased  with  so  much  blood,  and  so  ruin- 
ous to  the  vanquished,  was  of  no  real  benefit  to  the  victors.  After  disputing 
long  what  they  should  do,  the  Christian  commanders  resolved  to  do  nothing 
till  the  spring.  That  season  which  should  have  been  employed  in  taking 
advantage  of  the  enemy's  consternation,  was  wasted  in  fruitless  negotiations 
and  vainglorious  triumphs.  The  Turks  had  leisure,  during  the  winter,  to 
equip  a  new  fleet,  which  spread  terror  over  the  coasts  of  Christendom,  before 
the  confederates  were  ready  to  assemble ;  and  by  the  bravery  and  conduct 
of  Uluzalli,  now  appointed  commander-in-chief,  the  reputation  of  the  Ottoman 
arms  was  restored.  The  confederates  were  able  to  effect  no  enterprise  of 
importance.  Their  councils  were  again  divided :  they  separated.  The 
Spaniards  appeared  cool  in  the  cause ;  and  the  Venetians,  afraid  of  being 
left  a  prey  to  the  Turkish  power,  secretly  concluded  a  peace  with  the  sultan. 
They  not  only  agreed  that  Selim  II.  should  retain  Cyprus,  but  ceded  to  him 
several  other  places,  and  stipulated  to  pay  him  thirty  thousand  crowns  in 
gold,  towards  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  war. (4) 

The  pope  was  greatly  incensed  at  this  treaty,  which  was  certainly  dis- 
honourable to  Christendom.  But  Philip  II.,  whose  attention  was  now  chiefly 
engaged  by  the  civil  wars  in  the  Low  Countries,  readily  sustained  the  apology 
of  the  Venetians.  It  was  but  reasonable,  he  said,  that  the  republic  should  be 
permitted  to  know  her  own  interest :  for  him,  it  was  sufficient  that  he  had 
given  proofs  of  his  friendship  to  Venice,  and  of  his  zeal  for  the  support  of  the 
Christian  religion. (5) 

Don  John,  however,  was  little  pleased  with  the  conduct  of  the  Venetians. 
After  separating  from  the  confederates,  he  had  made  himself  master  of  Tunis, 
where  he  proposed  to  erect  an  independent  sovereignty  ;  and  lie  hoped  nex* 
season,  by  means  of  the  league,  utterly  to  ruin  the  sultan's  naval  pc'.ve 
which  he  foresaw  would  be  employed  to  recover  that  city  and  its  territory.    He 

(1)  Feuilet,  Vie  du  Pope  Pie  V.    Thuanus.    Cantemir.    RicauU  (2)  Feuilet,  ubi  sup 

<y\  Miniaim,  lib  vii  (4)  Peruta     Ferreras.  (5)  Miniana,  lib.  vji 


LET.  LXIX.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  476 

was  not  mistaken  in  his  conjecture.  A  fleet  of  three  hundred  galleys,  witn 
forty  thousand  land  forces  on  board,  was  sent  in  the  spring  to  invest  Tunis ; 
and  the  place,  though  gallantly  defended,  was  taken  by  storm,  and  the  gar- 
rison put  to  the  sword,  before  a  sufficient  force  could  be  assembled  for  its 
relief.  (1) 

During  all  these  bloody  transactions,  the  mere  recital  of  which  makes  the 
human  heart  to  shrink  from  the  horrors  of  war,  Germany  continued  to  enjoy 
tranquillity,  under  the  mild  government  of  Maximilian.  He  died  while  pre- 
paring to  support  his  election  to  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  and  was  succeeded 
in  the  imperial  throne  by  his  son,  Rodolph  II.,  a  prince  who  inherited  the 
pacific  disposition  of  his  father. 

We  must  now,  my  dear  Philip,  return  to  new  scenes  of  slaughter;  to 
behold  Christians  and  fellow-citizens  exercising  on  each  other  as  great  bar- 
barities as  ever  were  inflicted  upon  the  followers  of  Christ  by  those  of 
Mahomet. 


LETTER  LXIX. 

A  general  View  of  the  Transactions  of  Europe,  from  the  Death  of  Charles  IX., 
in  1574,  to  the  Accession  of  Henry  IF.,  the  first  King-  of  the  Branch  of 
Bourbon,  to  the  Throne  of  France,  in  1589;  including  the  Rise  of  the  Republic 
of  Holland,  the  unhappy  Catastrophe  of  Don  Sebastian  King  of  Portugal, 
the  Execution  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  and  the  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada. 

A  PARTICULAR  detail  of  the  many  great  and  singular  events  which  the 
period  before  us  contains,  would  rather  perplex  the  memory  than  inform  the 
judgment.  I  shall  therefore,  my  dear  Philip,  content  myself  with  offering 
you  a  general  survey.  Consequences  are  chiefly  to  be  noted. 

The  death  of  Charles  IX.,  though  the  subject  of  rejoicing  among  the 
Hugonots  was  far  from  healing  the  wounds  of  France,  yet  bleeding  from 
the°late  massacres.  His  brother,  the  duke  of  Anjou,  who  succeeded  him 
under  the  name  of  Henry  III.,  and  who,  as  I  have  already  observed,  had  been 
sleeted  king  of  Poland,  whence  he  eloped  with  the  secrecy  of  a  felon,  found 
the  kingdom  in  the  greatest  disorder  imaginable.  The  people  were  divided 
into  two  theological  factions,  furious  from  their  zeal,  and  mutually  enraged 
from  the  injuries  which  they  had  committed  or  suffered.  Each  party  had 
devoted  itself  to  leaders,  whose  commands  were  of  more  weight  than  the  will 
of  the  sovereign ;  even  the  Catholics,  to  whom  the  king  was  attached,  being 
entirely  guided  by  the  counsels  of  the  duke  of  Guise  and  his  family. 

Henry,  by  the  advice  of  the  queen-mother,  who  had  governed  the  kingdom 
till  his  ai  rival,  laid  a  scheme  for  restoring  the  royal  authority,  by  acting  as 
umpire  between  the  parties  ;  by  moderating  their  differences,  and  reducing 
both  to  a  dependence  upon  himself.  He  possessed  all  the  dissimulation 
necessary  for  the  execution  of  this  delicate  plan ;  but  being  deficient  in  vigour, 
application,  and  sound  understanding,  instead  of  acquiring  a  superiority  over 
both  factions,  he  lost  the  confidence  of  both,  and  taught  the  partisans  of  each 
to  adhere  more  closely  to  their  several  leaders. 

Meanwhile,  the  Hugonots  were  not  only  strengthened  by  the  accession  of 
the  duke  of  Alerigon,  the  king's  brother,  afterward  duke  of  Anjou,  and  by  the 
arrival  of  a  German  army  under  the  prince  of  Conde,  but  by  the  presence 
of  the  gallant  king  of  Navarre,  who  had  also  made  his  escape  from  court, 
and  placed  himself  at  their  head.  Henry,  in  prosecution  of  his  moderating 
scheme,  entered  into  treaty  with  them;  and,  desirous  of  preserving  a 
balance  between  the  factions,  granted  peace  to  the  Protestants  on  the  most 
advantageous  conditions.  They  obtained  the  public  exercise  of  their  religion, 
except  within  two  leagues  of  the  court ;  party-chambers,  consisting  of  an 

(1}  Cantemir.    Riwiut.    Ferreras. 


476  THE   HISTORY   OF  (.PART  I 

equal  number  of  Protestants  and  Catholics,  were  erected  in  all  the  parlia- 
ments of  the  kingdom,  for  the  more  equitable  administration  of  justice ;  all 
attainders  were  reversed,  and  eight  cautionary  towns  were  put  into  their 
hands. (1) 

This  treaty  of  pacification,  which  was  the  fifth  concludec1  with  the  Hugo- 
nots, gave  the  highest  disgust  to  the  Catholics,  and  afforded  the  duke  of 
Guise  the  desired  pretence  of  declaiming  against  the  conduct  of  the  king, 
and  of  laying  the  foundation  of  that  famous  LEAGUE,  projected  by  his  uncle, 
the  cardinal  of  Lorrain ;  an  association  which,  without  paying  any  regard  to 
the  royal  authority,  aimed  at  the  entire  suppression  of  the  new  doctrines.  In 
order  to  divert  the  force  of  the  League  from  the  throne,  and  even  to  obstruct 
its  efforts  against  the  Hugonots,  Henry  declared  himself  at  the  head  of  that 
seditious  c®nfederacy,  and  took  the  field  as  leader  of  the  Catholics ;  but  his 
dilatory  and  feeble  measures  discovered  his  reluctance  to  the  undertaking, 
and  some  unsuccessful  enterprises  brought  on  a  new  peace,  which,  though 
less  favourable  than  the  former  to  the  Protestants,  gave  no  satisfaction  to  the 
followers  of  the  ancient  religion.  The  animosity  of  party,  daily  whetted  by 
theological  controversy,  was  become  too  keen  to-  admit  of  toleration :  the 
king's  moderation  appeared  criminal  to  one  faction,  and  suspicious  to  both ; 
while  the  plain,  direct,  and  avowed  conduct  of  the  duke  of  Guise  on  one  side, 
and  of  the  king  of  Navarre  on  the  other,  engaged  by  degrees  the  bulk  of  the 
nation  to  enlist  themselves  under  one  or  other  of  those  great  leaders.  Reli- 
gious hate  set  at  nought  all  civil  regulations,  and  every  private  injury  became 
the  ground  of  a  public  quarrel.  (2) 

These  commotions,  though  of  a  domestic  nature,  were  too  important  to  be 
overlooked  by  foreign  princes.  Elizabeth  queen  of  England,  who  always 
considered  her  interests  as  connected  with  the  prosperity  of  the  French  Pro- 
testants, and  the  depression  of  the  house  of  Guise,  had  repeatedly  supplied 
the  Hugonots  with  considerable  sums  of  money,  notwithstanding  her  nego- 
tiations with  the  court  of  France.  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  declared  himself  protector  of  the  League,  had  entered  into  the  closest 
correspondence  with  the  duke  of  Guise,  and  employed  all  his  authority  in 
supporting  the  credit  of  that  factious  leader.  The  subjection  of  the  Hugo- 
nots, he  flattered  himself,  would  be  followed  by  the  submission  of  the  Flem- 
ings ;  and  the  same  political  motives  which  induced  Elizabeth  to  assist  the 
French  Reformers,  would  have  led  her  to  aid  the  distressed  Protestants  in 
the  Low  Countries :  but  the  mighty  power  of  Philip,  and  the  great  force 
which  he  maintained  in  those  mutinous  provinces,  had  hitherto  kept  her  in 
awe,  and  made  her  still  preserve  some  appearance  of  friendship  with  that 
monarch.  (3) 

Elizabeth,  however,  had  given  protection  to  all  the  Flemish  exiles  who 
took  shelter  in  her  dominions ;  and  as  many  of  these  were  the  most  industrious 
inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands,  then  so  celebrated  for  its  manufactures,  they 
brought  along  with  them  several  useful  arts,  hitherto  unknown,  or  but  little 
cultivated,  in  England.  The  queen  had  also  permitted  the  Flemish  privateers 
to  enter  the  English  harbours,  and  there  dispose  of  their  prizes.  But,  on  the 
remonstrance  of  the  Spanish  ambassador,  she  withdrew  that  liberty  ;(4)  a 
measure  which,  in  the  issue,  proved  extremely  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of 
Philip,  and  which  naturally  leads  us  back  to  the  history  of  the  civil  wars  in 
the  Low  Countries. 

The  Gueux,  or  Beggars,  as  the  Flemish  sea-adventurers  were  called,  being 
shut  out  from  the  English  harbours,  were  under  the  necessity  of  attempting 
to  secure  one  of  their  own.  They  accordingly  attacked,  in  1572,  the  Brille, 
a  seaport  town  in  Holland ;  and,  by  a  furious  assault,  made  themselves  masters 
of  the  place. (5) 

Unimportant  as  this  conquest  may  seem,  it  alarmed  the  duke  of  Alva ;  who, 
putting  a  stop  to  those  bloody  executions  which  he  was  making  on  the  defence- 
less Flemings  in  order  to  enforce  his  oppressive  taxes,  withdrew  the  garrison 

(1)  Davila.    D'Aubigne.    Mezcray.  (2)  Thuanus.     Pavila.  (3)  Camden 

'4)  Ibid.  (S\  Grotius.  lib  ii. 


LET.  LXIX.]  MOD  ERN   E  URO  PE.  477 

from  Brussels,  and  detached  it  against  the  Gueux.  Experience  soon  proved 
that  his  fears  were  well  grounded.  The  people  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Brille,  rendered  desperate  by  that  complication  of  cruelty,  oppression,  inso- 
lence, usurpation,  and  persecution,  under  which  they  and  all  their  countrymen 
laboured,  flew  to  arms  on  the  approach  of  a  military  force;  defeated  the 
Spanish  detachment,  and  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  prince 
of  Orange,  who,  though  unsuccessful  in  his  former  attempt,  still  meditated 
the  relief  of  the  Netherlands.  He  inflamed  the  inhabitants  by  every  motive 
which  religious  zeal,  resentment,  or  love  of  freedom  could"  inspire.  In  a 
short  time  almost  the  whole  province  of  Holland,  and  also  that  of  Zealand, 
threw  off  the  Spanish  yoke  ;(1)  and  the  prince,  by  uniting  the  revolted  towns 
m  a  league,  laid  the  foundation  of  that  illustrious  republic,  whose  arms  and 
policy  long  made  so  considerable  a  figure  in  the  transactions  of  Europe,  and 
whose  commerce,  frugality,  and  persevering  industry  are  still  the  wonder  of 
the  world. 

The  love  of  liberty  transformed  into  heroes  men  little  accustomed  to  arms, 
and  naturally  averse  from  war.  The  prince  of  Orange  took  Mechlin,  Oude- 
narde,  and  Dendermonde;  and  the  desperate  defence  of  Haarlem,  which 
nothing  but  the  most  extreme  famine  could  overcome,  convinced  the  duke 
of  Alva  of  the  pernicious  effects  of  his  violent  councils.  He  entreated  the 
Hollanders,  whom  his  severities  had  only  exasperated,  to  lay  down  their  arms, 
and  rely  on  the  king's  generosity;  and  he  gave  the  strongest  assurances,  that 
the  utmost  lenity  would  be  shown  to  those  who  did  not  obstinately  persist  in 
their  rebellion.  But  the  people  were  not  disposed  to  confide  in  promises  so 
often  violated,  nor  to  throw  themselves  on  the  clemency  of  a  prince  and 
governor  who  had  shown  themselves  equally  perfidious  and  inhuman.  Now 
reduced  to  despair,  they  expected  the  worst  that  could  happen,  and  bade 
defiance  to  fortune.  Alva,  enraged  at  their  firmness,  laid  siege  to  Alcmaer, 
where  the  Spaniards  were  finally  repulsed,  in  1573 :  a  great  fleet,  which  he 
had  fitted  out,  was  defeated  by  the  Zealanders  :  he  petitioned  to  be  recalled 
from  his  government,  and  boasted  at  his  departure,  that  in  the  course  of  five 
years  he  had  made  eighteen  thousand  heretics  perish  by  the  hands  of  the 
public  executioner.  (2) 

Alva  was  succeeded  in  the  Low  Countries  by  Requesens,  commendator  of 
Castile,  who  began  his  government  with  pulling  down  the  insulting  statue 
of  his  predecessor  erected  at  Antwerp.  But  neither  this  popular  act  nor  the 
mild  disposition  of  the  new  governor  could  reconcile  the  revolted  Hol- 
landers to  the  Spanish  dominion.  Their  injuries  were  too  recent  and  too 
grievous  to  be  soon  forgotten.  The  war  continued  as  obstinate  as  ever. 
The  success  was  various.  Middleburg  was  taken  by  the  Zealanders  in  1574, 
while  Lewis  of  Nassau,  with  a  considerable  body  of  troops,  intended  as  a 
reinforcement  to  his  brother,  the  prince  of  Orange,  was  surprised  near  a 
village  called  Noock,  and  his  army  defeated.  Lewis  and  two  of  his  brothers 
were  left  dead  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  siege  of  Leyden  was  formed  by 
the  Spaniards,  and  the  most  amazing  examples  of  valour  and  constancy  were 
displayed  on  both  sides.  The  Dutch  opened  the  dykes  and  sluices,  in  order 
to  drive  the  besiegers  from  that  enterprise ;  and  the  Spaniards  had  the  har- 
diness to  continue  their  purpose,  and  to  attempt  to  drain  off  the  inundation. 
The  besieged  suffered  every  species  of  .misery,  and  were  at  last  so  reduced 
by  famine,  as  to  be  obliged  to  feed  on  the  dead  bodies  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
But  they  did  not  suffer  in  vain.  A  violent  south-west  wind  drove  the  inunda- 
tion with  fury  against  the  works  of  the  besiegers,  when  every  human  hope 
seemed  to  fail ;  and  Valdes,  the  Spanish  general,  in  danger  of  being  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  waves,  was  constrained  to  raise  the  siege,  after  having  lost 
the  flower  of  his  army.(3) 

The  repulse  at  Leyden  was  followed  by  the  conferences  at  Breda,  in  1575. 
There  the  emperor,  Rodolph  II.,  endeavoured  to  mediate  a  reconciliation 

(1)  Le  Clerc.    Temple.    Grotius'.  (21  Grotius,  lib.  ii. 

(3)  Metem.    Bentivoglio.    Le  Clerc. 


47«  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  t. 

between  his  cousin  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  States  of  the  Low  Countries, 
originally  subject  to  the  empire,  and  over  which  the  imperial  jurisdiction  was 
still  supreme.  But  these  negotiations  proving  unsuccessful,  hostilities  were 
renewed,  and  pushed  with  vigour  by  the  Spaniards.  They  met  with  a  pro- 
portional resistance  in  many  places ;  particularly  at  Woerde,  the  reduction  of 
which  they  were  obliged  to  abandon,  after  a  siege  of  several  months,  and  i 
great  loss  of  men.(l) 

But  the  contest  was  unequal,  between  a  mighty  monarchy  and  two  small 
provinces,  however  fortified  by  nature,  or  defended  by  the  desperate  valour 
of  the  inhabitants.  The  Spaniards  made  themselves  masters  of  the  island 
of  Finart,  east  of  Zealand ;  they  entered  Zealand  itself,  in  spite  of  all  oppo- 
sition: they  reduced  Ziriczee,  after  an  obstinate  resistance;  and,  as  a  last 
blow,  were  projecting  the  reduction  of  Holland.(S) 

Now  it  was  that  the  revolted  provinces  saw  the  necessity  of  foreign  as- 
sistance, in  order  to  preserve  them  from  final  ruin  ;  and  they  sent  a  solemn 
embassy  to  Elizabeth,  their  most  natural  ally,  offering  her  the  sovereignty  of 
Holland  and  Zealand,  if  she  would  employ  her  power  in  their  defence.  But 
that  princess,  though  inclined  by  many  strong  motives  to  accept  of  so  liberal 
an  offer,  prudently  rejected  it.  Though  magnanimous,  she  had  never  enter- 
tained the  ambition  of  making  conquests,  or  of  acquiring,  by  any  other  means, 
an  accession  of  territory.  The  sole  purpose  of  her  vigilant  and  active  politics 
was  to  maintain,  by  the  most  frugal  and  cautious  expedients,  the  tranquillity 
of  her  own  dominions.  An  open  war  with  the  Spanish  monarchy  appeared 
the  probable  consequence  of  supporting  the  revolted  provinces ;  and  after 
taking  the  inhabitants  under  her  protection,  she  could  never  in  honour  abandon 
them,  how  desperate  soever  their  defence  might  become,  but  must  embrace  it 
even  in  opposition  to  her  interest.  The  possession  of  Holland  and  Zealand, 
though  highly  inviting  to  a  commercial  nation,  did  not  seem  equivalent  to 
such  hazard.  Elizabeth  therefore  refused,  in  positive  terms,  the  sovereignty 
proffered  her;  but  told  the  ambassadors,  that,  in  return  for  the  good-will 
which  the  prince  of  Orange  and  the  States  had  shown  her,  she  would  en- 
deavour to  mediate  an  agreement  for  them,  on  the  best  terms  possible.  She 
accordingly  despatched  sir  Henry  Cobham  to  Philip,  who  took  her  mediation 
in  good  part,  but  no  accommodation  ensued. (3).  The  war  in  the  Netherlands 
was  carried  on  with  the  same  rage  and  violence  as  before,  when  an  accident 
saved  the  infant  republic. 

Requesens,  the  governor,  dying  suddenly  at  a  time  when  large  arrears 
were  due  to  the  Spanish  troops,  they  broke  into  a  furious  mutiny,  in  1576 ;  and 
sacked  and  pillaged  the  wealthy  city  of  Antwerp,  executing  terrible  slaughter 
on  the  inhabitants,  and  threatened  the  other  cities  with  a  like  fate.  This 
danger  united  all  the  provinces,  except  Luxemburg,  in  a  confederacy,  com- 
monly called  the  pacification  of  Ghent,  which  had  for  its  object  the  expulsion 
of  foreign  troops,  and  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  .States. (4) 

Don  John  of  Austria,  who  had  been  appointed  to  succeed  Requesens,  found 
every  thing  in  confusion  on  his  arrival  in  the  Low  Countries.  He  saw  the 
impossibility  of  resistance,  and  agreed  to  whatever  was  required  of  him ; — 
to  confirm  the  pacification  of  Ghent,  and  dismiss  the  Spanish  army.  After 
these  concessions,  he  was  acknowledged  governor,  and  the  king's  lieutenant  of 
the  Netherlands. (5)  Peace  and  concord  were  restored,  industry  renewed, 
and  religious  disputes  silenced;  liberty  had  leisure  to  breathe,  commerce 
began  to  lift  her  head,  and  the  arts  began  to  dispense  their  blessings. 

But  the  ambition  of  Don  John,  who  coveted  this  great  theatre  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  military  talents,  lighted  anew  the  torch  of  discord  and  the  flames 
of  civil  war.  As  he  found  the  States  determined  to  impose  very  strict  limit- 
ations on  his  authority,  he  broke  all  articles ;  seized  Narnur,  and  procured 
the  recall  of  the  Spanish  army.  Animated  by  the  successes  of  his  youth,  he 
had  opened  his  mind  to  vast  undertakings  ;  and,  looking  beyond  the  conquest 

(1)  Metern.    Bentivoglio.    LeClerc.  (2)  Bentivoglio.    LeCIerc. 

(3)  Catnden.  (41  Bentivog.  lib.  jx.    Thuan.  lib  IziE 

(&}  Bentivog.  lib.  x. 


LET.  LX IX.}  M  0  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  F  B.  479 

of  the  revolted  provinces,  had  projected  a  marriage  with  the  queen  of  Scots, 
and  in  her  right  the  acquisition  of  both  the  British  kingdoms.  Elizabeth  was 
aware  of  his  intentions,  and  no  longer  scrupled  to  embrace  the  protection  of 
the  Flemings,- whose  independency  seemed  now  intimately  connected  with 
her  own  safety.  She  accordingly  entered  into  an  alliance  with  them;  sent 
them  a  sum  of  money  ;  and  soon  after  a  body  of  troops. (1)  Prince  Casimire, 
count  palatine  of  the  Rhine,  also  engaged  to  support  them ;  and  collected, 
for  that  purpose,  an  army  of  German  Protestants. 

But  the  Flemings,  while  strengthening  themselves  by  foreign  alliances, 
were  weakened  by  dissensions  at  home.  The  duke  d'Arschot,  governor  oi 
Flanders,  and  several  other  Catholic  noblemen,  jealous  of  the  prince  of  Orange, 
who,  on  the  return  of  the  Spanish  forces,  had  been  elected  governor  of  Bra- 
bant, privately  invited  the  archduke  Matthias,  brother  of  the  emperor  Rodolph 
II.,  to  the  government  of  the  Low  Countries.  Matthias,  disgusted  at  the 
imperial  court,  rashly  accepted  the  proposal ;  quitted  Prague  in  the  night,  and 
suddenly  arrived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Antwerp,  to  the  astonishment  of 
the  States.  Swayed  by  maxims  of  the  truest  policy  and  patriotism,  the 
prince  of  Orange,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  embraced  the  interest  of  the 
archduke :  and,  by  that  prudent  measure,  divided  the  German  and  Spanish 
branches  of  the  house  of  Austria.  Don  John  Avas  deposed  by  a  decree  of 
the  States ;  Matthias  was  appointed  governor-general  of  the  provinces,  and 
the  prince  of  Orange  his  lieutenant,  to  the  great  mortification  of  d'Arschot. (2) 

Meanwhile,  Don  John,  being  joined  by  the  famous  Alexander  Farnese, 
duke  of  Parma,  with  eighteen  thousand  veterans,  attacked  the  army  of  the 
States  near  Gemblours,  and  gained  a  considerable  advantage  over  them. 
But  the  cause  of  liberty  sustained  a  much  greater  misfortune  in  that  jealousy 
which  arose  between  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  provinces.  The  prince 
of  Orange,  by  reason  of  his  moderation,  became  suspected  by  both  parties  ; 
Matthias,  receiving  no  support  from  Germany,  fell  into  contempt;  and  the 
duke  of  Anjou,  brother  to  Henry  III.  of  France,  through  the  prevalence 
of  the  Catholic  interest,  was  declared  Defender  of  the  Liberties  of  the  Nether- 
lands.^} 

Don  John  took  advantage  of  these  fluctuating  counsels  to  push  his  military 
operations,  and  made  himself  master  of  several  places.  But  he  was  so 
warmly  received  by  the  English  auxiliaries  at  Rimenant,  that  he  was  obliged 
to  give  ground :  and  seeing  little  hopes  of  future  success,  on  account  of  the 
numerous  armies  assembled  against  him,  under  prince  Casimire  (who  was 
paid  by  Elizabeth)  and  the  duke  of  Anjou,  is  supposed  to  have  died  of  chagrin ; 
others  say  of  poison,  given  him  by  the  order  of  Philip,  who  dreaded  his  ambi- 
tion. But  be  that  as  it  may,  he  died  unexpectedly,  and  was  succeeded  by  the 
duke  of  Parma,  much  his  superior,  both  in  war  and  negotiation,  and  whose 
address  and  clemency  gave  a  new  turn  to  the  affairs  of  Spain  in  the  Nether- 
lands. 

The  confederates,  in  the  mean  while,  spent  their  time  in  quarrelling,  instead 
of  acting.  Neither  the  army  of  prince  Casimire  nor  that  of  the  duke  of 
Anjou  was  of  any  use.  to  the  States.  The  Catholics  were  jealous  of  the  first, 
the  Protestants  of  the  last,  and  the  two  leaders  were  jealous  of  each  other. 
Those  evils  induced  William  prince  of  Orange  to  form  the  scheme  of  more 
closely  uniting  the  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  and  cementing  them 
with  such  others  as  lay  most  contiguous ;  Utrecht,  Friesland,  Groningen, 
Overyssel,  and  Guelderland,  in  which  the  Protestant  interest  predominated. 
The  deputies  accordingly  met  at  Utrecht,  and  signed  that  famous  Union,  in 
appearance  so  slight,  but  in  reality  so  solid,  of  seven  provinces  independent 
of  each  other,  actuated  by  different  interests,  yet  as  closely  connected  by  the 
great  tie  of  liberty,  as-the  bundle  of  arrows,  the  arms  and  emblem  of  their 
republic. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  seven  provinces  shall  unite  themselves  in  interest 
as  one  province,  reserving  to  each  individual  province  and  city  all  its  own 

H)  Camden.  (2)  Le  Clerc.  lib.  iu.  '3)  Reidan,  lib.  ii.    Metern.lib*  x. 


480  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

privileges,  rights,  customs,  and  statutes  ;  that  in  all  disputes  between  parti- 
cular provinces,  the  rest  shall  interpose  only  as  mediators ;  and  that  they  shall 
assist  each  other  with  life  and  fortune,  against  every  foreign  attempt  upon 
any  single  province. (1)  The  first  coin  struck  after  this  alliance  is  strongly 
expressive  of  the  perilous  situation  of  the  infant  commonwealth.  It  repre- 
sented a  ship  struggling  amid  the  waves,  unassisted  by  sails  or  oars,  with 
this  motto :  Incertum  quo  fata  ferant ;  "  I  know  not  what  may  be  my  fate."(2) 

The  States  had  indeed  great  reason  for  doubt.  They  had  to  contend  with 
the  whole  power  of  the  Spanish  monarchy ;  and  Philip,  instead  of  offering 
them  any  equitable  conditions,  laboured  to  detach  the  prince  of  Orange  from 
the  union  of  Utrecht.  But  William  was  too  patriotic  to  resign  the  interests 
of  his  country  for  any  private  advantage.  He  was  determined  to  share  the 
fate  of  the  United  Provinces  :  and  they  stood  in  much  need  of  support.  The 
duke  of  Parma  was  making  rapid  progress  both  by  his  arts  and  arms.  He 
had  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Walloons,  a  name  commonly  given  to  the 
natives  of  the  southern  provinces  of  'the  Netherlands :  he  gained  the  confi- 
dence of  the  Catholic  party  in  general,  and  took  by  assault  the  cities  of  Mar- 
sien  and  Maestricht,  where,  in  defiance  of  his  authority,  great  enormities 
were  committed  by  the  Spanish  troops.  Every  thing  seemed  possible  to  him. 
The  States,  however,  continued  resolute,  though  sensible  of  their  weakness. 
They  again  made  an  offer  of  their  sovereignty  to  Elizabeth ;  and  as  she  still 
rejected  it,  they  conferred  it  on  the  duke  of  Anjou,  finally  withdrawing  their 
allegiance  from  Philip  II.  (3) 

While  Philip  was  losing  the  seven  United  Provinces,  fortune  threw  in  his 
way  a  new  sovereignty.  Don  Sebastian,  king  of  Portugal,  grandson  of  the 
great  Emanuel,  smitten  with  the  passion  for  military  glory,  determined  to 
signalize  himself  by  an  expedition  against  the  Moors  in  Africa,  where  his 
ancestors  had  acquired  so  much  renown.  In  consequence  of  this  direction 
of  mind  he  espoused  the  cause  of  Muley  Mahomet,  whom  Muley  Moluch,  his 
uncle,  had  dispossessed  of  the  kingdoms  of  Fez  and  Morocco ;  and,  contrary 
to  the  opinion  of  his  wisest  counsellors,  embarked  for  Africa,  in  1758,  with  an 
army  of  twenty  thousand  men.  The  army  of  Muley  Moluch  was  superior ; 
but  that  circumstance  only  roused  the  courage  of  Don  Sebastian,  who  wore 
green  armour  in  order  to  be  a  better  mark  for  the  enemy.  The  two  armies 
engaged  near  Alcazar-quivir ;  and,  after  a  desperate  conflict,  the  Christians 
were  totally  routed,  or  rather  destroyed,  being  all  either  killed  or  taken  pri- 
soners. Among  the  slain  was  Don  Sebastian.  The  two  Moorisli  princes, 
uncle  and  nephew,  were  also  left  dead  on  the  field.  (4) 

The  king  of  Portugal,  having  left  no  issue,  was  succeeded  by  his  uncle, 
cardinal  Henry ;  who  also  dying  without  children,  a  number  of  competitors 
arose  for  the  crown.  Among  those  was  the  king  of  Spain,  nephew  to  Henry 
by  the  mother's  side:  the  duke  of  Braganza,  married  to  the  granddaughter 
oi  the  great  Emanuel ;  Don  Antonio,  prior  of  Crato,  bastard  of  the  infant 
Don  Lewis;  the  duke  of  Savoy;  the  duke  of  Parma;  Catharine  of  Medicis; 
and  pope  Gregory  XIII.  who,  extraordinary  as  it  may  seem,  attempted  to 
renew  the  obsolete  claim  of  the  holy  see  to  the  sovereignty  of  Portugal. 
Philip's  claim  was  not  the  best,  but  he  had  most  power  to  support  it.  The 
old  duke  of  Alva,  who  had  been  for  some  time  in  disgrace,  like  a  mastiff 
unchained  for  fighting,  was  recalled  to  court,  and  put  at  the  head  of  an  army. 
He  gained  two  victories  over  Don  Antonio ;  who,  of  all  the  other  competitors, 

(1)  Temple,  chap.  i.    Reidan,  lib.  ii.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Grotius,  lib.  iii. 

(4)  H.  de  Mendoza.  Cabrera.  Thuanus.  Muley  Moluch,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  great  and 
generous  prince,  died  with  the  most  heroic  magnanimity.  Wasted  by  an  inveterate  disease,  which  the 
fatigue  of  the  battle  had  rendered  mortal,  he  desired  his  attendants  to  keep  his  death  secret  till  the  fortune 
of  the  day  should  be  decided.  Even  after  he  lost  the  use  of  speech,  he  laid  his  finger  on  his  lijs  as  a  farther 
injunction  of  secrecy ;  and  stretching  himself  in  his  litter,  calmly  expired  in  the  field  of  victory.  (Id.  ibid.) 
In  regard  to  the  manner  of  Don  Sebastian's  death,  historians  are  by  no  means  agreed  ;  but  all  admit  that 
he  fought  gallantly,  and  disdained  to  survive  the  defeat  of  his  army.  Some  say,  that  he  laid  violent 
hands  upon  himself ;  others,  that  being  disarmed  and  made  prisoner  by  the  victors,  he  was  slain  by  a 
Moorish  officer,  who  catne  up  while  the  soldiers  were  violently  disputing  their  right  to  the  royal  captive. 
(Thuam.a,  Hist,  xui  Temp.)  Muley  Mahomet  perished  in  attempting  to  save  himself  by  flight ;  and 
Hamet,  Muley  Moluch's  brother,  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Morocco.  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  LXiX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  481 

rtlone  pretended  tu  assert  his  title  by  arms.  These  victories  decided  the 
contest.  Philip  .was  crowned  at  Lisbon,  proclaimed  in  India,  and  a  price  was 
set  on  the  head  of  Antonio. (1) 

A  p/ice  was  also  set  on  the  head  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  as  soon  as  it  was 
known  in  Spain  that  the  United  Provinces  had  withdrawn  their  allegiance 
from  Philip,  and  an  attempt  was  soon  after  made  upon  his  life  by  a  man  of 
desperate  fortune  in  order  to  obtain  the  reward.  Now  first  did  the  States 
become  truly  sensible  of  the  value  of  that  great  man.  The  joy  of  the  Spa- 
niards, on  a  false  report  of  his  death,  could  only  be  equalled  by  that  of  the 
Flemings  when  informed  of  his  safety ;  yet  a  jealousy  of  liberty,  and  a  dread 
of  his  ambition,  still  prevented  them  from  appointing  him  their  supreme 
governor,  though  every  day  convinced  them  of  the  imprudence,  rapacity,  and 
dangerous  designs  of  the  duke  of  Anjou.  He  had  at  first  assembled  a  consi- 
derable army,  and  raised  ihe  siege  of  Cambray ;  but  a  project  of  marrying 
queen  Elizabeth,  whose  amorous  dalliances  with  him  are  somewhat  unac- 
countable, and  by  no  means  justifiable,  unless  sincere,  led  him  to  waste 
his  time  in  England,  while  the  duke  of  Parma  was  making  rapid  progress  in 
the  Netherlands.  On  his  return,  he  totally  lost  the  confidence  of  the  States, 
by  a  rash  and  violent  attack  upon  their  liberties ;  was  obliged  to  leave  the 
United  Provinces  ;  retired  into  France,  and  died  soon  after  in  contempt.(2) 

The  archduke  Matthias  had  returned  to  Germany,  on  the  elevation  of  his 
rival;  so  that  the  duke  of  Parma,  and  the  prince  of  Orange,  the  two  greatest 
generals  of  their  age,  were  now  left  to  dispute  the  possession  of  the  Nether- 
lands, which  became  the  chief  theatre  of  war  in  Europe,  and  the  school  to 
which  men  of  courage,  from  all  nations,  resorted  to  study  the  military  art. 

England,  during  these  commotions,  had  enjoyed  the  most  perfect  tran- 
quillity. But  the  prospect  now  began  to  be  overcast ;  and  Elizabeth  saw 
dangers  gradually  multiply  on  her,  from  more  than  one  quarter.  The  earl 
of  Lennox,  cousin-german  to  the  young  king  of  Scotland,  and  captain  Stewart 
of  the  house  of  Ochiltree,  afterward  earl  of  Arran,  had  found  means  to 
detach  James  from  the  English  interest ;  and  by  their  intrigues  the  earl  of 
Morton,  who,  during  his  whole  regency,  had  preserved  that  kingdom  in  strict 
alliance  with  Elizabeth,  was  brought  to  the  scaffold  as  an  accomplice  in  the 
murder  of  the  late  king.(3) 

A  body  of  the  Scottish  nobility,  however,  dissatisfied  with  the  new  admin- 
istration, which  was  entirely  directed  by  Lennox  and  Arran,  formed  a  con- 
spiracy, probably  with  the  concurrence  of  Elizabeth,  for  seizing  the  person 
of  the  king  at  the  castle  of  Ruthven,  the  seat  of  the  earl  of  Gowrie ;  and,  the 
design  being  kept  secret,  succeeded  without  any  opposition.  James,  who  was 
about  twelve  years  of  age,  wept  when  he  found  himself  detained  a  prisoner; 
but  no  compassion  was  shown  him.  "  Mind  not  his  tears,"  said  the  master 
of  Glamis:— "better  that  boys  should  weep  than  bearded  men."  The  king 
was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  present  necessity ;  to  pretend  an  entire  acqui- 
escence in  the  conduct  of  the  conspirators,  and  to  acknowledge  the  detention 
of  his  person  to  be  an  acceptable  service.  Arran  was  confined  a  prisoner  in 
his  own  house,  and  Lennox  retired  into  France,  where  he  soon  after  died.(l) 

But  the  affairs  of  Scotland  remained  not  long  in  this  situation.  James, 
impatient  of  restraint,  made  his  escape  from  his  keepers ;  and,  flying  to  St. 
Andrews,  summoned  his  friends  and  partisans  to  attend  him.  The  earls  of 
Argyle,  Marshal,  Montrose,  and  Rothes,  hastened  to  pay  their  duty  to  their 

(1)  FariaySusa.    Cabrera.  (2)  Mezeray.    Camden.    Le  Clerc. 

13)  Spotswood.  Crawfurd.  Morton  owned  that  Bothwell  had  informed  him  of  the  design  against  tne 
king's  life,  solicited  him  to  concur  in  the  execution  of  it,  and  affirmed  it  was  authorized  by  the  queen, 
He  at  first,  if  we  may  believe  his  dying  words,  absolutely  declined  having  any  concern  in  such  a  measure ; 
and,  when  afterward  urged  to  the  same  purpose,  he  required  a  warrant  under  the  queen's  hand,  author- 
izin"  the  attempt.  As  no  such  warrant  was  produced,  he  refused  to  take  part  in  the  enterprise.  And  aa 
an  apology  for  concealing  this  treasonable  undertakins.  he  very  plausibly  urged  in  his  own  vindication, 
the  irresolution  of  Darnley,  and  criminal  situation  of  Mary.  "  To  whom,"  said  he,  "could  I  make  the 
discovery?  The  queen  was  the  author  of  the  conspiracy.  Darnley  was  such  a  changeling,  that  no 
secret  could  be  safely  communicated  to  him.  Huntley  and  Bothwell,  who  bore  the  chief  sway  in 
kingdom,  were  themselves  the  perpetrators  of  the  crime."  Spotswood,  p.  314.  Crawfurd,  Mem,  Append. 
III.  Robertson,  book  vi.  (4)  Melvil.  Spotswood.  Calderwood. 

VOL.  I— H  h  21 


482  THE   HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

sovereign;  and  the  opposite  party  finding  themselves  tillable  to  resist  so  pow- 
erful a  combination,  took  shelter  in  England.  The  earl  of  Arran  was  recalled 
to  court ;  a  new  attempt  to  disturb  the  government  was  defeated ;  the  earl  of 
Gowrie,  its  reputed  author,  was  brought  to  the  block ;  and  severe  laws  were 
passed  against  the  Presbyterian  clergy,  who  had  applauded  theRaidofRuihven, 
as  the  late  conspiracy  was  called.(l) 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Scotland,  the  king  of  Spain,  though 
he  had  not  yet  come  to  an  open  rupture  with  Elizabeth,  sent,  in  the  name  of 
the  pope,  a  body  of  seven  hundred  Spaniards  and  Italians  into  Ireland,  in 
order  to  retaliate  for  the  assistance  which  she  gave  to  his  rebellious  subjects 
in  the  Low  Countries.  But  the  invaders,  though  joined  by  many  of  the  dis- 
contented Irish,  were  all  cut  off  to  a  man,  by  lord  Grey,  the  queen's  deputy, 
and  fifteen  hundred  of  the  rebels  were  hanged ;  a  severity  which  gave  great 
displeasure  to  Elizabeth.  (2) 

When  the  English  ambassador  at  the  court  of  Madrid  complained  of  this 
invasion,  he  was  answered  by  like  complaints  of  the  piracies  of  Francis 
Drake ;  a  bold  navigator,  who  had  passed  into  the  South  Sea  by  the  straits 
of  Magellan,  and,  attacking  the  Spaniards  in  those  parts  where  they  least 
expected  an  enemy,  had  taken  many  rich  prizes,  and  returned  home  safely 
by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  September,  1580.  As  he  Avas  the  first  English- 
man who  had  circumnavigated  the  globe,  his  name  became  celebrated  on 
account  of  so  hazardous  and  fortunate  an  adventure ;  and  the  queen,  who 
loved  valour,  and  hoped  to  share  in  the  spoil,  conferred  on  him  the  honour 
of  knighthood,  and  accepted  of  a  banquet  from  him  on  board  the  ship  which 
had  performed  so  memorable  a  voyage.  She  caused,  however,  part  of  the 
booty  to  be  restored,  in  order  to  appease  the  Catholic  king. (3) 

But  Elizabeth's  dangers  from  abroad  might  have  been  regarded  as  of  small 
importance,  had  her  own  subjects  been  united  at  home.  Unhappily,  that  was 
not  the  case.  The  zeal  of  the  Catholics,  excited  by  constraint  rather  than 
persecution,  daily  threatened  her  with  an  insurrection.  Not  satisfied  with 
incessant  outcries  against  her  severity  towards  the  queen  of  Scots,  and 
against  the  court  of  High  Commission  (an  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  erected  by 
Elizabeth,  for  taking  cognizance  of  non-conformists,  and  which  was  certainly 
too  arbitrary),  the  Romish  priests,  especially  in  the  foreign  seminaries  for 
the  education  of  English  students  of  the  Catholic  communion,  endeavoured 
to  persuade  their  disciples,  that  it  would  be  a  meritorious  action  to  take  away 
her  life. (4) 

Those  seminaries,  founded  by  Philip  II.  the  pope,  and  the  cardinal  of 
Lorrain,  in  order  to  prevent  the  decay  of  the  ancient  religion  in  England, 
sent  over  yearly  a  colony  of  young  priests,  who  maintained  the  Romish 
superstition  in  its  full  height  of  bigotry ;  and  who,  being  ofte'n  detected  in 
treasonable  practices,  occasioned  that  severity  of  which  their  sect  complained. 
They  were  all  under  the  direction  of  the  Jesuits,  an  active  order  of  regular 
priests  established  since  the  Reformation ;  the  court  of  Rome  perceiving  that 
the  lazy  monks  and  beggarly  friars,  who  had  sufficed  in  times  of  ignorance, 
were  no  longer  able  to  defend  the  ramparts  of  the  church,  assailed  on  every 
side  by  the  bold  and  inquisitive  spirit  of  the  age,  and  the  virulence  of  the 
persecuted  Protestants.  These  ghostly  fathers,  who  by  the  very  nature  of 
their  institution  were  engaged  to  pervert  learning,  and  who,  where  it  could 
serve  their  pious  purposes,  employed  it  to  refine  away  the  plainest  dictates 
of  morality,  persuaded  William  Parry,  an  English  gentleman,  and  a  convert 
to  the  Catholic  faith,  that  he  could  not  perform  a  more  acceptable  service  to 
Heaven  than  to  take  away  the  life  of  his  sovereign.  Parry,  then  at  Milan, 
was  confirmed  in  this  opinion  by  Campeggio,  the  pope's  nuncio,  and  even  by 
he  pope  himself,  who  exhorted  him  to  persevere ;  and  granted  him,  for  his 
encouragement,  a  plenary  indulgence  and  remission  of  his  sins.  Though 
still  agitated  with  doubts,  he  came  over  to  England,  with  an  intention  of 
executing  his  bloody  purpose.  But  happily  his  irresolution  continued ;  and 

11  Spotswood.  (2)  Camden.  (31  Ibid  i4)  Ibid 


L-.T.  LXIX.]  MODERNEUROPL.  483 

he  "/as  at  last  betrayed  by  one  Nevil,  of  the  family  of  Westmoreland,  to 
whom  he  had  communicated  his  design.  Being  thrown  into  prison,  he  con- 
fessed his  guilt,  received  sentence  of  death,  and  suffered  the  punishment 
directed  by  the  law  for  his  treasonable  conspiracy^  1) 

Such  murderous  attempts,  the  result  of  that  bigoted  spirit  with  which  the 
followers  of  the  two  religions,  but  more  especially  the  Catholics,  were  actuated, 
every  where  now  appeared.  About  the  same  time  that  this  design  against 
the  life  of  Elizabeth  was  brought  to  light,  the  prince  of  Orange  was  assassi- 
nated at  Delft,  by  Balthazar  Gerard,  a  desperate  enthusiast,  who  believed 
himself  impelled  by  the  Divinity,  we  are  told  by  the  Jesuit  Strada,  to  commit 
that  barbarous  action.  But  the  assassin,  when  put  to  the  torture,  declared, 
perhaps  no  less  truly,  that  the  reward  promised  by  Philip,  in  his  proscription 
of  William,  had  been  his  principal  motive. (2) 

The  United  Provinces,  now  deprived  of  their  chief  hope,  were  filled  with 
sorrow  and  consternation :  a  general  gloom  involved  their  affairs ;  despond- 
ency appeared  in  every  face ;  and  anarchy  reigned  in  their  councils.  The 
provinces  of  Holland  and  Zealand  alone  endeavoured  to  repair  the  loss,  and 
to  show  their  gratitude  to  William,  by  electing  his  son  Maurice  their  stadt- 
holder,  and  captain-general  by  sea  and  land.  Maurice  was  at  this  time  only 
eighteen  years  old,  but  such  marks  of  genius  distinguished  his  character  as 
approved  him  worthy  of  the  dignity  to  which  he  was  raised ;  and  he  was 
opposed  to  the  duke  of  Parma,  the  greatest  general  of  that,  or  perhaps  of 
any  other  age. 

In  Spain  it  was  imagined,  that  the  death  of  the  prince  of  Orange  would 
deprive  the  confederates,  not  only  of  counsel,  but  of  courage,  any  longer  to 
resist  the  power  of  Philip.  But  after  the  first  emotions  of  grief  and  surprise 
subsided,  it  produced  very  contrary  effects.  Rage  took  place  of  despair;  and 
the  horror  of  the  assassination,  universally  attributed  to  the  intrigues  of 
Philip,  so  irritated  the  people,  that  they  determined  to  prosecute  the  war  with 
unremitted  vigour,  and  revenge  the  death  of  their  great  deliverer.(S) 

Meanwhile,  the  duke  of  Parma,  having  reduced  Ghent  and  Brussels,  was 
making  preparations  for  the  siege  of  Antwerp,  the  richest  and  most  populous 
city  in  the  Netherlands.  On  his  first  approach,  the  citizens  opened  the  sluices, 
cut  down  the  dykes,  and  overflowed  the  neighbouring  country  with  an  inun- 
dation, which  swept  away  all  his  magazines.  Not  discouraged,  however,  by 
this  loss,  he  set  himself  diligently  to  repair  the  misfortune ;  and  cut,  at  pro- 
digious labour  and  expense,  but  with  incredible  expedition,  a  canal  from  Steken 
to  Caloo,  in  order  to  carry  off  the  waters.  He  next  erected  that  stupendous 
monument  of  his  genius,  so  fatal  to  the  cause  of  liberty !  a  fortified  bridge 
across  the  deep  and  rapid  river  Scheld,  to  prevent  all  communication  with  the 
town  by  sea.  The  besieged  attempted  to  burn  it,  or  blow  it  up,  by  sending 
against  it  two  fire-ships,  full  of  powder  and  other  combustible  materials.  But 
this  scheme  failing,  and  the  besiegers  daily  making  progress  in  spite  of  every 
effort  to  oppose  them,  Antwerp  sent  deputies  to  the  duke,  and  agreed  to 
acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  Philip.(4) 

Domestic  jealousy,  no  less  than  the  valour  of  the  Spaniards,  or  the  conduct 
of  their  general,  contributed  to  the  fall  of  this  flourishing  city.  The  Hol- 
landers, and  particularly  the  citizens  of  Amsterdam,  obstructed  eveiy  mea- 
sure proposed  for  the  relief  of  Antwerp,  hoping  to  profit  by  its  reduction. 
The  Protestants,  it  was  concluded,  would  forsake  it,  as  soon  as  it  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Philip.  The  conjecture  proved  just:  Antwerp  went  hourly  to 
decay ;  and  Amsterdam,  enriched  by  the  emigration  of  her  sister's  inhabitants, 
became  the  greatest  commercial  city  in  the  Netherlands. 

This  rivalry,  however,  of  the  citizens  of  Amsterdam,  so  singular  in  the 
annals  of  mankind!  in  seeking  a  problematical  private  advantage,  at  the 
expense  of  public  safety,  and  when  exposed  to  the  most  imminent  danger, 

(1)  State  Trials,  vol.  i.    Strype,  vol.  iii.    Hume,  cbap.  xli. 

(2)  Grotius.    Meiern.    Bentiyoglio.    Thuanus. 

(3)  Grotius,  lib.  iv.    Metern,  lib.  xii. 

(41  Metern,  lib.xii.    Reidan.  lib.  iv.    Thuanus,  lib.  tucxiii. 

Hh2 


484  THE  HISTORY   OF  [PART  f. 

had  almost  occasioned  the  subjection  of  the  whole  revolted  provinces.  The 
loss  of  Antwerp  was  a  mortal  blow  to  the  formerly  declining  state  of  their 
affairs ;  and  the  only  hope  that  remained  to  them  arose  from  the  prospect  of 
foreign  aid.  Well  acquainted  with  the  cautious  and  frugal  maxims  of  Eliza- 
beth, they  tendered  the  sovereignty  of  their  country  to  the  king  of  France. 
But  the  distracted  state  of  that  monarchy  obliged  Henry  to  reject  so  advan- 
tageous an  offer.  The  duke  of  Anjou's  death,  which  he  expected  would 
bring  him  relief,  by  freeing  him  from  the  intrigues  of  that  prince,  only  plunged 
him  in  deeper  distress.  The  king  of  Navarre,  a  professed  Protestant,  being 
now  next  heir  to  the  crown,  the  duke  of  Guise  took  thence  occasion  to  revive 
the  Catholic  League,  and  to  urge  the  king,  by  the  most  violent  expedients,  to 
seek  the  exclusion  of  that  gallant  prince,  and  the  extinction  of  the  whole 
sect.  Henry,  though  himself  a  zealous  Catholic,  disliked  such  precipitant 
measures :  he  attempted  to  suppress  the  League ;  but  finding  his  authority  too 
weak  for  that  purpose,  he  was  obliged  to  comply  with  the  demands  of  the 
duke  of  Guise  and  the  cardinal  of  Bourbon,  whom  the  duke  had  set  up  as  a 
competitor  for  the  succession  against  the  king  of  Navarre,  to  declare  war 
against  the  Hugonots,  and  countenance  a  faction  which  he  regarded  as  more 
dangerous  to  his  throne.(l)  Any  interposition  in  favour  of  the  distressed 
Protestants  in  the  Low  Countries  would  have  drawn  upon  him  at  once  the 
indignation  of  Philip,  the  pope,  and  the  League,  of  which  they  were  the  pro- 
tectors. He  was  therefore  under  the  necessity  of  renouncing  all  thoughts 
of  the  proffered  sovereignty,  though  it  opened  a  prospect  equally  flattering  to 
his  ambition  and  his  vengeance. 

The  United  Provinces,  in  this  extremity,  had  again  recourse  to  Elizabeth ; 
who,  although  she  continued  to  reject  their  sovereignty  for  the  reasons  for- 
merly assigned,  agreed  to  yield  them  more  effectual  support.  She  accord- 
ingly concluded  a  new  treaty  with  them  to  that  purpose ;  in  consequence  of 
which  she  was  put  in  possession  of  the  Brille,  Flushing,  and  the  castle  of 
Rammakins,  as  a  security  for  the  payment  of  her  expenses.  She  knew  that 
the  step  she  had  taken  would  immediately  engage  her  in  hostilities  with 
Philip,  yet  was  she  not  alarmed  at  the  view  of  the  present  greatness  of  that 
prince :  though  such  prepossessions  were  every  where  entertained  concerning 
the  force  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  that  the  king  of  Sweden,  when  informed 
that  the  queen  of  England  had  openly  embraced  the  defence  of  the  revolted 
Flemings,  scrupled  not  to  say,  "  She  has  now  taken  the  diadem  from  her  head, 
and  placed  it  upon  the  point  of  a  sword."(2) 

But  Elizabeth,  though  rather  cautious  than  enterprising  in  her  natural  dis- 
position,— though  she  preferred  peace,  she  was  not  afraid  of  war;  and  when 
she  saw  an  evident  necessity,  she  braved  danger  with  magnanimity  and  bold- 
ness. She  now  prepared  herself  to  resist,  and  even  to  assault,  the  whole 
strength  of  the  Catholic  king.  The  earl  of  Leicester  was  sent  over  to  Hol- 
land, at  the  head  of  the  English  auxiliaries,  consisting  of  five  thousand  foot 
and  a  thousand  horse ;  while  sir  Francis  Drake  was  despatched  with  a  fleet 
of  twenty  sail,  and  a  body  of  land  forces,  to  attack  the  Spaniards  in  the 
West  Indies.  This  gallant  seaman  made  himself  master  of  St.  Jago  de  Cuba, 
of  St.  Domingo,  the  capital  of  Hispaniola,  of  Carthagena,  and  several  other 
places ;  and  returned  to  England  with  such  riches,  and  such  accounts  of  the 
Spanish  weakness  in  the  New  World,  as  served  to  stimulate  the  nation  to 
future  enterprises.  (3) 

The  English  arms  were  less  successful  in  the  Low  Countries.  Leicester 
possessed  neither  courage  nor  capacity  equal  to  the  trust  reposed  in  him  by 
the  queen :  and  the  States,  who  from  a  knowledge  of  his  influence  with  Eliza- 
beth, and  a  desire  of  engaging  that  princess  still  farther  in  their  defence,  had 
loaded  him  with  new  honours ;  had  conferred  on  him  the  title  of  governor 
and  captain-general  of  the  United  Provinces,  appointed  a  guard  to  attend 
him,  and  vested  him  with  a  power  almost  dictatorial,  soon  found  their  confi- 
dence misplaced.  He  not  only  showed  his  inability  to  direct  military  opera- 
CD  UaviU,  lib.  Til.  Mezeray,  AMgi  Okronol.  toin.  v.  (2)  Camden.  (3)  Ibid. 


LET.  LXIX.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  485 

tions,  by  permitting  the  duke  of  Parma  to  advance  in  a  rapid  course  of  con- 
quests, but  abused  his  authority,  by  an  administration  equally  weak,  wanton, 
cruel,  and  oppressive.  Intoxicated  with  his  elevation,  he  assumed  the  air  of 
a  sovereign  prince;  refused  the  instruction  of  the  States;  thrust  into  all 
vacant  places  his  own  worthless  favourites ;  excited  the  people  to  rise  against 
the  magistrates ;  introduced  disorder  into  the  finances,  and  filled  the  provinces 
with  confusion.  The  Dutch  even  suspected  him  of  a  design  upon  their  liber- 
ties ;  and  Elizabeth,  in  order  to  quiet  their  fears,  or  lest  an  attempt  should  be 
made  against  the  life  of  her  favourite,  commanded  him  to  resign  his  govern- 
ment, and  return  home.(l)  Prince  Maurice  was  elected  governor  by  the 
States  in  the  room  of  the  earl  of  Leicester,  and  lord  Willoughby  was  by  the 
queen  appointed  Commander-in-chief  of  the  English  forces. 

In  the  mean  time,  Elizabeth  was  occupied  about  more  immediate  dangers 
than  those  from  the  Spanish  arms ;  though  Philip  had  already  formed  the 
most  hostile  designs  against  her,  and  had  begun  his  preparations  for  that 
famous  armament  denominated  the  Invincible  Armada.  Anthony  Babington, 
a  young  gentleman  of  Derbyshire,  instigated  by  John  Ballard,  a  popish  priest, 
of  the  seminary  of  Rheims,  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  his 
sovereign,  as  a  necessary  prelude  to  the  deliverance  of  the  queen  of  Scots, 
and  the  re-establishment  of  the  Catholic  religion  in  England ;  and  so  sure  did 
he  think  himself  of  success,  and  so  meritorious  his  undertaking,  that  in  order 
to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  it,  he  caused  a  picture  to  be  drawn,  in  which  he 
was  represented  standing  amidst  his  six  confederates,  with  a  motto,  expressing 
that  their  common  danger  was  the  bond  of  their  fidelity.  Happily,  the  plot 
was  discovered  by  the  vigilance  of  secretary  Walsingham;  and  Babington, 
and  thirteen  others,  among  whom  was  Ballard,  suffered  death  for  their  trea- 
sonable design.  (2) 

The  scene  that  followed  was  new  and  extraordinary.  On  the  tnal  of  the 
conspirators,  it  appeared  that  the  queen  of  Scots,  who  had  held  a  correspon- 
dence with  Babington,  had  encouraged  him  in  his  enterprise :  and  it  was 
resolved,  by  Elizabeth  and  her  ministers,  to  bring  Mary  also  to  a  public  trial, 
as  being  accessory  to  the  conspiracy.  Her  papers  were  accordingly  seized,  her 
principal  domestics  arrested,  and  her  two  secretaries  sent  prisoners  to  London. 
After  the  necessary  information  had  been  obtained,  forty  commissioners,  ap- 
pointed under  the  great  seal,  together  with  five  of  the  judges,  were  sent  to 
Fotheringay-castle,  where  Mary  was  now  confined,  to  hear  and  decide  this 
great  cause. 

An  idea  so  repugnant  to  majesty,  as  being  arraigned  for  treason,  had  not 
once  entered  the  mind  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  though  she  no  longer  doubted 
but  her  destruction  was  determined  on ;  nor  had  the  strange  resolution  yet 
reached  her  ears,  in  the  solitude  of  her  prison.  She  received  the  intelligence, 
however,  without  emotion  or  astonishment ;  and  she  protested  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  that  she  had  never  countenanced  any  attempt  against  the 
life  of  Elizabeth,  at  the  same  time  that  she  refused  to  acknowledge  the  juris- 
diction of  her  commissioners.  "  I  came  into  England,"  said  she,  ."  an  inde- 
pendent sovereign,  to  implore  the  queen's  assistance,  not  to  subject  myself  to 
her  authority  ;  nor  is  my  spirit  so  broken  by  past  misfortunes,  or  so  intimi- 
dated by  present  dangers,  as  to  stoop  to  any  thing  unbecoming  the  majesty  of 
a  crowned  head,  or  that  will  disgrace  the  ancestors  from  whom  I  am  descended, 
and  the  son  to  whom  I  shall  leave  my  throne.  If  I  must  be  tried,  princes 
alone  can  be  my  peers.  The  queen  of  England's  subjects,  how  noble  soever 
their  birth  may  be,  are  of  a  rank  inferior  to  mine.  Ever  since  my  arrival  in 
this  kingdom,  I  Irave  been  confined  as  a  prisoner.  Its  laws  never  afforded 
me  protection.  Let  them  not  now  be  perverted  in  order  to  take  away  my 

life  "(3) 

Mary  however,  was  at  last  persuaded  to  appear  before  the  commissioners, 
to  hear  and  to  give  answer  to  the  accusations  which  should  be  offered  against 
her,  though  she  still  refused  to  acknowledge  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court. 

m  Camden  n  512     Metern,  lib.  xiii.  xiv.    Grotius,  lib.  v.    Beiitivoglio,  part  ii.  lib.iv. 

ffl]  Camden',  p!  5lt-5l8     Murden's  State  Ptper*     State  Trials,  vol.  i  (3>  Robertson,  book  vU 


486  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

The  chancellor  endeavoured  to  vindicate  its  authority,  by  pleading  the  supreme 
jurisdiction  of  the  English  laws  over  every  one  who  resided  in  England  :  the 
lawyers  of  the  crown  opened  the  charge  against  the  queen  of  Scots  ;  and  the 
commissioners,  after  hearing  her  defence,  and  adjourning  to  Westminster, 
pronounced  sentence  of  death  upon  that  unfortunate  princess,  and  confirmed 
it  by  their  seals  and  subscriptions.(l) 

The  chief  evidence  against  Mary  arose  from  the  declaration  of  her  secre- 
taries ;  for  no  proof  could  otherwise  be  produced  that  the  letters  from  Babing- 
ton  were  delivered  into  her  hands,  or  that  any  answer  was  returned  by  her 
direction ;  and  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses,  even  though  men  of  cha- 
racter, who  knew  themselve's  exposed  to  all  the  rigours  of  imprisonment,  tor- 
ture, and  death,  if  they  refused  to  give  any  evidence  which  might  be  required 
of  them,  was  by  no  means  conclusive.  In  order  to  screen  themselves,  they 
might  throw  the  blame  on  her ;  but  they  could  discover  nothing  to  her  preju- 
dice, without  violating  that  oath  of  fidelity  which  they  had  taken,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  office  ;  and  their  perjury,  in  one  instance,  rendered  them  un- 
worthy of  credit  in  another.  Besides,  they  were  not  confronted  with  her 
though  she  desired  that  they  might,  and  affirmed,  that  they  would  never,  to 
her  face,  persist  in  their  evidence. 

But  the  condemnation  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  not  justice,  was  the  object  of 
this  unprecedented  trial;  and  the  sentence,  after  many  hesitations  and  delays, 
was  carried  into  execution.  Never  did  Mary  appear  so  great  as  in  this  last 
scene  of  her  life ;  she  was  not  only  tranquil,  but  intrepid  and  magnanimous. 
When  Sir  Andrew  Melvil,  the  master  of  her  household,  who  had  been  ex- 
cluded for  some  weeks  from  her  presence,  was  permitted  to  take  his  last  farewell, 
he  burst  into  tears,  bewailing  the  condition  of  a  mistress  whom  he  loved,  as 
well  as  his  own  hard  fate,  in  being  appointed  to  carry  into  Scotland  the  news 
of  such  a  mournful  event  as  the  catastrophe  that  awaited  her.  "  Weep  not, 
good  Melvil,"  said  she :  "  there  is  at  present  greater  cause  for  rejoicing. 
Thou  shalt  this  day  see  Mary  Stuart  delivered  from  all  her  cares,  and  such 
an  end  put  to  her  tedious  sufferings  as  she  has  long  expected.  But  witness 
that  I  die  constant  in  my  religion,  firm  in  my  fidelity  towards  Scotland,  and 
unchanged  in  my  affection  to  France.  Commend  me  to  my  son.  Tell  him 
I  have  done  nothing  injurious  to  his  kingdom,  to  his  honours,  or  to  his  rights; 
and  God  forgive  all  those  who  have  thirsted,  without  cause,  for  my  blood." 
On  ascending  the  scaffold,  she  began,  with  the  aid  of  her  women,  to  take  off 
her  veil  and  upper  garments  ;  and  the  executioner  rudely  endeavouring  to  as- 
sist them,  she  gently  checked  him,  and  smiling  said,  "  I  have  not  been  accus- 
tomed to  undress  before  so  many  spectators,  nor  to  be  served  by  such 
valets !"  and  soon  after,  laid  her  head  on  the  block,  with  calm  but  undaunted 
fortitude.  (2) 

Such,  my  dear  Philip,  was  the  fate  of  Mary  Stuart,  queen  of  Scotland,  and 
dowager  of  France,  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  accomplished  of  her  sex ; 
who,  in  the  forty-fifth  year  of  her  age,  and  the  nineteenth  of  her  captivity  in 
England,  fell  a  victim  to  the  jealousy  and  to  the  fears  of  an  offended  rival. 
But  although  Mary's  trial  was  illegal,  and  her  execution  arbitrary,  history  will 
not  permit  us  to  suppose  that  her  actions  were  at  no  time  criminal.  With 
all  the  ornaments  both  of  body  and  mind,  which  can  embellish  the  female 
character,  she  had  many  of  the  weaknesses  of  a  woman ;  and  our  sympathy 
with  her  long  and  accumulated  sufferings,  seen  through  the  medium  of  her 

(1)  Camden,  p.  526.    It  is  remarkable,  that  among  the  charges  against  Mary,  she  was  accused,  and 
seemingly  on  good  grounds,  of  negotiating  with  the  king  of  Spain,  for  transferrin&to  him  her  claim  to  the 
English  croicn,  and  disinheriting  her  heretical  son ;  that  she  had  eren  entered  into  a  conspiracy  against 
James;  had  appointed  lord  Claud  Hamilton  regent  of  Scotland  ;  and  had  insti fated  her  adherents  to  seize 
James's  person,  and  deliver  him  into  the  hands  of  the  pope  or  the  king-  of  Spain ;  whence  he  was  never 
to  be  freed  but  on  condition  of  his  becomina-  Catholic.    See  Letter  to  Charles  Paget,  May  20,  158(5,  in  Dr. 
Forbes's  Collect. ;  and  Murden,  p.  506. 

(2)  La  Mart  de  la  Reine  oTF.scosse,  ap.  Jebb.    Camden.    Spotswood.    The  truth  of  history  forbids  me 
to  conceal  that  Mary  was  supported  during  this  awful  catastrophe  by  the  consolations  of  a  superstitious 
devotion.     After  throwing  herself  upon  her  knees,  and  repeating  prayers  from  the  Office  of  the  Virgin, 
she  pressed  the  crucifix  to  her  lips ;  and  then  looking  upon  it,  e~agerly  exclaimed,  "  O  Christ !  thou  wast 
extended  on  the  cross  to  save  mankind,  when  they  were  lost.    Pardon  my  transgressions,  and  stretch  ouJ 
thy  arms  to  receive  me  in  mercy."    Id.  ibid     Stuart,  book  viii 


LET.  LXIX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  487 

hp-uitv  only  perhaps  could  prevent  us  from  viewing  her,  notwithstanding  her 
Sfflt  qualities,  with  some  degree  of  that  abhorrence  which  is  excited  by 
the  pollution  of  the  marriage-bed  and  the  guilt  of  murder.  (.1) 

Elizabeth,  when  informed  of  Mary's  execution,  affected  the  utmost  sur- 
nrise  and  concern.  Sighs,  tears,  lamentations,  and  weeds  of  mourning  wer 
SlUmp  oyed  to  display  the  greatness  of  her  sorrow.  She  even  under  ook  to 
make  tlteworld  believe,  that  the  queen  of  Scot,,  her  dear  sister  and  kins- 
woman had  been  put  to  death  without  her  knowledge,  and  contrary  to  her 
ncSon  ;  and,  to  complete  this  farce,  she  commanded  Davison,  her  secre- 
tary to  be  thrown  into  prison,  under  pretence  that  he  had  exceeded  hs  com- 
mission, in  despatching  the  fatal  warrant,  which  although  she  had  signed,  she 
never  meant  to  carry  into  execution.  (2)  . 

This  hypocritical  disguise  was  assumed  chiefly  to  appease  the  young  king 

of  Scotland,  who  seemed  determined  to  employ  the  whole  force  of  1 

minions  in  order  to  revenge  his  mother's  death.     He  recalled  his  ambassador  . 

Son   England,  refused  to  admit  the  English  envoy  ^J*£~"»£* 

with  difficulty  condescended  to  receive  a  memorial  from  the  queen.    Every 

hing  bore  the  appearance  of  war.     Many  of  his  nobility  instigated  him  i  to 

take  roams  immediately,  and  the  Catholics  recommended  an  alliance  witl 

Spain      EUzabeUi  saw  the  danger  of  such  a  league.    After  allowing  James 

omedecet  interval  to  vent  his  grief  and  anger,  she  employed  her  emissaries 

toTet  before      m  every  motive  of  hope  or  fear,  which  might  induce  him  to 

^^^^^«^-^^^^S^^mm 

pacific  disposition  of  that  prince,  prevailed  over  his  resentment.     He  i< 
dually  into  a  good  understanding  with  the  court  of  England. 

While  Elizfbeth  was  thus  ensuring  the  tranquillity  of  her  kingdom  from 
the  attempts  of  her  nearest  neighbour,  she  was  not  inattentive  to  more  distant 
danSrs  Hearing  that  Philip"  was  secretly  preparing  that  *£&£££ 
St  which  had  fSr  its  object  no  less  than  the  entire  Conquest  of  England, 
she  sent  sir  Francis  Drake  with  a  fleet  to  intercept  his  supplies,  to  pillage  1 
coasts  of  his  dominions,  and  destroy  his  shipping:  and  that  gallant  com- 
mander^besides  other  advantages,  was  so  successful  as  to  burn,  m  the  harbour 
of  Cadiz  a  hundred  vessels  laden  with  ammunition  and  naval  stores.  About 
the  s  same  time  Thomas  Cavendish,  a  private  adventurer,  launched  into  the 
^utir^ahuLee  smallships;  commiUedgreatde^ 
hi  those  parts;  took  many  rich  prizes;  and,  returning  by  the  Cape  of  Goo< 


(1)  AH  conte-nporary  autho.s  agree  in  ascribing  tc 
of  shape  of  which  the  human  form  is  capable.     ""o^ff^.tblcao^urs     Her  eves  were  a  dark  gray  ;  her 
the  times,  she  frequently  ;wo«  ,  Borrowed  locta  and  of  /^"J^^y"^,^,  both  as  to  shape  and 


of  Elizabetli.     Own  Times-  book 


488  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

against  that  formidable  fleet  and  army,  intended  for  the  invasion  of  her 
kingdom. 

Meanwhile,  Philip,  whose  resolution  was  finally  taken,  determined  to  exe- 
cute his  ambitious  project  with  all  possible  force  and  effect.  No  longer 
secret  in  his  purpose,  every  part  of  his  European  dominions  resounded  with 
the  noise  of  armaments,  and  the  treasures  of  both  Indies  were  exhausted  in 
vast  preparations  for  war.  In  all  the  ports  of  Sicily,  Naples,  Spam,  and 
Portugal,  artisans  were  employed  in  building  vessels  of  uncommon  size  and 
force ;  naval  stores  were  bought  up  at  great  expense ;  provisions  amassed ; 
armies  levied  and  quartered  in  the  maritime  provinces,  and  plans  laid  for  such 
an  embarkation  as  had  never  before  appeared  on  the  ocean. 

The  military  preparations  in  Flanders  were  no  less  formidable.  Troops 
from  all  quarters  were  every  moment  assembling  to  reinforce  the  duke  of 
Parma ;  who  employed  all  the  carpenters  he  could  procure,  in  building  flat- 
bottomed  vessels,  to  transport  into  England  an  army  of  thirty-five  thousand 
men,  assembled  in  the  Netherlands.  This  fleet  of  transports  was  intended 
to  join  the  grand  armada,  vainly  denominated  invincible,  which  was  to  set  sail 
from  Lisbon;  and  after  chasing  out  of  the  way  all  the  Flemish  and  English 
vessels,  which  it  was  supposed  would  make  little  if  any  resistance,  to  enter 
the  Thames ;  to  land  the  whole  Spanish  army  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lon- 
don, under  the  command  of  the  duke  of  Parma,  and  other  experienced  officers 
and  to  decide,  at  one  blow,  the  fate  of  England.  The  success  of  the  enter- 
prise was  never  called  in  question ;  so  that  several  Spanish  and  Italian  noble- 
men embarked  as  volunteers,  to  share  in  the  glory  of  so  great  a  conquest. 

Elizabeth  was  apprized  of  all  these  preparations.  She  had  foreseen  the 
invasion;  nor  was  she  dismayed  at  the  aspect  of  that  power,  by  which  all 
Europe  apprehended  she  must  be  overwhelmed.  Her  force  was  indeed  very 
unequal  to  Philip's ;  all  the  sailors  in  England  did  not  then  exceed  fifteen 
thousand  men :  the  royal  navy  consisted  only  of  twenty-eight  sail,  many  of 
which  were  of  small  size,  and  none  of  them  exceeded  the  bulk  of  our  largest 
frigates.  But  the  city  of  London  fitted  out  thirty  vessels  to  reinforce  this  small 
navy ;  the  other  seaport  towns  a  proportional  number ;  and  the  nobility  and 
gentry  hired,  armed,  and  manned  forty-three  vessels  at  their  own  charge. 
Lord  Howard  of  Effingham,  a  man  of  courage  and  capacity,  was  appointed 
admiral,  and  took  on  him  the  chief  command ;  Drake,  Hawkins,  and  Fro 
bisher,  the  most  renowned  seamen  in  Europe,  served  under  him.  The  prin- 
cipal fleet  was  stationed  at  Plymouth ;  and  a  smaller  squadron,  commanded 
by  lord  Seymour,  lay  off  Dunkirk,  in  order  to  intercept  the  duke  of  Parma.(l) 

The  land  forces  of  England  were  more  numerous  than  those  of  the  enemy, 
but  inferior  in  discipline  and  experience.  An  army  of  twenty  thousand  men 
was  disposed  in  different  bodies  along  the  south  coast,  with  orders  to  retire 
backwards,  and  waste  the  country,  if  they  could  not  prevent  the  Spaniards 
from  landing;  twenty-two  thousand  foot,  and  a  thousand  horse,  under  the 
command  of  the  earl  of  Leicester,  was  stationed  at  Tilbury,  in  order  to  defend 
the  capital ;  and  the  principal  army,  consisting  of  thirty-four  thousand  foot, 
and  two  thousand  horse,  commanded  by  lord  Hunsdon,  was  reserved  for 
guarding  the  queen's  person,  and  appointed  to  march  whithersoever  the 
enemy  should  appear.  (2) 

These  armies,  though  all  the  Spanish  forces  had  been  able  to  land,  would 
possibly  have  been  sufficient  to  protect  the  liberties  of  their  country.  But  as 
the  fate  of  England,  in  that  event,  must  depend  on  the  issue  of  a  single  battle, 
all  men  of  serious  reflection  entertained  the  most  awful  apprehensions  of  the 
shock  of  at  least  fifty  thousand  veterans,  commanded  by  experienced  officers 
under  so  consummate  a  general  as  the  duke  of  Parma.  The  queen  alone  was 
undaunted.  She  issued  all  her  orders  with  tranquillity,  animated  her  people 
to  a  steady  resistance,  and  employed  every  resource,  which  either  her  domes- 
tic situation  or  her  foreign  alliances  could  afford  her.  She  even  appeared  on 
horse-back  in  the  camp  at  Tilbury;  and,  riding  through  the  lines,  discovered 

(1)  Monson,  ubi  gup  (-2)  Camden 


LET.  LXIX.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  [.]  R  0  P  E.  489 

a  cheerful  and  animated  countenance,  exhorting  the  soldiers  to  remember 
their  duty  to  their  country  and  their  religion,  and  professed  her  intention, 
though  a  woman,  to  lead  them  herself  into  the  field  against  the  enemy,  and 
rather  perish  in  battle  than  survive  the  ruin  and  slavery  of  her  people.  "  I 
know,"  said  she,  intrepidly,  "  I  have  but  the  weak  and  feeble  arm  of  a  woman ; 
but  I  have  the  heart  of  a  king,  and  of  a  king  of  England  too  !"(l) 

The  heroic  spirit  of  Elizabeth  communicated  itself  to  the  army,  and  every 
man  resolved  to  die  rather  than  desert  his  station.  Meanwhile,  the  Spanish 
armada,  after  various  obstructions,  appeared  in  the  Channel.  It  consisted 
of  a  hundred  and  thirty  vessels,  of  which  near  one  hundred  were  galleons, 
and  carried  about  twenty  thousand  land  forces.  Effingham,  who  was  informed 
of  its  approach  by  a  Scotch  pirate,  saw  it,  just  as  he  could  get  out  of  Ply- 
mouth Sound,  coming  full  sail  towards  him,  disposed  in  the  form  of  a  crescent, 
and  stretching  the  distance  of  seven  miles,  from  the  extremity  of  one  division 
to  that  of  the  other.  The  lofty  masts,  the  swelling  sails,  and  the  towering 
prows  of  the  Spanish  galleons,  seem  impossible  to  be  justly  described  by  the 
historians  of  that  age,  without  assuming  the  language  of  poetry.  Not  satis- 
fied with  representing  the  armada  as  a  spectacle  infusing  equal  terror  and 
admiration  into  the  minds  of  all  beholders,  and  as  the  most  magnificent  that 
had  ever  appeared  on  the  main,  they  assert,  that,  although  the  ships  bore  every 
sail,  it  yet  advanced  with  a  slow  motion,  as  if  the  ocean  had  groaned  with 
supporting,  and  the  winds  been  tired  with  impelling  so  enormous  a  weight. (2) 

The  English  admiral  at  first  gave  orders  not  to  come  to  close  fight  with 
the  Spaniards,  on  account  of  the  size  of  their  ships,  and  the  number  of  sol- 
diers on  board ;  but  a  few  trials  convinced  him,  that  even  in  close  fight,  the 
size  of  the  Spanish  ships  was  of  no  advantage  to  the  enemy.  Their  bulk 
exposed  them  to  the  fire,  while  their  cannon,  placed  too  high,  shot  over  the 
heads  of  the  English  men  of  war.  Every  thing  conspired  to  the  ruin  of  this 
vast  armament.  Sir  Francis  Drake  took  the  great  galleon  of  Andalusia,  and 
a  large  ship  of  Biscay,  which  had  fallen  behind  the  rest ;  while  the  nobility 
and  gentry  hastened  out  with  their  vessels  from  every  harbour,  and  rein- 
forced Effingham,  who  filled  eight  of  his  smaller  ships  with  combustibles, 
and  sent  them  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy.  The  Spaniards  fled  with  disorder 
and  precipitation;  the  English  commanders  fell  upon  them  while  in  confu- 
sion ;  and,  besides  doing  great  damage  to  their  whole  fleet,  took  twelve  ships. 

It  was  now  evident  that  the  purpose  of  the  armada  was  utterly  frustrated ; 
and  the  duke  of  Parma,  whose  vessels  were  calculated  for  transporting  sol- 
diers, not  for  fighting,  positively  refused  to  leave  the  harbour,  while  the 
English  were  masters  of  the  sea.  The  Spanish  admiral,  after  many  unsuc- 
ces^ful  rencounters,  prepared  therefore  to  make  his  Avay  home ;  but  as  the 
winds  were  contrary  to  his  return  through  the  Channel,  he  resolved  to  take 
the  circuit  of  the  island.  The  English  fleet  followed  him  for  some  time ; 
and  had  not  their  ammunition  fallen  short,  through  the  negligence  of  the 
public  officers  in  supplying  them,  they  had  obliged  the  armada  to  surrender 
at  discretion. 

Such  a  conclusion  of  that  vainglorious  enterprise  would  have  been  truly 
illustrious  to  the  English,  but  the  event  was  scarce  less  fatal  to  the  Spaniards. 
The  armada  was  attacked  by  a  violent  storm  in  passing  the  Orkneys ;  and 
the  ships,  having  already  lost  their  anchors,  were  obliged  to  keep  at  sea, 
while  the  mariners,  unaccustomed  to  hardships,  and  unable  to  manage  such 
unwieldy  vessels,  allowed  them  to  drive  on  the  western  isles  of  Scotland,  or 
on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  where  they  were  miserably  wrecked.  Not  one-half 
of  the  fleet  returned  to  Spain,  and  a  still  smaller  proportion  of  the  soldiers 
and  seamen :  yet  Philip,  whose  command  of  temper  was  equal  to  his  ambi- 
tion received  with  an  air  of  tranquillity  the  news  of  so  humbling  a  disaster. 
"  I  sent  my  fleet,"  said  he,  "  to  combat  the  English,  not  the  elements.  God 
he  praised  that  the  calamity  is  not  greater."(3) 


(1)  Hume,  Hist.  Eng.  vol.  v.  note  (BB.) 
(3)  Ferreras.    Strada 


(2)  Camden.    Bentivoglio. 


490  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

While  the  naval  power  of  Spain  was  receiving  this  signal  blow,  great 
revolutions  happened  in  France.  The  Hugonots,  notwithstanding  the  valour 
of  the  king  of  Navarre,  who  had  gained  at  Coutras,  in  1587,  a  complete 
victory  over  the  royal  army,  were  reduced  to  the  greatest  extremity  by  the 
pOAver  of  the  League ;  and  the  exorbitant  ambition  of  the  duke  of  Guise, 
joined  to  the  idolatrous  admiration  of  the  Catholics,  who  considered  him  as 
a  saviour,  and  the  king  as  unworthy  of  the  throne,  only  could  have  preserved 
the  Reformers  from  utter  ruin.  The  citizens  of  Paris,  where  the  duke  was 
most  popular,  took  arms  against  their  sovereign,  and  obliged  him  to  abandon 
his  capital  at  the  hazard  of  his  life ;  while  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne 
declared,  "  That  a  weak  prince  may  be  removed  from  the  government  of  his 
kingdom,  as  a  tutor  or  guardian,  unfit  f(**  his  office,  mny  be  deprived  of 
his  trust."(l) 

Henry's  spirit  was  roused,  by  the  dread  of  degradation,  from  that  lethargy 
in  which  it  had  long  reposed.  He  dissembled  his  resentment ;  entered  into 
a  negotiation  with  Guise  and  the  League ;  seemed  outwardly  reconciled,  but 
harboured  vengeance  in  his  heart.  And  that  vengeance  was  hastened  by  an 
insolent  speech  of  the  dutchess  of  Montpensier,  the  duke  of  Guise's  sister, 
who,  showing  a  pair  of  gold  scissors,  which  she  wore  at  her  girdle,  said, 
"  The  best  use  that  I  can  make  of  them  is,  to  clip  the  hair  of  a  prince  un- 
worthy to  sit  on  the  throne  of  France,  in  order  to  qualify  him  for  a  cloister, 
that  ONE  more  deserving  to  reign  may  mount  it,  and  repair  the  losses  which 
religion  and  the  state  have  suffered  through  the  weakness  of  his  prede- 
cessor."^) 

After  Henry  had  fully  taken  his  resolution,  nine  of  his  guards,  singled  out 
by  Loignac,  first  gentleman  of  his  bed-chamber,  were  introduced  to  him  in 
his  palace.  He  put  a  poniard  into  each  of  their  hands,  informed  them  of 
their  business,  and  concluded  thus :  "  It  is  an  execution  of  justice,  which  I 
command  you  to  make  on  the  greatest  criminal  in  my  kingdom,  and  whom 
all  laws,  human  and  divine,  permit  me  to  punish ;  but  not  having  the  ordinary 
methods  of  justice  in  my  power,  I  authorize  you,  by  the  right  inherent  in  my 
royal  authority,  to  strike  the  blow."  They  were  secretly  disposed  in  the 
passage  which  led  from  the  king's  chamber  to  his  cabinet ;  and  when  the 
duke  of  Guise  came  to  receive  audience,  six  poniards  were  at  once  plunged 
into  his  breast. (3)  He  groaned  and  expired. 

'•  1  am  now  a  king,  madam !"  said  Henry,  entering  the  apartment  of  the 
queen-mother,  "and  have  no  competitor;  the  duke  of  Guise  is  dead."  The 
cardinal  of  Guise  also  was  despatched,  a  man  more  violent  than  even  his 
brother.  Among  other  insolent  speeches,  he  had  been  heard  to  say,  that  he 
would  hold  the  king's  head  between  his  knees  till  the  tonsure  was  performed 
at  the  monastery  of  the  Capuchins. (4) 

These  cruel  executions,  which  their  necessity  alone  can  excuse,  had  an 
effect  very  different  from  what  Henry  expected.  The  partisans  of  the  League 
were  inflamed  with  the  utmost  rage  against  him,  and  every  where  flew  to 
arms.  Rebellion  was  reduced  into  a  system.  The  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne 
had  the  arrogance  to  declare,  "  that  the  people  were  released  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance  to  Henry  of  Valois :"  and  the  duke  of  Mayenne,  brother  to 
the  duke  of  Guise,  was  chosen  by  the  League  Lieutenant-General  of  the 
State  Royal  and  Crown  of  France ;  an  unknown  and  unintelligible  title,  but 
which  was  meant  as  a  substitute  for  sovereignty. (5) 

In  this  extremity,  the1  king,  almost  abandoned  by  his  Catholic  subjects, 
entered  into  a  confederacy  with  the  Hugonots  and  the  king  of  Navarre.  He 
enlisted  large  bodies  of  Swiss  infantry  and  German  cavalry ;  and  being  still 
supported  by  his  chief  nobility,  and  the  princes  of  the  blood,  he  was  enabled, 
by  all  those  means,  to  assemble  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men.  With  these 
forces  the  two  kings  advanced  to  the  gates  of  Paris,  and  were  ready  to  crush 
the  League,  and  subdue  all  their  enemies,  when  the  desperate  resolution  of 
one  man  gave  a  new  turn  to  the  affairs  of  France, 

(1)  Ca^et.  (2)  P  Daniel.  (3i  Davila.    Du  Tillet  (4)  Thuanus.  (5)  Mezeray 


LET.  LXX.J  MODERN    EUROPE.  491 

James  Clement,  a  Dominican  friar,  inflamed  by  that  bloody  spirit  of  bigotry 
which  distinguished  the  age,  and  of  which  we  have  seen  so  many  horrid 
examples,  had  embraced  the  pious  resolution  of  sacrificing  his  own  me,  m 
order  to  save  the  church  from  the  danger  which  now  threatened  it,  in  conse. 
quence  of  the  alliance  between  Henry  III.  and  the  Hugonots:  and  being 
admitted  into  the  king's  presence,  under  pretence  of  important  business,  he 
mortally  wounded  that  prince,  while  reading  some  supposed  despatches,  anc 
was  himself  instantly  put  to  death  by  the  guards.(l)  ™  «*"5»f5"  J* 
the  succession  open  to  the  king  of  Navarre  ;  who,  as  next  heir  to  the  ciown, 
assumed  the  government  under  the  title  of  Henry  IV.  But  the  reign  of  that 
Seat  prince,  and  the  various  difficulties  which  he  was  obliged  to  encounter, 
before  he  could  settle  his  kingdom,  must  be  reserved  for  a  future  Letter. 

In  the  mean  time,  I  cannot  help  observing,  that  the  monk  who  had  thus 
imbrued  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  sovereign  was  considered  at  Pans  as  a 
saint  and  a  martyr:  he  was  exalted  above  Judith,  and  his  image  was  impi- 
ous y  placed  on  the  altars.     Even  pope  Sixtus  V.  so  deservedly  celebrated 
for  his  dignity  of  mind,  as  well  as  for  the  superb  edifices  with  wh  cl 
adorned  Rome,  was  so  much  infected  with  the  general  contagion,'  that 
compared  Clement's  enterprise  to  the  incarnation  of  the  Word,  a: 


oservouea  another     These  holy  assassination,  sops™ 

liar  to  the  period  that  followed  the  Reformation,  proceeded  chiefly  from  the 
fai  latical  application  of  certain  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  to  the  .  con- 
iSres?rt£  imes.  Enthusiasm  taught  both  Protestants  and  Catholics 
o  conSer  themselves  as  the  peculiar  favourites  of  Heaven,  and  possessmg 
the  only  true  religion,  without  allowing  themselves  coolly  to  reflect  that  $ 
adherents  of  each  had  an  equal  right  to  this  vain  pretension.  Fh  e  P  rotes  a  nts 
founded  it  on  the  purity  of  their  principles,  the  Catholics  on  the  antiquity  of 
the  r  church  and  while  impelled  by  their  own  vindictive  passions,  by  per- 
sSnalantoosity  or  party  zeal,  to  the  commission  of  murder,  they  imagined 
they  heard  the  voice  of  God  commanding  them  to  execute  vengeance  on  his 


and  their  enemies. 


LETTER  LXX. 


The  general  View  of  Europe  continued  from  the  Accession  of  Henry  IF.  to  ike 
Peace  of  Fervins,  in  1598. 

of  Henry  IV.  justly  styled  the  Great,  forms  one  of  the  most 


were  fixed  upon  him,  as  the  hero  of  its  military  theatre,  and  the 
?^^ 


aC 


The  nreiudices  entertained  against  Henry's  religion  made  one-half  of  the 
va  a?mTdesert  him,  on  his  accession  ;  and  it  was  only  by  signing  certain 
to  their  religion,  and  Fomising  to  listen  «  the  ar 


duke  of  Mavenie  who  had  proclaimed  the  cardinal  of  Bourbon  king,  under 
of  Char  eTx.  ;  although  that  old  man,  thrown  into  prison  on  the 
™  still  confined  in  the  castle  of  Fontenai  1« 


Comte,  in.  Poitou.(3) 


(1)  Thuanus.    Davila.    Mezeray.  (2)  M-  lbid- 

(3)  Davila.  lib  x     Mezeray,  Mrts*  Chranol.  torn.  vi. 


192  T  H  E    HIST  O  R  V    O  K  [PART  1. 

In  this  extremity,  Henry  had  recourse  to  the  queen  of  England,  and  found 
her  well  disposed  to  assist  him;  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  Catholic 
League,  and  of  the  king  of  Spain,  her  dangerous  and  inveterate  enemy,  who 
entertained  views  either  of  dismembering  the  French  monarchy,  or  of  an- 
nexing the  whole  to  his  own  dominions.  Conscious  of  Henry's  necessities, 
Elizabeth  sent  him  immediately  a  present  of  twenty-two  thousand  pounds, 
in  order  to  prevent  the  desertion  of  his  Swiss  and  German  auxiliaries  ;  and 
embarked,  with  all  expedition,  a  reinforcement  of  four  thousand  men,  under 
the  command  of  lord  Willoughby,  an  officer  of  abilities.  Meanwhile,  the 
king  of  France  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  Dieppe  and  Caen,  and  to 
repulse  the  duke  of  Mayenne,  who  had  attacked  him  under  the  cannon  of 
the  Arques,  where  he  lay  intrenched.  On  the  arrival  of  the  English 
forces,  he  marched  immediately  towards  Paris,  to  the  great  consternation  of 
the  inhabitants,  and  had  almost  taken  the  city  by  storm ;  but  the  duke  of 
Mayenne  entering  it  soon  after  with  his  army,  Henry  judged  it  prudent  to 
retire. 

The  king's  forces  were  still  much  inferior  to  those  of  the  League ;  but 
what  was  wanting  in  numbers  was  made  up  in  valour.  He  attacked  the  duke 
of  Mayenne  at  Irvi,  and  gained  a  complete  victory  over  him,  though  sup- 
ported by  a  select  body  of  Spanish  troops,  detached  from  the  Netherlands. 
Henry's  behaviour  on  this  occasion  was  truly  heroic.  "  My  lads,"  said  he 
to  his  soldiers,  "  if  you  should  lose  sight  of  your  colours,  rally  towards  this," 
pointing  to  a  large  white  plume  which  he  wore  in  his  hat ; — "  you  will  always 
find  it  in  the  road  to  honour.  God  is  with  us !"  added  he,  emphatically, 
drawing  his  sword,  and  rushing  into  the  thickest  of  the  enemy ; — but  when 
he  perceived  their  ranks  broken,  and  great  havoc  committed  in  the  pursuit, 
his  natural  humanity  and  attachment  to  his  countrymen  returned,  and  led 
him  to  cry,  "  Spare  my  French  subjects !"(!)  forgetting  that  they  were  his 
enemies. 

Soon  after  this  victory  died  the  cardinal  of  Bourbon,  and  the  king  invested 
Paris'.  That  city  contained  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  souls,  animated 
by  religious  enthusiasm,  and  Henry's  army  did  not  amount  to  fifteen  thousand 
men ;  yet  he  might  certainly  have  reduced  it  by  famine,  if  not  by  other 
means,  had  not  his  paternal  tenderness  for  his  people,  perhaps  ill-timed,  made 
him  forget  the  duty  of  a  soldier,  and  relax  the  rigour  of  war.  He  left  a  free 
passage  to  the  old  men,  women,  and  children ;  he  permitted  the  peasants,  and 
even  his  own  men,  to  carry  provisions  secretly  to  the  besieged.  "  I  would 
rather  never  possess  Paris,"  s.aid  he,  when  blamed  for  this  indulgence,  "  than 
acquire  it  by  the  destruction  of  its  citizens."(2)  He  feared  no  reproach  so 
much  as  that  of  his  own  heart. 

Meantime,  the  duke  of  Parma,  by  order  of  the  king  of  Spain,  left  the  Low 
Countries,  where  he  was  hard  pressed  by  prince  Maurice,  and  hastened  to  the 
relief  of  Paris.  On  his  approach  Henry  raised  the  siege,  and  offered  him 
battle ;  but  that  consummate  general,  having  performed  the  important  service 
for  which  he  was  detached,  prudently  declined  the  combat.  And  so  great 
was  his  skill  in  the  art  of  war,  that  he  retired  in  the  face  of  the  enemy, 
without  affording  them  an  opportunity  of  attacking  him,  or  so  much  as  putting 
his  army  into  disorder ;  and  reached  his  government,  where  his  presence  was 
much  wanted,  without  sustaining  any  loss  in  those  long  marches.  The 
States,  however,  were  gainers  by  this  expedition ;  prince  Maurice  had  made 
rapid  progress  during  the  absence  of  the  duke. 

After  the  retreat  of  the  Spaniards,  Henry  made  several  fresh  attempts  upon 
Paris,  which  was  his  grand  object;  but  the  vigilance  of  the  citizens,  particu- 
larly of  the  faction  of  Sixteen,  by  which  it  was  governed,  defeated  all  his 
designs ; — and  new  dangers  poured  in  upon  him  from  every  side.  When  the 

(1)  Davila,  !ib.  xi.  The  same  great  historian  tells  us,  that  a  youth  who  carried  the  royal  white  coronet, 
and  a  page  who  wore  a  large  white  plume,  like  that  of  the  king,  being  slain,  the  ranks  began  to  give 
way— some  falling  to  the  right,  some  to  the  left— till  they  recognised  Henry,  by  his  plume  and  his  horse, 
fighting  desperately,  with  his  sword  in  his  hand,  in  the  first  line ;  and  returned  to  the  charge,  shutting 
themselves  close  together,  like  a  wedge.  Id.  ibid. 

(&  P.  Daniel,  torn.  ix.    Thuan,  lib.  xcix. 


LET.  LXX.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  49S 

duke  of  Parma  retired,  lie  left  eight  thousand  men  with  the  duke  of  Mayenne. 
for  the  support  of  the  League ;  and  pope  Gregory  XIV.,  at  the  request  of  the 
king  of  Spain,  not  only  declared  Henry  a  relapsed  heretic,  and  ordered  all  the 
Catholics  to  abandon  him,  under  pain  of  excommunication,  but  sent  his 
nephew  with  troops  and  money  to  join  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who  was  already 
in  possession  of  Provence,  and  had  entered  Dauphine.  About  the  same  time 
the  young  duke  of  Guise  made  his  escape  from  the  castle  of  Tours,  where 
he  had  been  confined  since  the*  assassination  of  his  father.  All  that  the  king 
said,  when  informed  of  these  dangers  was,  "  The  more  enemies  we  have, 
the  more  care  we  must  lake,  and  the  more  honour  there  will  be  in  beating 
them."(l) 

Elizabeth,  who  had  withdrawn  her  troops,  on  the  first  prosperous  appear- 
ance of  Henry's  affairs,  now  saw  the  necessity  of  again  interposing.  She 
sent  him  three  thousand  men,  under  sir  John  Norris,  who  had  commanded 
with  reputation  in  the  Low  Countries ;  and  afterward  four  thousand,  under 
the  earl  of  Essex,  a  young  nobleman,  who,  by  many  exterior  accomplish- 
ments, and  much  real  merit,  was  daily  rising  into  favour;  and  seemed  to 
occupy  that  place  in  her  affections,  which  Leicester,  now  deceased,  had  so 
long  enjoyed.  With  these  supplies,  joined  to  an  army  of  thirty-five  thou- 
sand men,  Henry  entered  Normandy,  according  to  his  agreement  with  Eliza- 
beth, and  formed  the  siege  of  Rouen.  The  place  made  an  obstinate 
resistance  ;  but  as  the  army  of  the  League  was  unable  to  keep  the  field,  it 
must  soon  have  been  obliged  to  surrender,  if  an  unexpected  event  had  not 
procured  it  relief.  The  duke  of  Parma,  by  order  of  Philip,  again  left  his 
government ;  and  advancing  to  Rouen,  with  rapid  marches,  a  second  time 
robbed  Henry  of  his  prey,  by  obliging  him  to  raise  the  siege.  The  gallant 
monarch,  burning  with  revenge,  again  boldly  offered  his  antagonist  battle; 
again  pursued  him ;  and  the  duke,  by  a  wonderful  piece  of  generalship,  and 
in  spite  of  the  greatest  obstacles,  a  second  time  made  good  his  retreat  to  the 
Netherlands.(2) 

Henry  was  in  some  measure  consoled  for  this  disappointment,  by  hearing 
I  hat  Lesdiguieres  had  recovered  Provence,  chased  the  duke  of  Savoy  over 
the  mountains,  and  made  incursions  even  to  the  gates  of  Turin;  that  the 
viscount  de  Turenne  had  vanquished  and  slain  the  mareschal  of  Lorrain ; 
while  Thammes  had  defeated  the  duke  de  Joeyeuse,  who  commanded  for  the 
League  in  Languedoc,  and  killed  two  thousand  men ;  that  La  Valette,  the 
new"  governor  of  Provence  had  retaken  Antibes,  and  the  Spaniards  been 
baffled  in  an  attempt  on  Bayonne.(3) 

Meanwhile,  all  things  were  hastening  to  a  crisis  between  the  parties.  The 
faction  of  Sixteen,  which  was  entirely  in  the  interest  of  Spain,  its  principal 
members  being  pensioners  of  Philip,  had  hanged  the  first  president  of  the 
parliament  of  Paris,  and  two  of  the  judges,  for  not  condemning  to  death  a 
man  obnoxious  to  the  junto,  but  against  whom  no  crime  was  found.  The 
duke  of  Mayenne,  on  the  other  hand,  afraid  of  being  crushed  by  that  faction, 
had  caused  four  of  the  Sixteen  to  be  executed  in  the  same  manner.  The 
duke  of  Parma,  on  the  part  of  Philip,  pressed  the  duke  of  Mayenne  to  call 
an  assembly  of  the  states,  in  order  to  deliberate  on  the  election  of  a  king- 
and  the  Catholics  of  Henry's  party  gave  him  clearly  to  understand,  that  they 
expected  he  would  now  declare  himself  on  the  article  of  religion. 

The  king  and  the  duke  of  Mayenne  were  equally  sensible  of  the  necessity 
of  complying  with  these  demands,  though  alike  disagreeable  to  each.  The 
states  were  convoked ;  and  the  duke  of  Parma,  under  pretence  of  supporting 
their  resolutions,  was  ready  to  enter  France  with  a  powerful  army,  in  order 
to  forward  the  views  of  Philip.  But  the  death  of  that  great  general  at  Arras 
where  he  was  assembling  his  forces,  freed  the  duke  of  Mayenne  from  a  dan- 
gerous rival,  Henry  from  a  formidable  enemy,  and  perhaps  France  from 
becoming  a  province  of  Spain. 
The  states,  however,  or  more  properly  the  heads  of  the  Catholic  faction 

(1)  P.  Daniel,  torn.  'a.    Thuan,  lib.  xcii.    Davila,  lib.  n. 

(2)  Davila,lib.xii.xiii.    Thuan,  lib.  ciii.  (3)  Id.  ibid. 


194  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

met,  according  to  the  edict,  at  Paris ;  and  the  pope's  legate  there  proposed, 
that  they  should  hind  themselves  hy  an  oath  never  to  be  reconciled  to  the 
king  of  Navarre,  even  though  he  should  embrace  the  Catholic  faith.  This 
motion  was  opposed  by  the  duke  of  Mayenne  and  the  majority  of  the  assem- 
bly, but  supported  by  the  Spanish  faction;  and  as  there  was  yet  no  appear- 
ance of  Henry's  changing  his  religion,  the  duke  of  Feria,  Philip's  ambassa- 
dor, after  attempting  to  gain  the  duke  ,of  Mayenne,  by  offering  him  the 
sovereignty  of  Burgundy,  together  with  a  vast  sum  of  money,  boldly  pro- 
posed, that  the  states  should  choose  the  infanta  Eugenia  queen,  as  the  nearest 
relation  of  Henry  III. ;  and  the  archduke  Albert,  to  whom  her  father  was 
inclined  to  give  her  in  marriage,  king  in  her  right.  The  most  zealous  of  the 
Sixteen  revolted  against  this  proposal ;  declaring  that  they  could  never  think 
of  admitting  at  once  of  two  foreign  sovereigns.  The  duke  of  Feria  changed 
his  ground.  He  proposed  the  infanta  on  condition  that  she  should  espouse  a 
prince  of  France,  including  the  house  of  Lorrain,  the  nomination  to  be  left 
to  his  Catholic  majesty ;  and,  at  length,  he  fixed  on  the  young  duke  of  Guise. 
Had  the  last  proposal  been  made  first,  it  is  possible  that  Philip  might  have 
carried  his  point ;  but  now  the  duke  of  Mayenne,  unwilling  to  become 
dependent  on  his  nephew,  pretended  to  dispute  the  ambassador's  power:  and 
the  parliament  of  Paris,  as  supposed  through  this  influence,  published  a 
decree,  declaring  such  a  treaty  contrary  to  the  Salic  law,  which,  being  a 
fundamental  principle  to  the  government,  could  on  no  account  whatsoever  be 
set  aside.(l) 

While  these  disputes  were  agitated  at  Paris,  Henry  was  pushing  his  mili- 
tary operations ;  but  he  was  become  sensible,  notwithstanding  his  successes, 
that  he  never  could,  by  force  of  arms  alone,  render  himself  master  of  his 
kingdom.  The  Catholics  of  his  party  grew  daily  more  importunate  to  know 
his  sentiments  in  regard  to  religious  matters ;  and  their  jealousy  on  this 
point  seemed  to  increase,  in  proportion  as  he  approached  to  the  full  posses- 
sion of  his  throne.  Though  a  Protestant,  he  was  no  bigot  to  his  sect ;  he 
considered  theological  differences  as  subordinate  to  the  public  good ;  and 
therefore  appointed  conferences  to  be  held  between  the  divines  of  the  two 
religions,  that  he  might  be  enabled  to  take,  with  more  decency,  that  step, 
-which  the  security  of  his  crown,  and  the  happiness  of  his  subjects,  now  made 
necessary. 

In  these  conferences,  if  we  may  credit  the  celebrated  marquis  de  Rosni 
(afterward  duke  of  Sully,  and  prime  minister  to  Henry),  the  Protestant 
divines  even  allowed  themselves  to  be  worsted,  in  order  to  furnish  the  king 
with  a  better  pretext  for  embracing  that  religion  which  it  was  so  much  his 
interest  to  believe.  But  however  that  might  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  more 
moderate  Protestants,  and  Rosni  among  others,  were  convinced  of  the  neces- 
sity of  such  a  step ;  and  that  Henry,  soon  after  the  taking  of  Dreux,  solemnly 
made  his  abjuration  at  St.  Dennis,  and  received  absolution  from  the  arch- 
bishop of  Bourges.(2) 

This  measure,  however,  though  highly  agreeable  to  the  body  of  the  French 
nation,  was  not  immediately  followed  by  those  beneficial  consequences  which 
were  expected  from  it.  The  more  zealous  Catholics  suspected  Henry's  sin- 
cerity: they  considered  his  abjuration  merely  as  a  device  to  deceive  the 
League  :  and  as  the  personal  safety  of  many,  who  had  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  violence,  was  concerned  in  obstructing  his  progress,  they  had 
recourse  to  their  former  expedient  of  assassination,  in  which  they  were  en- 
couraged by  their  priests.  Several  attempts  were  made  against  the  king's 

(I)  Davilit,  lib.  xiii.    P.  Heuanlt,  torn.  ii. 

(•i)  Duvila,  lib.  xiii.    P.  Renault,  torn.  ii.    Nothing  can  more  strongly  demonstrate  the  propriety  of  su 
a  measure,  than  the  reflections  of  Davila,  a  living  and  intelligent  observer  of  the  times.    "  The  Xing 
conversion,"  says  he,  "  was  certainly  the  most  powerful  remedy  that  could  be  applied  to  the  dangerous 
disease  of  the  nation.     But  the  truce  by  which  it  was  preceded  did  also  dispose  men's  minds  for  the  work- 
ing of  so  wholesome  a  medicine  ;  for  the  people  on  both  sides  having  begun  to  taste  the  security  and  tli 
benefits  that  result  from  concord,  in  a  season  when  harvest  and  vintage  made  them  more  sensible  of  the 
happiness,  they  fell  so  in  love  with  it,  that  it  was  afterward  more  easy  to  incline  them  to  a  denre  of 
iK-ace,  and  a  willing  obedience  under  their  lawful  prince."    Hist.  lib.  xiv 


LET.  LXX.j  MODERN    EUROPE.  495 

life.  The  zealous  Hugonots,  on  the  other  hand,  became  more  diffident  of 
Henry's  intentions  towards  their  sect ;  and  his  Protestant  allies,  particularly 
ihe  queen  of  England,  expressed  much  indignation  at  this  interested  change 
of  his  religion.  Sensible,  however,  that  the  League  and  king  of  Spain  were 
still  their  common  enemies,  Elizabeth  at  last  admitted  his  apologies.  She 
continued  her  supplies  of  men  and  money ;  and  time  soon  produced  a  won- 
derful alteration  in  the  affairs  of  the  French  monarch,  and  evinced  the  wisdom 
of  the  step  which  he  had  taken,  though  not  entirely  conformable  to  the  laws 
of  honour,  and  consequently  a  reproach  on  his  private  character. 

The  marquis  de  Vitri,  governor  of  Meaux,  was  the  first  man  of  rank  who 
showed  the  example  of  a  return  to  duty.  He  had  often  solicited  the  duke 
of  Mayenne,  as  the  cause  of  the  war  was  at  an  end,  to  make  his  peace  with 
the  king;  but  receiving  no  satisfaction  from  that  nobleman,  he  resolved  to 
follow  the  dictates  of  his  own  heart.  He  ordered  the  garrison  to  evacuate 
the  town ;  and  having  assembled  the  magistrates,  delivered  to  them  tho 
keys.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  I  scorn  to  steal  an  advantage,  or  make  a 
fortune  at  other  men's  expense.  I  am  going  to  pay  my  allegiance  to  thr. 
kinor;  and  leave  it  in  your  power  to  act  as  you  please."  The  magistrates, 
after  a  short  deliberation,  agreed  to  send  a  deputation  to  Henry,  in  order  tr 
make  their  submissions,  and  entreat  him  to  return  their  governor.  Th< 
deputies  were  so  confounded  at  their  audience,  that  they  were  incapable  o: 
speech,  but  threw  themselves  at  the  king's  feet.  Having  viewed  them  foi 
some  moments  in  that  condition,  Henry  burst  into  tears ;  and,  lifting  them 
up,  said,  "  Come  not  as  enemies  to  crave  forgiveness,  but  as  children  to  a 
father  always  willing  to  receive  you  with  open  arms."(l) 

The  popularity  acquired  by  this  reception  greatly  promoted  the  royal 
cause.  Henry  was  crowned  with  much  solemnity  at  Chartres,  and  every 
thing  seemed  to  promise  a  speedy  pacification.  La  Chastre  delivered  up  the 
provinces  of  Orleanois  and  Berri,  of  which  he  was  governor,  and  D' Alain- 
court,  the  city  of  Porftoise ;  the  duke  of  Mayenne  retired  from  Paris ;  and 
the  count  de  Brisac,  who  commanded  the  French  garrison,  (for  there  Avas 
also  a  Spanish  one),  privately  admitted  the  king  into  his  capital,  of  which 
he  took  possession  almost  without  shedding  blood.  Villars,  who  had  so 
gallantly  defended  Rouen  for  the  League,  surrendered  that  city  on  condi- 
tions ;  and  a  multitude  of  other  places  either  offered  terms,  or  opened  their 
gates  without  stipulating  for  any.  The  duke  d'Elbeuf,  of  the  house  of  Lor- 
rain,  who  had  seized  the  government  of  Poitou,  declared  for  the  king.  The 
young  duke  of  Guise  also  made  his  peace  with  Henry.  Baligny,  who  still 
held  the  principality  of  Cambray,  submitted ;  and  marshal  d'Aumont,  with 
the  assistance  of  an  English  fleet  and  army,  made  himself  master  of  Mor- 
laix,  Quimpercorentin,  and  Brest,  towns  guarded  by  the  Spanish  forces  in 
Brittany,  while  the  king  in  person  besieged  and  took  Laon.  On  this  advan- 
tage, Amiens,  and  great  part  of  Picardy,  acknowledged  his  sway. (2) 

In  the  midst  of  these  successes,  Henry  was  on  the  point  of  perishing  by 
the  hand  of  a  desperate  assassin.  On  his  return  from  Picardy  to  Paris,  John 
Chastel,  a  young  fanatic,  educated  among  the  Jesuits,  struck  him  on  the 
mouth  with  a  knife,  while  he  was  saluting  one  of  his  courtiers,  in  a  chamber 
of  the  Louvre,  and  beat  out  one  of  his  teeth.  The  blow  was  intended  for 
the  king's  throat ;  but,  fortunately,  his  stooping  prevented  it  from  striking 
that  dangerous  part.  The  assassin  was  seized,  avowed  his  principles,  and 
was  executed.  On  his  examination,  he  confessed  that  he  had  frequently 
heard  his  ghostly  preceptors  say,  that  king-killing  was  lawful;  and  that  as 
Henry  IV.  had  not  yet  been  absolved  by  the  pope,  he  thought  he  might  kill 
him  with  a  safe  conscience  Some  writings  to  the  same  purpose  were  found 
in  the  possession  of  father  Guisgard,  who  was  condemned  to  suffer  the  pun- 
ishment appointed  for  treason ;  and  all  the  Jesuits  were  banished  the  king- 
dom, by  a  decree  of  the  parliament  of  Paris. (3) 

(1)  Mem.  pour  sfreir  a  VHist.  de  France  torn.  ii.  (2)  Davila.    Mezeray.    Dupleijc 

(3)  Davila,  lib.  xiv.    Renault,  loin,  ii 


496  T II  E     H  I  S  T  0  R  Y    0  F  [?ART  I 

While  these  things  were  passing-  in  France,  war  was  still  carried  on  with 
vigour  in  the  Low  Countries.  The  confederates  not  only  continued  to  main- 
tain the  struggle  for  liberty,  but  even  rose  superior  to  the  power  of  Spain. 
Prince  Maurice  surprised  Breda ;  and,  by  the  assistance  of  the  English  forces, 
under  sir  Francis  Vere,  he  took  Gertruydenberg  and  Groningen,  after  two 
of  the  most  obstinate  and  best  conducted  sieges  recorded  in  history.  Count 
Mansveldt,  an  able  and  experienced  officer,  who  had  succeeded  the  duke  of 
Parma  in  the  chief  command,  beheld  the  taking  the  first  with  an  army  supe- 
rior to  the  prince's,  without  being  able  to  force  his  lines  ;  and  Verdugo,  the 
Spanish  general,  durst  not  attempt  the  relief  of  the  second,  though  the  gar- 
rison made  a  gallant  defence. (1) 

The  progress  of  the  confederates,  however,  did  not  prevent  the  archduke 
Ernest,  now  governor  of  the  Low  Countries,  from  sending  ten  thousand  men 
to  lay  waste  the  frontier  of  France ;  and  Henry,  who  had  been  long  engaged 
in  hostilities  with  Philip,  was  provoked  by  this  fresh  insult,  as  well  as  en- 
couraged by  his  own  successes  and  those  of  the  confederates,  to  declare  war 
against  Spain.  He  led  an  army  in  person  into  Burgundy  ;  took  the  castles 
of  Dijon  and  Talan ;  expelled  the  Spaniards  from  that  province ;  obliged  the 
duke  of  Mayenne  to  sue  for  an  accommodation,  and  received  absolution  from 
the  pope. 

But  while  this  great  prince,  rendered  too  confident  by  good  fortune,  was 
employed  in  a  wild  and  fruitless  expedition  into  Franche-Comte,  in  compli- 
ance with  the  ambition  of  his  mistress,  the  fair  Gabrielle  d'Etrees,  who 
wanted  a  principality  for  her  son  Ca;sar,  a  Spanish  army,  under  the  command 
of  Don  Pedro  de  Gusman,  conde  de  Fuentes,  reduced  Dourlens,  Catelet,  and 
Cambray.  In  balance,  however,  of  these  losses,  the  duke  of  Guise  sur- 
prised Marseilles,  and  Henry  concluded  Iris  negotiation  with  the  duke  of 
Mayenne,  who,  charmed  with  the  generous  reception  which  he  met  with  on 
his  submission,  continued  ever  after  firmly  attached  to  the  king's  person  and 
government. 

When  informed  of  the  taking  of  Marseilles,  Henry  was  so  much  elated, 
that  he  exclaimed  in  a  kind  of  transport  of  joy,  "  then  I  am  at  last  a  king  !"(2) 
His  joy,  however,  was  but  of  short  duration.  The  archduke  Albert,  who 
had  succeeded  on  the  death  of  his  brother  to  the  government  of  the  Low 
Countries,  sent  an  army  to  besiege  Calais  :  and  that  fortress,  not  being  in  a 
proper  state  of  defence,  the  garrison  was  obliged  to  surrender,  before  the 
king  could  march  with  a  sufficient  force  to  its  relief. 

This  unfortunate  event  was  soon  followed  by  another.  While  Henry  was? 
in  the  utmost  distress  for  the  loss  of  Calais,  which  fanned  the  dying  ashes 
of  the  League, — while  harassed  by  the  complaints  of  the  Hugonots,  and 
chagrined  at  the  extravagant  demands  of  the  dukes  of  Savoy  and  Mercoeur, 
who  were  still  in  arms  against  him,  and  took  occasion  from  his  disasters 
to  exalt  their  conditions, — he  received  intelligence  that  Portocarero,  the 
Spanish  governor  of  Dourlens,  had  made  himself  master  of  Amiens,  by 
surprise.  (3) 

The  king  of  France  was  now  ready  to  sink  under  the  weight  of  his  mis- 
fortunes. His  finances  were  so  much  exhausted  in  buying  the  allegiance  of 
his  rebellious  subjects,  or  in  reducing  them  to  their  duty,  that  he  was  utterly 
incapable  of  any  new  effort :  he  was  not  even  able  to  pay  the  few  troops  in 
his  service.  He  had  already  assembled  his  nobles,  and  made  them  acquainted 
with  his  necessities;  but  they,  beggared  also  by  the  civil  wars,  seemed 
little  disposed  to  assist  him,  though  he  addressed  them  in  the  most  engaging 
language.  "  I  have  not  called  you  together,"  said  he,  "  as  my  predecessors 
*vere  wont,  to  oblige  you  blindly  to  obey  my  will :  I  have  assembled  you  to 
receive  your  counsels ;  to  listen  to  them,  to  follow  them,  and  to  put  myself 
entirely  under  your  direction."(4) 

"  Give  me  an  army,"  cried  he,  on  another  occasion,  "  and  I  will  cheerfully 

(1)  Bentivoglio.    Grotius.    Metern.  (2)  Dupleix,  loin.  v.  (31  Cayet.  torn,  iii 

(4)  Mem.  de  Sulli,  torn  i 


LET.  LXX.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  497 

venture  my  life  for  the  state !" — But  the  means  of  furnishing  bread  for  that 
army,  as  he  pathetically  complained,  were  not  in  his  power. 

Henry,  however,  was  happily  extricated  out  of  all  his  difficulties  by  the 
fertile  genius  of  his  faithful  servant,  the  marquis  de  Rosni,  whom  he  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  finances.  That  able  minister,  by  loans  upon  the 
king's  faith,  by  sums  advanced  upon  the  revenues,  and  other  necessary  ex- 
pedients enabled  him  to  raise,  in  a  short  time,  an  army  consisting  of  more 
than  twenty  thousand  men.  With  this  awny,  the  best  appointed  he  had  ever 
led  into  the  field,  together  with  four  thousand  English  auxiliaries,  sent  over 
by  queen  Elizabeth  in  consequence  of  a  new  treaty,  Henry  marched  imme- 
diately to  Amiens,  in  order  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  that  important  place. 
"  Let  us  go,"  said  he,  on  undertaking  this  arduous  enterprise,  "and  act  the 
king  of  Navarre :  we  have  acted  the  king  of  France  long  enough."  The 
Spanish  garrison,  composed  of  choice  troops,  and  commanded  by  experienced 
officers,  made  an  obstinate  defence,  and  allowed  the  archduke  time  to  march 
to  its  relief ;  but  Albert,  not  being  able  to  force  the  lines  of  the  besiegers, 
though  his  army  consisted  of  twenty -five  thousand  veterans,  retired  to  Arras, 
and  Amiens  surrendered  to  the  French  monarch.  (1) 

Henry  returned  in  triumph  to  Paris,  where  he  was  received  with  every 
possible  mark  of  loyalty  and  respect ;  and  after  convincing  all  parties,  that 
the  happiness  of  his  people  was  his  supreme  wish,  and  the  object  of  all  his 
enterprises,  he  marched  against  the  duke  of  Mercceur,  who  still  held  part  of 
Brittany.  Surprised  at  this  unexpected  visit,  and  deserted  by  the  nobility  of 
the  dutchy,  who  hastened  to  make  their  peace  with  the  king,  the  duke  gave 
himself  up  for  lost.  But  a  lucky  expedient  saved  him.  He  offered  his 
only  daughter,  with  the  dutchies  of  Estampes,  Penthievre,  and  Merco3ur, 
in  marriage  to  Henry's  natural  son,  Caesar ;  and  the  king,  glad  of  such  an 
opportunity  of  gratifying  the  ambition  of  his  mistress,  readily  agreed  to  the 
proposal.  (2) 

Henry  now  saw  himself  in  full  possession  of  his  kingdom :  the  League 
was  entirely  dissolved ;  and  the  Catholics  in  general  seemed  satisfied  wi;;: 
his  public  profession  of  their  religion.  The  Hugonots,  his  original  friends, 
alone  gave  him  any  uneasiness.  They  had  frequently,  since  the  king's  abju- 
ration, but  more  especially  since  his  reconciliation  with  the  see  of  Rome, 
expressed  apprehensions  on  account  of  their  religion.  Henry  sooii  made 
them  easy  on  that  point.  He  assembled  the  heads  of  the  party  at  Nantes  ; 
and  from  motives  of  policy,  as  well  as  of  gratitude  and  tenderness,  passed 
the  famous  edict  bearing  date  from  that  place,  and  which  granted  them  every 
thing  that  they  reasonably  could  desire.  It  not  only  secured  to  them  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion,  but  a  share  in  the  administration  of  justice, 
and  the  privilege  of  being  admitted  to  all  employments  of  trust,  profit,  and 
honour.  (3) 

During  these  transactions  in  France,  the  confederates  were  not  idle  in  the 
Low  Countries.  Prince  Maurice  and  sir  Francis  Vere,  who  commanded  the 
English  forces,  gained  at  Tournhout,  in  1597,  a  complete  victory  over  the 
Spaniards ;  in  consequence  of  which  that  place  immediately  surrendered,  and 
an  incredible  number  of  others  were  reduced  before  the  close  of  the  campaign. 
Nor  were  the  confederates  less  successful  in  other  quarters.  Besides  the 
naval  armaments  which  Elizabeth  was  continually  sending  to  annoy  the 
Spaniards  in  the  West  Indies,  and  to  obstruct  their  trade  at  home,  a  strong 
force  was  sent  to  Cadiz,  where  Philip  was  making  vast  preparations  for  a 
new  invasion  of  England.  The  combined  English  and  Dutch  fleet,  under 
lord  Effingham,  attacked  the  Spanish  ships  and  galleys  in  the  bay ;  and,  after 
an  obstinate  engagement,  obliged  them  all  either  to  surrender,  retire  beneath 
their  forts,  or  run  ashore.  The  earl  of  Essex,  who  commanded  the  land 
forces,  then  disembarked  his  troops,  and  carried  the  city  by  assault.  The 
plunder  made  there  was  considerable ;  but  the  resolution  which  the  Spanish 

(1)  Dupleix.    Davila.    Mezeray.  (2)  Davila,  lib.  xv.    Mem.  de  Sulli,  torn.  ii. 

(3)  Thuauus.    Mezeray.    VariUas. 

VOL.  I.— 1 1 


498  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

admiral  took,  of  setting  fire  to  a  large  fleet  of  merchant  ships,  richly  laden, 
in  the  port,  deprived  the  conquerors  of  a  far  more  valuable  booty.  The  loss, 
however,  sustained  by  the  Spaniards  was  not  diminished  by  that  expedient, 
and  is  computed  at  twenty  millions  of  ducats. (1) 

Age  and  infirmities,  together  with  so  many  disasters  and  disappointments, 
had  now  broken  the  lofty  and  obstinate  spirit  of  Philip.  He  began  to 
moderate  his  views,  and  offered  peace  to  the  confederates  on  pretty  equitable 
terms ;  but  as  he  refused  to  acknowledge  the  independency  of  the  United 
Provinces,  they  would  not  negotiate  with  him,  and  Elizabeth  came  to  the 
same  resolution,  on  their  account. 

Henry's  situation  did  not  enable  him  to  behave  with  equal  firmness. 
France,  long  torn  by  civil  dissensions,  stood  in  need  of  peace.  Philip  knew 
it,  and  offered  advantageous  conditions  to  Henry,  that  he  might  be  enabled, 
by  diminishing  the  number  of  his  enemies,  to  act  with  more  vigour  against 
the  United  Provinces.  The  French  monarch,  however,  before  he  entered 
into  treaty  with  the  king  of  Spain,  sent  ambassadors  to  Elizabeth  and  the 
States,  in  order  to  facilitate  a  general  agreement,  and  make  known  his  pacific 
purpose.  Both  powers  remonstrated  against  such  a  measure,  unless  the 
independency  of  the  States  was  made  its  basis.  Henry  pleaded  his  necessity 
of  negotiating ;  and  although  they  blamed  the  step  which  they  saw  he  was 
determined  to  take,  they  were  sensible  of  the  justice  of  his  arguments.  A 
separate  peace  was  accordingly  concluded,  between  France  and  Spain,  at 
Vervins  ;(2)  by  which  Henry  recovered  possession  of  all  the  places  seized 
by  Philip  during  the  course  of  the  civil  wars,  and  procured  to  himself,  what 
he  had  long  ardently  desired,  leisure  to  settle  the  domestic  affairs  of  his 
kingdom ;  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  peace  (to  which  his  genius  was  no  less 
turned  than  to  those  of  war),  and  to  contribute  to  the  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  his  people. 

But  before  we  take  a  view  of  the  flourishing  state  of  France,  under  the 
equitable  government  of  this  great  and  good  prince,  and  the  wise  adminis- 
tration of  Sully,  or  of  England  during  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
I  must  carry  forward  the  contest  between  Spain  and  the  United  Provinces. 


LETTER  LXXI. 

Spain  and  the  Low  Countries,  from  the  Peace  of  Veroins,  to  the  Truce  in  1609, 
•when  the  Freedom  of  the  United  Provinces  was  acknowledged. 

SOON  after  the  peace  concluded  between  France  and  Spain,  at  Vervins,  a 
new  treaty  was  negotiated  between  England  and  the  United  Provinces,  in 
order  that  the  war  might  be  supported  with  vigour  against  Philip.  Th« 
States,  afraid  of  being  deserted  by  Elizabeth,  submitted  to  what  terms  sh^ 
was  pleased  to  require  of  them.  They  agreed  to  diminish  their  debt,  which 
amounted  to  eight  hundred  thousand  pounds,  by  remitting  considerable  sums 
annually ;  to  pay  the  English  troops  in  the  Low  Countries ;  and  to  maintain, 
at  their  own  expense,  the  garrisons  of  the  cautionary  towns,  while  EnglanJ 
hould  continue  the  war  against  Spain.(3) 

Scarce  was  this  negotiation  finished,  when  Philip  II., its  first  object,  breathed 
his  last  at  Madrid ;  leaving  behind  him  the  character  of  a  gloomy,  jealous, 
haughty,  vindictive,  and  inexorable  tyrant.  With  great  talents  for  govern- 
ment, he  failed  to  obtain  the  reputation  of  a  great  prince  ;  because,  with  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  mankind,  and  the  most  extensive  power  of  bene fitting 
them,  he  became  the  great  destroyer  of  his  species,  and  the  chief  instrument 
of  human  misery.  His  head  fitted  him  for  the  throne  of  Spain,  and  his  inde 
fatigable  application  for  the  sovereignty  of  both  Indies ;  but  his  heart,  and 

(1)  Birch's  Mem.  vol.  ii.  (2)  Davila,  lib.  xv.     Mczerny,  Jllrigi  Chronol.  lorn,  xvi 

(3)  Camden.    Thuanus.    Grotiiis. 


LET.  LXXI.]  MODERNEUROPE.  499 

his  habit  of  thinking,  only  for  the  office  of  Grand  Inquisitor.  Hence  he  was 
long  the  terror,  but  never  the  admiration,  of  Europe. 

Nor  was  Philip's  character  more  amiable  or  estimable  in  private  than  in 
public  life.  Besides  other  crimes  of  a  domestic  nature,  he  was  accused  by 
William,  prince  of  Orange,  in  the  face  of  all  Europe,  and  seemingly  with 
justice,  of  having  sacrificed  his  own  son,  Don  Carlos,  to  his  jealous  ambition ; 
and  of  having  poisoned  his  third  wife,  Isabella  of  France,  that  he  might  marry 
Anne  of  Austria,  his  niece.(l)  The  particulars  of  the  death  of  Don  Carlos 
are  sufficiently  curious  to  merit  attention.  That  young  prince  had  sometimes 
taken  the  liberty  to  censure  the  measures  of  his  father's  government  in  regard 
to  the  Netherlands,  and  was  even  suspected  of  a  design  of  putting  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  insurgents,  in  order  to  prevent  the  utter  ruin  of  his  future 
subjects,  for  whose  sufferings  he  had  often  expressed  his  compassion.  In 
consequence  of  this  suspicion  he  was  put  under  confinement ;  and  although 
several  princes  interceded  for  his  release,  his  father  was  inexorable.  The 
inquisition,  through  the  influence  of  the  king,  who  on  all  great  occasions 
consulted  the  members  of  that  ghostly  tribunal,  passed  sentence  against  the 
unhappy  Carlos  ;  and  the  inhuman  and  unnatural  Philip, under  cover  of  that 
sentence,  ordered  poison,  which  proved  effectual  in  a  few  hours,  to  be  admin- 
istered to  his  son  and  heir  of  empire.(2) 

No  European  prince  ever  possessed  such  vast  resources  as  Philip  II. 
Besides  his  Spanish  and  Italian  dominions,  the  kingdom  of  Portugal  and  the 
Netherlands,  he  enjoyed  the  whole  East  India  commerce,  and  reaped  the 
richest  harvest  of  the  American  mines.  But  his  prodigious  armaments,  his 
intrigues  in  France  and  in  England,  and  his  long  and  expensive  wars  in  the 
Low  Countries,  exhausted  his  treasures,  and  enriched  those  whom  he  sought 
to  subdue ;  while  the  Spaniards,  dazzled  with  the  sight  of  the  precious  metals, 
and  elated  with  an  idea  of  imaginary  wealth,  neglected  agriculture  and  manu- 
factures, and  were  obliged,  as  at  present,  to  depend  on  their  more  industrious 
neighbours,  for  the  luxuries,  as  well  as  the  necessaries,  of  life.  Spain,  once 
a  rich  and  fertile  kingdom,  became  only  the  mint  of  Europe.  Its  wedges  and 
ingots  were  no  sooner  coined  than  called  for ;  and  often  mortgaged  before 
their  arrival,  as  the  price  of  labour  and  ingenuity.  The  state  was  enfeebled, 
the  country  rendered  sterile,  and  the  people  poor  and  miserable. 

The  condition  of  the  United  Provinces  was  in  all  respects  the  reverse  of 
Spain.  They  owed  every  thing  to  their  industry.  By  that,  a  country  natu- 
rally barren,  was  rendered  fertile,  even  while  the  scene  of  war.  Manu- 
factures were  carried  on  with  vigour,  and  commerce  was  extended  to  all  the 
quarters  of  the  globe.  The  republic  was  become  powerful,  and  the  people 
rich,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  enslave  and  oppress  them.  Conscious  of  this, 
the  court  of  Madrid  had  changed  its  measures  before  the  death  of  Philip. 
After  much  deliberation,  that  haughty  monarch,  despairing  of  being  able  to 
reduce  the  revolted  provinces  by  force,  and  desirous  of  an  accommodation, 
that  he  might  end  his  days  in  peace,  but  disdaining  to  make,  in  his  own  name, 
the  concessions  necessary  for  that  purpose,  transferred  to  his  daughter 
Isabella,  contracted  to  the  archduke  Albert  of  Austria,  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Low  Countries. 

Philip  II.  died  before  the  celebration  of  the  marriage,  but  his  son  Philip 
III.,  a  virtuous,  though  a  weak  prince,  punctually  executed  the  contract; 
and  Albert,  after  taking  possession  of  his  sovereignty  according  to  the  ne- 
cessary forms,  wrote  to  the  States  of  the  United  Provinces,  acquainting  them 
of  that  deed,  and  entreating  them  not  to  refuse  submission  to  their  natural 
princes,  who  would  govern  them  with  lenity,  indulgence,  and  affection. 

The  States  returned  no  answer  to  the  archduke's  letter.  They  were  now 
determined  to  complete  that  independency  for  which  they  had  so  long  strug- 
gled. But  although  their  purpose  had  been  less  firm,  there  was  a  clause  in 
the  contract  which  would  have  produced  the  same  resolution.  It  provided, 

(1)  See  the  Manifesto  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  in  answer  to  Philip's  Proscription. 

(2)  Compare  Thuanus  lib.  xliii.,  with  Strada,  lib.  vii. 

lift 


500  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

that,  in  case  the  infanta  left  no  issue,  all  the  provinces  in  the  Low  Countries 
should  return  to  the  crown  of  Spain ;  and  as  there  was  little  probability  of  hei 
having  offspring-,  the  States  saw  their  danger,  and  avoided  it,  by  refusing1  to 
listen  to  any  terms  of  subinission.(l) 

The  first  material  step  taken  by  Albert  and  Isabella  for  reducing  their 
revolted  subjects  to  obedience,  was  the  issuing  of  an  edict,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Catholic  king,  precluding  the  United  Provinces  all  intercourse  with 
the  kingdoms  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  or  with  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  This 
was  a  severe  blow  to  the  commerce  of  the  States.  They  had  hitherto, 
singular  as  it  may  seem,  been  allowed  an  open  trade  with  all  the  Spanish 
dominions  in  Europe,  and  had  drawn  much  of  their  wealth  from  that  source, 
as  well  as  increased  by  it  their  naval  power.  An  idea  of  general  advantage 
only  could  have  induced  Philip  II.  to  permit  such  a  traffic  ;  and  an  experience 
of  its  balance  being  in  favour  of  the  republic,  as  will  always  be  the  case 
between  industrious  and  indolent  nations,  made  it  now  be  prohibited  under 
the  name  of  an  indulgence.  But  the  interdict  was  issued  too  late  effectually 
to  answer  its  end.  The  Dutch,  already  strong  by  sea,  sent  out  a  fleet  to 
cruise  upon  the  Spaniards  ;  their  land  levies  were  prosecuted  with  great  dili- 
gence ;  and,  in  order  to  make  up  for  the  restraint  upon  their  home  trade,  they 
turned  their  views  towards  India,  where  they  attacked  the  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese,  and  at  length  monopolized  the  most  lucrative  branch  of  that 
important  commerce. 

Meanwhile,  war  was  carried  on  with  vigour  in  the  Low  Countries.  Besides 
several  bodies  of  Gennans  and  Swiss,  the  States  took  into  their  service  two 
thousand  French  veterans,  disbanded  by  Henry  IV.  on  the  conclusion  of  the 
peace  of  Vervins :  and  that  prince  generously  supplied  the  republic  with 
money,  under  pretence  of  paying  his  debts.  The  archduke's  forces  were,  in 
like  manner,  much  augmented  by  fresh  levies  from  Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany. 
Each  party  seemed  formidable  to  the  other,  yet  both  were  eager  for  the 
combat ;  and  several  towns  having  been  taken,  many  gallantly  assaulted, 
and  no  less  gallantly  defended  on  both  sides,  the  two  armies  came  to  a  general 
engagement  at  Nieuport,  near  Ostend.  (2)  The  field  was  obstinately  disputed 
for  three  hours.  The  confederates  began  the  battle  with  incredible  intre- 
pidity ;  and  the  Spanish  veterans,  who  composed  the  enemy's  van,  received 
the  shock  with  great  firmness.  The  conflict  was  terrible.  At  length  the 
Spaniards  gave  ground ;  but,  repeatedly  turning  to  the  charge,  repeatedly 
were  repulsed,  and,  in  the  issue,  utterly  broken  and  routed,  with  the  loss  of 
five  thousand  men,  by  the  valour  of  the  English  auxiliaries  under  sir  Francis 
Vere,  who  led  the  van  of  the  confederates. (3)  We  must  not,  however,  with 
some  of  our  too  warm  countrymen,  ascribe  the  victory  solely  to  English 
prowess.  A  share  of  the  honour,  at  least,  ought  to  be  allowed  to  the  military 
skill  of  prince  Maurice ;  to  a  body  of  Swiss  immediately  under  his  command, 
that  supported  the  English  troops ;  and  to  the  valour  of  the  many  gallant 
volunteers,  who  had  come  from  all  parts  of  Europe  to  study  the  art  of  war 
un'der  so  able  and  experienced  a  general,  and  who  strove  to  outdo  each  other 
in  daring  acts  of  heroism. 

,  This  victory  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  United  Provinces,  as  the 
defeat  of  their  army,  in  the  present  crisis,  must  have  been  followed  by  the 
loss  of  their  liberties,  and  their  final  ruin  as  independent  states ;  but  its  conse- 
quences otherwise  were  very  inconsiderable.  Prince  Maurice  either  mispent 
his  time  after  the  battle,  or  his  troops,  as  he  affirmed,  were  so  exhausted  with 
fatigue,  as  not  to  be  fit  for  any  new  enterprise,  till  Albert  was  again  ready  to 
take  the  field  with  a  superior  army.  Overtures  of  peace  were  renewed,  and 
rejected  by  the  States.  The  confederates  laid  siege  to  Rhimburg,  and  the 
archduke  to  Ostend.  Rhimburg  was  reduced,  but  Maurice  did  not  think  his 
strength  sufficient  to  attempt  the  relief  of  Ostend. 

Meantime,  the  siege  of  that  important  place  was  vigorously  conducted  bj 

(I)  Mclern.    Grotiua.     Bcntivoglio. 

(3\  Grotius,  lib.  Jr.    Beidan,  lib.  xvii.    Bentivoglio.par.  iii.  lib.  vi.  (3)  Id.  ibm. 


LET.  LXXI.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  501 

the  archduke  in  person,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  and  well  appointed  army. 
The  brave  resistance  which  he  met  with  astonished,  but  did  not  discourage 
him.  His  heart  was  set  on  the  reduction  of  Ostend.  All  the  resources 
of  war  were  exhausted ;  rivers  of  blood  were  spilled,  but  neither  side  was 
dispirited ;  because  both  received  constant  supplies,  the  one  by  sea,  the  other 
iiom  the  neighbouring  country.  New  batteries  were  daily  raised,  and  assaults 
made  without  number,  and  without  effect.  The  garrison,  commanded  by  sir 
Francis  Vere,  who  had  gallantly  thrown  himself  into  the  town  in  the  face 
of  the  enemy,  repelled  all  the  attempts  of  the  Spaniards  with  invincible  intre- 
pidity ;  and  at  length  obliged  Albert  to  turn  the  siege  into  a  kind  of  blockade, 
and  commit  the  command  to  Rivas,  one  of  his  generals,  while  he  himself 
went  to  Ghent,  in  order  to  concert  new  measures  for  accomplishing  his 
iavourite  enterprise. 

The  States  embraced  this  opportunity  to  change  the  garrison  of  Ostend, 
worn  out  and  emaciated  with  continual  fatigue  and  watching ;  and  as  the 
communication  by  sea  was  preserved  open,  the  scheme  was  executed  without 
difficulty.  A  fresh  garrison,  supplied  with  every  necessary,  took  charge  of 
the  town,  under  the  command  of  colonel  Dorp,  a  Dutchman^colonel  Edmunds, 
a  Scotchman,  and  Hertain,  a  Frenchman ;  while  sir  Francis  Vere,  with  the 
former  garrison,  joined  the  army  under  prince  Maurice. 

The  army  before  Ostend,  composed  of  Flemings,  Walloons,  and  Spaniards, 
was  reinforced  with  eight  thousand  Italians,  under  the  marquis  of  Spinola, 
an  officer  of  great  military  talents,  to  whom  Albert  wisely  committed  the 
conduct  of  the  siege,  after  the  ineffectual  efforts  of  Rivas.  Spinola  showed, 
that  no  fortification,  however  strong,  is  impregnable  to  an  able  engineer  fur- 
nished with  the  necessary  force.  Ostend  was  reduced  to  a  heap  of  ruins; 
and  the  besiegers  were  making  preparations  for  the  grand  assault,  when  the 
governor  offered  to  capitulate.  Spinola  granted  the  garrison  honourable 
terms. (1) 

During  this  memorable  siege,  which  lasted  upwards  of  three  years,  and 
cost  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  archduke  the  lives  of  fourscore  thousand  brave 
soldiers,  prince  Maurice  made  himself  master  of  Rinbach,  Grave,  and  Sluys, 
acquisitions  which  more  than  balanced  the  loss  of  Ostend ;  and  Albert,  by 
employing  all  his  strength  against  the  place,  was  prevented,  during  three 
campaigns,  from  entering  the  United  Provinces.  The  Dutch  did  not  let  slip 
the  occasion,  which  that  interval  of  security  afforded  .them,  to  push  their 
trade  and  manufactures.  Every  nerve  was  strained  in  labour,  and  every 
talent  in  ingenuity.  Commerce,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  flourished; 
Ternate,  one  of  the  Moluccas,  had  been  gained ;  and  the  East  India  company, 
that  grand  pillar  of  the  republic,  was  established.(S) 

But,  as  a  counterpoise  to  these  advantages,  the  States  had  lost  the  alliance 
of  England,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  Elizabeth.  James  I.,  her  suc- 
cessor, showed  no  inclination  to  engage  in  hostilities  Avith  Spain ;  and  con- 
cluded, soon  after  his  accession,  a  treaty  with  that  court.  Through  the 
intercession  of  Henry  IV.,  however,  he  agreed  to  supply  the  States  secretly 
with  money  :  and  what  is  very  remarkable  as  well  as  honourable,  it  appears 
that  James,  in  his  treaty  with  Spain,  had  expressly  reserved  the  power  of 
sending  assistance  to  the  United  Provinces.(3) 

The  republic,  at  present,  stood  much  in  need  of  support.  Philip  ill.,  now 
sensible  that  the  infanta  cculd  have  no  issue,  and  consequently  that  the 
Netherlands  must  return  to  the  crown  of  Spain,  came  to  the  resolution  of 
carrying  on  the  war  against  the  revolted  provinces  with  the  whole  force  of 
his  dominions.  Laro-e  levies  were  made  for  that  purpose  ;  large  sums  were 
remitted  in  the  Low  Countries;  and  Spinola  was  there  declared  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Spanish  and  Italian  forces.  . 

The  States  saw  their  danger,  and  endeavoured  to  provide  against  it.  1  hey 
empowered  prince  Maurice  to  augment  his  army ;  they  recruited  their  gar 

<1)  Grotius,  lib.  xiii.    BentivogHo,  par.  iii.  lib.  vii.  (2)  Le  Clerc,  lib.  vil 

(3)  Wi  n wood,  vol.  ii 


502  THE   HISTORY    OP  [PART - 

risons,  repaired  their  fortifications,  and  every  where  prepared  for  a  vigorous 
resistance.  Spinola  expected  it,  but  was  not  discouraged :  and  his  success 
was  rapid  for  two  campaigns,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  Maurice.  But 
although  he  had  made  himself  master  of  many  important  places,  he  had  yet 
made  no  impression  on  the  body  of  the  republic;  and  three  hundred  thousand 
doubloons  a  month,  the  common  expense  of  the  army,  was  a  sum  too  large 
for  the  Spanish  treasuiy  long  to  disburse,  and  a  drain  which  not  even  the 
mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru  could  supply.  His  troops  mutinied  for  want  of 
pay.  He  became  sensible  of  the  impracticability  of  his  undertaking,  and 
delivered  it  as  his  opinion,  that  it  was  more  advisable  to  enjoy  the  ten  pro- 
vinces in  peace  and  security,  than  to  risk  the  loss  of  the  whole  Netherlands  in 
pursuit  of  the  other  seven,  and  ruin  Spain  by  a  hazardous  attempt  to  conquer 
rebel  subjects,  who  had  too  long  tasted  the  sweets  of  liberty  ever  again  to 
bear  with  ease  the  shackles  of  monarchy  and  absolute  dominion.(l) 

The  court  of  Madrid  was  already  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  an  accom- 
modation ;  the  archduke  was  heartily  tired  of  the  war ;  and  the  sentiments 
of  the  general  had  great  influence  both  on  the  Spanish  and  Flemish  councils. 
If  the  duke  of  Parma  had  failed  to  reduce  the  seven  provinces,  and  Spinola 
gave  up  the  attempt,  who,  it  was  asked,  could  hope  to  subdue  them  1 — as  there 
was  no  answering  such  a  question,  it  was  agreed,  though  not  without  many 
scruples,  to  negotiate  with  the  Belgian  republic  as  an  independent  state.  A 
suspension  of  arms  accordingly  took  place ;  conferences  were  opened ;  and, 
after  numberless  obstructions  and  delays,  interposed  by  the  Orange  faction, 
wllose  interest  it  was  to  continue  the  war,  a  truce  of  twelve  years  was  con- 
eluded  at  the  Hague,  through  the  mediation  of  France  and  England.(2)  This 
treaty  secured  to  the  United  Provinces  all  the  acquisitions  they  had  made, 
freedom  of  commerce  with  the  dominions  of  Philip  and  the  archduke,  on  the 
same  footing  with  other  foreign  nations,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of  those  divil 
and  religious  liberties  for  which  they  had  so  gloriously  struggled. (3) 

Scarce  had  the  court  of  Spain  finished  one  civil  war,  occasioned  by  perse 
sution,  when  it  plunged  into  another.  Philip  III.,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
nquisition,  and  by  the  advice  of  his  minister,  the  duke  of  Lerma,  no  less  weak 
than  himself,  issued  an  edict,  ordering-  all  the  Morescoes,  or  descendants  of 
-he  Moors,  to  leave  the  kingdom  within  the  space  of  thirty  days,  under  the 
penalty  of  death.  These  remains  of  the  ancient  conquerors  of  Spain  were 
chiefly  employed  in  commerce  and  agriculture ;  and  the  principal  reason 
assigned  for  this  barbarous  decree  was,  that  they  were  still  Mahometans  in 
their  hearts,  though  they  conformed  outwardly  to  the  rites  of  Christianity, 
and  therefore  might  corrupt  the  true  faith,  as  well  as  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
state  Persecution  prompted  them  to  undertake  what  they  had  hitherto  shown 
no  disposition  to  attempt.  They  chose  themselves  a  king,  and  endeavoured 
to  oppose  the  execution  of  the  royal  mandate ;  but  being  almost  utterly 
unprovided  with  arms,  they  were  soon  obliged  to  submit,  and  all  banished  the 
kingdom.(4) 

By  this  violent  and  impolitic  measure,  Spain  lost  near  a  million  of  indus- 
trious inhabitants  ;(5)  and  as  that  kingdom  was  already  depopulated  by  long 
and  bloody  foreign  wars,  by  repeated  emigrations  to  the  New  World,  and 
enervated  by  luxury,  it  now  sunk  into  a  state  of  languor,  out  of  which  it  has 
never  since  fully  recovered.  The  remembrance  of  its  former  strength,  how- 
ever, still  made  it  terrible  ;  and  associations  were  formed  for  restraining  the 
exorbitant  power  of  Spain,  after  Spain  had  ceased  to  be  powerful. 

(I)  Bentivoglio.  (2)  Grotiua.    Bentivoglio.    Winwood.  (3)  Grotius,  lib.  xvii. 

•  Vj  Fonscca.     Traycion  de  Morescecs.  (5)  Geddes,  Hist.  Expuls.  Moresc. 


LET.  LXXII.}  MODERN    EUR  OPE.  503 

LETTER  LXXII. 

The  domestic  History  of  England,  from  the  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada, 
in  1588,  to  the  Death  of  Elizabeth,  with  some  Particulars  of  Scotland  and 
Ireland. 

THE  execution  of  the  queen  of  Scots,  and  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada, 
freed  Elizabeth  from  all  apprehensions  in  regard  to  the  safety  of  her  crown. 
What  part  she  took  in  the  affairs  of  France  and  of  the  United  Provinces,  and 
what  attempts  she  made  by  naval  armaments  to  annoy  the  Catholic  king, 
we  have  already  seen.  We  must  now,  my  dear  Philip,  take  a  view  of  her 
domestic  policy,  and  her  domestic  troubles;  and  of  her  transactions  with 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  from  this  great  era  of  her  guilt  and  her  glory  to 
that  of  her  death,  which  left  vacant  the  throne  of  England  to  the  house  of 
Stuart. 

The  leading  characteristics  of  Elizabeth's  administration  were  economy 
and  vigour.  By  a  strict  attention  to  the  first,  she  was  able  to  maintain  a 
magnificent  court,  and  to  support  the  persecuted  Protestants  in  France  and 
the  Low  Countries,  without  oppressing  her  people,  or  involving  the  crown 
in  debt ;  and  by  a  spirited  exertion  of  the  second,  she  humbled  the  pride  of 
Spain,  and  gave  stability  to  her  throne,  in  spite  of  all  the  machinations  of  her 
enemies.  After  informing  her  parliament  of  the  necessity  of  continuing  the 
war  against  Philip,  and  how  little  she  dreaded  the  power  of  that  monarch, 
even  though  he  should  make  a  greater  effort  than  that  of  his  Invincible 
Armada,  she  concluded  thus : — "  But  I  am  informed,  that  when  he  attempted 
this  last  invasion,  some  upon  the  sea-coast  forsook  their  towns,  fled  up 
higher  into  the  country,  and  left  all  naked  and  exposed  to  his  entrance — 
but  I  swear  unto  you,  by  God !  if  I  knew  those  persons,  or  may  know  of  any 
that  shall  do  so  hereafter,  I  will  make  them  feel  what  it  is  to  be  fearful  in  so 
urgent  a  cause. "(1) 

Elizabeth's  frugality  in  the  administration  .of  government  seems  less,  how  - 
ever,  to  have  proceeded  from  lenity  to  her  people  than  from  a  fear  of  bringing 
herself  under  the  power  of  the  commons  by  the  necessity  of  soliciting 
larger  supplies,  and  thereby  endangering  her  royal  prerogative,  of  which  she 
was  always  remarkably  jealous,  and  which  she  exercised  with  a  high  hand. 
Numberless  instances  of  this  occur  during  her  reign.  Besides  erecting  the 
Court  of  High  Commission,  which  was  vested  with  almost  inquisitorial 
powers,  and  supporting  the  arbitrary  decrees  of  the  Star  Chamber,  she  granted 
to  her  servants  and  courtiers  patents  for  monopolies,  which  put  invincible 
restraints  upon  all  commerce,  industry,  and  emulation  in  the  arts,  and  enabled 
those  who  possessed  them  to  raise  commodities  to  what  price  they  pleased. 
Salt,  in  particular,  was  raised  from  sixteen  pence  a  bushel  to  fourteen  or  fifteen 
shillings, (2)  and  several  other  articles  in  proportion.  Almost  all  the  neces- 
saries of  life  were  thus  monopolized ;  which  made  a  certain  member  cry  out 
ironically,  when  the  list  was  read  over  in  the  house,  "  Is  not  bread  among  the 
number?"(3) 

These  grievances  were  frequently  complained  of  in  parliament,  but  more 
especially  by  the  Puritans;  a  religious  sect,  who  maintained,  as  the  name 
imports,  that  the  church  of  England  was  not  yet  sufficiently  purged  from  the 
errors  of  popery,  and  who  carried  the  same  bold  spirit  that  dictated  their 
theological  opinions  into  their  political  speculations.  But  such  complaints 
were  made  at  the  peril  of  the  members,  who  were  frequently  committed  to 
custody  for  undue  liberty  of  speech ;  and  all  motions  to  remove  those  enor- 
mous grievances  were  suppressed,  as  attempts  to  invade  the  royal  preroga- 
tive. The  queen  herself,  by  messages  to  the  house,  frequently  admonished 
the  commons  "not  to  meddle  with  what  nowise  belonged  to  them  (matters  of 

U)  D'Ewes,  Journal  of  Parliament.  (2)  Ibid.  (3)  Ibid. 


504  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

state  or  religion),  and  what  did  not  lie  within  the  compass  of  their  under- 
standing ;"  and  she  warned  them  "  since  neither  her  commands  nor  the  example 
of  their  wiser  brethren  (those  devoted  to  the  court)  could  reclaim  their  auda 
cious,  arrogant,  and  presumptuous  folly,  that  some  other  species  of  correction 
must  be  found  for  them."(l) 

These  messages  were  patiently  received  by  the  majority  of  the  house 
Nay,  it  was  asserted,  "  that  the  royal  prerogative  was  not  to  be  canvassed, 
nor  disputed,  nor  examined,  and  did  not  even  admit  of  any  limitation ;  that 
absolute  princes,  such  as  the  sovereigns  of  England,  were  a  species  of 
divinity ;  that  it  was  in  vain  to  attempt  tying  the  queen's  hands  by  laws  or 
statutes,  since,  by  her  dispensing  power,  she  could  loosen  herself  at  plea- 
sure !"(2)  But  the  Puritans,  who  alone  possessed  any  just  sentiments  of 
freedom,  and  who.  employed  all  their  industry  to  be  elected  into  parliament, 
still  hazarded  the  utmost  indignation  of  Elizabeth,  in  vindicating  the  natural 
rights  of  mankind.  They  continued  to  keep  alive  that  precious  spark  of 
liberty  which  they  had  rekindled ;  and  which,  burning  fiercer  from  confine- 
ment, broke  out  into  a  blaze  under  the  two  succeeding  reigns,  and,  agitated 
but  not  smothered  by  opposition,  consumed  the  church  and  monarchy ;  from 
whose  ashes,  like  the  fabled  phoenix,  singly  to  arrest  the  admiration  of  ages, 
sprung  our  present  glorious  and  happy  constitution. 

Among  the  subjects  which  Elizabeth  prohibited  the  parliament  from  taking 
into  consideration,  was  the  succession  to  the  crown.  But  as  all  danger  from, 
a  rival  claim  had  expired  with  the  queen  of  Scots,  a  motion  was  made  by 
Peter  Wentworth,  a  Puritan,  for  petitioning  her  majesty  to  fix  the  succession; 
which,  though  in  itself  sufficiently  respectful,  incensed  the  queen  to  such  a 
degree,  that  she  ordered  Wentworth  to  be  sent  to  the  tower,  and  all  the  mem- 
bers who  seconded  him  to  the  fleet. (3)  Her  malignity  against  Mary  seems 
to  have  settled  upon  her  son  James ;  for  she  not  only  continued  to  avoid 
acknowledging  him  as  her  successor,  though  a  peaceable  and  unaspiring 
prince,  but  refused  to  assist  him  in  suppressing  a  conspiracy  of  some  Catholic 
noblemen,  in  conjunction  with  the  king  of  Spain,  their  common  enemy.(4) 
She  endeavoured  to  keep  him  in  perpetual  dependence,  by  bribing  his  ministers, 
or  fomenting  discontents  among.his  subjects ;  and  she  appears  to  have  been 
at  the  bottom  of  a  conspiracy,  formed  by  the  earl  of  Gowrie,  for  seizing  the 
king's  person  ;(5)  though  not,  as  commonly  supposed,  with  a  design  to  take 
away  his  life. 

Meanwhile,  Elizabeth's  attention  was  much  occupied  with  the  affairs  of 
Ireland,  where  the  English  sovereignty  had  hitherto  been  little  more  than 
nominal.  The  Irish  princes  and  nobles,  divided  among  themselves,  readily 
paid  the  exterior  marks  of  obedience  to  a  power  which  they  were  not  able 
to  resist ;  but  as  no  durable  force  was  ever  kept  on  foot  to  retain  them  in 
submission,  they  still  relapsed  into  their  former  state  of  barbarous  indepen- 
dency Other  reasons  conspired  to  prevent  a  cordial  union.  The  small 
army  which  was  maintained  in  Ireland  never  being  regularly  paid,  the 
officers  were  obliged  to  give  their  soldiers  the  privilege  of  free  quarters  upon 
the  natives.  Rapine  and  insolence  inflamed  the  hatred  which  prevailed 
between  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered;  and  that,  together  with  the 
old  opposition  of  manners,  laws,  and  interests,  was  now  heightened  by 
religious  animosity,  the  Irish  being  still  Catholics,  and  in  a  great  measure 
savages.(G) 

The  romantic  and  impolitic  project  of  the  English  princes  for  subduing 
France  occasioned  this  inattention  to  the  affairs  of  Ireland ;  a  conquest  preg- 
nant with  many  solid  advantages,  and  infinitely  more  suited  to  their  condition. 
Elizabeth  early  saw  the  importance  of  that  island,  and  took  several  measures 
for  reducing  it  to  a  state  of  greater  order  and  submission.  Besides  furnishing 
her  deputies,  or  governors  of  Ireland,  with  a  stronger  force,  she  founded  a 
university  in  Dublin,  with  a  view  of  introducing  arts  and  learning  into  that 
capital  and  kingdom,  and  of  civilizing  the  barbarous  manners  of  the  people. (7) 

(1)  D'Ewes,  ubi  sup.  (2)  Ibid.  (3)  Ibid.  (4)  Spotswood. 

'5>  Robertson,  Hist.  Scot.  vol.  ii.        (6)  Spenser's  Recount  of  Ireland.        (7)  Sir  John  Davis.  Camdeii 


LET.  LXXII.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  505 

But  unhappily,  sir  John  Perrot,  in  1585,  being  then  lord-deputy,  put  arms  into 
the  hands  of  the  inhabitants  of  Ulster,  in  order  to  enable  them,  without  the 
assistance  of  the  English  government,  to  repress  the  incursions  of  the  Scottish 
islanders;  and  Philip  TI  having,  about  the  same  time,  engaged  many  oi 
the  Irish  gentry  to  serve  in  his  armies  in  the  Low  Countries,  Ireland,  thus 
provided  both  with  officers  and  soldiers,  with  discipline  and  arms,  was  thence- 
forth able  to  maintain  a  mpre  regular  war,  and  became  more  formidable  to 
England. 

Hugh  O'Neale,  the  head  of  a  potent  clan,  had  been  raised  by  the  queen  to 
the  dignity  of  earl  of  Tyrone ;  but  preferring  the  pride  of  barbarous  license 
and  dominion  to  the  pleasures  of  opulence  and  tranquillity,  he  secretly 
fomented  the  discontents  of  his  countrymen,  and  formed  the  project  of 
rendering  himself  independent.  Trusting,  however,  to  the  influence  of  his 
deceitful  oaths  and  protestations,  as  he  was  not  yet  sufficiently  prepared,  he 
surrendered  himself  into  the  hands  of  sir  William  Russel,  who  had  been 
appointed  the  queen's  deputy  in  Ireland ;  and  being  dismissed,  in  consequence 
of  these, protestations  of  his  pacific  disposition,  and  retiring  into  his  own 
country,  he  embraced  the  daring  resolution  of  rising  in  open  rebellion,  and  of 
relying  no  longer  on  the  lenity  and  imprudence  of  his  enemies.  His  success 
exceeded  his  most  sanguine  hopes.  After  amusing  sir  John  Norris,  sent  over 
to  reduce  him  to  obedience,  with  treacherous  promises  and  proposals  of 
accommodation,  by  means  of  which  the  war  was  spun  out  for  some  years,  he 
defeated  the  English  army  under  sir  Henry  Bagnal,  who  had  succeeded  to  the 
command  on  the  death  of  the  gallant  Norris,  and  who  was  left  dead  on  the 
field,  together  with  fifteen  hundred men.(l) 

This  victory,  which  mightily  animated  the  courage  of  the  Irish,  and  raised 
the  reputation  of  Tyrone,  who  now  assumed  the  title  of  Deliverer  of  his 
Country,  made  Elizabeth  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  pushing  the  war  by 
vigorous  measures.  And  she  appointed,  at  his  own  request,  her  reigning 
favourite  the  earl  of  Essex,  ever  ambitious  of  military  fame,  governor  of 
Ireland,  under  the  title  of  lord-lieutenant ;  vested  him  with  powers  almost 
unlimited ;  and,  in  order  to  ensure  him  success  against  the  rebels,  she  levied 
an  army  of  sixteen  thousand  foot  and  thirteen  hundred  horse.  But  Essex, 
unacquainted  with  the  country,  and  misled  by  interested  councils,  disappointed 
the  expectations  of  the  queen  and  the  nation ;  and,  fearing  the  total  alienation 
of  her  affections,  by  the  artifices  of  his-enemies,  he  embraced  the  rash  reso- 
lution of  returning  home,  expressly  contrary  to  her  orders,  and  arrived  at 
court  before  any  one  was  apprized  of  his  intentions. (2) 

The  sudden  and  unexpected  appearance  of  her  favourite,  whose  impatience 
carried  him  to  her  bedchamber,  where  he  threw  himself  at  her  feet,  and 
kissed  her  hand,  at  first  disarmed  the  resentment  of  Elizabeth.  She  was 
incapable,  in  that  moment  of  soft  surprise,  of  treating  him  with  severity; 
hence  Essex  was  induced  to  say,  on  retiring,  he  thanked  God,  that  though  he 
had  suffered  much  trouble  and  many  storms  abroad,  he  found  a  sweet  calm 
at  home. (3) 

Elizabeth,  however,  had  no  sooner  leisure  for  recollection,  than  her  dis 
pleasure  returned.  All  Essex's  faults  again  took  possession  of  her  mind,  and 
she  thought  it  necessary,  by  some  severe  discipline,  to  subdue  that  haughty 
and  imperious  spirit,  which,  presuming  on  her  partiality  and  indulgence,  h« 
ventured  to  disregard  her  instructions,  and  disobey  her  commands,  bhe 
ordered  him  to  be  confined;  and,  by  a  decree  of  the  privy  council,  he  was 
deprived  of  all  his  employments,  except  that  of  master  of  the  horse,  and 
sentenced  to  remain  a  prisoner  during  her  majesty's  pleasure. 

Humbled  by  this  sentence,  but  still  trusting  to  the  queen  s  tenderness, 
Essex  wrote  to  her,  that  he  kissed  her  majesty's  hand,  and  the  rod  with  which 
she  had  corrected  him ;  but  that  he  could  never  recover  his  wonted  cheerful- 
ness, till  she  dei°ned  to  admit  him  to  that  presence,  which  had  ever  been  the 
chief  source  of  his  happiness  and  enjoyment.  He  had  now  resolved,  n 

(1)  Sir  JohnDavis.    Ca.nden.  (2)  Winwood,  vol.  i.  (3)  Sydney's  Letters,  vol.  li. 

22 


506  THE   HISTuttF  OF  [PART  I. 

added,  to  make  amends  for  his  past  errors  ;  to  retire  into  a  rural  solitude,  and 
say  with  Nebuchadnezzar,  "  Let  my  dwelling  be  with  the  beasts  of  the  field, 
let  me  eat  grass  as  an  ox,  and  be  wet  with  the  dew  of  heaven,  till  it  shall 
please  the  queen  to  restore  me  to  my  understanding."(l) 

Elizabeth,  who  had  always  declared  to  the  world,  and  even  to  Essex  him- 
self, that  the  purpose  of  her  severity  was  to  correct,  not  to  ruin  him,  was 
much  pleased  with  these  sentiments ;  and  replied,  that  she  heartily  wished 
his  actions  might  correspond  with  his  expressions.  Every  one  expected  that 
he  would  soon  be  restored  to  his  former  degree  of  credit  and  favour ;  nay,  as 
is  usual  in  reconciliations  proceeding  from  tenderness,  that  he  would  acquire 
an  additional  ascendant  over  his  fond  mistress.  But  Essex's  enemies,  by 
whom  she  was  continually  surrounded,  found  means  to  persuade  the  queen, 
that  his  lofty  spirit  was  not  yet  sufficiently  subdued ;  and,  as  a  farther  trial 
of  his  submission,  she  refused  to  renew  a  patent,  which  he  possessed, 
for  a  monopoly  of  sweet  wines.  She  even  accompanied  her  refusal  with 
an  insult.  "  An  ungovernable  beast,"  added  she,  "  must  be  stinted  in  its 
provender."(2) 

Essex,  who  had  with  difficulty  restrained  his  proud  heart  so  long,  and 
whose  patience  was  now  exhausted,  imagining,  from  this  fresh  instance  of 
severity,  that  the  queen  was  become  inexorable,  gave  full  rein  to  his  violent 
disposition,  and  threw  off  all  appearance  of  duty  and  respect.  Already  high 
in  the  public  favour,  he  practised  anew  every  art  of  popularity.  He  indulged 
himself  in  great  liberties  of  speech;  particularly  in  regard  to  the  queen's 
person,  which  was  still  an  object  of  her  vanity,  and  on  which  she  allowed 
herself  to  be  complimented,  though  approaching  to  her  seventieth  year.  And 
what  was,  if  possible,  still  more  mortifying  to  Elizabeth,  he  made  secret  appli- 
cations to  the  king  of  Scotland,  her  heir  and  presumptive  successor,  offering 
to  extort  an  immediate  declaration  in  his  favour.  (3) 

But  James,  although  sufficiently  desirous  of  securing  the  succession  of 
England,  and  though  he  had  negotiated  with  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  in 
order  to  procure  support  to  his  hereditary  title,  did  not  approve  of  the 
violent  means  which  Essex  proposed  to  employ  for  that  end.  His  natural 
timidity  of  temper  made  him  averse  against  any  bold  expedient;  and  he  was 
afraid,  if  the  attempt  should  fail,  that  Elizabeth  might  be  induced  to  take  some 
extraordinary  step  to  his  prejudice.  Essex,  however,  continued  to  make  use 
of  that  prince's  claim,  as  a  colour  for  his  rebellious  projects.  A  select  council 
of  malecontents  was  formed ;  and  it  was  agreed  to  seize  the  palace,  to  oblige 
the  queen  to  reniove  all  Essex's  enemies,  to  call  a  parliament,  and  to  settle 
the  succession,  together  with  a  new  plan  of  government. (4) 

Elizabeth  had  some  intimation  of  these  desperate  resolutions.  Essex  was 
summoned  to  attend  the  council;  but  he  received  a  private  note,  which 
warned  him  to  provide  for  his  safety.  He  concluded  that  all  his  conspiracy 
was  discovered ;  excused  himself  to  the  council,  on  account  of  a  pretended 
indisposition ;  and,  as  he  judged  it  impracticable  to  seize  the  palace  without 
more  preparations,  he  sallied  forth,  at  the  head  of  about  two  hundred  followers, 
and  attempted  to  raise  the  city.  But  the  citizens,  though  much  attached  to 
his  person,  showed  no  disposition  to  join  them.  In  vain  did  he  tell  them,  that 
his  life  was  in  danger,  and  that  England  was  sold  to  the  Spaniards.  They 
flocked  about  him  in  amazement,  but  remained  silent  and  inactive :  and  Essex, 
despairing  of  success,  retreated  with  difficulty  to  his  own  house.  There  he 
seemed  determined  to  defend  himself  to  the  last  extremity,  and  rather  to  die, 
like  a  brave  man,  with  his  sword  in  his  hand,  than  ignominiously  by  the  hands 
of  the  executioner ;  but,  after  some  parley,  his  resolution  failed  him,  and  he 
surrendered  at  discretion.  (5) 

Orders  were  immediately  given  for  the  trial  of  Essex,  and  the  most  consi- 
derable of  the  other  conspirators.  Their  guilt  was  too  notorious  to  admit  of 
any  doubt,  and  sentence  was  pronounced  accordingly.  The  queen,  who  had 
behaved  with  the  utmost  composure  during  the  insurrection,  now  appeared  all 

(1)  Camden.  (2)  Ibid  (3i  Birch's  Mem.  vol.  ii.  (4)  Camden.  (5)  Ibid 


LET.  LXXIL]  MODERN  E  URO  P  E.  507 

agitation  and  irresolution.  The  unhappy  condition  of  Essex  awakened  her 
fondness  afresh :  resentment  and  affection  shared  her  breast  at  turns ;  the 
care  of  her  own  safety,  and  concern  for  her  favourite.  She  signed  the  warrant 
for  his  execution,  she  countermanded  it ;  she  again  resolved  on  his  death, 
she  felt  a  new  return  of  tenderness.  She  waited  impatiently  for  the  inter- 
cession of  a  friend,  to  whom  she  might  yield  that  forgiveness,  which  of  her- 
self she  was  ashamed  to  grant.  No  such  friend  appeared ;  and  Elizabeth, 
imagining  this  ungrateful  neglect  to  proceed  from  Essex's  haughtiness— from 
a  pride  of  spirit,  which  disdained  to  solicit  her  clemency,  at  last  permitted 
the  sentence  to  be  put  in  execution.(l)  He  was  privately  beheaded  in  the 
tower,  to  prevent  the  danger  of  a  popular  insurrection. 

Such  was  the  untimely  fate  of  Robert  d'Evreux,  earl  of  Essex.  Brave, 
generous,  affable,  incapable  of  disguising  his  own  sentiments  or  of  misrepre- 
senting those  of  others,  he  possessed  the  rare  felicity  of  being  at  once  the 
favourite  of  his  sovereign,  and  the  darling  of  the  people.  But  this  so  for- 
tunate circumstance  proved  the  cause  of  his  destruction.  Confident  of  the 
queen's  partiality  towards  him,  as  well  as  of  his  own  merit,  he  treated  her 
with  a  haughtiness  which  neither  her  love  nor  her  dignity  could  bear ;  and, 
when  his  rashness,  imprudence,  and  violence  had  exposed  him  to  her  resent- 
ment, he  hoped,  by  means  of  his  popularity,  to  make  her  submit  to  his  impe- 
rious will.  But  the  attachment  of  the  people  to  his  person  was  not  strong 
enough  to  shake  their  allegiance  to  the  throne.  He  saw  his  mistake,  though 
too  late ;  and  his  death  was  accompanied  with  many  circumstances  of  the 
most  humiliating  penitence.  But  his  remorse  unhappily  took  a  wrong  direc- 
tion. It  made  him  ungenerously  publish  the  name  of  every  one  to  whom  he 
had  communicated  his  treasonable  designs. (2)  He  debased  his  character,  in 
attempting  to  make  his  peace  with  Heaven ;  and,  after  all,  it  is  much  to  be 
questioned,  whatever  he  might  imagine  in  those  moments  of  affliction, 
whether,  in  bewailing  his  crimes,  he  did  not  secretly  mourn  his  disappointed 
ambition,  and  in  naming  his  accomplices  hope  to  appease  his  sovereign.  But 
however  that  might  be,  it  is  sincerely  to  be  lamented  that  a  person  possessed 
of  so  many  noble  virtues  should  have  involved  not  only  himself,  but  many 
of  his  friends  in  ruin. 

The  king  of  Scotland,  who  had  a  great  regard  for  Essex,  though  he  neg- 
lected his  violent  counsels,  no  sooner  heard  of  his  criminal  and  unsuccessful 
enterprise,  than  he  sent  two  ambassadors  to  the  court  of  England,  in  order 
to  intercede  for  his  life,  as  well  as  to  congratulate  the  queen  on  her  escape 
from  the  late  insurrection  and  conspiracy.  But  these  envoys  arrived  too  late 
to  execute  the  first  part  of  their  instructions,  and  therefore  prudently  con- 
cealed it.  Elizabeth  received  them  with  all  possible  marks  of  respect ;  and, 
during  their  residence  in  England,  they  found  the  dispositions  of  men  as 
favourable  as  they  could  wish  to  the  Scottish  succession.  They  even  entered 
into  a  private  correspondence  with  secretary  Cecil,  son  of  the  late  lord  trea- 
surer Burleigh,  whose  influence,  after  the  fall  of  Essex,  was  uncontrolled.  (3) 
That  profound  courtier  thought  it  prudent  to  acquire,  by  this  policy,  the  con- 
fidence of  a  prince,  who  might  soon  become  his  master :  and  James,  having' 
gained  the  man  whose  opposition  he  had  hitherto  chiefly  feared,  waited  in 
perfect  security  till  time  should  bring  about  that  event  which  would  open  his 
way  to  the  English  throne. (4) 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Britain,  lord  Mountjoy,  who  suc- 
ceeded Essex  in  Ireland,  had  restored  the  queen's  authority  in  that  kingdom. 
He  defeated  the  rebels  near  Kinsale,  though  supported  by  six  thousand 
Spaniards,  whom  he  expelled  the  island  ;  and  many  of  the  chieftains,  after 
skulking  for  some  time  in  the  woods  and  morasses,  submitted  to  mercy,  and 
received  such  conditions  as  the  deputy  was  pleased  to  prescribe.  Even 
Tyrone  petitioned  for  terms;  which  being  denied  him,  he  was  obliged  to 
throw  himself  on  the  queen's  clemency. (5) 

But  Elizabeth  was  now  incapable  of  receiving  any  pleasure  from  this 

(1)  Birch.    Bacon.    Camden.  (2)  Winwood,  vol.  L 

(31  Osborne.  (4)  Spotswood.  (5)  Camden. 


608  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

fortunate  conclusion  of  the  war,  which  had  long  occupied  her  councils, 
exhausted  her  treasury,  and  disturbed  her  domestic  peace.  Though  in  her 
seventieth  year,  she  had  hitherto  enjoyed  a  good  state  of  health ;  but  the 
infirmities  of  old  age  at  length  began  to  steal  upon  her,  and  with  them  that 
depression  of  spirits  by  which  they  are  naturally  accompanied.  She  had  no 
offspring  to  inherit  her  extensive  dominions  ;  no  son,  no  daughter,  to  whom 
she  could  transmit  her  sceptre,  and  the  glories  of  her  illustrious  reign ;  no 
object  of  affection  to  alleviate  her  sorrows,  or  on  whom  she  could  repose  her 
increasing  cares.  There  lay  the  source  of  her  most  dangerous  disease.  A 
deep  melancholy,  which  nothing  could  dissipate,  and  which  rendered  her  dead 
to  every  human  satisfaction,  had  settled  on  her  mind. 

Essex,  as  I  have  already  observed,  had  been  consigned  to  the  executioner 
solely  on  a  suspicion  that  the  obstinacy  and  haughtiness  of  his  spirit,  still 
disdaining  submission,  would  not  permit  him  to  implore  the  queen's  clemency. 
His  criminal  designs  would  have  been  forgiven,  as  the  extravagances  of  a 
great  soul ;  but  his  want  of  confidence  in  the  affection  of  an  indulgent  mis- 
tress, or  his  sullen  contempt  of  her  mercy,  were  unpardonable.  His  enemies 
knew  it :  they  took  advantage  of  it,  to  hasten  his  destruction ;  and  his  friends 
were  afraid  to  interpose,  lest  they  should  be  represented  as  the  abettors  of 
his  treason.  But  no  sooner  was  the  fatal  blow  struck,  than,  fear  and  envy 
being  laid  asleep,  his  merits  were  universally  confessed.  Even  his  sentiments 
of  duty  and  loyalty  were  extolled.  Elizabeth  became  sensible  she  had  been 
deceived,  and  lamented  her  rashness,  in  sacrificing  a  man  on  whose  life  her 
happiness  depended.  His  memory  became  daily  more  dear  to  her,  and  she 
seldom  mentioned  his  name  without  tears. (1)  Other  circumstances  con- 
spired to  heighten  her  regret.  Her  courtiers  having  no  longer  the  superior 
favour  of  Essex  to  dread,  grew  less  respectful  and  assiduous  in  their  attend- 
ance, and  all  men  desirous  of  preferment  seemed  to  look  forward  to  her 
successor.  The  people  caught  the  temper  of  the  court,  the  queen  went 
abroad  without  the  usual  acclamations.  And  as  a  farther  cause  of  uneasi- 
ness, she  had  been  prevailed  on,  contrary  to  her  most  solemn  declarations 
and  resolutions,  to  pardon  Tyrone,  whose  rebellion  had  created  her  so  much 
trouble,  and  whom  she  regarded  as  the  remote  cause  of  all  her  favourite's 
misfortunes.  An  unexpected  discovery  completed  her  sorrow,  and  rendered 
her  melancholy  mortal. 

While  Essex  was  in  high  favour  with  Elizabeth,  she  had  given  him  a  ring 
as  a  pledge  of  her  affection ;  and  accompanied  it  with  a  promise,  that  into 
whatever  disgrace  he  might  fall,  or  whatever  prejudices  she  might  be  induced, 
by  his  enemies,  to  entertain  against  him,  on  producing  that  ring  he  might 
depend  on  her  for  forgiveness.  This  precious  gift  he  had  reserved  for  the 
final  extremity.  All  his  misfortunes  had  not  been  able  to  draw  it  from  him ; 
but  after  his  condemnation  he  resolved  to  try  its  efficacy,  and  committed  it 
to  the  countess  of  Nottingham,  in  order  to  be  delivered  to  the  queen.  The 
countess  communicated  the  matter  to  her  husband,  one  of  Essex's  most  im- 
placable enemies,  who  persuaded  her  to  act  an  atrocious  part;  neither  to 
deliver  the  ring  to  the  queen  nor  return  it  to  the  earl.  Elizabeth,  who  had 
anxiously  expected  that  last  appeal  to  her  tenderness,  imputed  an  omission, 
occasioned  by  the  countess's  treachery,  to  the  disdainful  pride  of  her  favourite ; 
and  she  was  chiefly  induced,  by  the  resentment  arising  from  that  idea,  to  sign 
the  warrant  for  his  execution. (2) 

Conscience  discovered  what  it  could  not  prevent.  The  countess  of  Not- 
tingham falling  ill,  and  finding  her  end  fast  approaching,  was  seized  with 
remorse  on  account  of  her  perfidy.  She  desired  to  see  the  queen,  in  order 
to  reveal  to  her  a  secret,  without  disclosing  which  she  could  riot  die  in  peace. 
When  the  queen  entered  her  apartment,  she  presented  the  fatal  ring;  relateu 
the  purpose  for  which  she  received  it,  and  begged  forgiveness.  All  Elizabeth's 
affection  returned,  and  all  her  rage  was  roused.  "  God  may  forgive  you," 
cried  she,  "  but  I  never  can  !"  shaking  the  dying  countess  in  her  bed,  and 
rushing  out  of  the  room.  (3) 

(})  Birch's  Mem.  vol.  H.  (2)  Birch's  Memoirs  and  Negotiations.  (3)  Ibid. 


LET.  LXXIIL]  MODERN  EUROPE.  509 

Few  and  miserable,  after  this  discovery,  were  the  days  of  Elizabeth.  Her 
spirit  left  her,  and  existence  itself  seemed  a  burden.  She  rejected  all  conso- 
lation :  she  would  scarcely  taste  food,  and  refused  every  kind  of  medicine, 
declaring  that  she  wished  to  die,  arid  would  live  no  longer.  She  could  not 
even  be  prevailed  on  to  go  to  bed ;  but  threw  herself  on  the  carpet,  where 
she  remained,  pensive  and  silent,  during  ten  days  and  nights,  leaning  on 
cushions,  and  holding  her  finger  almost  continually  in  her  mouth,  with  her 
eyes  open,  and  fixed  upon  the  ground.  Her  sighs,  her  groans,  were  all  ex- 
pressive of  some  inward  grief,  which  she  cared  not  to  utter,  and  which  preyed 
upon  her  life.  At  last,  her  death  being  visibly  approaching,  the  privy  council 
sent  to  know  her  will,  in  regard  to  her  successor.  She  answered  with  a 
feeble  voice,  that  as  she  had  held  a  regal  sceptre,  she  desired  no  other  than  a 
royal  successor  ;  and  on  Cecil's  desiring  her  to  explain  herself,  she  said,  "  who 
should  that  be  but  my  nearest  kinsman,  the  king  of  Scots  ?"  She  expired 
soon  after,  without  a  struggle,  her  body  being  totally  wasted  by  anguish  and 
abstinence.  (1) 

History  does  not  afford  a  more  striking  lesson  on  the  unsubstantial  nature 
of  human  greatness,  than  in  the  close  of  this  celebrated  reign.  Few  sove- 
reigns ever  swayed  a  sceptre  with  more  dignity  than  Elizabeth :  few  have 
enjoyed  more  uniform  prosperity,  and  none  could  be  more  beloved  by  their 
people  ;  yet  this  great  princess,  after  all  her  glory  and  popularity,  lived  to  fall 
into  neglect,  and  sunk  to  the  grave  beneath  the  pressure  of  a  private  grief, 
accompanied  by  circumstances  of  distress,  which  the  wretch  on  the  torture 
might  pity,  and  which  the  slave  who  expires  at  the  oar  does  not  feel.  But 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth  yields  other  lessons.  It  shows  to  what  a  degree  of 
wealth  and  consequence  a  nation  may  be  raised  in  a  few  years,  by  a  wise 
and  vigorous  administration :  and  what  powerful  efforts  may  be  made  by  a 
brave  and  united  people,  in  repelling  or  annoying  an  enemy,  how  superior 
soever  in  force. 

The  character  of  Elizabeth  herself  has  been  too  often  drawn  to  admit  of 
any  new  feature,  and  is  best  delineated  in  her  conduct.  To  all  the  personal 
jealousy,  the  coquetry,  and  little  vanities  of  a  woman,  she  united  the  sound 
understanding  and  firm  spirit  of  a  man.  A  greater  share  of  feminine  soft- 
ness might  have  made  her  more  agreeable  as  a  wife  or  a  mistress,  though  not 
a  better  queen ;  but  a  less  insidious  policy  would  have  reflected  more  lustre 
on  her  administration,  and  a  less  rigid  frugality,  on  some  occasions,  would 
have  given  more  success  to  her  arms.  But  as  she  was,  and  as  she  acted,  she 
must  be  allowed  to  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  sovereigns  that  ever  filled 
a  throne,  and  may  perhaps  be  considered,  as  the  most  illustrious  female  that 
ever  did  honour  to  humanity. 


LETTER  LXXIII. 

France,  from  the  Peace  of  Feroins,  in  1598,  to  the  Death  of  Henry  W.,  in  1610, 
with  some  Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Germany,  under  Rodolph  II 

No  kingdom,  exempt  from  the  horrors  of  war,  could  be  more  wretched  than 
France,  at  the  peace  of  Vervins.  The  crown  was  loaded  with  debts  and 
pensions  ;  the  country  barren  and  desolated;  the  people  poor  and  miserable  ; 
and  the  nobility,  from  a  long  habit  of  rebellion,  rapine,  and  disorder,  had  lost 


Pref.  p.x. 


510  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

all  sense  of  justice,  allegiance,  or  legal  submission.  They  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  set  at  nought  the  authority  of  the  prince,  to  invade  the  royal  prero- 
gative, and  to  sport  with  the  lives  and  property  of  the  people. 

Happily,  France  was  favoured  with  a  king,  equally  able  and  willing  to 
remedy  all  these  evils.  Henry  IV.,  to  a  sincere  regard  for  the  welfare  of  his 
subjects,  added  a  sound  head  and  a  bold  heart.  His  superiority  in  arms,  to 
which  he  had  been  habituated  from  his  most  early  years,  gave  him  great  sway 
with  all  men  of  the  military  profession;  and  his  magnanimity,  gallantry,  and 
gayety,  recommended  him  to  the  nobility  in  general ;  while  his  known  vigour 
and  promptitude,  together  with  the  love  of  his  people,  curbed  the  more  factious 
spirits,  or  enabled  him  to  crush  them  before  their  designs  were  ripe  for  exe- 
cution. 

But  to  form  a  regular  plan  of  administration,  and  to  pursue  it  with  success, 
amid  so  many  dangers  and  difficulties,  required  more  than  the  wisdom  of 
one  head,  and  the  firmness  of  one  heart.  Henry  stood  in  need  of  an  able 
and  upright  minister,  on  whom  he  might  devolve  the  more  ordinary  cares 
of  government,  and  with  whom  he  might  consult  on  the  most  important 
matters  of  State.  Such  an  assistant  he  found  in  his  servant,  the  marquis  de 
Rosni,  whom  he  created  duke  of  Sully,  in  order  to  give  more  weight  to  his 
measures. 

Sully  seemed  formed  to  be  the  minister  of  Henry  IV.  Equally  brave  in 
the  field,  and  penetrating  in  the  cabinet,  he  possessed  more  coolness  and 
perseverance  than  that  great  prince,  whose  volatility  and  quickness  of  thought 
did  not  permit  him  to  attend  long  to  any  one  object.(l)  Attached  to  his 
master's  person  by  friendship,  and  to  his  interest  and  the  public  good  by 
principle,  he  employed  himself  with  the  most  indefatigable  industry  to  restore 
the  dignity  of  the  crown,  without  giving  umbrage  to  the  nobility,  or  tres- 
passing on  the  rights  of  the  people.  His  first  care  was  the  finances ;  and 
it  is  inconceivable  in  how  little  time  he  drew  the  most  exact  order  out  of 
that  chaos,  in  which  they  had  been  involved  by  his  predecessors.  He  made 
the  king  perfectly  master  of  his  own  affairs  ;  digesting  the  whole  system  of 
the  finances  into  tables,  by  the  help  of  which,  Henry  could  see,  almost  at  a 
single  glance,  all  the  different  branches  of  his  revenue  and  expenditure.  He 
levied  taxes  in  the  shortest  and  most  frugal  manner  possible ;  for  he  held, 
that  every  man  so  employed,  was  a  citizen  lost  to  the  public,  and  yet  main- 
tained by  the  public.  He  diminished  all  the  expenses  of  government ;  but, 
at  the  same  time,  paid  every  one  punctually,  and  took  care  that  the  king 
should  always  have  such  reserve,  as  not  to  be  obliged,  on  any  emergency, 
either  to  lay  new  impositions  on  his  people,  or  to  make  use  of  credit.(2) 
By  these  prudent  measures,  he  paid,  in  the  space  of  five  years,  all  the  debts 
of  the  crown  ;  augmented  the  revenue  four  millions  of  livres,  and  had  foui 
millions  in  the  treasury,  though  he  had  considerably  reduced  the  taxes. (3) 

Sully's  attention,  however,  was  not  confined  merely  to  the  finances.  He 
had  the  most  sound  notions  of  policy  and  legislation  ;  and  he  endeavoured 
to  convert  them  into  practice.  "  If  I  had  a  principle  to  establish,"  says  he, 
"  it  would  be  this ;  that  good  morals  and  good  laws  are  reciprocally  formed  by 
each  other."  No  observation  can  be  more  just,  or  of  more  importance  to 
society  ;  for  if  the  government  neglect  the  manners,  a  relaxation  of  manners 
will  lead  to  a  neglect  of  laws  ;  and  the  evil  will  go  on,  always  increasing, 
until  the  community  arrive  at  the  highest  degree  of  corruption,  when  it  must 
reform  or  go  to  ruin.  "  Hence,"  adds  Sully,  "  in  the  affairs  of  men,  the 
excess  of  evil  is  always  the  source  of  good."(4)  In  consequence  of  this 
mode  of  thinking,  he  co-operated  warmly  with  the  king's  wishes,  in  restoring 
order  and  justice  throughout  all  parts  of  his  dominions,  and  in  getting  such 
laws  enacted  as  were  farther  necessary  for  that  purpose. 

But  Sully's  maxims,  though  in  general  excellent,  were  better  suited  in 
some  respects  to  a  poor  and  small  republic,  than  to  a  great  and  wealthy 

(1)  Mezeray.  (2)  Thuanus. 

't)  Mem.  de  Sully,  torn.  iv.  (4)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  LXXIIL]  MODERN    EUROPE.  511 

monarchy.  Sensible  that  a  fertile  country,  well  cultivated,  is  the  principal 
source  of  the  happiness  of  a  people,  and  the  most  solid  foundation  of  national 
prosperity,  he  gave  great  encouragement  to  agriculture.  But  the  austerity 
of  his  principles  made  him  an  enemy  to  all  manufactures  connected  with 
luxury,  although  it  is  evident  that  a  prosperous  people  will  possess  themselves 
of  such  manufactures  ;  and  that,  if  they  cannot  fabricate  them,  they  must  be 
purchased  from  foreigners  with  the  precious  metals,  or  with  the  common 
produce  of  the  soil,  which  might  otherwise  be  employed  in  the  maintenance 
of  useful  artisans. 

Henry  himself,  whose  ideas  were  more  liberal,  though  generally  less  accu- 
rate than  those  of  his  minister,  had  juster  notions  of  this  matter.  He  accord- 
ingly introduced  the  culture  and  the  manufacture  of  silk,  contrary  to  the 
opinion  of  Sully :  and  the  success  was  answerable  to  his  expectations. 
Before  his  death,  he  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  that  manufacture  not  only 
supply  the  home  consumption,  but  bring  more  money  into  the  kingdom  than 
any  of  the  former  staple  commodities. (1) 

Henry  also  established,  at  great  expense,  manufactures  of  linen  and 
tapestry.  The  workmen  for  the  first  he  drew  from  the  United  Provinces  ;  for 
the  last,  from  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  He  gave  high  wages  and  good 
settlements  to  all.(2)  Hence  his  success.  He  was  sensible  that  industrious 
people  would  not  leave  their  native  country  without  the  temptation  of  large 
profit ;  and  that  after  they  had  left  it,  and  become  rich,  they  would  be  inclined 
to  return,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  company  of  their  friends  and  fellow-citizens, 
unless  fixed  by  such  advantages  as  should  overbalance  that  desire.  In  order 
to  facilitate  commerce,  and  promote  the  conveniency  of  his  subjects,  he  built 
the  Pont-Neuf,  and  cut  the  canal  of  Briare,  which  joins  the  Seine  and  Loire ; 
and  he  had  projected  the  junction  of  the  two  seas,  when  a  period  was  put  to 
his  life,  and,  with  that,  to  all  his  other  great  designs. 

In  the  prosecution  of  these  wise  and  salutary  measures,  which  raised 
France  from  the  desolation  and  misery  in  which  she  was  involved  to  a  more 
flourishing  condition  than  she  had  ever  enjoyed,  Henry  met  with  a  variety 
of  obstructions,  proceeding  from  a  variety  of  causes.  A  heart  too  susceptible 
of  tender  impressions  was  continually  engaging  him  in  new  amours,  destruc- 
tive at  once  of  his  domestic  peace  and  of  the  public  tranquillity ;  and,  what 
is  truly  extraordinary  in  a  man  of  gallantry,  the  last  attachment  appeared 
always  to  be  the  strongest.  His  sensibility,  instead  of  being  blunted,  seemed 
only  to  become  keener  by  the  change  of  objects.  Scarce  had  death  relieved 
him  from  the  importunities  of  Gabriel  d'Estrees,  whom  he  had  created 
dutchess  of  Beaufort,  and  who  possessed  such  an  absolute  ascendant  over  him 
that  he  seemed  resolved  to  marry  her  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  wisest 
counsellors — no  sooner  was  he  extricated  from  this  embarrassment,  than  he 
gave  a  promise  of  marriage  to  Henrietta  d'Entragues,  though  not  yet  divorced 
from  Margaret  of  Valois,  his  first  queen,  whose  licentious  amours  had  dis- 
gusted him,  though  perhaps  as  excusable  as  his  own.  That  artful  wanton 
had  drawn  this  promise  from  him,  before  she  would  crown  his  wishes.  He 
showed  the  obligation  to  Sully,  when  ready  to  be  delivered ;  and  that  faithful 
servant,  transported  with  zeal  for  his  master's  honour,  tore  it  in  pieces.  "  I 
believe  you  are  turned  a  fool !"  said  Henry.  "  I  know  it,"  replied  Sully ; 
'  and  wish  I  were  the  only  fool  in  France."(3) 

Sully  now  thought  himself  out  of  favour  for  ever ;  and  remained  in  that 
opinion,  when  the  king  surprised  him,  by  adding  to  his  former  employments 
that  of  master  of  the  ordnance.  The  sentence  of  divorce,  which  Henry  had 
long  been  soliciting  at  Rome,  was  procured  in  1599 ;  and  he  married,  in  order 
to  please  his  subjects,  Mary  of  Medicis,  niece  to  the  great  duke  of  Tuscany. 
But  this  step  did  not  put  an  end  to  his  gallantries,  which  continued  to  embroil 
him  perpetually  either  with  the  queen  or  his  mistress,  created  marchioness 
of  Verneuil.  And  Sully,  whose  good  offices  were  always  required  on  such 

(1)  Sir  G.  Carew's  Relation  of  the  Stale  of  France  under  Henry  If  '*  P.  Matthiea 

(31  Mem.  de  Sully,  torn.  ii. 


612  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART! 

occasions,  often  found  the  utmost  difficulty  m  accommodating  these  amorous 
quarrels,  which  greatly  agitated  the  mind  of  Henry.(l) 

But  Henry's  most  alarming  troubles  proceeded  from  the  intrigues  of  the 
court  of  Spain.  By  these  the  duke  of  Savoy  was  encouraged  to  maintain 
war  against  him  ;  and,  after  that  prince  was  humbled,  the  duke  of  Biron  was 
drawn  into  a  conspiracy,  which  cost  him  his  head.  Other  conspiracies  were 
formed  through  the  same  instigation  :  the  queen  herself  was  induced  to  hold 
a  secret  correspondence  with  Spain,  and  a  Spanish  faction  began  to  appear 
in  the  king's  councils. (2) 

These  continued  attempts  to  disturb  the  peace  of  his  kingdom,  and  sap 
the  foundation  of  his  throne,  made  Henry  resolve  to  carry  into  execution  a 
design  which  he  had  long  meditated,  of  humbling  the  house  of  Austria,  and 
circumscribing  its  powers  in  Italy  and  Germany.  While  he  was  maturing 
that  great  project,  a  dispute  concerning  the  succession  to  the  dutchies  of 
Cleves  and  Juliers  afforded  him  a  pretext  for  taking  arms  :  and  this  circum- 
stance naturally  leads  us  to  cast  an  eye  on  the  state  of  the  empire. 

We  have  already  brought  down  the  affairs  of  Germany  to  the  death  of 
Maximilian  II.  His  son  Rodolph  II.,  who  inherited,  as  has  been  observed,(3) 
the  pacific  disposition  of  his  father,  succeeded  him  on  the  imperial  throne  in 
1576 ;  and,  although  more  occupied  about  the  heavens  than  the  earth  (being 
devoted  both  to  astronomy  and  astrology,  which  he  studied  under  the  famous 
Tycho  Brahe),  the  empire  during  his  long  reign  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted 
tranquillity.  The  equity  of  his  administration  compensated  for  its  weakness. 
The  chief  disturbances  which  he  met  with  proceeded  from  his  brother  Mat- 
thias, whom  we  have  seen  governor  of  the  United  Provinces.  The  Turks, 
as  usual,  had  invaded  Hungary ;  Matthias  had  been  successful  in  opposing 
their  progress ;  and  a  peace  had  been  concluded,  in  1606,  with  sultan  Achmet, 
successor  of  Mahomet  III.  The  Hungarians  thus  relieved,  become  jealous 
of  their  religious  rights,  conferred  their  crown  upon  Matthias,  their  deliverer, 
who  granted  them  full  liberty  of  conscience,  with  every  other  privilege  which 
they  could  desire. (4)  Matthias  afterward  became  master  of  Austria  and 
Moravia,  on  the  same  conditions  :  and  the  emperor  Rodolph,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  horrors  of  civil  war,  confirmed  to  him  those  usurpations,  together  with 
the  succession  to  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia,  where  the  Lutheran  opinions  had 
taken  deep  root.  (5) 

In  proportion  as  the  reformed  religion  gained  ground  in  Hungary  and 
Bohemia,  the  Protestant  princes  of  the  empire  became  desirous  of  securing 
and  extending  their  privileges ;  and  their  demands  being  refused,  they  entered 
into  a  new  confederacy  called  the  Evangelical  Union.  This  association  was 
opposed  by  another,  formed  to  protect  the  ancient  faith,  under  the  name  of 
the  Catholic  League.  The  succession  to  the  dutchies  of  Cleves  and  Juliers 
roused  to  arms  the  heads  of  the  two  parties,  who  may  be  said  to  have  slum- 
bered since  the  peace  of  Passau. 

John  William,  duke  of  Cleves,  Juliers,  and  Berg,  having  died  without  issue, 
several  competitors  arose  for  the  succession,  and  the  most  powerful  prepared 
to  support  their  title  by  the  sword.  In  order  to  prevent  the  evils  which  must 
have  been  occasioned  by  such  violent  contests,  as  well  as  to  support  his  own 
authority,  the  emperor  cited  all  the  claimants  to  appear  before  him,  within  a 
certain  term,  to  explain  the  nature  of  their  several  pretensions.  Meanwhile, 
he  sequestered  the  fiefs  in  dispute,  and  sent  his  cousin  Leopold,  in  quality  of 
governor,  to  take  possession  of  them,  and  to  rule  them  in  his  name,  till  the 
right  of  inheritance  should  be  settled.  Alarmed  at  this  step,  John  Sigismund, 
elector  of  Brandenburg,  and  the  duke  of  Neuberg,  two  of  the  competitors, 
united  against  the  emperor,  whom  they  suspected  of  interested  views.  They 
were  supported  by  the  elector  Palatine,  and  the  other  princes  of  the  Evange- 
lical Union,  as  the  emperor  was  by  the  elector  of  Saxony,  one  of  the 

(1)  Mem.  de  Sully,  torn.  iv.  lib.  xxv.  Ft  was  a  satirical  survey  of  this  weak  side  of  Henry's  character 
which  induced  the  sage  Bayle  to  say,  That  he  would  have  equa'lled  the  greatest  heroes  of  antiquity,  if  he 
had  been  early  deprived  of  his  virility.  (2)  Dupleix.  Mezeray.  (3;  Letter  LXVOI 

f4)  Ileisg,  Hist,  de  I'Emp.  Uv  tti.  chap.  vii.  (5)  Id.  ibid.    Barre,  Hist .  d'Mlemagne,  torn.  ix. 


LET.  LXXIIL]  M  O  D  E  R  N   E  U  R  0  P  E.  513 

claimants,  and  the  princes  of  the  Catholic  League ;  and  in  order  to  be  a  match 
for  their  enemies,  who  were  in  alliance  with  the  pope  and  the  king  of  Spain, 
they  applied  to  the  king  of  France.(l) 

Henry,  as  has  been  observed,  yanted  only  a  decent  apology  for  breaking 
openly  with  the  house  of  Austria.  That  apology  was  now  furnished  him. 
The  Protestant  envoys  found  him  well  disposed  to  assist  them :  and  a  do 
mestic  event  contributed  to  confirm  his  resolution.  The  king  was  enamoured 
of  the  princess  of  Conde".(2)  Her  husband,  in  a  fit  of  jealousy,  carried  her 
to  Brussels.  The  archduke  Albert  afforded  them  protection,  notwithstanding 
a  message  from  the  French  court,  demanding  their  return.  This  new 
injury,  which  Henry  keenly  felt,  added  to  so  many  others,  inflamed  his  rage 
against  the  house  of  Austria  to  the  highest  pitch ;  and  he  began  instantly 
to  put  in  motion  all  the  wheels  of  that  vast  machine,  which  he  had  been 
constructing  for  many  years,  in  order  to  erect  a  balance  of  power  in  Europe. 
Historians  are  as  much  divided  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  Henry's  Grand 
Design  (for  so  it  is  commonly  called)  as  they  are  agreed  about  its  object. 
The  plan  of  a  Christian  commonwealth,  as  exhibited  in  Sully's  Memoirs,  by 
dividing  Europe  into  fifteen  associated  states,  seems  a  theory  too  romantic- 
even  for  the  visionary  brain  of  a  speculative  politician.  Yet  it  is  not  impos- 
sible but  Henry  might,  at  times,  anttrse  his  imagination  with  such  a  splendid 
idea :  the  soundest  minds  have  their  reveries,  but  he  never  could  seriously 
think  of  carrying  it  into  execution.  Perhaps  he  made  use  of  it  only  as  a  gay 
covering  to  his  real  purpose  of  pulling  down  the  house  of  Austria ;  and  of 
making  himself  by  that  means  the  arbiter  of  Christendom. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  scheme  on  which  Henry  valued  himsell 
so  much,  and  from  which  he  expected  such  extraordinary  consequences,  his 
avowed  resolution  now  was,  to  give  law  to  the  German  branch  of  the  Austrian 
family,  by  supporting  the  Evangelical  Union.  His  preparations  were  vigo- 
rous, and  his  negotiations  successful.  The  duke  of  Savoy,  his  old  enemy, 
and  the  most  politic  prince  in  Europe,  readily  entered  into  his  views. 
The  Italian  powers  in  general  approved  of  his  design,  and  the  Swiss  and  the 
Venetians  took  part  in  the  alliance.  He  himself  assembled  an  army  of  forty 
thousand  men,  chiefly  old  troops ;  and  a  more  excellent  train  of  artillery  was 
prepared  than  had  ever  been  brought  into  the  field.  Sully  assured  him  there 
were  forty  millions  of  livres  in  the  treasury;  "and,"  added  he,  "  if  you  do 
not  increase  your  army  beyond  forty  thousand,  I  will  supply  you  with  money 
sufficient  for  the  support  of  the  war,  without  laying  any  new  tax  upon  your 
people."(3) 

The  king  of  France  proposed  to  command  his  army  in  person,  and  was 
impatient  to  put  himself  at  its  head ;  but  the  queen,  appointed  regent  during 
his  absence,  insisted  on  being  solemnly  crowned  before  his  departure.  Henry, 
if  we  may  believe  the  duke  of  Sully,  was  more  disquieted  at  the  thoughts  of 
this  ceremony  than  by  any  thing  that  had  ever  happened  to  him  in  his  life. 
He  was  not  only  displeased  with  the  delay  which  it  occasioned,  but  he  is  said 
to  have  been  conscious  of  an  inward  dread ;  arising,  no  doubt,  from  the  many 
barbarous  attempts  which  had  been  made  upon  his  person,  the  rumours  of 
new  conspiracies,  and  the  opportunity  which  a  crowd  afforded  of  putting  them 
in  execution.  He  agreed,  however,  to  the  coronation,  notwithstanding  these 
apprehensions,  and  even  to  be  present  at  it.  On  that  occasion  he  escaped : 
but  next  day,  his  coach  being  obstructed  in  a  narrow  street,  Ravaillac,  a 
blood-lhivsty  bigot,  who  had  long  sought  such  an  opportunity,  mounted  the 

(1)  Heiss  et  Barre,  ubi  sup. 

(2)  Henry's  passion  for  that  lady,  of  the  family  of  Montmorency,  commenced  before  her  marriage;  and 
he  seems  only  to  have  connected  her  with  the  prince  of  Cond6  in  order  more  securely  to  gratify  his  desires 
"  When  I  first  perceived,"  says  Sully,  "  this  growing  inclination  in  Henry,  I  used  my  utmost  endeavour* 
to  prevent  the  progress  of  it,  as  I  foresaw  much  greater  inconveniences  from  it  than  from  any  of  his  former 
attachments.     And  although  these  endeavours  proved  ineffectual,  I  renewed  them  again,  when  the  king 
proposed  to  me  his  design  of  marrying  Mademoiselle  Montmorency  to  the  prince  of  Condi ;  for  I  had  no 
reason  to  expect  Henry  would  exert,  in  such  circumstances,  that  generous  self-denial  which  some  lovers 
have  shown  themselves  capable  of,  when  they  have  taken  this  method  to  impose  upon  themselves  the 
necessity  of  renouncing  the  object  of  a  tender  affection."    Mem.  de  Sully,  liv.  xsvi. 

(4)  Mem.  de  Sully,  liv.  ixvli. 

VOL.  I.— K  k 


514  THE   HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

wheel  of  his  carriage,  and  stabbed  him  to  the  heart  with  a  knife,  over  the 
the  duke  d'Espernon's  shoulder,  and  amid  six  more  of  his  courtiers.  The 
assassin,  like  some  others  of  that  age,  thought  he  had  done  an  acceptable 
service  to  God  in  committing  murder ;  especially  as  the  king  was  going  to 
assist  the  Protestants,  and  consequently  was  still  a  heretic  in  his  heart.  He 
accordingly  did  not  offer  to  make  his  escape,  and  seemed  much  surprised  at 
the  detestation  in  which  his  crime  was  held.(l)  He  persisted  to  the  last,  that 
it  was  entirely  his  own  act,  and  that  he  had  no  accomplice. 

Thus  perished  Henry  IV.,  one  of  the  ablest  and  best  princes  that  ever  sat 
upon  the  throne  of  France.  A  more  melancholy  reflection  cannot  enter  the 
human  mind  than  is  suggested  by  his  untimely  fall ;  that  a  wretch,  unworthy 
of  existence,  and  incapable  of  one  meritorious  action,  should  be  able  to  obstruct 
the  most  illustrious  enterprises,  and  to  terminate  a  life  necessary  to  the,  wel- 
fare of  millions ! — Henry's  chief  weakness  was  his  inordinate  passion  for 
women,  which  led  him  into  many  irregularities.  But  even  that  was  rather  a 
blemish  in  his  private,  than  in  his  public  character.  Though  no  man  was  more 
a  lover,  he  was  always  a  king.  He  never  suffered  his  mistresses  to  direct  his 
councils,  or  to  influence  him  in  the  choice  of  his  servants.  But  his  libertine 
example  had  unavoidably  a  pernicious  effect  upon  the  manners  of  the  nation: 
it  produced  a  licentious  gallantry  that  infected  all  orders  of  men,  and  which 
his  heroic  qualities  only  could  have  counteracted,  or  prevented  from  de- 
generating into  the  most  enervating  sensuality.(2)  It  was  productive, 
however,  of  consequences  abundantly  fatal.  Four  thousand  French  gen- 
tlemen are  said  to  have  been  killed  in  single  combats,  chiefly  arising  from 
amorous  quarrels,  during  the  first  eighteen  years  of  Henry's  reign. (3) 
"  Having  been  long  habituated  to  the  sight  of  blood,  and  prodigal  of  his  own," 
says  Sully,  "he  could  never  be  prevailed  on  strictly  to  enforce  the  law 
against  duelling.  "(4) 


LETTER  LXXIV. 

A  general  View  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  from  the  Assassination  oj 
Henry  IV.  to  the  Treaty  of  Prague,  in  1635. 

THE  greater  part  of  the  European  continent,  during  the  period  that  followed 
the  death  of  Henry  IV.  was  a  scene  of  anarchy,  rebellion,  and  bloodshed. 
Germany  continued  for  many  years  involved  in  those  disputes  which  he  was 
preparing  to  settle.  Religious  controversies,  which  generally  mingle  them- 
selves with  civil  affairs,  distracted  the  United  Provinces,  and  robbed  them  of 
the  sweets  of  that  liberty  which  they  had  so  gallantly  earned  by  their  valour 
and  perseverance.  And  France,  under  the  minority  of  Lewis  XIII.  and  the 
weak  regency  of  his  mother,  Mary  of  Medicis,  returned  to  that  state  of  dis- 
order and  wretchedness,  out  of  which  it  had  been  raised  by  the  mild  and 
equitable,  but  vigorous,  government  of  Henry  the  Great. 

The  transactions  of  this  turbulent  period,  to  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  when 
the  harmony  of  the  empire  was  established,  and  tranquillity,  in  some  measure, 
restored  to  Europe,  I  propose  to  comprehend  in  two  extensive  sketches ;  and 
in  order  to  prevent  confusion,  as  well  as  to  preserve  the  general  effect,  I  shall 
be  sparing  in  particulars.  The  consideration  of  the  affairs  of  England,  from 
the  accession  of  the  house  of  Stuart  to  the  subversion  of  the  monarchy,  with 
the  grand  struggle  between  the  king  and  parliament,  and  the  narration  of  the 
complicated  transactions  on  the  continent  during  the  reign  of  Lewis  XIV., 
whose  ambition  gave  birth  to  a  series  of  wars,  intrigues,  and  negotiations, 
unequalled  in  the  history  of  mankind,  I  shall  defer  till  some  future  occasion, 
when  you  may  be  supposed  to  have  digested  the  materials  already  before 

(1)  Mem.  de  Sully,  liv  xxvii.    Perefixe.    Matthieu.    L'Etoile. 

(2)  Mem.  de  Sully,  liv.  xxv.     Galanteries  des  Rois  de  France. 

(31  Mem.  pour  servir  ck  VHist.  de  France.  (4)  Mem.  liv.  xxii. 


LET.  LXXIV.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  515 

you  ^observing,  in  the  mean  time,  that  soon  after  the  peace  of  Westphalia, 
which  maybe  considered  as  the  foundation  of  all  subsequent  treaties,  society 
almost  every  where  assumed  its' present  form.— I  must  begin  with  a  view  of 
the  troubles  of  Germany. 

The  two  great  confederacies,  distinguished  by  the  names  of  the  Catholic 
League  and  Evangelical  Union,  which  had  threatened  the  empire  with  a  furi- 
dus  civil  Avar,  appeared  to  be  dissolved  with  the  death  of  Henry  IV.  But  the 
elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the  duke  of  Neuburg  still  maintained  their 
claim  to  the  succession  of  Cleves  and  Juliers ;  and  being  assisted  by  Maurice 
prince  of  Orange,  and  some  French  troops,  under  the  mareschaldela  Chatre, 
they  expelled  Leopold,  the  sequestrator,  and  took  possession  by  force  of 
arms.  They  afterward,  however,  disagreed  between  themselves  :  but  were 
again  reconciled  from  a  sense  of  mutual  interest.  In  this  petty  quarrel 
Spain  and  the  United  Provinces  interested  themselves,  and  the  two  greatest 
generals  in  Europe  were  once  more  opposed  to  each  other ;— Spinola  on  the 
part  of  the  duke  of  Neuburg,  who  had  renounced  Lutheranism  in  order  to 
procure  the  protection  of  the  Catholic  king ;  and  Maurice  on  the  side  of  the 
elector  of  Brandenburg,  who  introduced  Calvinism  into  his  dominions,  more 
strongly  to  attach  the  Dutch  to  his  cause.(l) 

Meantime,  Rodolph  TZ.  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Matthias. 
The  Protestants,  to  whom  the  archduke  had  been  very  indulgent,  in  order 
to  accomplish  his  ambitious  views,  no  sooner  saw  him  seated  on  the  imperial 
throne,  than  they  plied  him  with  memorials,  requiring  an  extension  of  their 
privileges,  while  the  Catholics  petitioned  for  new  restrictions  ;  and  to  com- 
plete his  confusion,  the  Turks  entered  Transylvania.  But  the  extent  of  the 
Ottoman  dominions,  which  had  so  long  given  alarm  to  Christendom,  on  this, 
as  well  as  on  former  occasions,  proved  its  safety.  The  young  and  ambitious 
Achmet,  who  hoped  to  signalize  the  beginning  of  his  reign  by  the  conquest  of 
Hungary,  was  obliged  to  recall  his  forces  from  that  quarter,  to  protect  the 
eastern  frontier  of  his  empire ;  and  Matthias  obtained,  without  striking  a  blow, 
a  peace  as  advantageous  as  he  could  have  expected  after  the  most  successful 
war.  He  stipulated  for  the  restitution  of  Agria,  Pest,  Buda,  and  every  other 
place  held  by  the  Turks  in  Hungary.(2) 

Matthias  was  now  resolved  to  pull  off  the  mask,  which  he  had  so  long 
worn  on  purpose  to  deceive  the  Protestants,  and  to  convince  them  that  he  was 
their  master.  Meanwhile,  finding  himself  advancing  in  years,  and  declining 
in  health,  he  procured,  in  order  to  strengthen  his  authority,  his  cousin  Ferdi- 
nand de  Gratz,  duke  of  Stiria,  whom  he  intended  as  his  successor  in  the 
empire,  to  be  elected  king  of  Bohemia,  and  acknowledged  in  Hungary; 
neither  himself  nor  his  brothers  having  any  children :  and  he  engaged  the 
Spanish  branch  of  the  house  of  Austria  to  renounce  all  pretensions  which  it 
could  possibly  have  to  those  crowns.(S) 

This  family  compact  alarmed  the  Evangelical  Union,  and  occasioned  a  re- 
volt of  the  Hungarians  and  Bohemians.  The  malecontents  in  Hungary  were 
soon  appeased;  but  the  Bohemian  Protestants,  whose  privileges  had  been 
invaded,  obstinately  continued  in  arms,  and  were  joined  by  those  of  Silesia, 
Moravia,  and  Upper  Austria.  The  confederates  were  headed  by  count  de  la 
Tour,  a  man  of  abilities,  and  supported  by  an  army  of  German  Protestants, 
under  the  famous  count  Mansfeldt,  natural  son  of  the  Flemish  general  of  that 
name,  who  was  for  a  time  governor  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  Thus  was 
kindled  a  furious  civil  war,  which  desolated  Germany  during  thirty  years, 
interested  all  the  powers  of  Europe,  and  was  not  finally  extinguished  until 
the  peace  of  Westphalia. 

Amid  these  disorders  died  the  emperor  Matthias,  without  being  able  to 
foresee  the  event  of  the  struggle,  or  who  should  be  his  successor.  The  im- 
perial dignity,  however,  went  according  to  his  destination.  Ferdinand  de 
Gratz  was  raised  to  the  vacant  throne,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the 

(1)  Mercur.  Gallo.  Belg.  torn.  x.  liv.  iii.  (2)  Heiss,  liv.  iii.  chap.  viii. 

(3)  Annal  de  I'Emp.  lorn.  ii. 

Kk 


516  THE  HISTORY  OF  [PART!, 

elector  Palatine,  and  the  states  of  Bohemia  ;  and  with  a  less  tyrannical  dis- 
position he  would  have  been  worthy  that  high  station. 

The  election  of  Ferdinand  II.,  instead  of  intimidating  the  Bohemians,  roused 
them  to  more  vigorous  measures.  They  formally  deposed  him,  and  chose 
Frederic  V.,  elector  Palatine,  for  their  king.  Frederic,  seduced  by  his  flat- 
terers, unwisely  accepted  of  the  crown,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of 
James  I.  of  England,  his  father-in-law,  who  used  all  his  influence  in  persuad- 
ing him  to  reject  it,  and  protested  that  he  would  give  him  no  assistance  in 
such  a  rash  undertaking. 

This  measure  confirmed  the  quarrel  between  Ferdinand  and  the  Bohemians. 

frederic  was  seconded  by  all  the  Protestant  princes,  except  the  elector  of 
axony,  who  still  adhered  to  the  emperor,  in  hopes  of  obtaining  the  investi- 
f,ypp  of  Cleves  and  Juliers.    Bethlem  Gabor,  vaivode  of  Transylvania,  also 
jdlecjared  in  favour  of  the  Palatine  ;  entered  Hungary,  made  himself  mastei 
iqf  inrany  places,  and  was  proclaimed  king  by  the  Protestants  of  that  country.  (1) 
"   ^gderic  was   farther  supported  by  two  thousand  four  hundred  English 
s,  which  James  permittedjto  embark  in  a  cause  of  which  he  disap- 


mOfVjed  j,,and  by  a  body  of  eight  thousand  men,  under  prince  Henry  of  Nassau, 
from  the  United  Provinces.  But  Ferdinand,  assisted  by  the  Catholic  princes 
9£;fc^e,  /empire,  by  the  king  of  Spain,  and  the  archduke  Albert,  was  more  than 
,a  ittj^tcJji  fo,r  his  enemies.  Spinola  led  twenty-five  thousand  veterans  from  the 
j£(Q\y.  .Cpi^ijtnes,  and  plundered  the  Palatinate,  in  defiance  of  the  English  and 
^  -yy^e  Frederic  himself,  unable  to  protect  his  new  kingdom  of  Bohe- 
ai  .totally  routed,  near  Prague,  by  the  imperial  general  Buquoy,  and  his 
iwip'J^nsman,  the  duke  of  Bavaria.(2) 

ala,tjnetapd  his  adherents  were  now  put  to  the  ban  of  the  empire; 
els  being  reduced,  an  army  was  despatched  under  Buquoy 
t  Bethlem  Gabor,  who  consented  to  resign  his  title  to  that 
crown,  ouqtaii^iag  /conditions  otherwise  advantageous.  In  the  mean  time, 
tab  ;cpnqu^4t0ti'iW  -palatinate  was  finished  by  the  imperialists  under  count 
Tilly,  Fredesjc,  tyTf^.,qflgraded  from  his  electoral  dignity,  which  was  conferred 
mi  the  |(I^ke;pf  Bamarfa^  and  his  dominions  were  bestowed  by  Ferdinand,  "  in 
the  fulness  of  iiis  power,"  upon  those  who  had  helped  to  subdue  them.  (3) 


;|lla  Franca,  governor  of  Milan,  and  the  marquis 
,  ^ambassador  at  Venice,  conspired  to  subject  the 

y.eiietiaas,  and  with  them.  fchf,,rest  of  the  Italian  states,  under  the  dominion 

',p.t  'ttiejr  mas^n  ,For  llais?  [purpose  they  had  formed  a  horrid  plot,  which 
would  infuih14yiijay$|pttt.thjen>",ip  possession  of  Venice.  That  city  was  to 
nave  Ibeen  set  on  fire  in  different  parts,  by  a  band  of  ruffians  already  lodged 
v.  itlim  its  waHs^hilp.ja,  .rbqflyjpj;,  jtroops,  sent  from  Milan,  should  attack  it 

..qi^ph?  ^dfi}|a$)d-£pme,anue{i  srepsels  from  Naples  on  the  other.  But  this 
;U.imiou6Vde_sjgn:was  discovered  by,  the  vigilance  of  the  senate  in  1618,  when 
it  was  aln^o^frjp£|f(j^fl$ecu$ipfl.j  ../The  greater  part  of  the  conspirators  were 

^rj,yiaj^^y,drp]ivi]ed^,an^J^domar,  wlio  had  violated  the  law  of  nations,  being 
^creily.Gijil^ucte^ptjtsef  the  pity,  rvvias,  glad  to  make  his  escape.  (4) 

Anther  project  wp,?  Jf^rerfted,,  jji  ii^0,  ^r  extending  the  Spanish  dominions 
in  '.Italy,!  by  tijc  'duke  ofijfpw^;  \iflvcriiiad,  succeeded  the  marquis  de  Villa 
Fianra  in  ilie  g»y,ernmeaU  of  Milaiji.  H(?r.encouraged  the  popish  inhabitants 
of  the  VuUeline  to.j6v«4t  fr^m  the  Grisons:  and  the  king  of  Spain,  as  pro- 

"tector  oif  the  Catholic  faith,  supported  them  in  their  rebellion.     The  situa- 

tion of  the,  ya^]^H&,  rendered]  it  ^fii^m't©  importance,  as  it  facilitated  the 

(:(n-respoii(ieiice  betwwu  tlie^two  bf&ftffy&^rtiie  house  of  Austria,  shut  the 

s  out,  of  Ita^v^pV4He-¥leWt*a#S-M»'^wft*  ^nd  was  a  bridle  on  all  the 

^JWblfrteft^ti  nc?>i 

In  the  rmd^r  of  these  ambitious  schemes  (to  which  of  himself  he  was  little 


,  ix.  (2)  Hqi»s,v»v.xijin«*av    '•          :ii  H,w>,  torn.  i.x. 

(4)  Abbe  St.  iReal.    Batt:Nani,  Hist,  delta  Republics.  /  .".alt*  £S  WV,  ubi  sup. 


LET.  LXXIV.]  MODERN    EUROPE.  517 

inclined)  died  Phil/p  III.  Philip  IV.,  his  son  and  successor,  was  a  prince  of 
a  more  enterprising  disposition;  and  the  abilities  of  Olivares,  the  new 
minister,  were  infinitely  superior  to  those  of  the  duke  of  Lerma,  who  had 
directed  the  measures  of  government  during  the  greater  part  of  the  former 
reign.  The  ambition  of  Olivares  was  yet  more  lofty  than  his  capacity.  He 
made  his  master  assume  the  surname  of  Great,  as  soon  as  he  ascended  the 
throne,  and  thought  himself  bound  to  justify  the  appellation.  He  hoped  to 
raise  the  house  of  Austria  to  that  absolute  dominion  in  Europe,  for  which 
it  had  been  so  long  struggling.  In  prosecution  of  this  bold  plan,  he  resolved 
to  maintain  the  closest  alliance  with  the  emperor ;  to  make  him  despotic  in 
Germany ;  to  keep  possession  of  the  Valteline ;  to  humble  the  Italian  powers, 
and  reduce  the  United  Provinces  to  subjection,  the  truce  being  now  expired.(l) 
Nor  was  this  project  so  chimerical  as  it  may  at  first  sight  appear.  The 
emperor  had  already  crushed  the  force  of  the  Protestant  league ;  France  was 
distracted  by  civil  wars,  and  England  was  amused  by  a  marriage  treaty, 
between  the  prince  of  Wales  and  the  infanta,  which,  more  than  every  other 
consideration,  actually  prevented  James  from  taking  any  material  step  in 
favour  of  the  Palatine,  till  he  was  stripped  of  his  dominions.  But  France,  not- 
withstanding her  intestine  commotions,  was  not  lost  to  all  sense  of  danger 
from  abroad;  and  the  match  with  the  infanta  being  broken  off,  by  a  quarrel 
between  Buckingham,  the  English  minister,  and  Olivares,  the  Spanish  minis- 
ter, an  alliance  was  entered  into  between  France  and  England,  in  conjunction 
with  the  United  Provinces,  for  restraining  the  ambition  of  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria; and  recovering  the  Palatinate.  (2)— The  affairs  of  Holland  now  demand 
our  attention. 

After  a  truce  in  1609,  the  United  Provinces,  as  I  have  already  noticed, 
became  a  prey  to  religious  dissensions.  Gomar  and  Arminius,  two  professors 
at  Leyden,  differed  on  some  abstract  points  in  theology,  and  their  opinions 
divided  the  republic.  Gomar  maintained,  in  all  their  austerity,  the  doctrines 
of  Calvin  in  regard  to  grace  and  predestination;  Arminius  endeavoured  to 
soften  them.  The  Gomarists,  who  composed  the  body  of  the  people,  ever 
carried  towards  enthusiasm,  were  headed  by  prince  Maurice ;  the  Arminians 
by  the  pensionary  Barneveldt,  a  firm  patriot,  who  had  been  chiefly  instru- 
mental in  negotiating  the  late  truce,  in  opposition  to  the  house  of  Orange. 
The  Arminian  principles  were  defended  by  Grotius,  Vossius,  and  the  learned 
in  general.  But  prince  Maurice  and  the  Gomarists  at  last  prevailed.  The 
Arminian  preachers  were  banished,  and  Barneveldt  was  brought  to  the  block 
in  1619,  for  "vexing  the  church  of  God!"  as  his  sentence  imported,  at  the 
age  of  seventy,  and  after  he  had  served  the  republic  forty  years  in  the  cabi- 
net, with  as  much  success  as  Maurice  had  in  the  field.  He  was  a  man  of 
eminent  abilities  and  incorruptible  integrity,  and  had  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  Arminians  chiefly  from  a  persuasion  that  Maurice  meant  to  make  use  of 
his  popularity  with  the  Gomarists,  and  of  their  hatred  of  the  other  sect,  in 
order  to  enslave  that  people  whom  he  had  so  gloriously  protected  from  the 
tyranny  of  Spain.(3) 

This  opinion  appears  to  have  been  well  founded :  for  Maurice,  during  those 
religions  commotions,  frequently  violated  the  rights  of  the  republic ;  and  so 
vigorous  an  opposition  only  could  have  prevented  him  from  overturning  its 
liberties.  The  ardour  of  ambition  at  once  withered  his  well-earned  laurels 
and  disappointed  itself.  The  death  of  Barneveldt  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
people.  They  saw  their  danger,  and  the  iniquity  of  the  sentence,  notwith- 
standing their  religious  prejudices.  Maurice  Avas  detested  as  a  tyrant,  at 
the  very  time  that  he  hoped  to  be  received  as  a  sovereign.  The  deliverer  of 
his  country,  when  he  went  abroad,  was  saluted  with  groans  and  murmurs ;  and, 
<ts  he  passed,  the  name  of  Barneveldt  sounded  in  his  ears  from  every  street. (4) 

But  amid  all  their  civil  and  religious  dissensions,  the  Dutch  were  extending 
their  commerce  and  their  conquests  in  both  extremities  of  the  globe.  The 

(1)  Anecdotes  du  Condi  Due  <T  Olhares  (2)  Rushworth.    Clarendon 

O>  Grotius.    Le  Clerc.  (4)  Id.  ibid 


518  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

city  of  Batavia  was  founded,  and  the  plan  of  an  empire  laid  in  the  East 
Indies,  infinitely  superior  in  wealth,  power,  and  grandeur  to  the  United 
Provinces.  They  had  already  cast  their  eyes  on  Brasil,  which  they  con- 
quered soon  after  the  expiration  of  the  truce,  and  they  carried  on  a  lucrative 
trade  with  the  European  settlements  in  the  West  Indies.  The  prospect  of 
hostilities  with  their  ancient  masters  composed  their  domestic  animosities. 
They  laid  aside  their  jealousy  of  Maurice,  as  he  seemed  to  do  his  ambitious- 
views.  Every  one  was  more  zealous  than  another  to  oppose  and  to  annoy 
the  common  enemy;  and  Spinola  was  obliged,  by  his  old  antagonist,  to 
relinquish  the  siege  of  Bergen-op-zoom,  in  1622,  after  having  lost  ten  thou- 
sand of  his  best  troops  in  the  enterprise.(l) 

In  France,  during  this  period,  both  civil  and  religious  disputes  were  car- 
ried much  higher  than  in  Holland.  Lewis  XIII.  being  only  nine  years  of  age, 
in  1610,  when  his  father  Henry  IV.  was  murdered,  Mary  of  Medicis,  the 
queen-mother,  Avas  chosen  regent.  New  councils  were  immediately  adopted, 
and  the  sage  maxims  of  Sully  despised.  He,  therefore,  resigned  his  employ- 
ments and  retired  from  court.  The  regent  was  entirely  guided  by  her  Italian 
favourites,  Concini  and  his  wife  Galligai.  By  them,  in  concert  with  the 
pope  and  the  duke  of  Florence,  was  negotiated,  in  1612,  a  union  between 
France  and  Spain,  by  means  of  a  double  marriage ;  of  Lewis  XIII.  with 
Anne  of  Austria,  the  eldest  infanta ;  and  of  Elizabeth,  the  king's  sister,  with 
the  prince  of  Asturias,  afterward  Philip  IV.  The  dissolution  of  the  alliances 
formed  under  the  late  reign,  and  the  ruin  of  the  Protestants,  were  also  among 
the  projects  of  Mary's  Italian  ministers. (2) 

The  nobility,  dissatisfied  with  the  measures  of  the  court,  and  with  the 
favour  shown  to  foreigners,  entered  into  cabals;  they  revolted  in  1613;  and 
the  treasures  collected  by  Henry  IV.  in  order  to  humble  the  house  of  Austria, 
were  employed  by  a  weak  administration  to  appease  those  factious  leaders. 
The  prince  of  Conde,  who  had  headed  the  former  faction,  revolted  anew  in 
1615.  He  and  his  adherents  were  again  gratified,  at  the  expense  of  the 
public;  and  fresh  intrigues  being  suspected,  he  was  sent  to  the  Bastile.(S) 

The  imprisonment  of  the  prince  of  Conde  alarmed  many  of  the  nobles, 
who  retired  from  court,  and  prepared  for  their  defence ;  or,  in  other  words, 
for  hostilities.  Meantime,  Concini,  who  still  maintained  his  influence,  re- 
ceived a  blow  from  a  quarter  whence  he  little  expected  it.  Albert  Luines, 
who  had  originally  recommended  himself  to  the  young  king's  favour  by 
rearing  and  training  birds  for  his  amusement,  found  means  to  make  him 
jealous  of  his  authority.  He  dwelt  on  the  ambition  of  the  queen-mother, 
and  the  mal-administration  of  her  foreign  favourites,  to  whom  the  most 
important  affairs  of  state  were  committed,  and  whose  insolence,  he  affirmed, 
had  occasioned  all  the  dissatisfactions  among  the  great. (4) 

Lewis,  struck  with  the  picture  set  before  him,  and  desirous  of  seizing  the 
reins  of  government,  immediately  ordered  Concini  to  be  arrested ;  and  Vitri, 
captain  of  the  guards,  to  whom  that  service  was  intrusted,  executed  it,  in 
1617,  entirely  to  the  wishes  of  Luines.  Concini  was  shot,  under  pretence  of 
resistance.  The  sentence  of  treason  was  passed  on  his  memory;  and 
Galligai,  his  widow,  being  accused  of  sorcery  and  magic,  was  conofemned 
by  the  parliament  to  suffer  death,  for  treason  divine  and  human.  When 
asked  what  spell  she  had  made  use  of  to  fascinate  the  queen-mother,  she  mag- 
nanimously replied,  "  that  ascendant  which  a  superior  mind  has  over  a  feeble 
spirit !"  The  regent's  guards  were  instantly  removed,  and  the  king's  placed 
in  their  stead.  She  was  confined  for  a  time  to  her  apartment,  and  afterward 
exiled  to  Blois.(5) 

That  indignation  which  Concini  and  his  wife  had  excited  was  suddenly 
transferred  to  Luines,  enriched  by  their  immense  spoils,  and  who  engrossed 
in  a  still  higher  degree  the  royal  favour.  His  avarice  and  ambition  knew  no 
bounds.  From  a  page  and  gentleman  of  the  bed-chamber,  he  became,  in 

(1)  Neuville,  Hist,  de  Hollande.  (2)  Dupleix.     Mezcray.  (3)  Id.  ibid. 

(4)  Mem.  des  Affaires  de  France,  depute  1610,  jusuu'en  1620.     Mczeray,  Hist,  du  Mire  et  de  Fils 
(5>  Id  ibid 


LET.  LXXIV.]  M  0  D  E  RN  E  UROPE.  51$ 

rapid  succession,  a  mareschal,  duke,  and  peer  of  France ;  constable,  and 
keeper  of  the  seals.  Meanwhile,  a  conspiracy  was  formed  for  the  release 
of  the  queen-mother,  and  carried  into  execution  by  the  duke  d'Espernon, 
whose  power  had  first  exalted  her  to  the  regency.  The  court,  for  a  time, 
talked  loudly  of  violent  measures :  but  it  was  judged  proper,  in  1619,  to  con- 
clude a  treaty  advantageous  to  the  malecontents,  and  avoid  proceeding  to 
extremities.  This  lenity  encouraged  the  queen-mother  to  enter  into  fresh 
cabals  ;  and  a  new  treaty  was  agreed  to  by  the  court,  no  less  indulgent  than 
the  former.  (1) 

These  cabals  in  opposition  to  the  court  were  chiefly  conducted  by  Richelieu, 
bishop  of  Lu§on.  He  had  risen  to  notice  through  the  influence  of  Galligai : 
he  had  been  disgraced  with  Mary  of  Medicis,  the  queen-mother,  and  with  her 
he  returned  into  favour,  as  well  as  consequence.  At  her  solicitation  he 
obtained  a  cardinal's  hat,  a  seat  in  the  council,  and  soon  after  a  share  in  the 
administration. (2)  But  hypocrisy  was  necessary  to  conceal,  for  a  season, 
from  envy  and  jealousy,  those  transcendent  abilities  which  were  one  day  to 
astonish  Europe. 

In  the  mean  time,  a  new  civil  war  was  kindled,  more  violent  than  any  of 
the  former.  Lewis  XIII.  having  united,  by  a  solemn  edict,  the  principality 
of  Beam,  the  hereditary  estate  of  the  family,  to  the  crown  of  France,  in 

1620,  attempted  to  re-establish  the  Catholic  religion  in  that  province,  where 
there  were  no  Catholics,(3)  and  to  restore  to  the  clergy  the  church  lands, 
contrary  to  the  stipulations  of  Henry  IV.     The  Hugonots,  alarmed  at  the 
impending  danger,  assembled  at  Rochelle,  in  contempt  of  the  king's  prohi- 
bition: and  concluding  that  their  final  destruction  was  resolved  upon,  they 
determined  to  throw  off  the  royal  authority,  and  establish  a  republic,  after 
the  example  of  the  Protestants  in  the  Low  Countries,  for  the  protection  of 
their  civil  and  religious  liberties.     Rochelle  was  to  be  the  capital  of  the  new 
commonwealth,  which  would  have  formed  a  separate  state  within  the  king- 
dom of  France. (4) 

The  constable  Luines,  equally  ignorant  and  presumptuous,  imagining  he 
could  subdue  this  formidable  party,  had  immediately  recourse  to  arms.  Nor 
was  intrigue  neglected.  After  seducing,  by  bribes  and  promises,  several  of 
the  Protestant  leaders,  among  whom  was  the  duke  of  Bouillon,  and  reducing 
some  inconsiderable  places,  the  king  and  Luines  laid  siege  to  Montauban  in 

1621.  The  royal  army  consisted  of  twenty-five  thousand  men,  animated  by 
the  presence  of  their  sovereign ;  but  the  place  was  so  gallantly  defended  by 
the  marquis  de  la  Force,  that  Lewis  and  his  favourite,  in  spite  of  their  most 
vigorous  efforts,  were  obliged  to  abandon  the  enterprise.     Luines  died  soon 
after  this  shameful  expedition ;  and  the  brave  and  ambitious  Lesdiguiers,  who 
had  already  deserted  the  Hugonots,  on  solemnly  renouncing  Calvinism,  was 
honoured  with  the  constable's  sword.(5) 

The  loss  which  the  Protestant  cause  sustained  by  the  apostacy  of  Lesdi- 
guiers, and  the  defection  of  the  duke  of  Bouillon,  was  made  up  by  the  zeal 
and  abilities  of  the  duke  of  Rohan  and  his  brother  Soubise  ;  men  not  inferior 
(especially  the  duke)  either  in  civil  or  military  talents,  to  any  of  the  age  m 
which  they  lived.  Soubise,  however,  was  defeated  by  the  king  in  person, 
who  continued  to  carry  on  the  war  with  vigour.  But  the  duke  still  kept  the 
field;  and  Lewis  having  laid  siege  to  Montpelier,  which  defended  itself  as 
gallantly  as  Montauban,  peace  was  concluded  with  the  Hugonots,  in  1622,  to 
prevent  a  second  disgrace.  They  obtained  a  confirmation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes ;  and  the  duke  of  Rohan,  who  negotiated  the  treaty,  was  gratified  to 
the  utmost  of  his  wish. (6) 

The  French  councils  now  began  to  assume  more  vigour.  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu no  sooner  got  a  share  in  the  administration,  which,  in  a  short  time  he 
entirely  governed,  than,  turning  his  eyes  on  the  state  of  Europe,  he  formed 
three  mighty  projects ;  to  subdue  the  turbulent  spirit  of  the  French  nobilitVi 

MV  Mezeray,  ubi  sup.     Vie  du  Due  d'Espernon.  (2)  Auberi,  Hist,  du  Card.  Rich. 

(3)  Dupleix,  Hist.  Louis  XIII.  (4)  Id.  ibid.  (5)  Hist,  du  Countable  de  Lesdig 

(6)  Mem.  du  Due  de  Rohan. 


520  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

to  reduce  the  rebellious  Hugonots,  and  to  curb  the  encroaching  power  of 
the  house  of  Austria.  But  in  order  to  carry  these  great  designs  into 
execution,  it  was  necessary  to  preserve  peace  with  England.  This  Riche- 
lieu perceived ;  and  accordingly  negotiated,  in  spite  of  the  courts  of  Rome 
and  Madrid,  a  treaty  of  marriage  between  Charles  prince  of  Wales  and 
Henrietta  of  France,  sister  of  Lewis  XIII.  He  also  negotiated  between  the 
two  crowns,  in  conjunction  with  the  United  Provinces,  that  alliance  which  I 
have  already  noticed,  and  which  brought  on  hostilities  with  Spain. 

In  consequence  of  these  negotiations,  a  body  of  six  thousand  men  was 
levied  in  England,  and  sent  over  to  Holland,  commanded  by  four  young 
noblemen,  who  were  ambitious  of  distinguishing  themselves  in  so  popular  a 
cause,  and  of  acquiring  military  experience  under  so  renowned  a  captain  as 
Maurice.  Count  Mansfeldt  was  engaged  in  the  English  service  ;  and  an 
army  of  twelve  thousand  foot,  and  two  thousand  horse,  under  his  command, 
was  embarked  at  Dover,  in  order  to  join  the  League,  formed  in  Low  Saxony, 
for  the  restoration  of  the  Palatine,  and  of  which  Christian  IV.  king  of  Den- 
mark was  declared  chief.  About  the  same  time  a  French  army,  in  concert 
with  the  Venetians  and  the  duke  of  Savoy,  recovered  the  Valteline,  which  had 
been  sequestered  to  the  pope,  and  restored  it  to  the  Orisons. (1) 

Meanwhile,  the  house  of  Austria  was  neither  inactive  nor  unfortunate  in 
^ther  quarters.  Spinola  reduced  Breda,  one  of  the  strongest  towns  in  the 
Netherlands,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  prince  Maurice,  who  died  of  chagrin 
before  the  place  surrendered.  The  English  had  failed  in  an  attempt  upon 
Cadiz :  the  embarkation  under  count  Mansfeldt  had  proved  abortive ;  and  the 
king  of  Denmark  was  defeated  by  the  imperialists  near  Northen.(2) 

The  miscarriages  of  the  English  cooled  their  ardour  for  foreign  enterprises ; 
and  cardinal  Richelieu  found,  for  a  time,  business  enough  to  occupy  his  genius 
at  home.  He  had  not  only  to  quiet  the  Hugonots,  who  had  again  rebelled, 
and  to  whom  he  found  it  necessary  to  grant  advantageous  conditions,  but  he 
had  a  powerful  faction  at  court  to  oppose.  Not  one  prince  of  the  blood  was 
heartily  his  friend.  Gaston  duke  of  Orleans,  the  king's  brother,  was  his 
declared  enemy ;  the  queen-mother  herself  was  become  jealous  of  him  ;  and 
Lewis  XIII.  was  more  attached  to  him  from  fear  than  affection.  But  the  bold 
and  ambitious  spirit  of  Richelieu  triumphed  over  every  obstacle ;  it  disco 
vered  and  dissipated  all  the  conspiracies  formed  against  him,  and  at  length 
made  him  absolute  master  of  the  king  and  kingdom. 

During  these  cabals  in  the  French  cabinet,  the  Hugonots  showed  once 
more  a  disposition  to  render  themselves  independent :  and  in  that  spirit  they 
were  encouraged  by  the  court  of  England,  which  voluntarily  took  up  arms 
in  their  cause.  The  reason  assigned  by  some  historians  for  this  step  is  very 
singular. 

As  Lewis  XIII.  was  wholly  governed  by  cardinal  Richelieu,  and  Philip  IV. 
by  Olivares,  Charles  I.  was  in  like  manner  governed  by  the  duke  of  Buck- 
ingham, the  handsomest  and  most  pompous  man  of  his  time,  but  not  the 
deepest  politician.  He  was  naturally  amorous,  bold,  and  presumptuous ;  and 
when  employed  to  bring  over  the  princess  Henrietta,  he  is  said  to  have  carried 
his  addresses  even  to  the  queen  of  France.  The  retuni  which  he  met  with 
from  Anne  of  Austria,  whose  complexion  was  as  amorous  as  his  own,  encou- 
raged him  to  project  a  new  embassy  to  the  court  of  Versailles  ;  but  cardinal 
Richelieu,  reported  to  have  been  his  rival  in  love  as  well  as  in  politics,  made 
Lewis  send  him  a  message  that  he  must  not  think  of  such  a  journey.  Buck- 
ingham, in  a  romantic  passion,  swore  he  would  "  see  the  queen  in  spite  of  all 
the  power  of  France  :"(3) — and  hence  is  supposed  to  have  originated  the  war 
in  which  he  involved  his  master. 

Rash  and  impetuous,  however,  as  Buckingham  was,  he  appears  to  have 
had  better  reasons  for  that  measure.  Cardinal  Richelieu  was  still  meditating 
the  destruction  of  the  Hugonots :  they  had  been  deprived  of  many  of  their 

1)  Auberl.    Dupleix,  ubi  sup.  (2)  Heisa.    Le  Clerc.    Bushwortb 

(3)  Clarendon,  Hist.  vol.  i.    Mem.  de  Mad.  Motteville,  torn.  i. 


LET.  LXXIV.]  MODERN   E  UR  0  PE.  521 

cautionary  towns  ;  and  forts  were  erecting,  in  order  to  bridle  Rochelle,  their 
most  considerable  bulwark.  If  the  Protestant  party  should  be  utterly  subdued, 
France  would  soon  become  formidable  to  England.  This  consideration  was 
of  itself  sufficient  to  induce  Buckingham  to  undertake  the  defence  of  the 
Hugonots. 

But,  independent  of  such  political  forecast,  and  of  his  amorous  quarrel  with 
Richelieu,  the  English  minister  had  powerful  motives  for  such  a  measure. 
That  profound  statesman  had  engaged  the  duke  to  send  some  ships  to  act 
against  the  Rochelle  fleet,  under  promise  that,  after  the  humiliation  of  the 
Hugonots,  France  should  take  an  active  part  in  the  war  between  England 
and  Spain.  This  ill-judged  compliance  roused  the  resentment  of  the  English 
commons  against  Buckingham,  and  had  been  made  one  of  the  grounds  of  an 
impeachment.  He  then  changed  his  plan;  procured  a  peace  for  the  Hugo- 
nots, and  became  security  to  them  for  its  performance ;  but  finding  the  car- 
dinal would  neither  concur  with  him  in  carrying  on  the  war  against  Spain, 
nor  observe  the  treaty  with  the  Hugonots,  he  had  no  other  course  left  for 
recovering  his  credit  with  the  parliament  and  people  (especially  after  the 
miscarriage  of  the  expedition  against  Cadiz)  but  to  take  arms  against  the 
court  of  France,  in  vindication  of  the  rights  of  the  French  Protestants. (1) 

Buckingham's  views,  in  undertaking  this  war,  are  less  censurable  than  his 
conduct  in  carrying  them  into  execution.  He  appeared  before  Rochelle  with 
a  fleet  of  a  hundred  sail,  and  an  army  of  seven  thousand  men ;  but  so  ill- 
concerted  were  his  measures,  that  the  inhabitants  of  that  city  shut  their  gates 
against  him,  and  refused  to  admit  allies  of  whose  coming  they  were  not  pre- 
viously informed. (2)  They  were  but  a  part  of  the  Protestant  body,  they 
observed,  and  must  consult  their  brethren  before  they  could  take  such  a  step. 
This  blunder  was  followed  by  another.  Instead  of  attacking  Oleron,  a  fertile 
island,  and  defenceless,  Buckingham  made  a  descent  on  the  isle  of  Rh6, 
which  was  well  garrisoned  and  fortified.  All  his  military  operations  showed 
equal  incapacity  and  inexperience.  He  left  behind  him  the  small  fort  of  Prie, 
which  covered  the  landing  place ;  he  allowed  Thorias,  the  governor,  to  amuse 
him  with  a  deceitful  negotiation,  till  St.  Martin,  the  principal  fort,  was  pro- 
vided for  a  siege ;  he  attacked  it  before  he  had  made  any  breach,  and  rashly 
threw  away  the  lives  of  his  soldiers ;  and  he  so  negligently  guarded  the  sea, 
that  a  French  army  stole  over  in  small  divisions,  and  obliged  him  to  retreat 
to  his  ships.  He  was  himself  the  last  man  that  embarked ;  and  having  lost 
two-thirds  of  his  land  forces,  he  returned  to  England,  totally  discredited  both 
as  an  admiral  and  a  general,  bringing  home  with  him  no  reputation  but  that 
of  personal  courage. (3) 

This  ill-concerted  and  equally  ill-conducted  enterprise  proved  fatal  to 
Rochelle  and  to  the  power  of  the  French  Protestants.  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
under  pretence  of  guarding  the  coast  against  the  English,  sent  a  body  of 
troops  into  the  neighbourhood,  and  ordered  quarters  to  be  marked  out  for 
twenty-five  thousand  men.  The  siege  of  Rochelle  was  regularly  formed  and 
conducted  with  vigour  by  the  king,  and  even  by  the  cardinal  in  person. 
Neither  the  duke  of  Rohan  nor  his  brother  Soubise  were  in  the  place ;  yet 
the  citizens,  animated  by  civil  and  religious  zeal,  and  abundantly  provided 
with  military  stores,  determined  to  defend  themselves  to  the  last  extremity. 
Under  the  command  of  Guiton,  their  mayor,  a  man  of  experience  and  forti- 
tude, they  made  an  obstinate  resistance,  and  baffled  all  attempts  to  reduce 
the  city  by  force.  But  the  bold  genius  of  Richelieu,  which  led  him  to  plan 
the  greatest  undertakings,  also  suggested  means,  equally  great  and  extra- 
ordinary, for  their  execution.  Finding  it  impossible  to  take  Rochelle  while 
the  communication  remained  open  by  sea,  he  attempted  to  shut  the  harbour 
by  stakes  and  by  a  boom.  Both  these  methods,  however,  proving  ineffectual, 
he  recollected  what  Alexander  had  performed  in  the  siege  of  Tyre,  and  pro- 
jected and  finished  a  mole  of  a  mile's  length,  across  a  gulf  into  which 
the  sea  rolled  with  an  impetuosity  that  seemed  to  bid  defiance  to  all  the 

(1)  Clarendon,    Dupleix.  (2)  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  (3)  C'arendon.    Eusbvorth 


522  THE    HISTORY   OF  [PART!. 

works  of  man.  The  place  being  now  blockaded  on  all  sides,  and  every 
attempt  for  its  relief  failing,  the  inhabitants  were  obliged  to  surrender,  after 
suffering  all  the  miseries  of  war  and  famine,  during  a  siege  of  almost  twelve 
months.  They  were  deprived  of  their  extensive  privileges,  and  their  forti- 
fications were  destroyed;  but  they  were  allowed  to  retain  possession  of  their 
goods,  and  permitted  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion. (l) 

Cardinal  Richelieu  did  not  stop  in  the  middle  of  his  career.  He  marched 
immediately  towards  the  other  provinces,  where  the  Protestants  possessed 
many  cautionary  towns,  and  were  still  formidable  by  their  numbers.  The 
duke  of  Rohan  defended  himself  with  vigour  in  Languedoc ;  but  seeing  n<? 
hopes  of  being  able  to  continue  the  struggle,  England,  his  only  natural  ally, 
having  already  concluded  a  peace  with  France  and  Spain,  he  at  last  had  re- 
course to  negotiation,  and  obtained  very  favourable  conditions,  both  for  him- 
self and  his  party.  The  Protestants  were  left  in  possession  of  their  estates, 
of  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  and  of  all  the  privileges  granted  by  the 
edict  of  Nantes ;  but  they  were  deprived  of  their  fortifications  or  cautionary 
towns,  as  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  state.(2) 

From  this  era  we  may  date  the  aggrandizement  of  the  French  monarchy 
in  latter  times,  as  well  as  the  absolute  dominion  of  the  prince.  That  autho- 
rity which  Lewis  XI.  had  acquired  over  the  great,  and  which  was  preserved 
by  his  immediate  successors,  had  been  lost  during  the  religious  wars ;  which 
raised  up,  in  the  Hugonots,  a  new  power,  that  almost  divided  the  strength  of 
the  kingdom,  and  at  once  exposed  it  to  foreign  enemies  and  domestic  fac- 
tions. But  no  sooner  was  this  formidable  body  humbled,  and  every  order  of 
the  state,  and  every  sect,  reduced  to  pay  submission  to  the  lawful  authority 
of  the  sovereign,  than  France  began  to  take  the  lead  in  the  affairs  of  Europe, 
and  her  independent  nobles  to  sink  into  the  condition  of  servants  of  the  court. 

Richelieu's  system,  however,  though  so  far  advanced,  was  not  yet  com- 
plete. But  the  whole  was  still  in  contemplation;  nor  did  he  ever  lose  sight 
of  one  circumstance  that  could  forward  its  progress.  No  sooner  had  he  sub- 
dued the  Protestants  in  France  than  he  resolved  to  support  them  in  Germany, 
that  he  might  be  enabled,  by  their  means,  more  effectually  to  set  bounds  to 
the  ambition  of  the  house  of  Austria.  And  never  was  the  power  of  that 
house  more  formidable,  or  more  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  Europe. 

Ferdinand  II.,  whom  we  have  seen  triumphant  over  the  Palatine  and  the 
Evangelical  Union,  continued  to  carry  every  thing  before  him  in  Germany. 
The  king  of  Denmark,  and  the  League  in  Lower  Saxony,  were  unable  to 
withstand  his  armies,  under  Tilley  and  AValstein.  After  repeated  defeats  and 
losses,  the  Danish  monarch  was  obliged  to  sue  for  peace ;  and  the  emperor 
found  himself,  at  length,  possessed  of  absolute  authority. (3) 

But,  fortunately  for  mankind,  Ferdinand's  ambition  undid  itself,  and  saved 
Europe,  as  well  as  the  empire,  from  that  despotism  with  which  both  were 
threatened.  Not  satisfied  with  an  uncontrolled  sway  over  Germany,  he 
attempted  to  revive  the  imperial  jurisdiction  in  Italy.  Vincent  II.  duke  of 
Mantua  and  Montferrat,  having  died  without  issue,  Charles  de  Gorizaga,  duke 
of  Nevers,  his  kinsman,  claimed  the  succession,  in  virtue  of  a  matrimonial 
contract,  as  well  as  the  vicinity  of  blood.  But  Caesar  de  Gonzaga,  duke  of 
Guastalla,  had  already  received,  from  the  emperor,  the  eventual  investiture  of 
those  ancient  fiefs.  The  duke  of  Savoy,  a  third  pretender,  would  have  sup- 
planted the  two  former,  and  the  king  of  Spain  hoped  to  exclude  all  three, 
under  pretence  of  supporting  the  latter.  Ferdinand's  desire  of  aggrandizing 
the  house  of  Austria  was  well  known,  as  well  as  his  scheme  of  extending  the 
imperial  jurisdiction:  and  both  were  now  made  more  evident.  He  put  the 
disputed  territories  in  sequestration,  till  the  cause  should  be  decided  at 
Vienna;  and  while  the  Spaniards  and  the  duke  of  Savoy  ravaged  Montferrat, 
a  German  army  took  and  pillaged  the  city  of  Mantua. (4) 

Ferdinand  now  thought  the  time  was  corne  for  realizing  that  idea  which  he 

(1)  Mem.  de  Due  de  Rohan.  (2)  Ibid.  (3)  Barre,  torn.  is.    Jlnnal.  de  I'Emp.  torn,  ii 

(4)  Niger.     Disguisit.  de  JUant.    Ducat 


LET-   LXXIV.]  M  O  DERN    EU  R  OP  E.  523 

had  long  revolved,  of  reducing  the  electoral  princes  to  the  condition  of  gran- 
dees of  Spain,  and  the  bishops  to  the  state  of  imperial  chaplains.  Sensible, 
however,  of  the  danger  of  alarming  both  religions  at  once,  he  resolved  to 
begin  with  the  Protestants ;  and  accordingly  issued  an  edict,  ordering  them 
to  restore,  without  loss  of  time,  all  the  benifices  and  church  lands,  which 
they  had  held  since  the  peace  of  Passau.(l) 

But  it  was  easier  to  issue  such  an  edict  than  to  carry  it  into  execution ; 
and  Ferdinand,  though  possessed  of  an  army  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand men,  under  two  of  the  ablest  generals  in  Europe,  found  reason  to  repent 
of  his  temerity.  France  gave  the  first  check  to  his  ambition.  Cardinal 
Richelieu  had  early  interested  himself  in  the  affairs  of  Mantua :  Lewis,  in 
person,  had  forced  the  famous  pass  of  Susa,  during  the  siege  of  Modena. 
And  peace  was  no  sooner  concluded  with  the  Hugonots  than  the  cardinal 
crossed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men,  gained  several  advan- 
tages over  the  Spaniards  and  imperialists,  chased  the  duke  of  Savoy  from  his 
dominions,  and  obliged  the  emperor  to  grant  the  investiture  of  Mantua  and 
Montferrat  to  the  duke  of  Ne^rs.(2)  The  duke  of  Savoy,  during  these 
transactions,  died  of  chagrin ;  and  Spinola,  who  had  failed  to  reduce  Cazal, 
is  supposed  to  have  perished  of  the  same  distemper.  The  accommodation 
between  France  and  the  empire,  which  terminated  this  war,  was  partly  nego- 
tiated by  Julio  Mazarine,  who  now  first  appeared  on  the  theatre  of  the  world 
as  a  priest  and  politician,  having  formerly  been  a  captain  of  horse. (3) 

Meanwhile,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  and  other  princes  of  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, remonstrated  against  the  edict  of  Restitution :  they  maintained  that 
the  emperor  had  no  right  to  command  such  restitution,  which  ought  to  be 
made  the  subject  of  deliberation  in  a  general  diet.  A  diet  was  accordingly 
held  at  Ratisbon ;  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Catholic  princes  exhorted  the 
emperor  to  quiet  the  Protestants,  by  granting  them,  for  a  term  of  forty  years, 
the  enjoyment  of  such  benefices  as  they  had  possessed  since  the  treaty  of 
Passau.  But  this  advice  being  vigorously  opposed  by  the  ecclesiastical 
electors,  who  made  use  of  arguments  more  agreeable  to  the  views  of  Ferdi- 
nand, he  continued  obstinate  in  his  purpose ;  and  the  Protestants,  in  order 
to  save  themselves  from  that  robbery  with  which  they  were  threatened,  and 
which  was  already  begun  in  many  places,  secretly  formed  an  alliance  with 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden.(4) — But  before  I  introduce  this  extra- 
ordinary man,  we  must  take  a  retrospective  view  of  the  northern  kingdoms, 
which  had  hitherto  had  no  connexion  with  the  general  system  of  Europe, 
and  had  scarce  offered  any  thing  interesting  since  the  death  of  Gustavus  Vasa. 

Eric  Vasa,  the  son  and  successor  of  Gustavus,  proving  a  dissolute  and 
cruel  prince,  was  dethroned  and  imprisoned  by  the  States  of  Sweden,  in 
1568.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  John;  who,  after  attempting  in 
vain  to  re-establish  the  Catholic  religion,  died  in  1592,  and  left  the  crown 
to  his  son  Sigismund,  already  elected  king  of  Poland.  Sigismund,  like  his 
father,  being  a  zealous  Catholic,  and  the  Swedes  no  less  zealous  Lutherans, 
they  deposed  him  in  the  year  1600,  and  raised  to  the  sovereignty  his  uncle 
Charles  IX.,  who  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  preserving  their  religious 
liberties.  The  Poles  attempted  in  vain  to  restore  Sigismund  to  the  throne 
of  Sweden.  Charles  swayed  the  sceptre  till  his  death,  which  happened  in 
1611.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  throne  by  his  son,  the  celebrated  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  (5) 

Russia,  during  that  period,  was  a  prey  to  civil  wars.  John  Basilowitz  II., 
dying  in  1584,  left  two  sons,  Theodore  and  Demetrius.  Theodore  succeeded 
his  father  on  the  throne ;  and  at  the  instigation  of  Boris,  his  prime  minister, 
ordered  his  brother  Demetrius  to  be  murdered.  He  himself  died  soon  after ; 
and  Boris,  though  suspected  of  poisoning  his  master,  Avas  proclaimed  king. 
Meanwhile,  a  young  man  appeared  in  Lithuania,  under  the  name  and  charactei 
of  the  prince  Demetrius,  pretending  that  he  had  escaped  out  of  the  hands  of 

(11  Barre,  ubi  sup.    Barchelius.  p.  185.    Puffend.     Comment.  Reb.  Suec.  lib.  1. 

(2)  Auberi,  Hist.  du.  Card.  Rich.  (3)  Id.  ibid.    Gualdo,  Vita  di  Mazarinf 

(4)  Puffend.  ubi  sup.    Barre,  torn,  is  '5)  Loccen.    Hist.  Suec.  lib.  vu 


524  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I 

the  assassin.  Assisted  by  a  Polish  army,  he  entered  Moscow  in  1605,  and 
was  proclaimed  czar  without  opposition ;  the  mother  and  son  of  Boris,  who 
was  now  dead,  being  dragged  to  prison  by  the  populace.  The  rage  of  that 
populace  was  soon  turned  against  Demetrius.  He  was  slain  on  his  marriage 
day,  together  with  most  of  his  Polish  attendants,  who  had  rendered  him 
obnoxious  to  the  Russians.  A  body,  said  to  be  his,  was  exposed  to  public 
view;  and  Zuski,  a  nobleman,  who  had  fomented  the  insurrection,  was 
declared  his  successor.  But  scarce  was  Zuski  seated  on  the  throne,  when 
a  second  Demetrius  made  his  appearance ;  and  after  his  death,  a  third. 
Poland  and  Sweden  took  part  in  the  quarrel.  Zuski  was  delivered  up  to 
the  Poles,  and  Demetrius  was  massacred  by  the  Tartars.  But  a  fourth, 
and  even  a  fifth,  Demetrius  appeared :  and  Russia,  during  these  struggles, 
was  repeatedly  ravaged  by  opposite  factions  and  foreign  troops.  At  length, 
Michael  Theodorowitz,  son  of  Romanow,  bishop  of  Rostow,  afterward 
patriarch,  related  by  females  to  the  czar  John  Basilowitz,  was  raised  to  the 
throne  ;  and  this  prince,  having  concluded  a  peace  with  Sweden  and  Poland, 
in  1618,  restored  tranquillity  to  Russia,  and*  transmitted  the  crown  to  his 
descendants.(l) 

Denmark  affords  nothing  that  merits  our  attention,  during  the  reign  of 
Frederic  II.,  who  succeeded  his  father,  Christian  III.,  in  1558;  nor  during 
the  reign  of  his  son  and  successor,  Christian  IV.,  before  he  was  chosen 
general  of  the  League  in  Lower  Saxony.  And  the  transactions  of  Christian 
IV.,  even  while  vested  with  that  command,  are  too  unimportant  to  merit  a 
particular  detail.  The  issue  of  his  operations  has  been  already  related. 

Sweden  alone,  during1  those  times,  of  all  the  northern  kingdoms,  yields  a 
spectacle  worthy  of  observation.  No  sooner  was  Gustavus  seated  on  the 
throne,  though  only  eighteen  years  of  age  at  his  accession,  than  he  signalized 
himself  by  his  exploits  against  the  Danes,  the  ancient  enemies  of  his  crown. 
Profiting  afterward  by  peace,  which  he  had  found  necessary,  he  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  civil  affairs ;  and  by  a  wise  and  vigorous  adminis- 
tration, supported  with  salutary  laws,  he  reformed  many  public  abuses,  and 
gave  order,  prosperity,  and  weight  to  the  state.  In  a  war  against  Russia, 
he  subdued  almost  all  Finland,  and  secured  to  himself  the  possession  of  his 
conquests  by  a  treaty.  His  cousin  Sigismund,  king  of  Poland,  treating  him 
as  a  usurper,  and  refusing  peace,  when  offered  by  Gustavus,  he  overran 
Livonia,  Prussia,  and  Lithuania.  (2)  An  advantageous  truce  of  six  years, 
,  concluded  with  Poland,  in  1629,  gave  him  leisure  to  take  part  in  the  affairs 
of  Germany,  and  to  exhibit  more  fully  those  heroic  qualities  which  will  ever 
be  the  admiration  of  mankind. 

Gustavus  had  many  reasons  for  making  war  against  the  emperor.  Ferdi- 
nand had  assisted  his  enemy  the  king  of  Poland ;  he  treated  the  Swedish 
ambassador  with  disrespect;  and  he  had  formed  a  project  for  extending  his 
dominion  over  the  Baltic.  If  the  king  of  Sweden  looked  tamely  on,  till  the 
German  princes  were  finally  subjected,  the  independency  of  the  Gothic 
monarchy,  as  well  as  that  of  the  other  northern  kingdoms,  would  be  in 
danger. 

But  the  motives  which  chiefly  induced  Gustavus  to  take  up  arms  against 
the  head  of  the  empire,  were  the  love  of  glory  and  zeal  for  the  Protestant 
religion.  These,  however,  did  not  transport  him  beyond  the  bounds  of  pru- 
dence. He  laid  his  design  before  the  States  of  Sweden  ;  and  he  negotiated 
with  France,  England,  and  Holland,  before  he  began  his  march.  Charles  I., 
still  desirous  of  the  restoration  of  the  Palatine,  agreed  to  send  the  king  of 

(1)  Ludolf.    Puffendorf.    Petreius. 

(2)  Loccen.  lib.  viii.    Puffend.  lib.  ii.    During  this  war,  the  piactice  of  duelling  rose  to  such  a  noizlit, 
both  among  officers  and  private  men,  in  the  Swedish  army,  as  induced  Gustaviis  to  publish  a  severe  edict, 
denounc  in:;  duath  against  every  offender ;  and  by  a  strict  execution  of  that  edict  the  evil  was  efFrrtnaHy 
removed.     (Harto's  Jjfe  of  Gustavus,  vol.  i.)    When  two  of  the  generals  demanded  permission  to 
decide  a  quarrel  by  the  sword,  he  gave  a  seeming  consent,  and  told  them  he  would  himself  be  nn  eye- 
witness of  their  valour  and  prowess.    He  accordingly  appeared  on  the  ground,  but  accompanied  by  the 
public  executioner,  who  had  orders  to  cut  off  the  head  of  the  conqueror.    The  high-spirited  combatants, 
subdued  by  «uch  firmness,  fell  on  their  knees  at  the  king's  feet ;  were  ordered  to  embrace,  and  coutiniifil 
friends  to  the  end  of  their  lives.    Soheffer.  Atemorand.  Suec.  Gent. 


LET.  LXXIV.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  525 

Sweden  six  thousand  men.  These  troops  were  raised  in  the  name  of  the 
marquis  of  Hamilton,  and  supposed  to  be  maintained  by  that  nobleman,  that 
the  appearance  of  neutrality  might  be  preserved.  (1)  The  people  were  more 
forward  than  the  king.  The  flower  of  Gustavus's  army,  and  many  of  his 
best  officers,  by  the  time  he  entered  Germany,  consisted  of  Scottish  and 
English  adventurers,  who  thronged  over  to  supp'ort  the  Protestant  cause,  and 
to  seek  renown  under  the  champion  of  their  religion  ;(2)  so  that  the  conquests 
even  of  this  illustrious  hero  may  partly  be  ascribed  to  British  valour  and 
British  sagacity! 

The  most  necessary  supply,  however,  that  Gustavus  received,  was  an 
annual  subsidy  from  cardinal  Richelieu,  of  twelve  hundred  thousand  livres  ; 
a  small  sum  in  our  days,  but  considerable  at  that  time,  especially  m  a  country 
where  the  precious  metals  are  still  scarce.  The  treaty  between  France  and 
Sweden  is  a  masterpiece  in  politics.  Gustavus  agreed,  in  consideration  of 
the  stipulated  subsidy,  to  maintain  in  Germany  an  army  of  thirty-six  thou- 
sand men  ;  bound  himself  to  observe  a  strict  neutrality  towards  the  duke  of 
Bavaria,  and  all  the  princes  of  the  Catholic  League,  on  condition  that  they 
should  not  join  the  emperor  against  the  Swedes  ;  and  to  preserve  the  rights 
of  the  Romish  church,  wherever  he  should  find  it  established.  (3)  By  these 
ino-enious  stipulations,  which  do  so  much  honour  to  the  genius  of  Richelieu, 
the  Catholic  princes  were  not  only  freed  from  all  alarm  on  the  score  of 
religion,  but  furnished  with  a  pretext  for  withholding  their  assistance  from 
the  emperor,  as  a  step  which  would  expose  them  to  the  arms  of  Sweden. 

Gustavus  had  entered  Pomerania  when  this  treaty  was  concluded,  and 
soon  after  made  himself  master  of  Frankfort  upon  the  Oder,  Colberg,  and 
several  other  important  places.  The  Protestant  princes,  however,  were  still 
backward  in  declaring  themselves,  lest  they  should  be  separately  crushed  by 
the  imperial  power,  before  the  king  of  Sweden  could  march  to  their  assist- 
ance. In  ord7r  to  put  an  end  to  this  irresolution,  Gustavus  summoned  the 
elector  of  Brandenburg  to  declare  himself  openly  in  three  days  ;  and  on 
receiving  an  evasive  answer,  he  marched  directly  to  Berlin.  This  spirited 
conducted  the  desired  effect  :  the  gates  were  thrown  open,  and  Gustavus 
was  received  as  a  friend.  He  was  soon  after  joined  by  the  landgrave  of 
Hesse,  and  the  elector  of  Saxony,  who,  being  persecuted  by  the  Catholic 
League,  put  themselves  under  his  protection.  Gustavus  now  marched  towards 
Leipsic  where  Tilly  lay  encamped.  That  experienced  general  Advanced 
into  the  plain  of  Breitenfeld  to  meet  his  antagonist,  at  the  head  of  thirty 
thousand  veterans.  The  king  of  Sweden's  army  consisted  nearly  of  an  equal 
number  of  men;  but  the  Saxon  auxiliaries  being  raw  and  undisciplined,  fl< 
at  the  first  onset;  yet  did  Gustavus,  by  his  superior  conduct,  and  the  supe- 
rior  prowess  of  the  Swedes,  gain  a  complete  victory  over  Tilly  and  the  im 


threw  Ferdinand  into  the  utmost  consternation;  and  if  the  king 
of  Sweden  h,ad  marcked  immediately  to  Vienna,  it  is  supposed  he  cou] 
made  himself,  master,  of  .tiiat  capital.     But  it  is  imP°s^\^^^^^^ 
sight  to  discern  all  the  advant^QS.th.at.may  be  reaped  from  a  great  and  sin 
OTlar  stroke  o£  good  .fprtime.     Hannibal  wasted  his  time  at  Capua,  after  tl 
|K  of  Qann*:  when  he,  might  have  led  to  Victorious  army  to  Rome  •  and 


526  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

the  whole  country  from  the  Elbe  to  the  Rhine,  comprehending  a  space  of  near 
one  hundred  leagues,  full  of  fortified  towns. 

The  elector  of  Saxony,  in  the  mean  time,  entered  Bohemia,  and  took 
Prague.  Count  Tilly  was  killed  in  disputing  with  the  Swedes  the  passage 
of  the  Lech :  and  Gustavus,  who  by  that  passage  gained  immortal  honour, 
soon  after  reduced  Augsburg,  and  there  re-established  the  Protestant  religion. 
He  next  marched  into  Bavaria,  where  he  found  the  gates  of  almost  every 
city  thrown  open  on  his  approach.  He  entered  the  capital  in  triumph,  and 
had  there  an  opportunity  of  displaying  the  liberality  of  his  mind.  When 
pressed  to  revenge  on  Munich  the  cruelties  (too  horrid  to  be  described) 
which  Tilly  had  perpetrated  at  Magdebourg,  to  give  up  the  city  to  pillage, 
and  reduce  the  elector's  magnificent  palace  to  ashes,  "  No !"  replied  he : 
"let  us  not  imitate  the  barbarity  of  the  Goths,  our  ancestors,  who  have 
rendered  their  memory  detestable  by  abusing  the  rights  of  conquest,  in  doing 
violence  to  humanity,  and  destroying  the  precious  monuments  of  art."(l) 

During  these  transactions,  the  renowned  Walstein,  who  had  been  for  some 
time  in  disgrace,  but  was  restored  to  the  chief  command  with  unlimited 
pOAvers,  soon  after  the  defeat  at  Leipsic,  had  recovered  Prague,  and  the  greater 
part  of  Bohemia.  Gustavus  offered  him  battle  near  Nuremburg;  but  that 
cautious  veteran  prudently  declined  the  challenge,  and  the  king  of  Sweden 
was  repulsed  in  attempting  to  force  his  intrenchments.  The  action  lasted 
for  ten  hours,  during  which  every  regiment  in  the  Swedish  army,  not  except- 
ing the  body  of  reserve,  was  led  on  to  the  attack. 

The  king's  person  was  in  imminent  danger ;  the  Austrian  cavalry  sallying 
out  furiously  from  their  intrenchments  on  the  right  and  left,  when  the  efforts 
of  the  Swedes  began  to  slacken ;  and  a  masterly  retreat  only  could  have 
saved  him  from  a  total  overthrow.  That  service  was  partly  performed  by 
an  old  Scotch  colonel  of  the  name  of  Hepburn,  who  had  resigned  his  com- 
mission in  disgust,  but  was  present  at  this  assault.  To  him  Gustavus 
applied  in  his  distress,  seeing  no  officer  of  equal  experience  at  hand,  and 
trusting  to  the  colonel's  natural  generosity  of  spirit.  He  was  not  deceived. 
Hepburn's  pride  overcame  his  resentment.  "  This,"  said  he  (and  he  perse- 
vered in  his  resolution),  "  is  the  last  time  that  ever  I  will  serve  so  ungrateful 
a  prince !" — Elated  with  the  opportunity  that  was  offered  him  of  gathering 
fresh  laurels,  and  of  exalting  himself  in  the  eye  of  a  master,  by  whom  he 
thought  himself  injured,  he  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  battle,  delivered 
the  orders  of  the  king  of  Sweden  to  his  army,  and  conducted  the  retreat  with 
so  much  order  and  ability,  that  the  imperialists  durst  not  give  him  the 
smallest  disturbance. (2) 

This  severe  check,  and  happy  escape  from  almost  inevitable  ruin,  ought 
surely  to  have  moderated  the  ardour  of  Gustavus.  But  it  had  not  sufficiently 
that  effect.  In  marching  to  the  assistance  of  the  elector  of  Saxony,  he  again 
gave  battle  to  Walstein  with  an  inferior  force,  in  the  wide  plain  of  Lutzen, 
and  lost  his  life  in  a  hot  engagement,  which  terminated  in  the  defeat  of  the 
imperial  army.  That  engagement  was  attended  with  circumstances  suffi- 
ciently memorable  to  merit  a  particular  detail. 

Soon  after  the  king  of  Sweden  arrived  at  Naumburg,  he  learned  that 
Walstein  had  moved  his  camp  from  Weissensels  to  Lutzen :  and  although 
that  movement  freed  him  from  all  necessity  of  fighting,  as  it  left  open  his 
way  into  Saxony  by  Degaw,  he  was  keenly  stimulated  with  an  appetite  for 
giving  battle.  He  accordingly  convened,  in  his  own  apartment,  his  two 
favourite  generals,  Bernard  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar,  and  Kniphausen,  and 
desired  them  to  give  their  opinions  freely,  and  without  reserve,  in  regard 
to  the  eligibility  of  such  a  measure.  The  youthful  and  ardent  spirit  of  the 
duke,  congenial  to  that  of  the  king,  instantly  caught  fire,  and  he  declared 
in  favour  of  an  engagement.  But  the  courage  of  Kniphausen,  matured  by 

(1)  Ilarie,  vol.  ii.    Le  Vassor,  JH.«t.  Louis  XIII. 

(2)  Mod.  Univ.  Hist.  art.  Siced.  sect.  viii.    This  anecdote  relative  to  Hepburn  ig  told  somewhat  differ- 
ently by  Mr.  Harte  ;  who,  jealous  of  the  honour  of  his  hero  Gustavus,  seems  scrupulous  in  admitting  the 
merit  of  the  Scottish  and  English  officer*. 


LET.  LXXIV.]  M  0  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  0  P  E.  527 

reflection,  and  chastised  by  experience,  made  him  steadily  and  uniformly 
oppose  the  hazarding  of  an  action  at  that  juncture,  as  contrary  to  the  true 
principles  of  the  military  science.  "  No  commander,"  said  he,  "  ought  to 
encounter  an  enemy  greatly  superior  to  him  in  strength,  unless  compelled  so 
to  do  by  some  pressing  necessity.  Now  your  majesty  is  neither  circum- 
scribed in  place,  nor  in  want  of  provisions,  forage,  or  warlike  stores."(l) 

Gustavus  seemed  to  acquiesce  in  the  opinion  of  this  able  and  experienced 
general ;  yet  he  was  still  greatly  ambitious  of  a  new  trial  at  arms  with  Wai- 
stein.  And  no  sooner  was  he  informed,  on  his  nearer  approach,  that  the 
imperial  army  had  received  no  alarm,  nor  the  general  any  intelligence  of  his 
motions,  than  he  declared  his  resolution  of  giving  battle  to  the  enemy.  That 
declaration  was  received  with  the  strongest  demonstrations  of  applause  and 
the  most  lively  expressions  of  joy.  At  one  moment  the  whole  Swedish  army 
made  its  evolutions,  and  pointed  its  course  towards  the  imperial  camp.  No 
troops  were  ever  known  to  advance  with  so  much  alacrity ;  but  their  ardour 
was  damped,  and  their  vigour  wasted,  before  they  could  reach  their  hostile  an 
tagonists.  By'  a  mistake  in  computing  the  distance,  they  had  eight  miles  to 
march  instead  of  five,  and  chiefly  through  fresh-ploughed  lands,  the  passage  of 
whirh  was  difficult  beyond  description ;  the  miry  ground  clinging  to  the  feet  and 
legs  of  the  soldiers,  and  reaching,  in  some  places,  almost  as  high  as  the  knee. (2) 
Nor  were  these  the  only  difficulties  the  Swedes  had  to  encounter  before 
they  arrived  at  Lutzen.  When  they  came  within  two  miles  of  the  spot, 
where  they  hoped  for  a  speedy  termination  of  all  their  toils,  they  found  a 
marshy  swamp,  formed  by  a  stagnating  brook,  over  which  lay  a  paltry  bridge, 
so  narrow  that  only  two  men  could  march  over  it  abreast.  In  consequence 
of  this  new  obstacle,  it  was  sunset  before  the  whole  Swedish  army  could 
clear  the  pass  ;  and  Walstein,  having  been  by  that  time  informed  of  the  ap- 
proach of  Gustavus,  was  employed  in  fortifying  his  camp,  and  in  taking 
every  other  measure  for  his  own  safety  and  the  destruction  of  his  enemy 
that  military  skill  could  suggest. 

The  situation  of  the  king  of  Sweden  was  now  indeed  truly  perilous.  He 
saw  himself  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  giving  battle  under  the  most 
adverse  circumstances :  or  of  running  the  hazard  of  being  routed  in 
attempting  a  retreat,  with  the  troops  fatigued,  and  almost  fainting  for  want  of 
food.  Yet  was  a  retreat  thought  expedient  by  some  of  his  generals.  But 
Gustavus,  iji  a  tone  of  decision,  thus  silenced  their  arguments :—"  I  cannot 
bear  to  see  Walstein  under  my  beard,  without  making  some  animadversions 
upon  him  :  I  long  to  unearth  him,"  added  he,  "  and  to  behold  with  my  own 
eyes  how  he  can  acquit  himself  in  the  open  jield."(3) 

Conformable  to  these  sentiments,  the  king  of  Sweden  came  to  a  fixed  reso- 
lution of  giving  battle  to  the  imperial  army  next  morning;  and  of  beginning 
the  action  two  hours  before  day.  But  the  extreme  darkness  of  the  night  ren- 
dered the  execution  of  the  latter  part  of  his  plan  impracticable ;  and  when 
mornino-  began  to  dawn,  and  the  sun  to  dispel  the  thick  fog  that  had  obscured 
the  skyt  an  unexpected  obstacle  presented  itself.  Across  the  line,  on  which 
the  Swedish  left  wing  proposed  to  advance,  was  cut  a  deep  ditch  too  difficult 
for  the  troops  to  pass  ;  so  that  the  king  was  obliged  to  make  his  whole  army 
move  to  the  right,  in  order  to  occupy  the  ground  which  lay  between  that  ditch 
and  Walstein's  camp.(4) 

This  movement  was  not  made  without  some  trouble  and  a  considerable 
loss  of  time.  Having  at  length  completed  it,  between  eight  and  nine  in  the 
morning,  Gustavus  ordered  two  hymns  to  be  sung ;  and  riding  along  the  lines 
with  a  commanding  air,  he  thus  harangued  his  Swedish  troops  :— "  My  com- 
panions and  friends !  show  the  world  this  day  what  you  really  are.  Acquit 
yourselves  like  disciplined  men,  who  have  seen  and  been  engaged  in  service ; 
observe  your  orders,  and  behave  intrepidly,  for  your  own  sakes  as  well  as  for 
mine.  If  you  so  respect  yourselves,  you  will  find  the  blessing  of  heaven  on  the 
point  of  your  swords,  and  reap  deathless  honour,  the  sure  and  inestimable 

(0  Harte,  vol.  u.  (2)  Id.  ibid  (3)  Sold.  Sacil.  .   (4)  Bane,  vol.  ti. 


528  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART  I. 

reward  of  valour.  But  if,  on  the  contrary,  you  give  way  to  fear,  and  seek  self- 
preservation  in  flight,  then  infamy  is  as  certainly  your  portion,  as  my  disgrace 
and  your  destruction  will  be  the  consequence  of  such  aconduct."(l) 

The  king  of  Sweden  next  addressed  his  German  allies,  who  chiefly  com- 
posed the  second  line  of  his  army ;  lowering  a  little  the  tone  of  his  voice, 
and  relaxing  his  air  of  authority  : — "  Friends,  officers,  and  fellow-soldiers," 
said  he,  "  let  me  conjure  you  to  behave  valiantly  this  day.  You  shall  fight 
not  only  under  me,  but  with  me.  My  blood  shall  mark  the  path  you  ought 
to  pursue.  Keep  firmly,  therefore,  within  your  ranks,  and  second  your  leader 
with  courage.  If  you  so  act,  victory  is  ours,  together  with  all  its  advantages, 
which  you  and  your  posterity  shall  not  fail  to  enjoy.  But  if  you  give  ground, 
01  fall  into  disorder,  your  lives  and  liberties  will  become  a  sacrifice  to  the 
enemy."(2) 

On  the  conclusion  of  these  two  emphatical  speeches,  one  universal  shout 
of  applause  saluted  the  ears  of  Gustavus.  Having  disposed  his  army  in  order 
of  battle,  that  warlike  monarch  now  took  upon  himself,  according  to  custom, 
the  particular  command  of  the  right  wing,  and  drew  his  sword  about  nine  in 
the  morning ;  being  attended  by  the  duke  of  Saxe-Lawenburg,  Crailsham, 
grand-master  of  his  household,  a  body  of  English  and  Scottish  gentlemen, 
and  a  few  domestics.  The  action  soon  became  general,  and  was  maintained 
with  great  obstinacy  on  both  sides.  But  the  veteran  Swedish  brigades  of 
the  first  line,  though  the  finest  troops  in  the  world,  and  esteemed  invincible, 
found  the  passing  of  certain  ditches,  which  Walstein  had  ordered  to  be  hol- 
lowed and  lined  with  musketeers,  so  exceedingly  perplexing  and  difficult, 
that  their  ardour  began  to  abate,  and  they  seemed  to  pause,  when  their  heroic 
prince  flew  to  the  dangerous  station ;  and,  dismounting,  snatched  a  partisan 
from  one  of  the  officers,  and  said  in  an  austere  tone,  accompanied  with  a 
stern  look, — 

"  If  after  having  passed  so  many  rivers,  scaled  the  walls  of  numberless 
fortresses,  and  conquered  in  various  battles,  your  native  intrepidity  hath  at 
last  deserted  you,  stand  firm  at  least  for  a  few  seconds : — have  yet  the  courage 
to  behold  your  master  die — in  a  manner  worthy  of  himself '." — And  he  offered 
to  cross  the  ditch. 

"  Stop,  Sire  !  for  the  sake  of  heaven,"-  cried  all  the  soldiers,  "  spare  that 
invaluable  life ! — Distrust  us  not,  and  the  business  shall  be  done."(3) 

Satisfied,  after  such  an  assurance,  that  his  brave  brigades  in  the  centre 
would  not  deceive  him,  Gustavus  returned  to  the  head  of  the  right  wing, 
where  his  presence  was  much  wanted ;  and  making  his  horse  spring  boldly 
across  the  last  ditch,  set  an  example  of  gallantry  to  his  officers  and  soldiers, 
which  they  thought  themselves  bound  to  imitate. 

Having  cast  his  eye  over  the  enemy's  left  wing  that  opposed  him,  as  soon 
as  he  found  himself  on  the  farther  side  of  the  fosse,  and  seen  there  three 
squadrons  of  imperial  cuirassiers  completely  clothed  in  iron,  the  king  of 
Sweden  called  colonel  Stalhaus  to  him,  and  said,  "  Stalhaus  !  charge  home 
these  black  fellows  ;  for  they  are  the  men  that  will  otherwise  undo  us."(4) 

Stalhaus  executed  the  orders  of  his  royal  master  with  great  intrepidity  and 
effect.  But  in  the  mean  time,  about  eleven  o'clock,  Gustavus  lost  his  life. 
He  was  then  fighting  sword  in  hand  at  the  head  of  the  Smaland  cavalry,  which 
closed  the  right  flank  of  the  centre  of  his  army,  and  is  supposed  to  have  out- 
stripped, in  his  ardour,  the  invincible  brigades  that  composed  his  main  body. 
The  Swedes  fought  like  roused  lions,  in  order  to  revenge  the  death  of  their 
king :  and  many  and  vigorous  were  their  struggles ;  and  the  approach  of 
night  alone  prevented  Kniphausen  and  the  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar  from 
gaining  a  decisive  victory.(5) 

During  nine  hours  did  the  battle  rage  with  inexpressible  fierceness.  No 
field  was  ever  disputed  with  more  obstinacy  than  the  plain  of  Lutzen,  where 
the  Swedish  infantry  not  only  maintained  their  ground  against  a  brave  and 
greatly  superior  army,  but  broke  its  force,  and  almost  completed  its  destruc- 

(1)  Soldat.  Suedois.    Merc.  Franc.     Swedish  Intelligencer.        (2)  Chemnitz,  de  BM.  Suec.  German. 
<3;  Tluat.  Kurop.  fol.  747  (.4)  Harte,  vol.  ii.  (5)  Id.  ibid 


LET.  LXXIV.]  M  O  D  E  R  N   E  U  R  O  P  E.  539 

tion.  Nor  could  the  flight  of  the  Saxons,  or  the  arrival  of  Pappenheim,  one 
of  the  ablest  generals  in  the  imperial  service,  with  a  reinforcement  of  seven 
thousand  fresh  troops,  shake  the  unconquerable  fortitude  of  the  Swedes. 
The  gallant  death  of  that  great  man  served  but  to  crown  their  glory,  and 
immortalize  their  triumph.  "  Tell  the  Walstein,"  said  he,  presuming  on  the 
consequences  that  would  result  from  the  death  of  the  Swedish  monarch, 
"  that  I  have  preserved  the  Catholic  religion,  and  made  the  emperor  a  free 
man!"(l) — The  death  of  Gustavus  deserves  more  particular  notice. 

The  king  of  Sweden  first  received  a  ball  in  his  left  arm.  TAis  wound  he 
either  felt  not,  or  disregarded  for  a  time,  still  pressing  on  with  intrepid  valour. 
Yet  the  soldiers  perceived  their  leader  to  be  wounded,  and  expressed  their 
sorrow  on  that  account :  "  Courage,  my  comrades !"  cried  he,  "  the  hurt  is 
nothing;  let  us  resume  our  ardour,  and  maintain  the  charge."(2)  At  length 
however,  perceiving  his  voice  and  strength  to  fail  him,  he  desired  his  cousin, 
the  duke  of  Saxe-Lawenburg,  to  convey  him  to  some  place  of  safety. 

In  that  instant,  as  the  warlike  king's  brave  associates  were  preparing  to 
conduct  him  out  of  the  scene  of  action,  an  imperial  cavalier  advanced  unob- 
%erved,  and  crying  aloud,  "  Long  have  I  sought  thee !"  transpierced  Gustavus 
through  the  body  with  a  pistol  ball.(3)  But  this  bold  champion  did  not  long 
enjoy  the  glory  of  his  daring  exploit ;  for  the  duke  of  Saxe-Lawenburg's 
master  of  the  horse  shot  him  dead,  with  the  vaunting  words  yet  recent  on 
his  lips. (4) 

Piccolomini's  cuirassiers  now  made  a  furious  attack  upon  the  king  of 
Sweden's  companions.  Gustavus  was  held  upon  his  saddle  for  some  time ; 
but  his  horse  having  received  a  wound  in  the  shoulder,  made  a  furious  plunge, 
and  flung  the  rider  to  the  earth.  His  majesty's  military  followers  were  soon 
after  utterly  dispersed,  but  his  personal  attendants  remained  with  him.  His 
two  faithful  grooms,  though  mortally  wounded,  threw  themselves  over  their 
master's  body ;  and  one  gentleman  of  the  bed-chamber,  who  lay  on  the  ground, 
having  cried  out  in  order  to  save  his  sovereign's  life,  that  he  was  king  of 
Sweden,  was  instantly  stabbed  to  the  heart  by  an  imperial  cuirassier. (5) 

Gustavus  being  afterward  asked  who  he  was,  replied  with  heroic  firmness 
and  magnanimity,  "  I  am  the  king  of  Sweden !  and  seal  with  my  blood  the 
Protestant  religion  and  liberties  of  Germany."(6)  The  imperialists  gave 
him  five  barbarous  wounds,  and  a  bullet  passed  through  his  head ;  yet  had  he 
strength  left  to  exclaim,  "  My  God !  my  God  !"(7)  His  body  was  recovered 
by  Stalhaus,  iii  spite  of  the  most  vigorous  efforts  of  Piccolomini,  who  strove 
to  carry  it  off. 

No  prince,  ancient  or  modern,  seems  to  have  possessed  in  so  eminent  a 
degree  as  Gustavus  Adolphus  the  united  qualities  of  the  hero,  the  statesman, 
and  the  commander;  that  intuitive  genius  which  conceives,  that  wisdom 
which  plans,  and  that  happy  combination  of  courage  and  conduct  which  gives 
success  to  an  enterprise.  'Nor  was  the  military  progress  of  any  leader  ever 
equally  rapid,  under  circumstances  equally  difficult ;  with  an  inferior  force, 
against  warlike  nations  and  disciplined  troops,  commanded  bf  able  and  expe- 
rienced generals.  His  greatest  fault,  as  a  king  and  a  commander,  was  an 
excess  of  valour.  He  usually  appeared  in  the  front  of  the  battle,  mounted 
on  a  horse  of  a  particular  colour ;  which,  with  his  large  and  majestic  stature, 
surpassing  that  of  every  other  Swede,  made  him  known  both  to  friends  and 
foes.(8) 

But  Gustavus  had  other  qualities  besides  those  of  the  military  and  political 
kind.  He  was  a  pious  Christian,  a  warm  friend,  a  tender  husband,  a  dutiful 
son,  an  affectionate  father.  And  the  sentiments  suited  to  all  these  softer 
characters  are  admirably  displayed,  in  a  letter  from  the  Swedish  monarch  to 
his  minister  Oxenstiern,  written  a  few  days  before  the  battle  of  Lutzen. 
"  Though  the  cause  in  which  I  am  engaged,"  said  he,  "  is  just  and  good,  yet 

(1)  RicciusdeBell.  Germ.  (2)  Merc.  Franc.  (3)  Harte,  vol.  ii. 

(4)  Id  itid.    This  promptitude,  and  other  collateral  circumstances,  seem  to  prove  that  the  dike  of 
Sase-Lawenbarg  is  by  no  means  chargeable  with  the  death  of  Gustavus,  notwithstanding  all  the  attempt! 
that  have  been  made  to  criminate  him. 

(5)  Id.  ibid.  (6)  Id  ibid.  (7)  Id.  ibid.  (8)  Harte  ubi  sup. 

VOL.  I.— L  1  23 


530  THEHISTORYOF  [PART  I. 

the  event  of  war,  because  of  the  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs,  must  ever  be 
deemed  doubtful.  Uncertain,  also,  is  the  duration  of  mortal  life;  I  therefore 
require  and  beseech  you,  in  the  name  of  our  blessed  Redeemer !  to  preserve 
your  fortitude  of  spirit,  though  events  should  not  proceed  in  perfect  conform- 
ity to  my  wishes. 

"  Remember  likewise,"  continued  Gustavus,  "  how  I  should  comfort  myself 
in  regard  to  jyou,  if,  by  divine  permission,  I  might  live  till  that  period  when 
you  should  hive  occasion  for  my  assistance  of  any  kind.  Consider  me  as  a 
man,  the  guardian  of  a  kingdom,  who  has  struggled  with  difficulties  for 
twenty  years,  and  passed  through  them  with  reputation,  by  the  protection  of 
heaven ;  as  a  man  who  loved  and  honoured  his  relations  and  mercy,  who 
neglected  life,  riches,  and  happy  days,  for  the  preservation  and  glory  of  his 
countiy  and  faithful  subjects ;  expecting  no  other  recompense  than  to  be 
declared,  The  prince  who  fulfilled  the  duties  of  that  station  which  Providence  had 
assigned  him  in  this  world, 

"  They  who  survive  me,"  added  he,  "  for  I,  like  others,  must  expect  to 
feel  the  stroke  of  mortality,  are,  on  my  account,  and  for  many  other  reasons, 
real  objects  of  your  commiseration : — they  are  of  the  tender  and  defenceless 
sex, — a  helpless  mother  who  wants  a  guide,  and  an  infant  daughter  who  needs 
a  protector ! — Natural  affection  forces  these  lines  from  the  hand  of  a  son  and 
a  parent."(l) 

The  death  of  the  king  of  Sweden  presaged  great  alterations  in  the  state  of 
Europe.  The  elector  Palatine,  who  was  in  hopes  of  being  restored  not  only 
to  his  hereditary  dominions,  but  to  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  died  soon  after  of 
chagrin.  The  German  Protestants,  now  without  a  head,  became  divided  into 
factions ;  the  imperialists,  though  defeated,  were  transported  with  joy,  and 
prepared  to  push  the  war  with  vigour ;  while  the  Swedes,  though  victorious, 
were  overwhelmed  with  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  their  heroic  prince,  whose 
daughter  and  successor,  Christina,  was  only  six  years  of  age.  A  council  of 
regency,  however,  being  appointed,  and  the  management  of  the  war  in  Ger- 
many committed  to  the  chancellor  Oxenstiern,  a  man  of  great  political  talents, 
the  Protestant  confederacy  again  wore  a  formidable  aspect.  The  alliance 
between  France  and  Sweden  was  renewed,  and  hostilities  were  pushed  with 
vigour  and  success  by  the  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar  and  the  generals  Bannier 
and  Horn. 

Notwithstanding  these  favourable  appearances,  the  war  became  every  day 
more  burthensome  and  disagreeable,  both  to  the  Swedes  and  their  German 
allies ;  and  Oxenstiern,  who  had  hitherto  successfully  employed  his  genius 
in  finding  resources  for  the  support  of  the  common  cause,  saw  it  in  danger 
of  sinking,  when  an  unexpected  event  gave  new  hopes  to  the  confederates. 
The  emperor,  become  jealous  of  the  vast  powers  he  had  granted  to  Walstein, 
whose  insolence  and  ambition  knew  no  bounds,  resolved  to  deprive  him  of 
the  command ;  and  Walstein,  in  order  to  prevent  his  disgrace,  is  said  to  have 
concerted  the  jjieans  of  a  revolt.  It  is  at  least  certain,  that  he  attempted  to 
secure  himself  by  winning  the  attachment  of  his  soldiers;  and  Ferdinand, 
afraid  of  the  delay  of  a  legal  trial,  or  having  no  proof  of  his  treason,  and 
dreading  his  resentment,  had  recourse  to  the  dishonourable  expedient  oJ 
assassination.  (2) 

But  the  fall  of  this  great  man,  who  had  chiefly  obstructed  the  progress  of 
the  Swedish  arms,  both  before  and  since  the  death  of  Gustavus,  was  not 
followed  by  all  those  advantages  which  the  confederates  expected  from  it. 
The  Imperialists,  animated  by  the  presence  of  the  king  of  Hungary,  the 
emperor's  eldest  son,  who  succeeded  Walstein  in  the  command  of  the  army, 

(1)  Loccen.  Hist.  Suec.  It  is  not  a  little  surprising  that  Gustnvus,  in  this  memorable  letter,  makes  no 
mention  of  liis  beloved  consort  Eleanor ;  in  parting  from  whom,  when  he  began  his  march  for  Saxony,  he 
was  so  much  affected  that  he  could  only  say,  "  God  bless  you !" — and  in  bewailing  whose  widowed  condi- 
ion  (his  ejaculation  to  the  Deity  excepted)  his  last  words  were  employed. — "  Alas,  my  poor  queen !"  sighed 
he,  in  his  dying  moments:— "Alas,  my  poor  queen !"  Harte,  vol.  ii. 

(1)  Barre,  torn.  ix.  Annal.  de  CEmp.  torn.  ii.  Harte,  vol.  ii.  If  Walstein  had  formed  any  treasonous 
design,  it  seems  to  have  been  after  he  discovered  his  ruin  to  be  otherwise  inevitable.  He  was  too  great 
and  haughty  for  a  subject ;  and  the  death  of  Gustavus  had  rendered  him  less  necessary  to  the  emperor 


LET.  LXXV.l  MODERN    EUROPE.  531 

made  up  in  valour  what  their  general  wanted  in  experience.  Twenty  thou- 
sand Spanish  and  Italian  troops  arrived  in  Germany  under  the  duke  of  Feria- 
the  cardinal  infant,  the  new  governor  of  the  Low  Countries,  likewise  brought 
a  reinforcement  to  the  Catholic  cause;  the  duke  of  Lorrain,  a  soldierV 
fortune,  joined  the  king  of  Hungary  with  ten  thousand  men;  and  the 
duke  of  Bavaria,  whom  the  Swedes  had  deprived  of  the  Palatinate,  also 
iound  himself  under  the  necessity  of  uniting  his  forces  with  those  of  the 
emperor. 

Meanwhile,  the  Swedish  generals,  Bannier,  Horn,  and  the  duke  of  Saxe- 
Weymar,  maintained  a  superiority  on  the  Oder,  the  Rhine,  and  the  Danube; 
he  elector  of  Saxony  in  Bohemia  and  Lusatia.  Horn  and  the  duke  of 
Saxe- Weymar  united  their  forces,  in  order  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  king 
Hungary,  who  had  already  made  himself  master  of  Ratisbon.  They  came 
up  with  him  near  Nordlingen,  where  was  fought  one  of  the  most  obstinate 
and  bloody  battles  recorded  in  history,  and  where  the  Swedes  were  totally 
routed,  in  spite  of  their  most  vigorous  efforts. (1)  In  vain  did  the  duke  of 
£axe-Weymar  remind  them  of  Leipsic  and  Lutzen :  though  a  consummate 
general,  he  wanted  that  all-inspiring  spirit  of  Gustavus,  which  communicated 
his  own  heroism  to  his  troops,  and  made  them  irresistible,  unless  when 
opposed  to  insuperable  bulwarks. 

This  defeat  threw  the  members  of  the  Evangelical  Union  into  the  utmost 
consternation  and  despair.  They  accused  the  Swedes,  whom  they  had  lately 
extolled  as  their  deliverers,  of  all  the  calamities  which  they  felt  or  dreaded; 
and  the  emperor,  taking  advantage  of  these  discontents  and  his  own  success, 
did  not  fail  to  divide  the  confederates  yet  more  by  negotiation.  The  elector 
of  Saxony  first  deserted  the  alliance  ;  and  a  treaty  with  the  court  of  Vienna, 
to  the  following  purport,  was  at  length  signed  at  Prague  by  all  the  Protestant 
princes,  except  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel.  "The  Protestants  shall 
retain  for  ever  the  mediate  ecclesiastical  benefices,  which  did  not  depend 
immediately  upon  the  emperor,  and  were  seized  before  the  pacification  of 
Passau ;  and  they  shall  retain,  for  the  space  of  forty  years,  the  immediate 
ecclesiastical  benefices,  though  seized  since  the  treaty  of  Passau,  if  actually 
enjoyed  before  the  12th  day  of  November,  in  the  year  1627:  the  exercise 
of  the  Protestant  religion  shall  be  freely  permitted  in  all  the  dominions  of 
the  empire,  except  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia,  and  the  provinces  belonging  to 
the  house  of  Austria  :  the  duke  of  Bavaria  shall  be  maintained  in  possession 
of  the  Palatinate,  on  condition  of  paying  the  jointure  of  Frederic's  widow, 
and  granting  a  proper  subsistence  to  his  son,  when  he  shall  return  to  his  duty ; 
and  there  shall  be,  between  the  emperor  and  the  confederates  of  the  Augs- 
burg confession,  who  shall  sign  this  treaty,  a  mutual  restitution  of  every 
thing  taken  since  the  irruption  of  Gustavus  into  the  empire."(2) 

In  consequence  of  this  pacification,  almost  the  whole  weight  of  the  war 
devolved  upon  the  Swedes  and  the  French,  between  whom  a  fresh  treaty  had 
been  concluded  by  Richelieu  and  Oxenstiern ;  and  a  French  army  marched 
into  Germany,  in  order  to  support  the  duke  of  Saxe- Weymar.  But  the  success 
of  these  new  hostilities,  which  France,  Sweden,  and  the  United  Provinces 
maintained  against  both  branches  of  the  house  of  Austria,  must  furnish  the 
subject  of  another  Letter. 

LETTER  LXXV. 

The  general  View  of  the  European  Continent  continued,  from  the  Treaty  of 
Prague,  in  1635,  to  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  in  1648. 

WHILE  Germany  was  a  scene  of  war  and  desolation,  cardinal  Richelieu 
ruled  France  with  a  rod  of  iron.  Though  universally  hated,  he  continued  to 
hold  the  reins  of  government.  Several  conspiracies  were  formed  against 

(1)  Loccen.  lib.  ix.    Puffend.  lib.  vi. 

•***•  P*b-  torn-  »v.    Du  Mont,  Corp.  Diplam.  torn.  v. 

8 


532  THEHISTORYOF  [PARi  I 

him,  at  the  instigation  of  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  the  queen-mother ;  but 
they  were  all  defeated  by  his  vigilance  and  vigour,  and  terminated  in  the 
ruin  of  their  contrivers.  The  widow  of  Henry  IV.  was  banished  the  kingdom ; 
her  son  Gaston  was  obliged  to  beg  his  life ;  the  mareschals  Manilas  and 
Montmorency  were  brought  to  the  block ;  and  the  gibbets  were  every  da} 
oaded  with  inferior  criminals,  condemned  by  the  most  arbitrary  sentences, 
and  in  a  court  erected  for  the  trial  of  the  cardinal's  enemies.  In  order  to 
render  himself  more  necessary  to  the  throne,  as  well  as  to  complete  his 
political  scheme,  he  now  resolved  to  engage  France  in  open  hostilities  with 
the  whole  house  of  Austria ;  and  had  this  step  been  taken  while  the  power 
of  the  Swedes  was  unbroken,  and  the  Protestant  princes  united,  it  could  not 
have  failed  of  extraordinary  success.  But  Richelieu's  jealousy  of  Gustavus 
prevented  him,  during  the  life  of  that  monarch,  from  joining  the  arms  of 
France  to  those  of  Sweden ;  and  Oxenstiern,  before  the  unfortunate  battle 
of  Nordlingen,  was  unwilling  to  give  the  French  any  footing  in  Germany. 
Tiiat  overthrow  altered  his  way  of  thinking:  he  offered  to  put  Lewis  XIII. 
immediately  in  possession  of  Philipsburg  and  Alsace,  on  condition  that 
France  should  take  an  active  part  in  the  war  against  the  emperor.  Richelieu 
readily  embraced  a  proposal  that  corresponded  so  entirely  with  his  views. 
He  also  concluded  an  alliance  with  the  United  Provinces,  in  hopes  of  sharing 
the  Low  Countries ;  and  he  sent  a  herald  to  Brussels,  in  the  name  of  his 
master,  to  denounce  war  against  Spain. (1)  A  treaty  was  at  the  same  time 
entered  into  with  the  duke  of  Savoy,  in  order  to  strengthen  the  French 
interest  in  Italy. 

If  France  had  not  taken  a  decided  part  in  the  war,  the  treaty  of  Prague 
would  have  completed  the  destruction  of  the  Swedish  forces  in  Germany. 
But  Lewis  XIII.  or  rather  cardinal  Richelieu,  now  began  to  levy  troops  with 
great  diligence,  and  five  considerable  armies  were  soon  in  the  field.  The 
first  and  largest  of  these  was  sent  into  the  Low  Countries,  under  the  mares- 
chals de  Chatillon  and  Breze ;  the  second,  commanded  by  the  duke  De  la 
Force,  marched  into  Lorrain ;  the  third  took  the  route  of  the  dutchy  of  Milan, 
under  the  mareschal  de  Crequi ;  the  duke  of  Rohan  led  the  fourth  into  the 
Valteline  ;  and  the  fifth  acted  upon  the  Rhine,  under  Bernard  duke  of  Saxe 
Weymar.  In  order  to  oppose  the  operations  of  the  French  on  the  side  of 
Lorrain,  the  emperor  sent  thither  general  Galas,  an  experienced  officer,  at  the 
head  of  a  powerful  army,  to  join  the  duke  of  that  territory,  who  intended  to 
besiege  Colmar,  and  had  already  made  himself  master  of  almost  all  the  towns 
in  its  neighbourhood.  The  design  against  Colmar,  however,  was  defeated 
by  the  severity  of  the  season ;  and  La  Force  obliged  the  duke  of  Lorrain  to 
abandon  Burgundy,  which  he  had  entered  in  the  spring,  with  a  view  of 
reducing  Monbelliard.  This  check,  and  the  fatigues  of  his  march,  diminished 
the  duke's  army  so  much,  that  he  was  not  able  during  the  campaign  to  attempt 
any  new  enterprise. 

Meanwhile,  Galas,  the  imperial  general,  had  fixed  his  head-quarters  at 
Worms,  whence  he  sent  detachments  to  ravage  the  country,  and  surprise  the 
towns  that  were  garrisoned  by  the  Swedes.  Mentz  was  blocked  up  by  count 
Mansfeldt ;  and  although  the  preservation  of  the  place  was  of  the  utmost  con- 
sequence to  the  confederates,  as  it  secured  their  communication  with  both 
sides  of  the  Rhine,  the  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar  was  in  no  condition  to  raise 
the  blockade.  He  was  still  more  interested  in  preserving  Keisar-Louter, 
where  he  had  deposited  all  the  booty  which  he  had  taken  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war.  That  place,  however,  though  defended  with  such  obstinacy  that 
the  greater  part  of  the  garrison  had  fallen  in  the  breach,  during  the  different 
assaults  which  it  had  sustained,  was  taken  by  storm,  before  the  duke  could 
afford  it  relief.  Galas,  who  had  reduced  it,  afterward  sat  down  before  Deux 
Ponts;  but  Weymar's  army  being  by  this  time  reinforced  with  eighteen  thou 
sand  French  troops,  under  the  cardinal  La  Valette,  the  imperial  general  was 

(1)  Auberi,  Hist,  du  Card.  Rich.  Le  Vassor,  Hist.  Louis  X UI.  This  is  said  lobe  the  last  declaration 
of  war  made  by  a  hcrald-at-arms.  Since  that  time  each  party  has  thought  it  sufficient  to  publish  a  decla 
ration  at  home,  without  sending  into  an  enemy's  country  a  cartel  of  defiance. 


LET.  LXXV.]  M  O  D  E  R  N    E  U  R  O  P  E.  53S 

obliged  to  abandon  his  undertaking.    Mansfeldt's  lines  were  also  forced,  and 
supplies  thrown  into  Mentz.(l) 

While  the  confederates  lay  under  the  cannon  of  that  city,  Galas  assembled 
an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Worms ;  and  by 
sending  detachments  to  occupy  Sarbruck,  and  several  other  places,  reduced 
the  French  and  Swedes  to  the  greatest  extremity  for  want  of  provisions,  la 
this  emergency  they  repassed  the  Rhine  at  Binghen,  on  a  bridge  of  boats,  as 
if  their  route  had  been  for  Coblentz,  though  their  real  design  was  to  reach 
Vaudervange,  where  there  was  a  French  garrison.  With  this  view  they 
marched  night  and  day,  without  refreshment  or  repose ;  yet  Galas,  who  had 
crossed  the  Rhine  at  Worms,  in  order  to  harass  them  in  their  retreat,  overtook 
them  with  his  cavalry  at  the  river  Glann,  between  Odernheim,  and  Messen- 
heim,  where  the  imperialists  were  repulsed.  Not  discouraged,  however,  by 
this  check,  Galas  put  himself  at  the  head  of  nine  thousand  horse,  traversed 
the  dutchy  of  Deux  Fonts,  passed  the  Sarre,  entered  Lorrain,  and  waited  for 
the  confederates  in  a  defile  between  Vaudervange  and  Boulai.  There  an  ob- 
stinate  engagement  ensued,  in  which  the  imperial  cavalry  were  routed. 
French  afterward  retired  to  Pont-a-Mousson,  and  the  Swedes  to  Moyenvie, 
with  the  wreck  of  their  several  armies ;  which,  although  victorious,  were 
both  o-reatly  reduced.  Meantime,  Galas,  being  joined  by  his  main  body,  made 
himself  master  of  Vaudervange,  and  encamped  near  Zagermunde,  between 
the  Sarre  and  the  Wilde,  that  he  might  be  ready  to  join  the  duke  of 
Lorrain.  (2)  • 

The  French  and  their  allies  were  yet  less  successful  in  other  quarters. 
Nothing  effectual  was  done  in  Italy,  where  the  duke  of  Parma  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  see  himself  stripped  of  the  best  part  of  his  dominions  by  the  Spa- 
niards, notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Crequi  and  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who,  in 
one  battle,  gained  a  considerable  advantage  over  the  enemy.  In  the  Low 
Countries,  where  the  highest  hopes  had  been  formed,  the  disappointment  ol 
cardinal  Richelieu  was  still  greater.  He  had  computed  on  the  entire  con- 
quest of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and  a  scheme  of  partition  was  actually 
drawn  up,  whereby  the  dutchy  of  Luxemburg,  the  counties  of  Namur,  Hai- 
nault,  Courtray,  Artois,  and  Flanders,  as  far  as  Blackmgberg,  Damme,  and 
Rupplemonde,  were  assigned  to  France;  while  Brabant,  Guelderland,  the 
territory  of  Waes,  the  lordship  of  Mecklin,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  Spanish 
Netherlands,  were  to  be  annexed  to  the  republic  of  Holland.  This  scheme, 
however,  proved  as  vain  as  it  was  ambitious.  The  Dutch  were  jealous  of 
the  growing  power  of  France,  and  the  prince  of  Orange  had  apersonal  pique 
at  cardinal  Richelieu.  Therefore,  although  the  mareschals  Breze  '< 
tillon  were  so  fortunate  as  to  defeat  the  Flemish  army  detached  by  the  cardi- 
nal infant  to  give  them  battle,  before  their  junction  with  the  forces  o 
United  Provinces,  nothing  of  consequence  was  effected  after  that  junct  on 
was  formed.  The  French  commanders  were  under  the  necessity  of  leading 
back  the  miserable  remains  of  their  army,  wasted  with  fatigue  and  diseases ; 
and  the  prince  of  Orange  spent  the  latter  part  of  the  campaign  *  ™»™™J 
the  strong  fortress  of  Schenck,  which  had  been  reduced  by  the  enemy  Nor 
was  this  all:  the  cardinal  infant,  perceiving  that,  in  cons equcnce  of  1 
designs  formed  on  all  sides,  the  frontier  of  Picar dy  lay  in  _a  manner  open 
sent  an  army  under  the  celebrated  generals  Piccolomiru  and  John  de  Werttt 
enter  France  on  that  side.  This  armytookLa  Chapelle,  Catelet  and  Corbie 
I  the  Parisians,  perceiving  the  enemy  within  three  days'  march  of  their 
Sates  were  Swn into  the  utmost  consternation:  but,  by  the  vigorous  mea- 
fu  es'  of  RicSu,  a  body  of  fifty  thousand  men  were  suddenly _aB sembled 
and  the  Spaniards  and  Flemings  found  themselves  obliged 

^Having^surmounted  this  danger,  the  French  minister  took  the  most  effect, 
ual  steps  to  secure  the  success  of  the  ensuing  campaign.     In  order -to .  recov, 
the  friendship  of  Henry  prince  of  Orange,  whom  he  had  offendec 

a)  Barre,  torn.  U.    Puffead.  lib.  viii.  (*)  M  ibid.  (3)  Auberi,  JKM.  du  Card.  Ric* 


634  T  H  E     H  I S  T  O  R  Y    0  F  [PART  1. 

haughtiness,  he  honoured  him  with  the  title  of  Highness  instead  of  Excellency, 
— a  flattery  which  had  the  desired  effect.  And  lie  concluded  a  treaty  with  the 
duke  of  Saxe-Weymar,  in  which  it  was  stipulated,  That,  in  consideration  of 
an  annual  subsidy,  the  duke  should  maintain  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand 
men,  which  he  should  command  in  person,  as  general  of  the  troops  belonging 
to  the  German  princes  in  alliance  with  the  French  king,  to  whom  he  should 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  that  Lewis  should  cede  in  his  favour  all  the 
claims  of  France  to  Alsace.  In  consequence  of  this  treaty,  the  duke  being 
joined  by  a  French  army,  under  the  cardinal  La  Valette,  began  the  campaign 
with  the  siege  of  Saverne,  which  had  been  taken  towards  the  close  of  the 
former  year.  The  place -made  a  gallant  defence,  in  hopes  of  being  relieved 
by  Galas,  who  had  promised  to  march  against  the  besiegers.  Perceiving, 
however,  the  impracticability  of  such  an  attempt,  Galas  made  an  irruption 
into  Franche-Compte,  in  conjunction  with  the  duke  of  Lorrain.  Meanwhile. 
La  Valette  and  Weymar,  having  recovered  Saverne,  omitted  nothing  that 
could  obstruct  or  harass  the  imperialists  in  their  march  :  and  their  endeavours 
were  so  successful,  that  Galas  lost  about  seven  thousand  men  before  he  en- 
tered Burgundy.  He  continued  his  march  nevertheless,  and  undertook  the 
siege  of  St.  Jean  de  Laon,  which  he  was  obliged  to  abandon,  in  consequence 
of  the  overflowing  of  the  adjacent  rivers  ;  and  being  fast  followed  by  the  vis- 
count de  Turenne,  he  lost  above  five  thousand  men,  and  the  greater  part  of 
his  baggage,  in  his  retreat.(l) 

During  these  transactions  in  Lorrain,  Alsace,  and  Franche-Compte,  a  deci- 
sive battle  was  fought  in  Upper  Germany,  between  the  Swedes  under  general 
Bannier,  and  the  imperialists  commanded  by  the  elector  of  Saxony.  After 
watching  the  motions  of  each  other  for  some  time,  they  halted  in  the  plains 
of  Wislock,  where  both  armies  prepared  for  battle.  The  imperial  camp 
was  pitched  on  an  eminence,  and  fortified  with  fourteen  redoubts,  under 
which  the  troops  stood  ready  to  engage.  Desirous  of  drawing  the  enemy 
from  that  advantageous  post,  Bannier  ordered  part  of  his  cavalry  to  advance 
and  skirmish.  This  feint  having  in  some  measure  the  intended  effect,  Bannier 
ordered  colonel  Gun,  who  commanded  the  right  wing  of  the  Swedes,  to  attack 
the  enemy,  and  advanced  himself  at  the  head  of  five  brigades  to  support  that 
wing;  while  general  Statens,  with  the  left  wing,  wheeled  round  the  hill,  in 
order  to  charge  the  imperialists  in  flank.  These  attacks  were  executed  with 
such  vigour,  that  the  whole  Austrian  and  Saxon  infantry  was  broken  or  cut 
down.  Five  thousand  men  fell  on  the  field  or  in  the  pursuit ;  seven  thousand 
were  taken,  together  with  thirty  pieces  of  cannon,  cne  hundred  and  fifty  en- 
signs, and  an  incredible  number  of  wagons. (2) 

The  battle  of  Wislock,  which  restored  the  lustre  of  the  Swedish  arms, 
raised  Bannier  to  the  highest  degree  of  military  reputation,  and  gave  a  signal 
blow  to  the  imperial  power,  was  followed  by  the  demise  of  Ferdinand  II.  He 
died  at  Vienna,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  eighteenth  of  his 
reign,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  imperial  throne  by  his  son  Ferdinand  III. 
The  accession  of  this  prince  made  little  alteration  in  the  state  of  the  war : 
for  although  the  first  year  of  the  new  reign  was  distinguished  by  no  memor- 
able enterprise,  the  greater  part  of  it  being  wasted  in  fruitless  negotiations, 
the  next  campaign  was  remarkably  active  and  bloody ;  as  if  the  contending 
powers  had  only  been  resting  themselves,  in  order  to  renew,  with  more  de- 
structive rage,  the  work  of  death.  The  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar,  who  had 
already  fully  revenged  the  injuries  of  his  family  upon  the  house  of  Austria, 
advanced  towards  Rhinfeld  early  in  the  spring,  and  resolved  to  besiege  it  in 
form.  It  was  accordingly  invested ;  but  the  defence  was  so  obstinate,  that, 
notwithstanding  the  utmost  efforts  of  valour  and  military  skill,  the  impe- 
rialists had  time  to  come  to  its  relief,  under  general  Savelli  and  the  famous 
John  de  Wert.  Both  armies  were  immediately  ranged  in  order  of  battle, 
and  Weymar's  right  wing  fell  with  such  fuiy  upon  the  enemy's  left,  com- 
manded by  Wert  in  person,  that  it  was  quickly  broken.  The  left  wing  of 

(1)  Puffend.  lib.  viii.     Le  Vassor,  Hist,  de  Lows  XIII.  (*) 


LET.  LXXV.]  MODERNEUROPE.  535 

Wey mar's  army  was  not  equally  successful.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  repulsed ; 
but  he  collected  his  cavalry,  and  repeated  the  charge  with  such  vigour,  that 
the  enemy  must  have  been  totally  routed,  had  they  not  retired  under  cover 
of  the  shades  of  night.  The  .battle  was  renewed  next  day,  when  the  defeat 
of  the  imperialists  was  completed,  and  both  their  generals  made  prisoners, 
together  with  a  great  number  of  inferior  officers. (1) 

The  duke,  after  his  victory,  returned  to  the  siege  of  Rhinfeld,  to  which  he 
granted  an  honourable  capitulation,  in  consideration  of  its  gallant  defence. 
Newburg,  Rottelen,  and  Friburg,  the  capital  of  Brisgaw,  were  also  reduced ; 
and  the  siege  of  Brisac  was  undertaken,  with  the  greatest  confidence  of 
success.  Here  the  duke  of  Lorrain,  and  Goeutz  the  imperial  general, 
attempted  to  interrupt  Weymar's  career,  by  attacking  his  intrenchments,  but 
without  effect.  They  always  found  him  upon  his  guard;  and  Brisac  was 
forced  at  last  to  surrender,  after  it  had  been  reduced  to  such  extremity  by 
famine,  that  the  governor  was  obliged  to  set  a  guard  upon  the  burying 
places,  in  order  to  prevent  the  inhabitants  from  digging  up  and  devouring  the 
dead.  (2) 

The  news  of  this  important  conquest  no  sooner  reached  Pans,  than  Lewis 
XIII.  formed  the  scheme  of  annexing  Brisac  to  the  crown  of  France,  and 
made  Weymar  very  advantageous  proposals  on  the  subject.  But  that  nego- 
tiation, if  pushed,  would  have  proved  very  difficult,  as  the  duke  had  set  his 
heart  upon  the  county  of  Brisgaw,  which  he  meant  to  keep  in  his  own  pos- 
session, that  it  might  be  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  house  of  Austria,  against 
which  his  hatred  was  inextinguishable,  on  account  of  the  indignities  offered 
to  his  great-grandfather,  John  Frederick,  by  the  emperor  Charles  V.  He 
thought  the  conquest  of  Brisac  would  secure  Brisgaw,  of  which  he  intended 
to  make  an  establishment  that  would  not  easily  be  shaken.  He  therefore 
gallantly  replied,  when  pressed  by  the  French  minister  to  explain  himself  on 
this  point :  "  To  part  with  my  conquest,  would  b-  to  sacrifice  my  honour : 
ask  a  virgin  to  deliver  up  her  chastity !"  He  endeavoured,  however,  to 
amuse  the  court  of  France  with  a  pretended  negotiation,  which  was  managed 
with  so  much  dexterity  by  Erlach,  his  lieutenant,  that  Lewis  agreed  to  fur- 
nish  him  with  a  reinforcement  of  eight  thousand  men,  although  nothing  had 
been  concluded  in  regard  to  Brisac.(3) 

While  the  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar  thus  triumphed  over  the  imperialists  in 
Alsace,  the  Swedish  general  Bannier  prosecuted  his  conquest  in  Pomerania. 
After  the  victory  obtained  at  Wislock,  he  reduced  Gartz,  Locts,  Demmin,  and 
Wolgast ;  and,  understanding  that  Galas  had  extended  his  army,  he  sent 
Stalans  and  Torstenson,  two  gallant  officers,  with  a  reconnoitring  detach- 
ment, that  surprised  and  cut  in  pieces  two  regiments  of  imperial  horse.  But 
Charles  Lewis,  prince  Palatine,  son  of  the  expelled  elector,  who  had 
assembled  some  troops,  and  burned  with  impatience  to  re-establish  himself 
by  the  sword,  was  less  fortunate  in  Westphalia.  Count  Hasfeld,  the  emperor  s 
lieutenant-general,  in  that  province,  advanced  against  him  with  a  powerful 
army,  in  order  to  raise  the  siege  of  Lemgau,  the  capital  of  the  county  of 
Lippe  Lewis,  sensible  that  he  was  in  no  condition  to  defend  his  lines  against 
such  a  force,  retreated  towards  Minden  ;  but  Hasfeld  coming  up  with  him  in 
the  valley  of  Astheim,  an  action  ensued,  in  which  victory  continued  long 
doubtful/but  at  last  declared  in  favour  of  the  imperialists.  The  Palatine  s 
little  army  was  almost  utterly  cut  off,  his  artillery  was  lost,  and  his  brother 
Robert  made  prisoner.(4) 

In  the  beginning  of  next  campaign,  the  two  victorious  commanders,  Bannier 
and  Weymar,  concerted  measures  for  penetrating  into  the  heart  of  the  Aus- 
trian dominions.  Bannier  accordingly  crossed  the  Elbe,  and  made  an  irruption 
into  the  territories  of  Anhalt  and  Halberstadt.  Leaving  his  infantry  and 
cannon  behind  him,  he  pushed  on  with  his  cavalry,  and  surprised  Salis,  grand- 
master of  the  imperial  ordnance,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Oelnitz.  Ifte 

(11  Puffend.  lib.  viii.    Barre,  torn.  ix.  (2)  Mercur.  de  France,  a  1'Ana  1638 

(3)  Barre,  torn.  ix.    Harte,  vol.  i.  (4)  Id.  ibid. 


536  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

conflict  was  obstinate  and  bloody ;  no  less  than  seven  regiments  of  impe- 
rialists were  cut  in  pieces.  The  Swedish  general  next  entered  Saxony,  and 
advanced  as  far  as  the  suburbs  of  Dresden ;  where  he  defeated  four  Saxon 
regiments,  and  obliged  a  larger  body  of  the  enemy  to  take  refuge  under  the 
cannon  of  that  city.  But  understanding  that  Hasfeld,  the  imperial  general, 
was  marching  from  Westphalia  to  interrupt  his  operations,  he  returned  to- 
wards Zeitz,  to  join  his  infantry.  While  he  remained  there,  intelligence  was 
brought  him,  that  the  Saxons  were  encamped  near  Chemnitz,  where  they 
expected  soon  to  be  joined  by  the  army  under  Hasfeld. 

In  order  to  prevent  that  junction,  Bannier  attacked  the  Saxon  army;  and, 
after  a  terrible  conflict,  obtained  a  complete  victory.  This  success  was  fol- 
lowed by  several  others.  He  made  an  irruption  into  Bohemia,  and  laid  great 
part  of  the  country  under  contribution;  then  returning,  crossed  the  Elbe,  and 
fell  upon  general  Hofskirk,  encamped  near  Brandeiz,  with  ten  regiments  of 
imperial  horse  and  seven  battalions  of  foot.  The  action  was  maintained 
with  great  obstinacy :  both  sides  fought  with  incredible  intrepidity;  but,  at 
length,  the  imperialists  were  forced  to  relinquish  the  field  to  the  superior 
fortune  of  the  Swedes,  with  the  loss  of  two  thousand  men.  Bannier  pursued 
them  to  the  walls  of  the  Prague,  and  took  the  imperial  generals,  Hofskirk 
and  Monticuculi,  prisoners. 

On  purpose  to  cany  the  war  into  Silesia  and  Moravia,  the  Swedish  general 
repassed  the  Elbe,  and  marched  towards  those  countries.  But  he  met  not 
there  with  the  success  he  expected.  The  enemy's  forces  multiplied  daily, 
and  it  was  impossible  for  him,  with  an  inferior  army,  to  succour  every  place 
that  required  his  protection.  The  Protestants  had  promised  him  great 
assistance,  but  they  were  overawed  by  the  presence  of  the  imperial  troops. 
No  insurrection  appeared  in  his  favour ;  yet  he  was  not  discouraged.  He 
defeated  a  body  of  imperialists  at  Glatz,  and  drove  the  Saxons  three  several 
times  from  their  camp  at  Tirn.(l) 

But  all  the  aspiring  hopes  01  Bannier  and  the  Swedes  were  suddenly 
blasted,  by  the  immature  death  of  Bernard  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar.  He  had 
begun  the  campaign  with  the  siege  of  Thau,  which  he  ordered  to  be  battered 
with  red-hot  bullets ;  a  mode  of  attack  which  threw  the  inhabitants  into  such 
consternation,  that  they  surrendered  almost  instantly,  though  they  had 
before  baffled  all  the  efforts  of  Guebriant  the  French  general.  Bernard's 
character  was  now  so  high,  and  his  army  so  formidable  to  the  imperial  throne, 
that  Ferdinand  made  some  secret  attempts  to  detach  him  from  the  French 
interest.  But  instead  of  listening  to  such  proposals,  which  he  considered  as 
insidious,  or  slackening  in  his  operations,  he  vigorously  exerted  himself  in 
taking  measures  for  passing  the  Rhine.  While  thus  employed,  he  fell  sick  at 
Hunninguen,  whence  he  was  transported  by  water  to  Newburg,  and  there 
expired  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  He  is  supposed  to  have  fallen  a 
sacrifice  to  the  jealousy  and  ambition  of  cardinal  Richelieu,  who  was  not  only 
desirous  of  getting  possession  of  Brisac,  but  afraid  that  this  scheme  of  hum- 
bling the  house  of  Austria  might  be  defeated,  if  the  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar 
should  close  with  the  emperor's  proposals.  Puffendorf  not  only  supports  this 
opinion,  but  positively  affirms,  that  the  duke  was  taken  off  by  poison,  and 
that  his  body  had  all  the  marks  of  it. (2) 

The  death  of  Weymar  was  no  sooner  known,  than  a  violent  contest  arose 
who  should  possess  his  army.  Endeavours  were  used  by  the  Swedish  agents 
in  Germany  to  engage  the  officers  and  soldiers  to  join  general  Bannier :  the 
emperor  took  every  measure  in  his  power  to  draw  them  into  his  service,  and 
regain  possession  of  the  places  which  the  duke  had  conquered ;  and  Charles 
Lewis,  prince  Palatine,  the  re-establishment  of  whose  family  had  been  the 
chief  cause  of  the  war,  attempted  to  gain  them  through  the  influence  of 
England  and  Holland.  But  cardinal  Richelieu  ordered  Lewis  to  be  arrested 
at  Moulins,  in  his  return  from  London,  and  carried  prisoner  to  the  castle  of 
Vincennes,  where  he  was  confined,  till  a  treaty  was  concluded  between 

fl)  Puffend.  lib.  XL    Locccn.  lib.  ix.  (2)  Comment,  de  Reb     Suec.  lib.  xi.  »  c  xzxii 


LET.  LXXV.]  MODERN   E  U  it  OPE  1,37 

France  and  the  Weymarian  officers.  It  was  stipulated,  that  the  troops  of 
Bernard,  duke  of  Saxe-Weyraar,  should  constitute  a  separate  body,  under 
the  direction  of  the  officers  named  in  his  will  for  that  purpose;  that  the 
French  king  should  keep  this  body  always  effective,  by  the  payment  of  a  cer- 
tain annual  sum  for  raising  recruits ;  that  he  should  continue  to  the  principal 
officers  the  same  appointments  which  they  had  enjoyed  under  the  duke, 
furnish  them  with  bread,  ammunition,  and  all  other  necessaries  of  war,  and 
ratify  the  several  donations  which  Bernard  had  made  to  his  officers  and 
soldiers ;  that  the  troops  should  receive  their  orders  from  the  duke  of  Longue- 
ville,  through  the  medium  of  their  own  commanders,  who  should  be  sum- 
moned to  all  councils  held  for  the  service  of  the  common  cauSe ;  that  the 
conquered  places  should  be  put  into  the  hands  of  his  most  Christian  majesty, 
who  might  at  pleasure  appoint  governors  for  Brisac  and  Friburg,  but  that 
the  garrisons  should  consist  of  an  equal  number  of  French  and  German 
soldiers,  and  the  governors  of  the  other  places  be  chosen  from  the  Weymariau 
army.(l) 

In  consequence  of  this  important  negotiation,  which  rendered  the  king  of 
France  sovereign  of  almost  all  Alsace,  and  a  great  part  of  Brisgaw,  the  duke 
of  Longueville  with  the  Weymarian  army,  mareschal  Guebriant  with  the 
French  troops,  and  the  troops  of  Lunenburg  commanded  by  general  Klitzing, 
joined  Bannier  at  Erfurt.  Nothing  farther  was  now  necessary  to  ensure 
success  to  the  confederates  besides  unanimity,  but  that  unfortunately  was 
wanting.  All  claiming  superiority,  none  chose  to  be  directed,  as  each 
entertained  a  high  opinion  of  his  own  merit,  and  sought  to  display  his  judg- 
ment by  proposing  some  new  plan  of  operations ;  so  that  Bannier  found,  that, 
although  he  had  increased  his  numbers,  he  had  acquired  little  additional 
strength.  Perhaps  his  real  force  might  rather  be  said  to  be  diminished,  as 
he  was  no  longer  allowed  to  follow  the  suggestions  of  his  own  genius,  and 
strike  those  sudden  and  unexpected  blows  which  distinguish  the  consummate 
general. 

After  long  debates,  it  was  agreed  to  attack  Piccolomini,  the  imperial  gene- 
ral, in  his  camp  at  Saltzburg.  With  this  view  the  confederates  seized  upon 
an  eminence,  whence  they  began  a  violent  cannonading,  and  afterward 
attacked  the  enemy's  intrenchments  sword  in  hand ;  but  Piccolomini  was  so 
advantageously  posted,  that  the  attempt  to  force  his  camp  was  found  imprac- 
ticable. It  was  accordingly  laid  aside ;  and  both  armies  continued  in  sight  of 
each  other,  until  scarcity  began  to  reign  in  each  camp.  There  seemed  to  be 
a  kind  of  rivalry,  who  could  longest  endure  the  pressure  of  famine.  But,  on 
the  side  of  the  confederates,  this  inaction  proceeded  from  irresolution,  and  a 
division  of  counsels ;  whereas,  on  that  of  the  imperialists,  it  was  dictated  by 
a  prudent  caution.  Bannier,  however,  tired  of  such  languid  delay,  set  out 
for  Franconia,  in  order  to  seize  some  advantageous  post  upon  the  Maine.  But 
as  he  advanced  towards  the  river  Sala,  he  perceived  that  the  enemy  occupied 
the  opposite  bank.  They  were  there  intrenched ;  so  that  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  force  a  passage :  he  was  therefore  under  the  necessity  of  march- 
ing through  the  langraviate  of  Hesse,  where  his  army  suffered  greatly  by 
famine. 

Piccolomini  now  endeavoured  to  penetrate  into  Lunenburg,  but  Bannier's 
diligence  baffled  all  his  efforts.  He  prevented  the  imperialists  from  crossing 
the  Weser,  and  refreshed  his  own  army  in  that  dutchy,  which  had  not  yet 
been  exhausted  by  the  ravages  of  war.  Pinched  with  famine,  and  harassed 
by  the  perpetual  alarms  of  the  Hessians,  Piccolomini  determined  to  lead  his 
forces  into  Franconia.  But,  on  his  march  thither,  he  was  attacked  by  the 
Weymarian  army,  under  the  duke  of  Longueville ;  and,  although  not  totally 

(1)  Londorp.  Act.  Pub.  vol.  iv.  Bernard  duke  of  Saxe-Weymar  was  a  soldier  of  fortune,  and  one  of 
the  generals  formed  under  Gustavus.  After  the  death  of  that  monarch,  and  the  fatal  battle  of  Nordlingen, 
where  the  Swedes  under  his  command  were  cut  off  almost  to  a  man,  he  collected  an  army  of  Germans, 
which  was  properly  his  own,  and  which  he  supported  partly  by  the  practice  of  war,  and  partly  by  the 
subsidy  that  he  received  from  France.  Notwithstanding  his  immature  death,  and  the  defeat  at  Nordlingen, 
he  may  be  ranked  among  the  greatest  modern  commanders.  Turenne  always  acknowledged  him  to  bav» 
been  his  master  in  the  military  science.  Mem.  de  la  Farre. 


538  THE    HISTORY    OF  U'AR-I   I 

defeated,  he  could  scarce  have  suffered  more  by  such  disaster.(l)  It  must, 
however,  be  considered  as  very  honourable  for  that  general,  to  have  been 
able  to  make  head  against  the  combined  forces  of  the  confederates,  and  even 
to  oblige  them  to  quit  the  imperial  dominions. 

But  the  house  of  Austria  was  less  fortunate  in  other  quarters,  during  the 
year  1640.  The  affairs  of  Philip  IV.  went  backward  in  Italy:  Catalonia 
revolted,  and  Portugal  threw  off  the  Spanish  yoke.  The  Catalans  were 
desirous  of  forming  a  republic ;  but  too  feeble  to  support  themselves  against 
the  power  of  a  tyrannical  master,  they  were  obliged  to  throw  themselves  into 
the  arms  of  France,  and  ultimately  to  submit  to  the  dominion  of  Spain.  The 
Portuguesenvere  more  successful  in  their  struggle  for  independency.  Boiling 
with  national  hate,  and  irritated  by  despotic  rule,  they  had  long  sought  to 
break  their  chains.  A  law  to  compel  the  nobility,  under  pain  of  the  forfeiture 
of  their  estates,  to  take  up  arms  for  the  subjection  of  Catalonia,  completed 
the  general  disaffection :  and  other  circumstances  conspired  to  hasten  a  revo- 
lution. An  impenetrable  plot  had  been  forming,  for  upwards  of  three  years, 
in  favour  of  the  duke  of  Braganza,  whose  grandfather  had  been  deprived  of 
his  right  to  the  crown  of  Portugal  by  Philip  II.  The  conspirators  now 
resolved  to  carry  their  design  into  execution,  and  effected  it  with  incredible 
facility. 

Olivares  had  been  so  imprudent  as  to  recall  the  Spanish  garrison  from 
Lisbon :  very  few  troops  were  left  in  the  whole  realm  of  Portugal ;  the 
oppressed  people  were  ripe  for  an  insurrection ;  and  the  Spanish  minister,  in 
order  to  amuse  the  duke  of  Braganza,  whose  ruin  he  meditated,  had  given 
him  the  command  of  the  arsenal.  The  dutchess  of  Mantua,  who  had  been 
honoured  with  the  empty  title  of  vice-queen,  was  driven  out  of  the  kingdom 
without  a  blow.  Vasconcellos,  the  Spanish  secretary,  and  one  of  his  clerks, 
were  the  only  victims  sacrificed  to  public  vengeance.  All  the  towns  in  Por- 
tugal followed  the  example  of  the  capital,  and  almost  on  the  same  day.  The 
duke  of  Braganza  was  unanimously  proclaimed  king,  under  the  name  of  John 
IV.  A  son  does  not  succeed  more  quietly  to  the  possessions  of  his  father  in 
a  well  regulated  state.  Ships  were  immediately  despatched  from  Lisbon  to 
all  the  Portuguese  settlements  in  Asia  and  Africa,  as  well  as  to  those  in  the 
islands  of  the  eastern  and  western  ocean ;  and  they  all,  with  one  accord, 
expelled  their  Spanish  governors. (2)  Portugal  became  again  an  independent 
kingdom ;  and  by  the  recovery  of  Brazil,  which,  during  the  Spanish  adminis- 
tration, had  been  conquered  by  the  Dutch,  its  former  lustre  was  in  some 
measure  restored. 

While  all  Europe  rung  with  the  news  of  this  singular  revolution,  Philip 
IV.,  shut  up  in  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  Escurial,  lost  in  the  delirium  of 
licentious  pleasure,  or  bewildered  in  the  maze  of  idle  amusement,  was  utterly 
ignorant  of  it.  The  manner  in  which  Olivares  made  him  acquainted  with 
his  misfortune  is  truly  memorable.  "  I  come,"  said  that  artful  minister,  "  to 
communicate  good  news  to  your  majesty:  the  duke  of  Braganza's  whole 
fortune  is  become  yours.  He  has  been  so  presumptuous  as  to  get  himself 
declared  king  of  Portugal ;  and,  in  consequence  of  this  folly,  your  majesty 
is  entitled  to  the  forfeiture  of  all  his  estates." — "  Let  the  sequestration  be 
ordered !"  replied  Philip,  and  continued  his  dissipations.  (3) 

The  emperor  Ferdinand  III.  was  of  a  less  patient,  or  rather  of  a  less  indolent 
temper.  He  had  convoked  a  diet  at  Ratisbon,  in  order  to  concert  measures 
for  carrying  on  the  war,  though  he  pretended  to  be  desirous  of  peace.  Ban- 
nier  formed  the  design  of  dispersing  this  assembly,  and  even  of  surprising  the 
city.  Having  joined  the  French  army  under  Guebriant  at  Erfurt,  he  arrived 
at  Hoff  on  the  sixth  of  January;  and  detaching  thence  five  regiments  of 
cavalry  to  Egra,  under  the  command  of  major-general  Wittemberg,  who  had 
orders  to  join  the  army  at  Porew,  he  advanced  to  Awerbach.  The  confede- 
lates  next  proceeded  to  Schwendorf,  crossed  the  Danube  upon  the  ice  and 

(1)  Puffend.  lib.  xii.    Barre,  torn.  ix.    Le  Vassor,  Hist.  Louis  XII f. 

2)  Vertot  Hist  ie  la  Rtvolut.  du  Portugal.  (3)  Anecdotes  du  Due  d'Olivaret 


LET.  LXXV.J  M  O  D  E  RN   E  UR  0  P  E.  539 

captured  above  fifteen  hundred  of  the  enemy's  horse.  The  emperor  himself, 
who  intended  to  devote  that  day  to  the  chase,  narrowly  escaped  being  made 
prisoner.  His  advanced  guard  and  equipage  were  taken. 

The  approach  of  the  French  and  Swedish  armies  filled  Ratisbon  with  con- 
sternation, as  it  was  utterly  unprovided  against  a  siege,  and  full  of  strangers 
and  suspected  persons.  The  design  of  the  confederates  was  to  take  advantage 
of  the  frost,  in  order  to  block  up  and  starve  the  town  ;  but  the  weather  unex- 
pectedly becoming  more  mild,  it  was  resolved  to  repass  the  Danube,  before 
the  ice  should  be  thawed.  Bannier,  however,  would  not  retire  until  he  made 
an  attempt  to  dissolve  the  diet.  With  that  view,  he  approached  Ratisbon,  on 
the  sixth  of  Febiuary  ;  and  Guebriant,  who  commanded  the  vanguard,  placing 
his  artillery  on  the  banks  of  the  Rugen,  which  ran  between  the  town  and  the 
confederates,  saluted  the  emperor  with  five  hundred  shot ;  an  insult,  which 
stung  Ferdinand  so  keenly,  that  he  seemed  bereft  of  all  the  powers  of  reason 
and  recollection.(l) 

During  the  deliberations  of  the  diet  at  Ratisbon,  the  counts  D'Avaux  and 
Salvius,  the  plenipotentiaries  of  France  and  Sweden,  were  negotiating  at 
Hamburg  the  preliminaries  of  a  general  peace  with  Lutza,  one  of  Ferdinand's 
aulic  counsellors.  After  certain  difficulties  had  been  removed,  it  was  agreed 
by  these  celebrated  statesmen,  that  a  congress  for  a  general  peace  should  be 
held  at  Munster  and  Osnaburg,  the  garrisons  of  which  should  march  out ; 
that  the  inhabitants  should  be  released  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  either 
party,  and  observe  a  strict  neutrality  during  the  time  of  negotiation ;  that 
both  cities  should  be  guarded  by  their  own  burghers  and  soldiers,  commanded 
by  the  magistrates,  who  should  be  accountable  for  the  effects,  persons,  and 
attendants  of  the  negotiators  ;  that  the  two  conferences  should  be  considered 
as  only  one  congress,  and  the  roads  between  the  two  cities  be  safe  for  all 
goers  and  comers,  together  with  the  intermediate  places,  where  th*e  nego- 
tiators might  think  proper  to  confer  with  each  other ;  that  in  case  the  nego- 
tiation should  be  interrupted  before  a  treaty  could  be  concluded,  Munster  and 
Osnaburg  should  return  to  the  same  situation  in  which  they  were  before  the 
congress,  but  that  the  neutrality  should  be  observed  six  weeks  after  the  con- 
ferences were  broken  off;  that  all  the  safe-conducts  on  each  side  should  be 
exchanged  at  Hamburg,  through  the  mediation  of  the  Danish  ambassador,  in 
the  space  of  two  months  after  the  date  of  the  agreement ;  that  the  emperor 
and  king  of  Spain  should  grant  safe-conducts  to  the  ministers  of  France, 
Sweden,  and  their  allies  in  Germany  and  elsewhere,  and  receive  the  same 
security  from  his  most  Christian  majesty;  and  that  Sweden  should  grant 
safe-conducts  to  the  emperor's  plenipotentiaries,  as  well  as  to  those  of  the 
electors'of  Mentz  and  Brandenburg.(2)  It  was  farther  agreed,  that  France 
should  treat  at  Munster,  and  Sweden  at  Osnaburg ;  and  that  each  crown  should 
have  a  secretary  where  the  other's  plenipotentiary  was,  in  order  to  communi- 
cate their  mutual  resolutions. 

The  emperor  refused  to  ratify  this  convention,  which  he  said  was  preju- 
dicial to  his  honour,  as  well  as  to  the  interests  of  the  Germanic  body;  and 
certain  unexpected  events,  fatal  to  the  hopes  of  the  confederates,  confirmed 
him  in  his  resolution  of  continuing  the  war.  After  the  ineffectual  attempt 
upon  Ratisbon,  the  French  separated  themselves  from  the  Swedes,  and 
marched  towards  Bamberg,  under  Guebriant,  while  Bannier  took  the  route  of 
Chamb,  with  a  view  of  penetrating  into  Misnia  through  Bohemia.  Mean- 
while, the  emperor,  flaming  with  rage,  issued  orders  for  assembling  a  body  of 
troops,  with  all  possible  despatch,  in  order  to  revenge  the  insult  he  had 
suffered. 

A  powerful  army  was  speedily  formed  by  the  activity  of  Piccolomini  and 
the  archduke  Leopold.  One  part  of  it,  under  mareschal  Gleen,  went  in 
pursuit  of  Bannier,  while  the  other,  commanded  by  Piccolomini,  besieged 
Newmarck,  which  was  defended  by  an  officer  of  the  name  of  Slang ;  who, 
after  having  sustained  five  assaults,  was  obliged  to  surrender  prisoner  of  war. 

(1)  Hist,  du  Ouch.  liv.  iv.  (2)  Dumont,  Corpt  Diplomat,  torn  ri 


540  T  H  E    H  I  S  T  O  R  Y    O  F  [P^RT  1. 

On  the  reduction  of  that  place,  Piccolomini  rejoined  Gleen,  in  order  to  pursue 
Bannier,  who  retreated  across  the  forest  of  Bohemia.  Having  reached  the 
other  side  of  it,  he  found  his  progress  impeded  by  the  swelling  of  the  river 
Pleis,  but  collected  a  number  of  boats,  in  which  he  embarked  his  troops  with 
such  expedition,  that  he  had  carried  over  his  whole  army  before  Piccolomini 
appeared  upon  the  opposite  bank.  Neither  this  disappointment,  however,  the 
interposing  stream,  nor  the  presence  of  the  enemy,  retarded  the  progress 
of  the  imperialist?.  The  Austrian  cavalry  swam  across  the  river;  and 
the  Swedes  being  now  hemmed  in  between  the  Pleis  and  the  Moldaw, 
Bannier's  ruin  seemed  inevitable,  when  he  extricated  himself  by  one  of 
those  efforts  of  military  genius  which  redound  more  to  the  honour  of  a 
general  than  the  acquisition  of  the  greatest  victory,  as  fortune  has  no  share 
in  the  success. 

Finding  himself  thus  circumstanced,  the  Swedish  general  posted  some 
troops  at  a  mill  below  Presnitz ;  where  they  made  such  an  obstinate  and 
vigorous  resistance,  when  attacked  by  Piccolomini,  that  the  main  body  of  the 
army  had  time  to  retire  to  Zickaw,  whither  their  baggage  and  artillery  also 
were  conveyed  in  the  night.  Here  Bannier  was  joined  by  Guebriant,  who 
had  put  himself  in  motion,  as  soon  as  he  received  intelligence  of  the  reduction 
of  Newmarck ;  so  that  the  confederates  were  now  in  a  condition  to  make 
head  against  the  imperialists.  But  before  any  step  could  be  taken  for  that 
purpose,  Bannier  fell  sick  at  Zickaw,  in  consequence  of  the  fatigue  he  had 
undergone  in  his  march,  and  expired  at  Halberstadt,  in  the  forty-first  year  of 
his  age,  to  the  infinite  loss  and  inexpressible  regret  of  his  country,  as  well  as 
of  her  allies.  Besides  his  knowledge  in  the  art  of  war,  which  he  had  acquired 
under  the  great  Gustavus,  to  whom  he  was  scarcely  inferior  as  a  commander, 
he  was  distinguished  by  his  moderation  and  humanity  towards  those  whom 
he  had  Vanquished.  He  always  avoided  the  effusion  of  blood,  as  far  as 
circumstances  would  admit ;  and,  being  robust,  patient,  indefatigable,  and 
active,  he  was  adored  by  the  soldiery,  whose  toils  and  dangers  he  cheerfully 
shared.(l) 

The  death  of  Bannier  raised  the  spirits  of  the  imperialists,  in  proportion  as 
it  depressed  those  of  the  confederates,  and  the  most  dangerous  consequences 
were  apprehended  from  it ;  for  his  army  was  composed  almost  entirely  of 
Germans,  who  were  retained  in  the  service  of  Sweden  solely  by  the  reputation 
and  authority  of  their  general.  But  the  troops,  though  at  first  inclined  to 
mutiny,  were  preserved  in  obedience  by  the  vigilance  of  the  other  Swedish 
commanders,  Wrangel,  Koningsmark,  Wittemberg,  and  Psuhl,  notwithstand- 
ing the  solicitations  of  the  emperor,  and  their  own  necessitous  condition, 
until  the  arrival  of  Torstenson — another  general  formed  under  Gustarus,  and 
not  unworthy  of  so  great  a  master.  In  order  to  give  him  more  influence  over 
the  army,  he  was  furnished  with  a  large  sum  of  money  by  the  treasury  of 
Sweden,  and  accompanied  with  a  strong  reinforcement. 

Before  this  reinforcement  arrived,  the  Swedes  and  French,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Guebriant,  had  defeated  the  imperial  army,  led  by  the  archduke 
and  Piccolomini,  near  Wolfenbuttle.  Four  thousand  imperialists  were  slain 
upon  the  spot,  and  a  great  number  taken  prisoners. (2)  No  other  event  of 
consequence  distinguished  the  latter  part  of  the  campaign,  which  was  chiefly 
spent  in  waiting  for  Torstenson,  at  an  encampment  near  Stadt ;  and  soon 
after  he  assumed  the  command,  the  French  and  Swedish  armies  separated, 
by  order  of  cardinal  Richelieu.  Guebriant  entered  Westphalia,  and  Tor- 
stenson led  his  troops  into  Bohemia,  where  he  proposed  to  winter;  and  attempt, 
as  soon  as  the  season  should  permit,  to  prove  himself  worthy  of  the  confidence 
of  his  country. 

Meanwhile,  a  new  treaty  was  concluded  between  France  and  Sweden,  and 
the  most  vigorous  resolutions  weie  taken  for  prosecuting  the  war.  Mareschal 
Guebriant  accordingly  crossed  the  Rhine  early  in  the  spring,  upon  a  bridge 
ef  boats,  built  at  Wesei ;  inarched  to  Ordinguen,  which  surrendered  at  dis- 

(1)  /TUflfend      Ommtnt.  «ei.  Suec  lib.  zii  (2)  Barre,  torn.  it.    Puffend.  lit   xilL 


LET.  LXXV.]  MODERNEUROPE.  641 

cretion;  and  understandiag  that  Hasfeld  was  on  his  march  to  join  Lamboy, 
another  imperial  general,  whose  quarters  were  near  Kojnpen,  lie  resolved  to 
prevent  their  junction,  by  attacking  the  latter  in  his  intrenchments.  With 
this  view  he  left  his  baggage  at  Ordinguen,  advanced  towards  the  enemy, 
drew  up  his  army  in  order  of  battle,  and  proceeded  to  the  assault.  After  an 
obstinate  struggle,  the  Austrian  infantry  was  broken,  and  the  camp  forced ; 
and  Lamboy,  who  rallied  his  troops,  and  returned  to  the  charge,  was  sur- 
rounded and  made  prisoner,  together  with  general  Merci.  Of  the  whole  im- 
perial army  not  above  six  hundred  escaped. 

This  victory  was  followed  by  the  reduction  of  Lintz,  Bevert,  Berthem, 
Caster,  and  Guewembruck ;  so  that  Guebriant  saw  himself  master,  in  a  short 
time,  of  almost  the  whole  electorate  of  Cologne.  His  next  step  was  to  besiege 
Kempen,  which  was  defended  with  great  gallantry  and  skill ;  but  a  large 
breach  being  at  length  made  in  the  fortifications,  the  governor,  convinced 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  sustain  an  assault,  capitulated  upon  honourable 
terms.  (1) 

The  defeat  of  Lamboy,  and  the  rapid  success  of  the  French  general,  did  not, 
however,  divert  the  archduke  and  Piccolomini,  who  commanded  the  impe- 
rialists in  Moravia,  from  marching  against  Torstenson.  They  intended  to 
surprise  him  in  his  camp;  but  finding  all  their  attempts  and  expectations 
defeated,  by  the  vigilance  of  the  Swedish  general— in  the  true  spirit  of  Ita- 
lian policy — Piccolomini  had  recourse  to  treachery,  by  which  he  hoped  to 
earn  the  reward  of  valour  and  military  skill.  With  this  view  he  corrupted 
one  Sekendorf,  a  Swedish  colonel,  who  promised  to  admit  the  imperialists 
into  the  camp  by  night.  Fortunately,, the  design  was  discovered,  and  the 
traitor  punished:  nor  did  his  employers  escape  chastisement.  The  duke  of 
Saxe-Lawenburg,  who  had  marched  towards  Schwents,  in  order  to  check  the 
progress  of  Torstenson,  in  Silesia,  was  defeated  and  mortally  wounded;  and 
in  that  condition  was  taken  prisoner  with  the  greater  part  of  his  officers,  three 
thousand  of  his  men  being  left  dead  on  the  field. 

Soon  after  this  victory,  Torstenson  passed  the  Elbe,  with  an  intention  to 
besiege  Leipsic ;  and  having  seized  two  posts,  the  possession  of  which  might 
facilitate  that  enterprise,  he  ordered  general  Koningsmark  to  invest  the  place. 
But  the  approach  of  the  imperialists,  under  the  archduke  and  Piccolomini, 
obliged  him  to  convert  the  sieg<?  into  a  blockade,  and  make  preparations  for 
receiving  the  enemy.  Meanwhile,  they  advanced  in  such  a  form,  as  the 
Swedes  were  between  the  imperial  army  and  the  town;  and  Torstenson 
findino-  himself  exposed  to  two  fires,  filed  off  his  troops  into  the  plain  of 
Breitenfeld,  about  three  miles  distant  from  Leipsic.  The  imperial  generals, 
imagining  his  design  was  to  avoid  an  action,  endeavoured  to  harass  his  rear; 
but  the  Swedish  commander,  Avho  wished  for  nothing  more  than  such  an 
opportunity,  faced  about  immediately.  A  mutual  cannonading  ensued,  and 
soon  after  a  close  engagement.  Wittemberg,  who  commanded  the  right 
wing  of  the  Swedes,  charged  the  left  of  the  imperialists  with  such  impetu- 
osity, that  it  was  instantly  broken.  Their  right  wing,  however,  behaved  with 
more  firmness ;  and  the  Swedish  cavalry,  commanded  by  Koningsmark,  was 
in  danger,  for  a  time,  of  being  routed  by  the  emperor's  cuirassiers.  But  the 
latter  were  obliged  at  length  to  give  way.  . 

While  the  cavalry  of  both  armies  thus  disputed  the  victory,  the  mianl 
in  the  centre  fought  with  inexpressible  rage  and  resolution.     At  length  the 
Swedish  foot,  animated  by  (he  example  of  the  horse,  and  supported  by  a 
body  of  reserve,  which  advanced  "in  the  heat  of  action,  obliged  the  impei 
alists  to  quit  the  field,  and  retreat  into  a  wood,  with  the  loss  of  their  cann 
Torstenson  pursued  the  left  wing  as  far  as  Leipsic ;  Koningsmark  gave  no 
quarter  to  the  right:  and  the  Austrian  infantry,  being  driven  from  the  wood 
into  which  they  had  retired,  were  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  and 

his  battle,  which  was  fought  near  the  same  spot  that  had  beheld  the 

(1)  Barre,  torn.  ix.    Puffend.  lib.  xiii.  (2)  Puffend.  lib.  xiv.    Barre.tom.ix 


542  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PABT  1. 

glory  *f  the  Swedes  under  Gustavus,  a  few  years  before,  the  imperialists  lost 
eight  thousand  good  soldiers ;  and  three  hundred  officers  were  found  among 
the  slain.  The  conquerors,  who  had  engaged  with  very  inferior  numbers,  did 
not  lose  above  a  thousand  men.  Besides  the  slaughter  of  the  enemy,  they 
took  three  thousand  prisoners,  together  with  forty-six  pieces  of  cannon,  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  pair  of  colours,  and  six  hundred  wagons.(l) 

A  defeat  so  total  overwhelmed  the  imperial  court  with  consternation. 
General  Enkenford  was  ordered  to  make  new  levies  with  all  possible  expedi- 
tion :  Hasfeld  and  Wahl  were  sent  for  to  Vienna ;  Goltaker  and  Galtz  exerted 
their  utmost  diligence -to  join  the  archduke  and  Piccolomini  in  Bohemia, 
whither  they  had  retired  to  reassemble  the  wreck  of  their  army.  All  the 
troops  in  the  Austrian  service  were  collected  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  vic- 
torious Torstenson. 

That  general  had  again  invested  Leipsic,  and  carried  on  his  approaches 
with  such  vigour,  that  the  place  was  under  the  necessity  of  surrendering, 
notwithstanding  the  valour  of  the  garrison,  which  excited  the  admiration  of 
the  besiegers.  Torstenson  was  less  fortunate  in  his  attempt  upon  Fridberg, 
where  he  understood  the  enemy  had  collected  large  magazines  :  for  although 
considerable  breaches  were  made  in  the  fortifications,  and  an  assault  given, 
the  garrison  sustained  it  with  such  unshaken  resolution,  that  he  was  obliged 
to  recall  his  troops :  and  while  he  was  making  preparations  for  a  final  effort, 
he  learned  that  Piccolomini,  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  army,  was  ap- 
proaching to  the  relief  of  the  place.  On  this  intelligence,  he  ranged  his 
troops  in  order  of  battle,  and  put  himself  in  motion  to  meet  the  enemy ;  but 
Piccolomini,  penetrating  his  design,  took  a  different  route,  threw  supplies  into 
the  town,  and  retired  with  the  utmost  expedition.  Now  despairing  of  being 
able  to  reduce  Fridberg,  Torstenson  marched  into  Lusatia,  in  order  to  wait 
for  the  reinforcements  which  he  expected  from  Pomerania  and  Lower  Saxony ; 
and  Guebriant,  the  French  general,  having  passed  the  Maine  at  Gemund, 
established  quarters  of  refreshment  on  the  Taubet,  and  marched  towards  the 
Necker.(2) 

While  the  confederates  were  thus  making  progress  in  Germany,  the  arms 
of  France  had  been  equally  successful  on  the  side  of  Spain.  A  French  army 
had  entered  Roussillon,  and  reduced  Colima  and  Perpignan.  Meantime,  the 
affairs  of  the  kingdom  were  in  the  greatest*  confusion,  and  Paris  itself  was 
in  danger.  Francisco  de  Melo,  a  man  of  valour  and  abilities,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded the  cardinal  infant  in  the  government  of  the  Low  Countries,  having 
suddenly  assembled  a  body  of  twenty-five  thousand  men,  threatened  France 
with  two  inroads ;  routed  the  count  de  Guiche,  who  attempted  to  oppose  him, 
and  would  have  appeared  before  the  capital,  to  which  he  had  opened  a  passage, 
had  he  not  received  a  letter  from  Olivares,  ordering  him  to  withdraw  his 
troops,  under  pretence  that  the  enterprise  was  too  hazardous.  But  the  true 
reason  for  such  order  was  a  secret  treaty  between  the  Spanish  minister  and 
the  duke  of  Orleans,  who,  with  the  duke  of  Bouillon,  Cinqmars,  master  of  the 
horse,  and  M.  de  Thou,  had  conspired  the  ruin  of  Richelieu,  whom  they  had 
already  brought  into  discredit  with  the  king. 

Fortunately,  however,  for  the  cardinal,  whose  life  was  at  once  in  danger 
from  violence  and  disease,  he  got  intelligence  of  the  treaty  with  Spain,  nearly 
at  the  same  time  that  Louis  received  the  news  of  Guiche's  defeat.  In  the 
perplexity  occasioned  by  that  disaster,  the  king  paid  a  visit  to  Richelieu. 
The  cardinal  complained  of  ill  usage ;  Louis  confessed  his  weakness ;  a  re- 
conciliation took  place,  and  the  conspirators  were  arrested.  The  duke  of 
Orleans  was  disgraced;  Cinqmars  and  De  Thou  lost  their  heads  ;  and  the 
duke  of  Bouillon,  in  order  to  save  his  life,  was  obliged  to  yield  up  the  princi- 
pality of  Sedan  to  the  crown. (3)  Thus  victorious  over  all  his  enemies, 
Richelieu,  though  still  on  the  verge  of  the  grave,  entered  Paris  in  a  kind  of 
triumph,  a  breach  being  made  in  the  walls,  in  order  to  admit  the  superb  litter 
on  which  he  was  carried.  While  on  his  way,  and  hardly  able  to  hold  the 

(1}  Pnflend.  lib.  xiv.    Barre,  torn.  i*.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (31  Batt.  Nani.  lib.  rii. 


LET.  LXXV.]  MODERN    E  UROPE.  543 

pen,  he  wrote  to  the  king  the  following  short  letter,  which  is  highly  expiessive 
of  his  haughty  character :  "  Your  enemies  are  dead,  and  your  troops  in  pos- 
session of  Perpignan !"(!) 

So  many  losses,  the  confederates  expected,  would  have  disposed  the  house 
of  Austria  sincerely  to  listen  to  terms  of  accommodation ;  but  as  the  courts 
of  Vienna  and  Madrid  foresaw  that  France  and  Sweden,  at  such  a  juncture, 
would  necessarily  be  high  in  their  demands,  they  seemed  very  indifferent 
about  renewing  the  negotiations.  It  was  at  length^  however,  agreed  to  open 
the  conferences  for  a  general  peace,  in  the  month  of  July  the  year  following ; 
and  the  preliminaries  being  published,  all  the  unhappy  people  who  had  been 
so  long  exposed  to  the  calamities  of  Avar,  congratulated  themselves  on  the 
pleasing  prospect  of  tranquillity,  when  the  death  of  cardinal  Richelieu,  and 
also  of  his  master,  Louis  XIII.,  once  more  discoloured  the  scene.  The 
Swedes,  who  were  doubtful  of  the  politics  of  the  new  administration,  began 
to  think  of  concluding  a  separate  treaty  with  the  emperor.  But  their  fears 
were  soon  dispelled  by  the  steady  measures  of  cardinal  Mazarine,  who 
showed  himself  no  unworthy  successor  of  Richelieu,  whose  plan  he  pursued 
with  vigour.  All  the  operations  of  war  were  concerted  with  as  much 
judgment  as  formerly ;  supplies  of  every  kind  were  furnished  with  equal  punc- 
tual ity ;  and  a  young  hero  sprung  up  to  do  honour  to  France  during  the  minority 
of  Lewis  XIV.  This  hero  was  the  celebrated  duke  d'Enguien,  afterward 
honoured  with  the  title  of  the  Great  Conde.  He  cut  to  pieces,  in  the  plains 
of  Rocroi,  the  famous  Walloon  and  Castilian  infantry,  with  an  inferior  army ; 
and  took  Thionville,  into  which  the  Spanish  general,  Francisco  deMelo,  after 
his  defeat,  had  thrown  a  reinforcement  of  ten  thousand  men.  Nine  thousand 
Spaniards  and  Walloons  are  said  to  have  fallen  in  the  battle  of  Rocroi.(S) 

The  arms  of  France  were  less  fortunate  in  Germany.  The  duke  of  Lor 
rain  renounced  his  alliance  with  that  kingdom,  and  took  upon  himself  the 
command  of  the  Bavarian  troops ;  and  Guebriant  being  mortally  wounded 
before  Rotwell,  which  however  was  reduced,  a  misunderstanding  after  his 
death  prevailed  among  the  principal  officers  of  the  French  army.  This  was 
followed  by  its  natural  consequence,  a  relaxation  in  discipline,  the  usua 
forerunner  of  a  defeat.  The  count  de  Rantzau,  who  had  succeeded  Gue- 
briant in  the  chief  command,  marched  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Dutlingen,  i.i 
Suabia.  There  the  count  de  Merci,  the  Bavarian  general,  surprised,  routed, 
and  took  him  prisoner,  with  the  greater  part  of  his  officers,  and  about  four 
thousand  private  men.  The  remains  of  the  French  army  retreated  to  Alsace, 
where  they  were  happily  collected  by  mareschal  Turenne,  who  was  sent 
thither  for  that  purpose. (3) 

The  eyes  of  all  Europe  were  now  turned  towards  the  negotiations  at 
Minister  and  Osnaburg.  The  plenipotentiaries  named  by  the  emperor  were, 
the  count  d'Aversperg,  and  the  baron  de  Krane,  with  Henry  duke  of  Saxe- 
Lawenburg,  who  was  chief  of  the  embassy :  France  deputed  the  count 
d'Avaux  and  de  Servien,  counsellor  of  state  :  Sweden,  Salvius,  assisted  by  a 
son  of  the  celebrated  chancellor  Oxenstiern ;  and  Spain,  the  marquis  de  Castel 
Roderigo  and  Diego  de  Saavreda.  Deputies  were  also  named  by  the  other 
European  powers  interested  in  the  negotiations.  The  Swedish  garrison 
quitted  Osnaburg,  which,  together  with  Munster,  was,  by  the  baron  de  Krane, 
released  from  the  oath  that  the  citizens  had  taken  to  the  emperor;  and  the 
regencies  of  both  cities  swore  that  they  would  observe  an  exact  neutrality, 
and  protect  the  persons  and  effects  of  the  negotiators. (4) 

In  the  midst  of  these  advances  towards  peace,  Torstenson  was  ordered  by 
the  court  of  Sweden  to  carry  war  into  the  dutchy  of  Holstein ;  the  regency 
being  incensed  against  the  king  of  Denmark,  whom  they  accused  of  con- 
cealing all  the  hostile  intentions  of  an  enemy  under  the  mask  of  a  mediator. 
He  had  taken  several  Swedish  vessels  in  the  sound,  and  refused  to  give  satis- 
faction to  the  regency,  which  complained  of  these  acts  of  hostility.  It  was 

(1)  Auberi,  Hist,  du  Card.  Rich.    Mem.  de  Madame  Motimille.  , 

(X)  Mrm.  de  Comte  Brienne,  torn.  ii.  (3)  Id.  ibid.    Barre.tom.  a 

14   I)u  Mont,  Corps  Diplom.  torn.  vi. 


544  i  ii  &   HISTORY  OF  [PART  I. 

therefore  resolved,  in  a  general  assembly  of  the  states  of  Sweden,  to  make 
reprisals.  That  resolution,  however,  was  not  publicly  known  till  the  moment 
that  Torstenson  invaded  Holstein.  In  that  dutchy  he  reduced  Oldisloe,  Kiel, 
and  several  other  places  of  importance. (1) 

Christian  IV.,  alarmed  at  this  irruption,  complained  of  it  to  Torstenson  as 
a  palpable  infringement  of  the  treaty  lately  concluded  between  Denmark  and 
Sweden.  But  finding  that  the  Swedish  general,  instead  of  paying  any  regard 
to  such  remonstrance,  penetrated  into  Jutland,  and  made  himself  master  of 
almost  all  the  towns  ia  that  province,  his  Danish  majesty  had  recourse  to  the 
emperor,  who  ordered  Galas  to  march  to  his  assistance  in  the  depth  of  winter. 
The  imperialists,  though  much  retarded  by  the  snow,  which  rendered  the 
road  almost  impassable,  at  length  appeared  on  the  frontier  of  Holstein,  where 
a  resolution  was  taken  to  starve  the  Swedes  in  Jutland,  by  occupying  the 
denies  between  Stockholm  and  Sleswick.  This  design,  however,  was  ren- 
dered abortive  by  the  vigilance  of  Torstenson,  who  marched  towards  Rends- 
burg,  with  an  intention  to  give  Galas  battle,  in  case  he  should  dispute  the 
passage  ;  and  as  the  imperialists  did  not  think  proper  to  give  him  the  least 
molestation,  he  quitted  Holstein,  intercepted  some  of  their  convoys,  and 
encamped  near  Ratzburg.(S) 

Meanwhile,  France,  finding  the  general  negotiations  disturbed  by  the  war 
between  Sweden  and  Denmark,  sent  M.  de  la  Thuillerie  to  Copenhagen,  in 
order  to  bring  about  an  accommodation.  His  proposals,  however,  met  with 
little  attention,  until  the  retreat  of  the  imperialists,  and  an  advantage  gained 
by  the  Swedes  over  their  northern  neighbours  at  sea  made  the  Danish  monarch 
more  tractable.  Despairing  of  being  able  to  obtain  fresh  succours  from  the 
emperor,  the  haughty  and  violent  Christian  now  listened  to  the  mediation  of 
France.  A  treaty  was  accordingly  concluded  at  Bromsboo,  by  which  Sweden 
restored  to  Denmark  all  the  towns  Torstenson  had  taken  in  Holstein ;  and 
Christian,  on  his  part,  ceded  to  Sweden,  Jemptie,  Halland,  the  island  of 
Gothland,  and  the  citadel  and  town  of  Wisbie,  with  all  the  isles  depending 
upon  it.  Besides  this  treaty,  which  enabled  Sweden  to  act  with  all  her  forces 
against  the  house  of  Austria,  Thuillerie  concluded  an  alliance  between 
France  and  Denmark,  by  which  Christian  agreed  to  yield  no  assistance, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  enemies  of  France  or  those  of  her  allies. (3) 

The  emperor  was  not  in  a  condition  to  prevent  the  ratification  of  these 
treaties.  Turenne  had  retrieved  the  affairs  of  France  upon  the  Rhine,  which 
he  crossed  at  Brisac,  and  advancing  with  a  small  army  towards  the  source  of 
the  Danube,  routed  the  imperialists,  commanded  by  the  baron  de  Merci. 
He  afterward  attempted  the  relief  of  Friburg,  which  was  invested  by  the 
Bavarian  army,  under  the  count  de  Merci,  brother  of  the  baron ;  but  finding 
himself  too  weak  to  act  with  vigour  against  the  enemy,  he  retired,  and  forti- 
fied a  camp  within  a  league  of  the  town,  whence  he  had  the  mortification  to 
see  it  surrender.  Meantime,  cardinal  Mazarine,  informed  that  the  French 
army  was  very  inferior  in  strength  to  the  Bavarians,  ordered  the  celebrated 
Lewis  de  Bourbon,  duke  d'Enguien,  whom  I  have  already  had  occasion  to 
mention,  and  who  was  son  to  the  prince  of  Cond6,  to  join  Turenne  with  a 
reinforcement.  These  two  generals  attacked  the  count  de  Merci  near 
Friburg,  with  such  impetuosity,  that  notwithstanding  his  advantageous  situa- 
tion, which  seemed  to  place  him  beyond  the  reach  o?  danger,  he  was  obliged 
to  retire  with  the  loss  of  three  thousand  men. 

This  action,  which  lasted  seven  hours,  was  immediately  followed  by 
another,  in  which  the  Bavarians  gained  at  first  some  advantage.  But  the 
duke  d'Enguien  rallied  his  troops,  which  seemed  disposed  to  quit  the  field: 
and  boldly  marching  against  the  enemy,  drove  them  three  times  from  their 
intrenchments,  which  they  as  often  regained ;  and  victory  at  last  remained 
undecided,  as  neither  party  quitted  his  ground.  Merci,  however,  who  had 
lost  one-half  of  his  army,  resolved  to  avoid  a  third  shock  by  a  quick  retreat. 
This  he  effected  in  good  order,  notwithstanding  all  the  attempts  of  the  French 

(!•)  Puffend.  lib.  xv     Barre  torn.  ix.  (2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Id.  ibid. 


LET.  LXXV.]  MODERN   EUROPE.  545 

to  break  his  rear ;  and  resolutely  continuing  his  march,  he  safely  reached  the 
country  of  Wurtemberg  with  the  remains  of  his  forces,  leaving  to  the  enemy 
ins  artillery  and  baggage,  with  all  the  towns  situated  between  the  Rhine  and 
the  Moselle,  from  Mentz  to  Landaw.(l) 

Nor  were  France  and  Sweden  the  only  foreign  powers  that  incommoded 
the  emperor.  Mazarine  and  Oxenstiern,  in  order  the  better  to  command  the 
negotiations,  as  well  as  to  furnish  employment  for  Ferdinand,  while  the 
Swedes  were  engaged  in  the  Danish  war,  had  formed  an  alliance  with 
Ragotski,  vaivode  of  Transylvania  ;  and  that  prince,  with  the  consent  of  the 
grand  seig-nior,  to  whom  he  was  tributary,  entered  Hungary  at  the  head  of 
thirty  thousand  men,  and  took  Cassovia.  In  justification  of  his  conduct  he 
published  a  manife.sto,  addressed  to  the  Hungarian  nobility,  in  which  he 
assured  them  that  his  sole  view  in  taking  up  arms  was  to  defend  their  liberties 
and  privileges  against  the  ambition  of  the  emperor,  who  intended  to  make 
that  elective  kingdom  hereditary  in  his  family.  This  manifesto  was  answered 
by  Ferdinand,  who  sent  a  body  of  veteran  troops,  under  General  Goeutz,  to 
expel  the  Transylvanian  prince  ;  and  Ragotski's  troops  being  raw  and  undis- 
ciplined, he  durst  not  hazard  an  engagement,  though  superior  in  number  to  the 
enemy.  Other  circumstances  conspired  to  hasten  his  retreat.  He  received  in- 
telligence that  the  grand  vizier,  the  chief  support  of  his  interest  at  the  court  of 
Constantinople,  was  dead,  and  that  the  king  of  Poland  intended  to  declare 
war  against  him.  He  was  eagerly  pursued  by  Goeutz  :  but  the  country  being 
destitute  of  provisions,  the  imperial  troops  were  wasted  with  famine  and 
fatigue,  and  afterward  totally  ruined  at  the  siege  of  Cassovia,  where  the 
vaivode  had  left  five  regiments  which  defended  the  place  with  singular 
bravery.  That  defence,  and  the  loss  of  the  imperialists,  inspired  Ragotski 
with  fresh  courage.  He  rejected  with  disdain  the  terms  of  peace  offered 
him  by  Ferdinand ;  and  was  of  infinite  service  to  Sweden  by  dividing  the 
forces  of  the  empire,  while  her  troops  were  employed  in  Holstein  against  the 
king  of  Denmark.  (2) 

Torstenson,  whom  we  have  seen  commanding  in  Holstein,  pursued  into 
Lower  Saxony,  Galas,  the  imperial  general,  whose  army  there  experienced 
a  fate  similar  to  that  under  Goeutz  in  Hungary ;  it  being  almost  utterly 
destroyed  by  famine,  fatigue,  and  the  sword  of  the  Swedes.  Having  now 
no  enemy  to  oppose  him,  Torstenson  entered  Bohemia,  and  marched  directly 
towards  Prague,  in  hopes  of  surprising  that  city,  and  taking  prisoners  the 
emperor  and  the  archduke  Leopold,  who  had  resided  there  for  some  time. 
In  this  bold  attempt,  however,  he  was  disappointed.  Ferdinand  was  no 
sooner  apprized  of  the  march  of  the  Swedes,  than  he  ordered  all  the  troops 
that  could  be  assembled  to  approach  the  place  of  his  residence,  under  Galas, 
Hasfeld,  John  de  Wert  (who  had  at  last  obtained  his  liberty),  and  the  counts 
Brouay  and  Montecuculi.  But  all  these  forces,  commanded  by  such  able 
generals,  not  being  sufficient  to  dissipate  his  fears,  the  emperor  retired  with 
the  archduke  to  Vienna. (3) 

Meantime,  the  imperial  army,  being  completely  formed,  encamped  between 
Thabor  and  Budewis,  at  a  small  distance  from  the  Swedes,  and  each  party 
watched  the  motions  of  the  other  with  equal  diligence  and  address.  Here 
the  superior  genius  of  Torstenson  was  conspicuous.  In  order  to  decoy  the 
imperialists  from  their  advantageous  position,  he  spread  a  report  that  he 
intended  to  march  into  Moravia,  and  actually  took  the  route  to  that  province ; 
but  finding  he  had  gained  his  point,  as  the  enemy  were  in  motion  to  follow 
him,  he  returned  and  encamped  near  Strockwitz.  Soon  after  he  passed  the 
Moldaw,  and  arrived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Thabor,  whither  he  was  followed 
by  the  enemy.  Nothing  passed  for  some  days  but  slight  skirmishes ;  for 
although  both  armies  were  eager  to  engage,  neither,  would  quit  the  post  it 
had  seized,  in  order  to  attack  the  other.  At  length,  however,  Torstenson, 
trusting  to  the  valour  of  his  troops,  resolved  to  give  the  imperialists  battle. 
He  accordingly  advanced  towards  their  camp,  in  a  threatening  posture,  about 

(1)  Barre,  torn.  is.  '2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Heisa,  liv.  iii.  chap.  x.    Barre,  tom.tr 

VOL.  I.— M  m 


546  THE   HISTORY   OF  (PART  I 

break  of  day,  when  a  brisk  cannonading  began  ;  and  by  seven  in  the  morning 
both  armies  were  engaged  in  close  fight,  which  was  continued  for  the  space 
of  four  hours  with  incredible  obstinacy.  In  the  beginning  of  the  action,  the 
left  wing  of  the  Swedes  began  to  give  ground ;  but  being  supported  in  time, 
the  battle  was  restored,  and  Torstenson  charged  the  imperialists  with  such 
fury,  that  their  cavalry  was  broken,  and  their  infantry  cut  in  pieces.  General 
Goeutz,  and  about  three  thousand  men,  were  left  dead  on  the  field  ;  twenty- 
six  pieces  of  cannon  were  taken,  together  with  sixty-three  pair  of  colours, 
and  four  thousand  prisoners,  among  whom  was  general  Hasfeld,  and  several 
other  officers  of  distinction.  The  pursuit  was  no  less  bloody  than  the  battle. 
Twelve  hundred  of  the  imperial  infantry  were  slain  in  one  body,  and  a  great 
number  taken  prisoners,  together  with  three  thousand  horse.(l) 

Struck  with  terror  by  these  repeated  misfortunes,  Ferdinand  pressed  the 
elector  of  Bavaria  to  assist  him  with  troops ;  and  that  prince  sent  four  thou- 
sand men  to  Vienna,  excusing  himself  from  furnishing  a  greater  number,  as 
he  was  obliged  to  protect  his  own  dominions  against  the  insults  of  the  French, 
who  threatened  the  Upper  Palatinate.  Galas,  at  the  same  time,  collected  the 
broken  remains  of  the  imperial  army  in  Bohemia ;  set  on  foot  new  levies ; 
and  having  formed  a  respectable  body  of  troops,  encamped  under  the  cannon 
of  Pilsen,  in  order  to  observe  the  motions  of  Torstenson ;  who,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  late  victory,  had  reduced  Leipnitz,  Pilgran,  Iglaw,  and  several 
other  places.  The  town  of  Krembs,  Stein,  and  the  fort  of  Tyrnstein,  also 
submitted  to  the  conquerors ;  so  that  the  Swedes  were  now  masters  of  the 
Danube  on  the  side  of  Moravia :  and  all  the  towns  in  that  province  surren- 
dered at  discretion,  except  Brinn,  which  Torstenson  besieged,  as  the  reduc- 
tion of  it  seemed  necessary  to  facilitate  his  junction  with  Ragotski,  on  which 
was  supposed  to  depend  the  fate  of  Hungary  and  Austria. 

This  enterprise  occasioned  such  alarm  at  the  court  of  Vienna,  that  the 
emperor  retired  to  Ratisbon,  and  the  empress  and  her  attendants  fled  for 
refuge  to  Gratz  in  Stiria.  All  the  most  valuable  furniture  was  removed  from 
the  capital,  the  suburbs  were  pulled  down,  and  the  bastions  and  ramparts  re- 
paired. Some  old  regiments  threw  themselves  into  the  city ;  the  inhabitants 
were  armed ;  the  magazines  filled,  and  preparations  made  for  supporting  a 
long  siege.  Torstenson,  however,  had  no  thoughts  of  such  an  enterprise.  He 
found  sufficient  employment  at  Brinn ;  which,  by  its  gallant  defence,  afforded 
Ferdinand  leisure  to  put  his  affairs  in  some  order.  The  archduke  Leopold 
was  declared  commander-in-chief  of  the  imperial  forces;  and  Galas,  who 
served  under  him  in  quality  of  lieutenant-general,  assembled  the  militia  from 
all  quarters  to  augment  the  army,  that  he  might  be  able  to  prevent  the  Swedes 
from  crossing  the  Danube.  Nor  was  the  elector  of  Bavaria  less  busy  in 
taking  measures  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  French. 

General  Merci  having  received  intelligence  that  mareschal  Turenne,  after 
quitting  his  winter  quarters  at  Spire,  had  established  his  head  post  at  Ma- 
riendal,  and  that  his  troops  were  dispersed  in  the  neighbouring  towns  for  the 
conveniency  of  subsistence,  resolved  to  attack  him  by  surprise,  in  hopes  of 
defeating  him  before  he  could  assemble  his  forces.  Extending  himself,  with 
this  view,  in  the  plain  of  Mariendal,  Merci  drew  up  his  army  in  order  of  battle. 
He  placed  his  foot  in  the  centre,  and  his  cavalry  on  the  two  wings.  After 
cannonading  the  French  for  some  time,  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
infantry,  and  marched  to  the  attack  of  a  small  wood  that  covered  their  front ; 
a  post  which  it  was  absolutely  necessary  for  him  to  possess,  before  his  left 
wing,  commanded  by  John  de  Wert,  could  act  to  advantage.  Turenne  at  the 
same  time,  with  his  cavalry,  charged  the  right  wing  of  the  imperialists,  which 
he  broke  and  penetrated,  as  far  as  the  second  line.  But,  during  these  efforts, 
three  thousand  French  troops,  under  the  command  of  general  Rose,  were 
routed  and  dispersed  by  the  Bavarians ;  and  De  Wert,  perceiving  their  confu- 
sion, advanced  with  his  left  wing,  in  order  to  take  Turenne  in  the  rear.  Sen- 
sible of  the  risk  he  ran  of  being  surrounded,  the  mareschal  ordered  his  cavalry 

(1)  Hclss,  Hv.  iii.  cimp.  x.    Barre,  torn.  ix. 


LET.  LXXV  M  ODERN  E  URO  P  E.  54? 

to  wheel  about,  and  retire  across  the  wood ;  at  the  other  side  of  which  being 
joined  by  three  fresh  regiments  of  foot,  and  fifteen  hundred  horse,  that  had 
been  already  engaged,  he  ranged  them  in  order  of  battle,  with  a  view  of 
attacking  the  enemy,  should  they  pass  the  wood.  Merci,  however,  did  not 
think  proper  to  try  the  experiment ;  so  that  the  French  general,  havino-  col- 
lected his  broken  troops,  retired  in  the  face  of  the  enemy ;  crossed  the  Maine 
in  their  despite,  and  reached  the  frontier  of  Hesse,  where  he  found  that  he 
had  lost  great  part  of  his  infantry,  twelve  hundred  horse,  and  his  whole  bao-- 
gage.(l) 

Elated  with  this  advantage,  the  elector  of  Bavaria  made  very  lofty  propo- 
sals of  peace  to  France ;  and  Mazarine,  without  regard  to  them,  sent  a  rein- 
forcement of  eight  thousand  men  to  Turenne.  under  the  conduct  of  the  duke 
d'Enguien.  These  two  commanders  resolved  to  bring  the  Bavarians  to  a 
general  action.  With  this  view,  Turenne,  whose  day  it  was  to  lead,  advanced 
at  the  head  of  his  cavalry  to  engage  the  enemy.  But  they  had  taken  post 
upon  a  rising  ground,  so  inaccessible,  that  it  seemed  hazardous  to  attack  them 
at  such  disadvantage.  The  duke  d'Enguien  being  afterward  invested  with 
the  chief  command,  determined  therefore  to  advance  towards  the  Danube, 
and  was  prosecuting  his  march  to  Nordlingen,  when  he  received  intelligence 
that  the  Bavarians  were  come  up  with  him.  He  immediately  ranged  his 
army  in  order  of  battle,  upon  the  same  plain  where  the  Swedes  had  suffered  a 
melancholy  defeat  soon  after  the  death  of  Gustavus ;  giving  the  command 
of  the  right  wing  to  the  mareschal  de  Gramont,  and  that  of  the  left  to  Tu- 
renne. Marsin,  an  officer  of  reputation,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  first 
line  of  infantry;  the  second,  composed  chiefly  of  Hessians,was  commanded  by 
major-general  Geiss ;  and  the  sieur  de  Chabot  conducted  the  corps-de-reserve. 

The  Bavarians  were  drawn  up  on  an  eminence  of  easy  ascent.  Their  right 
wing,  composed  solely  of  infantry,  was  posted  upon  the  higher  ground,  and 
their  main  body  intrenched  below.  Still  lower  lay  a  village,  and  on  their 
left  wing,  commanded  by  John  de  Wert,  stood  a  castle  which  they  had  taken 
care  to  garrison.  The  action  was  begun  by  the  duke  d'Enguien,  who  ordered 
Marsin  to  attack  the  village ;  but  he  being  dangerously  wounded,  and  the 
troops  under  his  command  giving  way,  the  French  general  sent  in  his  room 
the  marquis  de  Moussau  with  a  reinforcement.  This  body  also  was  broke>n, 
and  would  have  been  utterly  destroyed,  had  not  the  duke  in  person  led  on  the 
whole  French  infantry  to  the  assistance  of  the  marquis.  Nor  could  their 
utmost  efforts  turn  the  tide  of  battle,  until  the  count  de  Merci  was  slain  at  the 
head  of  his  conquering  troops.  Even  after  the  death  of  that  great  captain, 
all  the  intrepidity  of  the  duke  d'Enguien,  who  displayed  the  mjost  heroic  valour, 
could  not  prevent  the  destruction  of  great  part  of  the  French  infantry.  And 
to  increase  the  misfortunes  of  the  future  Conde,  the  left  wing  of  the  Bava- 
rians fell  with  such  fury  upon  the  French  cavalry,  that  they  were  totally 
routed,  and  mareschal  de  Gramont  made  prisoner;  while  John  de  Wert, 
attacking  the  corps-de-reserve,  defeated  Chabot,  and  penetrated  as  far  as  the 
baggage. 

During  these  disasters,  Turenne  assailed  the  right  wing  of  the  enemy ;  and 
having  reached  the  top  of  the  eminence  in  good  order,  a  terrible  conflict 
ensued,  in  which  the  first  line  of  the  Bavarians  was  broken;  but  general 
Gleen  advancing  with  the  second,  the  French  were  ready  to  give  way  in  their 
turn,  when  the  duke  d'Enguien  came  seasonably  to  the  support  of  his  left 
wing.  He  obliged  the  Bavarians  to  retire,  and  leave  behind  them  their  can- 
non, which  were  pointed  against  the  part  of  their  right  wing  drawn  up  near 
the  village.  Turenne  now  charged  the  enemy  in  flank,  and  drove  them  be- 
yond the  village,  after  having  taken  general  Gleen  prisoner.  Meantime,  John 
de  Wert,  partly  informed  of  what  had  passed  upon  the  hill,  hastened  thither 
with  his  victorious  left  wing ;  but  he  came  too  late  to  retrieve  the  honour  of 
the  day,  every  thing  being  already  in  confusion.  All  that  he  could  do,  there- 
fore, was  to  lead  off  the  remains  of  the  Bavarian  army  to  Donawert,  whither 

(1)  Puffend.  lib.  xvi.    Barre,  torn.  ix. 

Mm  2 


j>48  THE    HISTORY    OF  [PART!. 

they  escaped  under  the  cover  of  night,  though  pursued  as  far  as  the  banks  of 
the  Danube.(l) 

This  victory,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  was  dearly  purchased  by  the  French, 
four  thousand  of  their  best  troops  being  left  dead  upon  the  spot.  Nordlingen 
and  some  neighbouring  places,  indeed,  opened  their  gates  to  the  conquerors ; 
but  they  were  soon  recovered  by  the  Bavarians,  who  received  a  strong  rein- 
forcement under  the  archduke  Leopold.  Turenne,  however,  after  the  depart- 
ure of  the  duke  d'Enguien,  who  went  to  Paris  to  receive  the  applause  due  to 
his  valour,  had  the  honour  of  closing-  the  campaign  with  re-establishing  the 
elector  of  Triers  in  his  dominions.  That  prince,  after  a  captivity  of  ten 
years,  had  obtained  his  liberty,  in  consequence  of  a  second  treaty  with  Ferdi- 
nand, by  which  he  submitted  to  the  articles  of  the  peace  of  Prague,  and  other 
rigorous  conditions.  But  as  he  signed  this  treaty  with  no  other  view  than  to 
deliver  himself  from  a  tedious  and  grievous  imprisonment,  he  threw  himself 
upon  the  protection  of  France,  as  soon  as  he  was  enlarged,  and  cardinal  Ma- 
zarine ordered  Turenne  to  effect  his  restoration.  The  mareschal  accordingly 
invested  Triers :  the  garrison  was  obliged  to  capitulate,  and  the  elector  entered 
his  capital  amid  the  acclamations  of  his  subjects. (2) 

During  these  transactions,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  finding  himself  unable  to 
stop  the  progress  of  the  Swedes  under  Koningsmark,  who  had  reduced  a 
number  of  towns  in  Thuringia  and  Misnia,  had  recourse  to  a  negotiation,  and 
concluded  a  truce  with  that  general  for  six  months,  as  a  prelude  to  a  peace 
with  Sweden.  This  treaty  was  the  more  disagreeable  to  the  house  of  Austria, 
as  it  enabled  Koningsmark,  after  laying  Bohemia,  under  contribution,  to  form 
a  junction  with  Torstenson,  who  had  carried  his  depredations  to  the  very  gates 
of  Vienna,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  archduke.  The  emperor,  however, 
in  some  degree  counterbalanced  the  defection  of  the  elector  of  Saxony,  by  a 
peace  with  Rigotski.  He  acknowledged  that  prince  sovereign  of  Transylvania, 
and  restored  to  him  certain  possessions  in  Hungary,  which  had  belonged  to 
his  predecessor,  Bethlem  Gabor.(3) 

Torstenson,  after  his  junction  with  Koningsmark,  proposed  to  undertake 
the  siege  of  Prague ;  but  the  archduke  Leopold,  being  joined  by  the  count  de 
Bouchain,  took  such  effectual  measures  for  securing  that  city,  as  rendered 
the  attempt  impracticable.  Chagrined  at  this  disappointment,  and  greatly 
afflicted  with  the  gout,  Torstenson  retired  to  his  own  country.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  chief  command  by  general  Wrangel,  who  supported  the  repu- 
tation of  the  Swedish  arms,  and  in  conjunction  with  Turenne  ravaged  Fran- 
oonia,  Silesia,  and  Moravia,  laying  the  country  every  where  under  contribution. 

In  order  to  secure  his  dominions  against  these  ravages,  the  elector  of 
Bavaria  withdrew  his  troops  from  the  service  of  the  emperor,  and  concluded 
a  separate  peace  with  France.  His  example  was  followed  by  the  archbishop 
of  Cologne ;  and  the  archbishop  of  Mentz,  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  Darm- 
stadt, were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  taking  the  same  step  by  the  victorious 
Turenne.  He  laid  waste  their  dominions,  and  struck  all  Germany  with  the 
terror  of  his  arms.  Nor  were  the  Swedes  inactive.  Having  garrisoned  the 
towns  they  possessed  in  Westphalia  and  Upper  Suabia,  they  made  themselves 
masters  of  Schweinfurt,  which  had  cut  off  the  communication  between  these 
two  provinces ;  and  again  entering  Bohemia,  reduced  Egra  in  presence  of  the 
imperial  army.  (4) 

The  confederates  were  less  successful  in  other  quarters.  Nothing  of  con- 
sequence had  been  effected  either  in  Italy  or  the  Low  Countries,  during  the 
two  last  campaigns,  and  in  Spain  the  reputation  of  two  celebrated  French 
generals  had  been  tarnished.  In  1646,  the  count  d'Harcourt,  viceroy  of  Cata. 
Ionia,  besieged  Lerida.  The  garrison  was  not  strong,  nor  was  the  place  in  a 
state  of  defence.  But  Don  Antonio  de  Brito,  the  governor,  had  the  address 
to  make  the  French  believe  that  his  condition  was  yet  more  desperate  than  he 
found  it ;  so  that  they  did  not  press  the  siege  so  vigorously  as  they  otherwise 

(1)  Barre,tom.  ix.    Heise,  liv.  iii.chap.x.    Auberi,  Hist,  du  Card.  Maiarine.    Hist.  du.  Prince  de  Condi 

(2)  Id.  ibid.  (3)  Jlnnal.  de  VEmp.  torn.  ii. 
(4}  Barre,  torn.  i*.    Heiss,  liv.  iii.  chap.  x.    Hist,  du  Vie  de  Tvremu 


LET.  LXXV.]  MO  BERN    E  U  ROPE.  549 

might,  from  a  persuasion  that  he  would  surrender  at  discretion.  Meanwhile, 
1  the  marquis  de  Legonez,  the  Spanish  general,  who  knew  exactly  the  state  of 
the  garrison,  caused  a  great  convoy  to  be  provided.  When  it  was  near  ready, 
he  advanced  towards  Lerida,  seemingly  with  an  intention  to  relieve  the  place; 
but,  after  lying  some  days  within  sight  of  the  French  army,  he  decamped,  as 
if  he  had  abandoned  his  design.  Having  forwarded  the  convoy,  he  marched 
directly  back  to  the  town ;  and  appeared  unexpectedly,  in  order  of  battle,  on 
one  side  of  the  French  lines ;  while,  on  the  other,  the  convoy  with  a  strong 
reinforcement  safely  entered  the  place,  during  the  hurry  of  the  besiegers  to 
receive  the  enemy.  Harcourt,  therefore,  found  himself  under  the  necessity 
of  raising  the  siege ;  a  disappointment  which  chagrined  him  so  much,  that  he 
resigned  the  command,  and  returned  to  France,  where  he  was  very  coldly 
received  by  Mazarine.(l) 

The  prince  of  Conde,  formerly  duke  d'Enguien,  was  now  appointed  viceroy 
of  Catalonia;  the  Catalans,  as  already  observed,  having  put  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  France.  Elated  with  past  success,  he  resolved  to 
distinguish  the'  beginning  of  his  administration  by  the  reduction  of  Lerida, 
in  which  his  predecessor  had  failed.  Fortunately,  he  found  the  lines  of  the 
count  d'Harcourt  so  little  damaged,  that  they  were  easily  repaired,  and  the 
trenches  were  opened  with  a  flourish  of  violins.  The  conduct  of  Don  An- 
tonio de  Brito,  who  was  well  supplied  with  every  necessary,  and  had  a  garri- 
son of  three  thousand  men,  was  the  very  reverse  of  what  it  had  been  the 
year  before.  He  harassed  the  enemy  with  continual  sallies,  and  disputed 
with  obstinacy  every  inch  of  ground.  The  French  ascribed  this  change  of 
conduct  to  his  being  sensible  that  they  had  made  the  attack  in  the  weakest 
place,  and  concluded  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  surrender  as  soon  as  they 
had  made  themselves  masters  of  the  outworks ;  but,  in  the  midst  of  these 
sanguine  expectations,  peculiar  to  the  French  nation,  the  engineers  found 
their  progress  obstructed  by  a  rock.  It  was  impossible  to  proceed — it  was 
too  late  to  begin  again ;  the  troops  were  diminished  by  fatigue — the  heats 
were  coming  on.  The  Spanish  army,  under  the  marquis  d'Aitona,  advanced 
to  the  relief  of  the  place,  and  the  prince  of  Conde  was  obliged  to  raise  the 
siege. (2)  T^ie  rest  of  the  campaign  was  spent  in  fruitless  marches  and 
countermarches. 

The  conclusion  of  the  year  1647  was  not  more  fortunate  for  the  confede- 
rates in  Germany.  The  elector  of  Bavaria  was  prevailed  upon  to  renounce 
the  alliance  he  had  concluded  with  France,  and  reunite  him  to  the  emperor ; 
and,  in  consequence  of  the  union  of  the  Bavarian  and  imperial  forces,  Wrangel 
ivas  obliged  to  abandon  Bohemia.  After  being  harassed  by  the  Austrian 
general  Melander,  in  a  long  and  difficult  march,  he  took  up  his  whiter-quarters 
in  the  dutchy  of  Brunswic. 

Early  in  the  spring,  however,  the  Swedish  general  led  out  his  army,  with 
an  intention  to  surprise  the  enemy  in  their  cantonments ;  but  they  were 
apprized  of  his  design,  and  had  assembled  their  troops.  In  order  to  atone 
for  this  failure,  Wrangel  advanced,  in  conjunction  with  Turenne,  against  the 
Austrians  and  Bavarians,  at  Zusmarhausen,  or  Zummerhausen,  near  the 
Danube.  There  a  furious  battle  was  fought ;  and  the  imperial  forces  were 
defeated,  notwithstanding  the  utmost  efforts  of  Montecuculi  and  Wittemberg. 
These  able  generals  were  only  able  to  save  the  remains  of  the  army,  by  a 
masterly  retreat  to  Augsburg. (3) 

Piccolomini  arriving  soon  after  from  the  Netherlands,  assumed  the  chief 
command  of  the  imperial  forces,  in  the  room  of  Melander,  who  was  slain. 
His  presence  seemed  to  infuse  new  spirit  into  the  troops ;  but  he  could  not 
prevent  the  confederates  from  passing  the  Lech,  and  penetrating  into  Bavaria, 
where  they  laid  the  whole  country  under  contribution,  and  obliged  the  elector 
to  quit  his  capital,  and  take  refuge  in  Saltzburg. 

Nor  was  the  victory  at  Zummerhausen  the  only  advantage  the  confederates 

(1)  Quincy,  Hit'.  Milit.  de  J Minis  XIV.    Mem.  de  Madame  de  Motteville. 

(2)  Martiniere,  Hist.  Gen.  fEtpagTte.    Quincy,  Hist.  JHUit.  de  Lotus  Xlf. 

(3)  Barre,  torn.  ix.    Hist,  du  Vie  de  Turnne.    Heiss,  U v.  iii.  chap.  x. 


550  THE   HISTORY   OF  [PART  I. 

had  gained  since  the  opening  of  the  campaign.  The  Hessians  had  defeated 
the  baron  Lamboy  near  Grevemburg,  in  the  dutcliy  of  Juliers ;  and  Konings- 
mark  had  surprised  the  new  city  of  Prague.  In  the  mean  time,  Charles 
Gustavus,  count  Palatine  of  Deux-Ponts,  arriving  from  Sweden  with  a  rein- 
forcement of  eight  thousand  men,  undertook  the  siege  of  old  Prague ;  and 
carried  on  his  approaches  with  such  vigour,  that  the  place  must  have  been 
taken,  had  not  the  emperor,  dreading  the  loss  of  that  capital,  and  of  the  whole 
kingdom  of  Bohemia,  resolved  in  earnest  to  conclude  the  so  long  demanded 
peace.  (1) 

Hitherto  the  negotiations  at  Munster  and  Osnaburg  had  varied  according  to 
the  vicissitudes  of  the  war ;  but  the  French  and  Swedes  being  now  decidedly 
victorious,  and  having  no  other  enemy  in  Germany  but  the  emperor,  all  the 
rest  being  either  subdued  or  in  alliance  with  them,  it  only  remained  for  Fer- 
dinand to  receive  law  from  those  powers.  Other  circumstances  conspired  to 
forward  the  treaty.  Sweden,  notwithstanding  the  great  success  of  its  arms 
during  eighteen  years  of  hostilities,  wished  for  peace ;  and  the  young  queen 
Christina,  so  distinguished  by  her  love  for  learning,  was  desirous  of  repose, 
that  she  might  have  leisure  to  pursue  her  favourite  studies.  The  United  Pro- 
vinces, become  jealous  of  France,  had  concluded,  in  1647,  a  separate  treaty 
with  Spain ;  in  which  their  independency  was  not  only  acknowledged,  but  the 
republic  was  declared  a  free  and  sovereign  state,  by  the  only  power  that  had 
disputed  it,  at  a  vast  expense  of  blood  and  treasure,  with  an  obstinacy  to 
which  history  affords  no  parallel,  for  the  term  of  fourscore  years.  France, 
therefore,  was  left  to  sustain  alone  the  whole  weight  of  the  war  against  the 
Spanish  branch  of  the  house  of  Austria ;  and  cardinal  Mazarine,  her  prime 
minister,  being  at  the  same  time  threatened  with  an  intestine  war,  became 
more  moderate  in  his  demands  at  the  congress,  as  well  as  more  sincerely  dis- 
posed to  promote  the  tranquillity  of  Germany.(2) 

In  consequence  of  these  favourable  occurrences  and  corresponding  views, 
the  memorable  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA  was  signed  at  Munster  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  day  of  October,  in  the  year  1648.  As  it  is  a  fundamental  law  of  the 
empire,  and  the  basis  of  all  subsequent  treaties,  I  must  make  you  acquainted, 
my  dear  Philip,  with  the  substance  of  the  principal  articles  of  it.  In  order 
to  satisfy  the  different  powers,  the  following  important  stipulations  were 
found  necessary ;  namely,  that  France  shall  possess  the  sovereignty  of  the 
three  archbishopricks,  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun,  the  city  of  Pignerol,  Brisac, 
and  its  independencies,  the  territory  of  Suntgaw,  the  landgraviates  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Alsace,  and  the  right  to  keep  a  garrison  in  Philipsburg ; 
that  to  Sweden  shall  be  granted,  besides  five  millions  of  crowns,  the  arch- 
bishoprick  of  Bremen  and  the  bishoprick  of  Verdun  secularized,  Upper  Pome- 
rania,  Stetin,  the  isle  of  Rugen,  and  the  city  of  Wismar,  in  the  dutchy  of 
Mecklenburg,  all  to  be  held  as  fiefs  of  the  empire,  with  three  votes  at  the 
diet;  that  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  shall  be  reimbursed  for  the  loss  of 
Upper  Pomerania,  by  the  cession  of  the  bishoprick  of  Magdeburg  secularized, 
ind  by  having  the  bishopricks  of  Halberstadt,  Minden,  and  Camin,  declared 
secular  principalities,  with  four  votes  at  the  diet ;  that  the  duke  of  Mecklen- 
burg, as  an  equivalent  for  Wismar,  shall  have  the  bishopricks  of  Scherwin 
and  Ratsburg,  erected,  in  like  manner,  into  secular  principalities ;  that  the 
electoral  dignity,  with  the  Upper  Palatinate,  shall  remain  with  Maximilian 
duke  of  Bavaria,  and  his  descendants,  as  long  as  they  shall  produce  male 
issue;  but  that  the  Lower  Palatinate  shall  be  restored  to  Charles  Lewis,  son 
of  the  deposed  elector,  in  whose  favour  shall  be  established  an  eighth  elec- 
torate, to  continue  till  the  extinction  of  the  house  of  Bavaria. (3)  All  the 
other  princes  and  states  of  the  empire  were  re-established  in  the  lands, 
rights,  and  prerogatives,  which  they  enjoyed  before  the  troubles  of  Bohemia, 
in  1619.  The  republic  of  Switzerland  was  declared  to  be  a  sovereign  state, 
exempt  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  empire;  and  the  long  disputed  suc- 

(1)  Barre,  torn.  ix.    Hist,  du  Vie  de  Turenne.    Heiss,  liv.  iii.  chap.  x. 

(2)  Auberi,  Hist,  du  Card.  Mazarine.    Puflendorf.     Barre.    Le  Clcre, 

(3)  Du  moot.     Corps  Diplomat,  torn.  vi.    Pfeflel,  Abrtgi  Chronol. 


LET,  LXXV.]  MODERN  EUROPE.  55] 

cession  of  Cleves  and  Juliers,  with  the  restitution  of  Lorram,  was  referred  tr 
arbitration.  (1) 

The  stipulations  in  regard  to  religion  were  no  less  accurate  and  compre- 
heiusive.  The  pacification  of  Passau  was  confirmed,  in  its  full  extent ;  and 
it  was  farther  agreed,  that  the  Calvinists  shall  enjoy  the  same  privileges  a* 
the  Lutherans ;  that  the  imperial  chamber  should  consist  of  twenty-four 
Protestant  members,  and  twenty-six  Catholics  ;  that  the  emperor  shall  re- 
ceive six  Protestants  into  his  aulic  council ;  and  that  an  equal  number  of 
Catholic  and  Protestant  deputies  shall  be  chosen  for  the  diet,  except  when  it 
is  convoked  on  a  cause  that  concerns  one  of  the  two  religions ;  in  which  case 
all  the  deputies  shall  be  Protestants,  if  it  respects  the  Protestants:  mil 
Catholics,  if  it  relates  to  the  followers  of  the  Catholic  faith.(2) 

These  are  the  great  outlines  of  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  so  essential  to 
the  tranquillity  of  Europe  in  general,  and  to  that  of  Germany  in  particular 
War,  however,  between  France  and  Spain,  was  continued  with  various  sue 
cess,  until  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees,  negotiated  in  1659,  when  Lewis  XIV 
was  married  to  the  infanta  Maria  Theresa,  daughter  of  Philip  IV.,  as  I  shall 
afterward  have  occasion  more  particularly  to  relate.  In  the  mean  time,  wt 
must  make  a  pause. 

(1)  Du  Mont.     Corps  Diplomat,  torn  vi.    Pfeffel,  Jlbrigt  Chronol  (2)  Du  Mont,  ubi  sup 


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